Santa's Message for KIDS - decoder rings, game night and joy of family time

I will start this post off with Santa's wonderful message this year because that is why I'm writing this post.


{{sniffle}} 

It's hard to get kids to remember that with phones and game systems they spend so much time on, it also takes away from quality time with friends and family. I know it's fun but with them growing up so fast I want them to remember good times with us too. 

Even though my boys are older and know Mom and Dad is "Santa" {{this has never been spoken but they know}} he leaves a personal message about their grades and manners. How proud and to keep it up. Oh and usually that Santa can not eat THAT many cookies. :)


We normally open presents and Santa leaves a clue to find his gift.


It's hard to find but our tree is blue and silver and his clue has a red ribbon. Usually stands out but he made it a little harder this year.


Why does Santa hide clues, you ask?

Many years ago we stopped having Santa leave the expensive or large toys/electronics. This was prompted with a wish list by my son that included a DSLR camera on it for me because "Santa will bring it and it's FREE!" :)" While it was super sweet of him to include me on his list, we wanted Santa's gifts to mean something more AND they are definitely NOT free.


The decoder rings were to up the level of difficulty. This was new this year and a huge hit. Now they had to figure out the clue and then figure out the message. 


Hey and Santa got them taking care of some chores too. Thanks, Santa!
one clue was on the bottom of the cat bowl but the clue only said to fill the bowl. Sneaky! 

The next two clues had spelling errors....Geez! Next year Santa needs to not stay up so late working on clues and check his work better.  He was called out on it by the boys. It did make for a good laugh.


Santa also has a sense of humor. 
This was the last clue and his gift was in the TV stand next to the Xbox stuff. Since November this is heard in our house, among other things. 

"What!? How did I not get him!?" 
"I'm lagging, it's so not fair!" 
"Step up if you want to get burnt" (That one is by a character but repeated often) 
"Early Christmas noobs!"
"Ahhhh....This match is full of spawn campers and glitchers"
"I owned in that match!"
"Dang noobs just shootin' each other on hardcore!"

Lots of grunts, protest sounds and sometimes I think someone just got hurt. Seriously, I've had to ask if they are okay.

Somewhat comical at times and if you have gamers you will totally relate. :)


Fun to watch them run around finding clues and decoding. Final picture with Santa's message which was found with a new board game.


My oldest had a card that made him laugh every time someone laughed and his fake laugh made us laugh even more. Such a funny game with silly things you have to do and say. "Obey the card" is the theme.

It worked and our Christmas day was filled with silliness, smiles and giggles galore. :)

Memories made. Success!!!

Thanks for stopping by!

BUMBLE BEE theme PARTY for the library - 10 year celebration - GAMES - personalized items - BLACK & YELLOW - honeycombs

10 YEAR LIBRARY CELEBRATION!!!

We had so much fun planning and being a part of this big party. 

Here are some prepping before the big day and from the event.

I was in charge of the big game prep/assembly and some personalized items. Bumble bee theme!!

Cutting bookmarks, personalized candy wrappers, and punching tags for our snacks.

Made a bee theme "guess how many" m&m jar. My boys were happy to help with this project. I had them separate the colors (and count how many) while I layered the jar. 

I printed wings and attached with hot glue along with the antenna. Made a custom tag for the top of the jar for that extra detail. 

Wrapped a ton of mini Hershey miniatures with personalized tags.

I thought Honey-comb cereal would be perfect for the kids.

I made an assembly line for all the volunteers.

Bagged, tied, and tagged.


We also prepped for our BIG punch cups game!! 


Amazing turnout!!

Personalized cupcake tags. Visit my Etsy shop for personalized tags.




My son ran the punch cup game. So cute!

We had a table set up with two guessing games. M&M bee and the other was the leftover honey-combs in a big jar.

Thank you for stopping by!

Holiday Office IDEA - FIREPLACE computer - cubicle - fun DIY Christmas decorations

How festive is your computer desk? As of today mine is a fireplace with stockings. 





{{insert happy squeal}} I did that happy squeal quite a few times with some random clapping for myself. What?! I couldn't contain my excitement. It turned out so super cute!



This was a very last minute idea after holding up a piece of paper to the computer earlier that day. Few seconds, two pieces of paper taped together and barely legible writing to measure the computer screen. I wasn't confident it would turn out at all. I actually envisioned a complete fail as I tried to decipher what "dest to soreen" meant. I couldn't even remember where I started my measurements and pretty sure this counted as eye-ing it vs. any chance of being accurate.





I had two pieces of foam core board leftover (from a GIANT kids game coming up on Thursday. I'll share pics soon) 
I started to mark my scribbles awesome measurements.



{{deep breath}} I made the cuts to trim excess and remove the "screen" area. I also slightly cut the areas I didn't remove but just folded. 


Well it basically looked like what I wanted. Yay!


Taped 


So far so good. 
I found this paper at Micheal's craft store. Reg. $8.99 but I had a 50% off coupon. 


I love wrapping so how hard could this be!? 
 Wrap it like a present with no bottom. Like normal but not. 


I folded the paper in half and tucked the edges. (top pic)

Now for the sides. This will probably make no sense so look at pics. Push center of the paper down in the middle of the side and press remaining paper to look like flaps or wings. Oh geez! See!? Flaps and wings. What's bad is I'm hand gesturing between typing like you can see me. 





Now to cut out the screen




Cut out a smaller rectangle not too close to the edge.


Make cuts to all the corners. Fold paper and tape.


Now for the mantel.  I used recycled priority boxes that were mailed to the boys.



Wrapped in white craft paper.


Found a slim box for the chimney


Ooooh it looks so cute!!!



Packed it up for work the next day. 

Moment of truth......success or huge fail.......



SUCCESS!!! It turned out perfect!!!!

Whew! I didn't embarrass myself with it being too short or not wide enough. YAY!!!!

I even added the fire as the desktop photo. I attempted to move my icons to the other monitor but I did have to stop playing and get to work. You get the idea. 



Now I need to decorate the stockings and mantel. I'm thinking personalized names and maybe a little tree or battery lights or garland. :)


Thank you for stopping by!