Elf on the Shelf Chronicles Last Day!

Today is Candy Sugarplum's last day with us. We found her this morning with goodies! She had two soft Monkey baskets each filled with 4 sets of  "special flavored" pop tarts (sugar cookie), new toothbrushes, a small soft snuggle bear, and a little note explaining how she is returning to the North Pole tonight.

Elf on the Shelf Chronicles Day 26

With a few days left until Christmas Candy left a note to both the kids. Telling Ashton that Santa is not happy and will be watching him, due to his attitude and not listening yesterday. Ariana was told to keep being good and helping. 

Elf on the Shelf Chronicles Day 25

We've been TPed!!!! Candy was found this morning on top of the tree holding the end of the toilet paper which she wrapped around the tree! I think she realized we forgot to put the garland on and decided to do her own decorating. Ariana likes it and wants to leave it on the tree. I think we will switch out for the garland tomorrow when Candy moves to a different spot.

Elf on the Shelf Chronicles Day 24

This morning Candy Sugarplum was peaking inside Ashton's stocking. It's a pretty funny story earlier in the morning just before the kids got up she was actually not as far inside of the stocking so she could still see the kids. However Crowley, our cat decided she needed a little help getting further in the stocking and he gave her a little nudge inside. The kids woke up just in time to witness it. 

Elf on the Shelf Chronicles Day 23

Candy Sugarplum was found this morning covered in wrapping paper holding this sign. We are assuming she was busy wrapping our Christmas presents tonight.

Elf on the Shelf Chronicles Day 22

Candy Sugarplum was found this morning in a bowl full of Hershey kisses! The kids both very carefully got one of the kisses out of the bowl. They made sure not to touch her as they didn't want her to lose her magic.

Elf on the Shelf Chronicles Day 21

Candy Sugarplum stayed gone for 2 days. That must have been a BIG emergency! She returned today and was found hanging off the side of the TV. Once again listening to Christmas music.

Elf on the Shelf Chronicles Day 19

Today we woke up to find Candy Sugarplum was gone but she left this note behind. The kids couldn't help but voice their opinions over what the emergency could be. Ariana thinks she needs to help Santa get everything ready but at the same time she thinks she might have to stay to let Santa know that Ashton was not listening yesterday. Ashton just thinks she didn't feel like flying back. 

Elf on the Shelf Chronicles Day 18

Today Candy took q-tips to make little snowflakes. 

Little did we know Crowley, our cat loves q-tips! He decided he wanted them instead! He knocked a few off the TV stand then took one and ran off. 

Elf on the Shelf Chronicles Day 17

Candy Sugarplum came today with candy cane christmas trees. What a cute and yummy treat for the kids.

Elf on the Shelf Chronicles Day 16

Sugar came back dressed up in a cupcake outfit. She even left the kids a note saying "I love cupcakes" 

Elf on the Shelf Chronicles Day 15

Tonight Candy is coloring in Ariana's new WWE coloring book. She knows how much Ariana loves John Cena so she picked him and is drawing on a Christmas hat.

Elf on the Shelf Chronicles Day 14

Day 14 Candy Sugarplum brought us back some yummy dumdum flavored candy canes from the North Pole. She made a bunch of hearts also. 

Elf on the Shelf Chronicles Day 13

I almost forgot to post today Candy Sugarplum was having a minion party! Who doesn't love a minion party?

Elf on the Shelf Chronicles Day 12

Today we woke up to Candy Sugarplum playing in garland. She is back to listening to her Christmas music also. Guess she is wanting us to add some more decorations!

Elf on the Shelf Chronicles Day 11

Day 11 Candy Sugarplum has been flying around the living room. Our cat, Crowley has made it his mission today to try and catch her.

Elf on the Shelf Chronicles Day 10

Candy had a very busy night last night. So she didn't make it back to the North Pole. We found her this morning writing Santa a letter apologizing for not making it back. Instead she stayed to make sure Ariana was okay since she was sick all day yesterday.

Elf on the Shelf Chronicles Day 9

Candy Sugarplum got into the loom bands while we slept! Good thing Ariana already has them organized by color so she was able to get the red and green easily. She is in the process of making a bracelet for the kids.

Elf on the Shelf Chronicles Day 8

Today Candy Sugarplum had some fun decorating herself with the kids stickers.

