Game night

TPing the tree AGAIN!

Candy Cane Zip Line

Wrapped up in Christmas spirit

Graffiti snow!

It looked creepy with Alex's windows wide open at night so I decided to close the shutters almost all the way so as not to freak Alex out when he woke up.

Mr. Jingles even did some spraying in the bathroom!

Stockings hung by the chimney with care....

Poop

Winter Wonderland

All tangled up

It's a bird, it's a plane...

It's a bird, it's a plane... it's... it's... Captain Underoo Jingles! So this one did not turn out like I had planned. I saw the idea on the internet as I was browsing ideas a while back and the person used a single latex helium balloon. I didn't really think one balloon would work, not to mention I had to stash the balloons away for who knows how long. So I decided mylar was the way to go. While I was at the party supply store this morning I was eye balling a giant Angry Bird balloon. I thought hmmm that should hold up Mr. Jingles and a pair of underwear. Then I saw the balloon was $10. So I settled on two $1 mylar balloons. Well guess what? Two balloons will not hold up an elf and some underpants. I even tried just the elf and he crashed and burned. So I set out to one of our rooms with a ceiling fan. Thankfully I had asked the girl to add two long ribbons to each balloon so I had plenty of ribbon to tie everything up. So if you decide to try this at home, either have something to tie everything to, or get a bunch more balloons.

Go Fish!

Use and Abuse the Power!!

I am not above using the whole Mr. Jingles/Santa thing to threaten my kid into doing something for me, or changing his behavior! For the past couple of months I have had the problem of Alex getting out of his bed multiple times a night and getting in mine. He says its because he gets lonely. Either way, he's 5 and its interrupting my sleep. So I enlisted the help of Santa and Mr. Jingles. Fingers crossed by the time Christmas gets here he will be sleeping all night in his bed!

M&M Good!

A bag of M&M's and 20 minutes of your time. Seriously, how easy is that?

Magic Elf Seeds

I know for some people their Elf on a Shelf returns on Dec. 1. But at our house, Mr. Jingles returns when our tree goes up. Because of my crazy work schedule it will always differ. Not to mention I am a Christmas freak and its all I can do to wait until Thanksgiving is over to start letting Christmas vomit all over my house!

I wanted to do something extra special for Mr. Jingles return trip this year. I only have Alex for 50% of December so I try to make all of my Mr. Jingles adventures super special. (It's also the reason why I am able to do so many over the top ones. If I had to do it every single night, that'd be hard!)

Today Alex came home from school and found Mr. Jingles had not only returned for the season, but plugged in our Christmas tree, had a letter from Santa, AND some special goodies! Oh if you could have seen and heard the joy and amazement that came from my little boy! 

My friend Amanda sent me this idea a couple weeks ago and it was PERFECT for Mr. Jingles return! And such a super easy idea too! The idea originally came from here and I found another version here. The premise is super easy. Find anything that can be some sort of magic growing bean or seed. Plant it in something, ie sugar, flour, coco, etc. Sprinkle it with some magic, ie fake snow, glitter, sprinkles, etc. Wait a certain number of days until something magically grows! (Mine grew over night) I've seen candy canes, lollipops, cake pops, and cookies on a stick growing in some of these magic gardens! The sky is the limit! 

As you can see I used sugar, some funky red beads, and fake snow. And we grew candy canes! I also chose to hand write a note from Santa. Alex is still too young to recognize my own. However if you have kids that are a little more suspicious you can print something out on the computer. Here is a free download for some official Santa Claus stationary.

Super cheap and super easy to do! I expect to see all you mom's out there doing this one!! 

He's baaack!

He's baaaack! Kind of. Mr. Jingles came by to visit me tonight while Alex was away at his dads. He said he wanted to set some hard limits for this year. I said, what? He asked me if I was familiar with Fifty Shades of Grey... yeah... needless to say, Mr Jingles doesn't really have that many! So for all you Elf on a Shelf parents out there, I hope you are ready because the season is fast approaching! Mr. Jingles makes his first appearance some time next week! I'm always looking for some new ideas, especially for Mr. Jingles XXX! Happy Thanksgiving, now bring on the Christmas!