We’ve planned and now we’re ready to execute. In fact, we set our Elf in his first pose on Thanksgiving eve.
Normally our Elf comes on December 1, but because this year is this year, Train came early!
This is our third year of elf’ing and we actually enjoy it and miss Train when he has to return to the North Pole.
We found the secret to actually enjoying your elf is to pre-plan the poses, so you don’t have to think on your feet. We do this by creating a calendar. While we deviate from the calendar on occasion, it’s so useful to have an idea ready to go. We’re four days in and have deviated twice, which is fine by us. Michael doesn’t know any different.
I think I’ve found the silver lining to our current COVID situation: quality time with Michael.
We are spending a lot of time together: between “Mom School,” “Zoom school,” and the shortened days of “in-person school,” it’s all Megan & Michael time. All. The. Time.
While Michael works on his school work and crafts, I’m trying to not be on my phone all of the time, so I’ve been finishing up some in-process crafting projects. (Our school room is the craft room, after all.)
I found an image of skeleton flamingos on Pinterest and I thought they were fun, decorative, and not too scary.
So, I bought some flamingos from Amazon. Do note: these are “mini” flamingos and much smaller than I had expected.
We had some leftover matte black spray paint, so I set up a spray paint area and went to town.
Fast forward a few months, and I finally had the time and tools to finish the project!
What do you need?
Matte black spray paint (We used Rustoleum’s High Heat spray paint, leftover from painting our fireplace, likely purchased from Home Depot)
I searched a few images on Pinterest and just started drawing. The paint I used dulled my white pen a bit throughout, so I wiped off the tip and kept going.
It took just a few worksheets, crafts, and PlayDoh sessions and I was done! These actually took less time than I expected.
Our flock!
If you decide to follow our lead on these non-spooky skeleton flamingos, please tag me in your photos or post pictures here!
We dressed up, paraded, trick-or-treated, and ate and ate and ate.
Most of my creative juices went to Michael’s Mater costume, which was a work of art.
From the front:
And from the back… a working tow hook!
And let’s not forget the working headlamps once dusk hit! (Don’t you just love the pie tin radiator/candy dish!?)
Mater was WAY too big to wear to school for Michael’s class parade, so we pulled this Captain America costume out of the closet. Look at these little super heroes!
Apparently Michael grew a bit… Look at his shoes and fake shoes.
Brandon and I phoned in our outfits, thanks to Target. They were fun and easy– fine by me!
Of course we had some festive eats too… Our many-layer dip was so easy and paired perfectly with orange and black chips from Wegmans:
And some sweet treats, “blood” courtesy of food coloring and corn syrup, applied with an infant medicine dropper, edible axes made by Wilton, bought by me:
We carved pumpkins too. All around, the perfect holiday!
It’s already mid-November, which means in a few short weeks our Elf on the Shelf Train will be returning from the North Pole, to make sure our sweet boy actually stays on Santa’s “nice” list.
We met Train last year, shortly after my son’s third birthday. It was the perfect age to begin.
24 days of new Elf activity is a lot of work.
To prepare, I did my homework and created a calendar for our Elf. The hour or so I spent on Pinterest and creating the calendar was totally worth it.
I have a tendency to doze during my son’s bedtime, so the calendar was a guide to help my husband and I both to place Train, even if we didn’t want to.
I bought a couple of items to ensure our Elf’s success: a package of cotton balls, a dry-erase marker, a couple of cheap gifts (stocking stuffer type things) found at the Target One-Spot or Dollar Store.
Read our 2018 calendar here. (This includes a weekend trip to NYC, so some hotel Elf action)
Read our 2019 calendar here. (This includes another quick trip, this time to Seattle)
Here are some of my favorite Elf poses from last year. This year I’m most excited to use the leftover spider web from Halloween to have Spider-man suspend Train.
Train with his North Pole breakfast
Train visited the Sprinkle Spa. So relaxing!
An easy one: your Elf can be coloring or practicing their letters!
Just “chilling” out in the snow (cotton balls)
Reading a new train book to his dinosaur friends
Another easy one: suspended in the tree!
Are they racing or is the T. Rex going to eat the deer!? Elf attached with unscented floss.
Our little man turned one in September and we celebrated in style: a rustic, outdoorsy, glamping style. Here are all of the details of our big party.
ONE happy camper!
We rented a picnic shelter space on Megan’s Island, in between two large fields and adjacent to a play structure. It was a pretty sweet spot. The only thing that would make it better would have been an infant swing, Michael’s favorite thing to do at the park.
The birthday boy
We opted for the Sunday before Michael’s birthday, which also ended up being the Seahawks home opener. We managed to squeeze the party in between Michael’s morning nap and 1 p.m. kickoff.
Food. We kept the food simple with 12 feet (FEET!) of Subway sandwiches, personal bags of chips, Aunt Nancy’s quinoa salad, and goldfish cracker packets and applesauce pouches for the little ones.
12 feet of sandwiches
Drinks. Since it was at a park, and 11 a.m., we decided to make Michael’s party nonalcoholic. We had a delicious hot cocoa bar and juice boxes for the kids. We offered toasted marshmallow syrup, mini marshmallows, and chocolate chips to customize their ideal cocoa.
Drink station: hot cocoa bar!
Dessert. I made these s’more cookie bars but the real star of the show was the Costco cake. Thankfully Costco makes a cake that was perfect for our party. We got the “over the hill” design minus the over the hill language.