Elf on the Shelf Chronicles Day 7

Candy Sugarplum decided to make us the only snowflakes we will be seeing this year. She found a lovely new dress to borrow from Barbie also.

Real Insect Excavation Kit - Dig Out 3 Real Bugs! Review

We got to Discover with Dr. Cool and have a real bug dig! Prepare for lots of pictures as we all had lots of fun with it. I myself am guilty of digging to find the bugs just as much as the kids did.

Inside the flap you see everything that comes with this kit.

Inside there is instructions, an activity booklet, an adventure guide and a booklet to see what other exciting products Discover with Dr. Cool has.

Here are the kids searching for their first bug. They are unsure still what to think as I told them they might be alive. I had to have fun with them.

They were working together in search of the first bug. They were discussing which they hoped to find first. 

They found the first bug. What a relief they felt when they seen it was not alive. They inspected it for a long time. Using the magnifying glass to see everything. There was so much excitement I had to remind them there was more to keep searching.

Here is the scorpion up close. I am loving how beautiful it is. Of course I wouldn't be saying that if this were living I'd be out the door and 3 houses down.

Second one has been found. Its a beetle!

Finally Ariana found the very last one.

Here they all are up close. 

Both kids and I enjoyed our excavation. Both kids were sad that there was nothing more to be found. Ariana gave them all to Ashton as he likes them all. She enjoyed the search but wants no part of keeping them. Ashton don't mind as he was already trying to claim them all. After we did the excavation I let the kids do the activity book I made a copy so both kids could participate. We made a whole learning lesson out of it. They have been learning about dinosaur fossils so this fit right into the lesson and helped the kids understand a bit more. Over all I am highly impressed with this Discover with Dr. Cool kit and am looking into their other products to incorporate into more of our lessons. Since one of my favorite quotes by Benjamin Franklin is "Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I may remember. Involve me and I learn."

Come #discoverwithdrcool here

I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

Elf on the Shelf Chronicles Day 6

Day 6 Candy Sugarplum was found playing Super Mario Chess with Ariana's pet, Pascal from Rapunzel and Ashton's pet bulldog, Buttercream. 

Elf on the Shelf Chronicles Day 5

 Today Candy Sugarplum is reminding us what is expected of us.

Liquid Chalkers Review

As a home school Mom I have used a chalk board in the past but stopped using it because I can't stand the sound of fresh chalk on the board. That screeching noise drives me crazy. Liquid Chalkers are the solution. They are exactly as the name states chalk in liquid form. What is so great about it? You may ask. Well these Chalkers have nice vibrant colors. They write smoothly on flat surfaces. They are not recommended for walls that have been painted with chalkboard paint as the liquid chalk can go into little groves in the wall and stay in there. I fully understand where they are coming from since the house we live in has stucco walls and I could see how it would be a huge pain. Back to the chalkers they are amazing! I let my kids use them to doodle on our fold up couch tables, which is great because it saves on paper. My kids enjoy making pictures and could go through a whole ream of paper in a few days drawing so this seriously is so much better. I don't have pages all over my house of the same drawings. Ariana has a habit of drawing the same thing over and over. Plus with her dyslexia she often writes random words and the page could end up with 2 works and a small doodle on it then that is all. Well no more of that! We just set the table up and she gets the liquid chalkers and goes at it, sometimes for hours!

 I like to also use them in the kitchen and bathroom. I have a stainless steel refrigerator so I use the liquid chalkers to write cooking times or temperatures. I write new recipes. This way I don't need to be looking down at a paper everything is right next to me since our refrigerator is next to the stove. I even write things we are running low on or stuff I need to pick up from the store. It's right in front of you so no one misses what we need from the store.

In the bathroom I like to write little messages on the mirror. Little pep talks that boost the kids self-esteem. A simple "I love you" or "you are beautiful" and "enjoy your day" can really put a great big smile on a kids face first thing in the morning.

There is 8 colors. Pink, Yellow, Red, Blue, Orange, Purple, White and Green. Not every color will show up good it all depends on what color you are writing on. So it is all trial and error.

The big question everyone is wondering. How does it come off? Easy! If you are wiping it all while it is still wet then you just need a paper towel and it will wipe right off. But if you wait a few seconds, yes I mean seconds because it dries super fast then you will need to use a damp paper towel or even a baby wipe. Which is what we use.

