Not Me! Monday

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.
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I did NOT finish off an entire carton of SUPER yummy Blue Bell ice cream by myself while Jason was out of town last week! I did NOT wait until the kiddos were asleep each night so that I didn't have to share my yummy ice cream! I would NEVER do that....because I always share my sweets and desserts with my oh so calm {sugar NEVER effects them} children!

I did NOT use my tshirt as a napkin while working on some Christmas crafts. I did NOT wipe SUPER sticky and hard to get out Mod Podge on my shirt simply because I didn't want to get up and walk to the kitchen to get a napkin. I would NEVER ruin a perfectly good {but kind of ugly} tshirt just because I was lazy!

I am NOT going on a {much needed} mini-vacation with my hubby today! We are NOT going to have dinner and maybe see a movie by ourselves for the first time in months! I am NOT really excited about getting a little bit of alone time without at least one kiddo tagging along {Who knew it would be so hard to talk my parents into watching three kids at once...before Eli, they watched the older two together all the time}, and possibly getting to sleep past 7 am.

Christmas Advent Calendar

I have been wanting a cute advent calendar for a few years. We had the cheap felt one from Walmart for a few years, but it wasn't nearly as cute as it could have been....so I decided to make my own. I did a little research online, and I got a ton of inspiration from other blogs and from Etsy! I took a few of the ideas that I found and mixed them all up and came up with my own advent calendar.

I hit up Hobby Lobby for

a canvas

wedding favor tins

scrapbook paper

and

a painted star

I already had some stuff at home

fabric

rick rack

mod podge

and

hot glue

I started by cutting out a lot of circle...48 to be exact. 24 without numbers for the inside of the tins.

24 with numbers for the outside of the tins.
I applied a thin layer of mod podge to the inside of the tin and to the inside of the lid. Then I place the unnumbered circles inside the tins and mod podged them in place.
I put the numbered circles in the lids {with the paper and number showing through the plastic} and then mod podged them into place. I cut out a Chrismas tree from leftover fabric and used spray adhesive to attach it to the canvas. I finished off the edges by hot glueing on some white rick rack.

After everything was dry, I put the lids on the tins and hot glued them to the fabric Christmas tree.

Starting on December 1st the boys will get to remove the lid to one tin a day and get a special treat that is inside. I also placed small pieces of paper with special Christmas activites {bake cookies, sing Christmas songs, wrap presents, watch a Christmas cartoon, read the Christmas story} for us to do in some of the tins.

I also made the boys some SUPER cute shirts to wear this Christmas! I used all left over fabrics for their shirts this year...so the only thing I bought was the actual shirt that was $3.50 at Walmart!

It's Magic!

Magic Cookie Bars

1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 (14 oz.) can Eagle Brand® Sweetened Condensed Milk
2 cups (12 oz. pkg.) semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 1/3 cups flaked coconut
1 cup chopped nuts

HEAT oven to 350°F. Spray 13 x 9-inch baking pan with no-stick cooking spray.

COMBINE graham cracker crumbs and butter in small bowl. Press into bottom of prepared pan. Pour sweetened condensed milk evenly over crumb mixture. Layer evenly with chocolate chips, coconut and nuts. Press down firmly with fork.

BAKE 25 to 30 minutes or until lightly browned. Loosen from sides of pan while still warm; cool on wire rack. Cut into bars or diamonds.

For perfectly cut cookie bars, line entire pan with foil, extending foil over edge of pan. Coat lightly with no-stick cooking spray. After bars have baked and cooled, lift up with edges of foil to remove from pan. Cut into individual bars.


I think the MAGIC is how fast these bars will disappear once you make them! This was my first time making these, and they were so easy and SUPER tasty! I will be making these for a few holiday parties over the next few months for sure!