Cake!
We had such a wonderful time celebrating our little guy, ONE happy camper!
ONE happy camper!
A couple of other favorite photos from Michael’s big party:
Cake table & Michael’s weekly photos
52 weekly photos of Michael with the same bear in the same chair
Warming himself by the fire
Snuggles!
More snuggles! Also: the pants that inspired the party!
Umm… did you know that my wildest dreams might actually come true?! It’s a long shot, but when Brandon forwarded me the application for The Handmade Project, a reality television show about crafting (!!!!), I knew that I had to apply.
It took three weeks for me to perfect my responses to the dozens of questions they asked, find my craft projects and photos, and to film just the right 3 minute video. The stars aligned last week and I submitted my application!
You have to apply to be chosen! Fingers crossed!!
I’ve never applied to a reality TV show before, but I’m guessing it’s a little bit of a popularity contest, so I’d really appreciate it if you could please watch, comment, and like my application video on YouTube, this blog post, and on my social channels. (Links in the top right!)
Who knows… you might be seeing me on the big screen in August!
Here are some highlights of my application, so you can know what you’re supporting:
My PR/introductory blurb:
During the day, Megan Szerwo is a real-life Leslie Knope, making her living working on behalf of the people of the City of Seattle. After hours though, Megan grabs a glass of her favorite red and she gets down to business on her real passion: crafting. A jack of all trades, Megan focuses her attention on party and holiday decor, gifts for new parents, and any and every craft possible with her endless supply of corks. Megan’s three passions in life are easily described: cats, crafts, and carafes! Megan lives in Seattle, Washington with her husband, son, and two cats.
And some of the projects that I highlight:
My Q13 debut!
My small business: Little Britches Bakery
Our homemade wood-fired oven in the backyard
My party pinatas
My mad party-throwing skills
Cork art!
And a couple of projects that are new to you as a blog reader:
Michael’s ONE HAPPY CAMPER first birthday party! I promise you’ll see it soon!
Muzzle Guzzler glassware: coming soon!
Fourth of July onesies! (Post coming only a year late, but in time for 7/4/17!)
Since it’s likely that this show would just perfectly foul up our Buffalo moving plans, it’s almost guaranteed to happen!
Don’t forget to watch my application video, tell all your friends to watch it, and like/comment on this post!
Thank you for reading and your unending support of my creative endeavors!
I had the pleasure of turning my Pinterest board into reality last week to make Michael’s preschool valentines. I know I’m biased, but I’m pretty impressed with the final product. (I really liked last year’s valentines too!)
You’re out of this world, Valentine!
Space ducks: unite!
These valentines are super easy to make, relatively inexpensive, and don’t include sugar, so they’re good for kids of all ages:
Over the weekend I cleaned out the abyss that is my sprinkle/frosting/everything cabinet and found a bag of Christmas sprinkles from a cookie decorating party in 2008. (EIGHT YEARS AGO!) Thankfully, I knew how old they were since I dated the bag. Nice work, self.
Anyway, I had been perusing Pinterest and came across a “recipe” for reindeer food.
Reindeer food is completely inedible for humans but will be quite a delight for the birds! Err, I mean, Santa’s reindeer.
The recipe is simple: whatever you want (that birds enjoy).
I went with ~ 1/2 cup of oats (buy them in bulk!), 1/4 cup of bird seed, and some of all the sprinkles I had in my everything cabinet.
It’s really easy to make, and if nothing else, do it to make room for a new set of holiday sprinkles!
I had fun and I know Michael’s daycare friends will love their packages of reindeer food tomorrow!
We held a SuperBowl party and went all out– as all out as we can with an infant at home who’d not big on napping. Thanks to Michael’s four-month sleep regression, we had the “pleasure” of waking up at 5 a.m., an hour earlier than we had intended, which worked out perfectly for the brisket. Brandon was able to get it into the Traeger an hour earlier! (It’s all about looking on the bright side, right?)
Here’s the party breakdown.
Our Super Bowl 2016 spread
Menu:
Beef brisket (smoked for hours by Brandon)
Baked beans (we were going to make them from scratch and then we saw them for sale at Costco: So. Much. Easier.)
Superfood kale salad — this kit is available at Costco and is so easy to put together. It’s delicious too!
Veggie platter
Blue tortilla chips with seven-layer dip (pre-purchased, so worth it!)
Half time pepperoni pizza. We bought this ginormous pizza at Costco. It took me mere minutes to rearrange the pepperonis and cut a string cheese as the laces. (Photo below!)
Desserts: orange and blue browned-butter Rice Krispie treats and the most adorable and delicious sugar cookies you’ve ever had from my friend Robin (she also made the beehive cookies at our gender reveal last year)
And of course some photos:
The most amazing Super Bowl cookies ever. I wish I could make these myself!
Orange and blue Bronco Rice Krispies treats
Football pizza
Our Peyton Manning prayer candle. Worked spectacularly this year!
Super Bowl bingo was a big hit– it combined commercials and the game.
Our little fan watching the pre-game
How I watched the game: wearing a wee one, with a {plastic} glass of wine.
World champions!!
Michael’s new super bowl ring. Tastes like VICTORY!
We’ve got Bronco spirit!
Hopefully we get to have another successful SuperBowl party next year! This little guy has his game face on and is ready!
Megan's Island 