You can learn more about Liquid Chalkers here
You can buy them from Amazon here

I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

Elf on the Shelf Chronicles Day 4

 On Day 4 Candy Sugarplum decided it was time to bring a little "snow" back from the North Pole to Florida. What better way then to have a snowball fight with Hulk and use legos as barricades.

Elf on the Shelf Chronicles Day 3

Tonight marks night 3. After Candy Sugarplum arrived back from the North Pole she decided to have a dress up party with a few of her friends from My little Pony while listening to Christmas music. As our favorite movie says "The best way to spread Christmas cheer, is singing loud for all to hear"

Elf on the Shelf Chronicles Day 2

 Day 2 The first night Candy Sugarplum got out of her box to report back to Santa. She came back to our house to sit on top of Floppy, our rabbits cage. She picked this spot because it is high and from there she can see into the living room, kitchen, and back room.

Even though it looks like she wants to jump I can assure you she sat perfectly still until the kids went to bed.

Elf on the Shelf Chronicles Day 1

 I decided to get involved with my children and bring The Elf on the Shelf tradition into our house. Ashton and Ariana are 9 and 8 and still believe. I want them to keep believing and enjoying the miracle and innocence of Christmas. Homeschooling them helps because they don't have other kids to ruin the experience for them. However our UPS lady almost did but I think she read the look on my face when she was talking to Ariana. I introduced The Elf on the Shelf as a little helper to keep the kids behavior up. With the holidays coming up the kids always get anxious. Plus they both spend every day together and share a room so lately they have been getting on each others nerves which is expected since they are into different things. Ashton used to do everything Ariana wanted and she got used to it now he wants to do his own thing and she is not liking it one bit.

 Back to The Elf on the Shelf I picked the day after Thanksgiving to start our tradition. The kids had no idea I set the box up in the living room where in the morning Ariana would find it. We talked about how and why she arrived. Santa sends his top Elves to check up on kids and make sure they are doing the right things. She understood that we can't touch her to preserve her magic. Ashton liked her but it was a 2 minute excitement then he was over it. Ariana held the box with our Elf in it all day! She kept opening it to show her the TV or whatever she was doing. She kept whispering secrets to her. She loves it and it was a bigger hit than I though. She started to catch an attitude over something so I opened the box and she stopped right in her tracks.


 Naming her was a fun process they both were giving their inputs. They agreed her name should be something sweet after watching Elf and seeing Elves love sugar. So they decided on Candy Sugarplum.


 Every night I will get the honor of setting Candy Sugarplum up in new positions around the house. I will document it all here on my blog.

Yacon Syrup Review + Giveaway #briyaconsyrup

Yacon Syrup is a Natural source of Prebiotics. Supports Healthy digestion and Alternative sweetener. On top of those it also supports appetite suppression, increases metabolism, increase bone density, cardiovascular health aid, supports immune system function and increases energy levels. Wow that is a lot of positive benefits in my opinion. You take 1 teaspoon three times a day. The taste isn't bad at all it is similar to caramel or molasses. Even if it didn't taste good I think I would still force it down just to enjoy the benefits. I feel great after a few weeks of using as instructed. The best part is it's 100% natural! You don't have to worry about what ingredients you are ingesting.

I got to test out a bottle and one of my readers will get to do the same. Just enter on the rafflecopter form below for your chance to win. 

To find out more about this product or to purchase it go here
You can also visit BRI Nutrition to find out more and see other items they sell

a Rafflecopter giveaway

I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

Old Factory Candle Gift Set Review + Giveaway #oldfactory

This holiday season do you have people to buy for that have everything? How about someone you just don't know what to get? This year why not get them a Candle gift set by Old Factory? The reasons why everyone will love them are endless. They are natural soy wax candles. They burn clean and even for hours, and are really true to scent.

I got the full experience. My package arrived from Amazon fully gift wrapped. So if you feel you would like to have your package already wrapped or ship directly to someone but don't know exactly what Amazon's gift wrapping addition is all about. Here you can see they have my candles nicely wrapped with a card on top and an envelope that was included that says "keep your gift a surprise upwrap your present before opening this envelope." 

Here you can see a card on top of the present with any short message you include this is the message I picked to get the full experience. 

Inside the envelope is ticket slips one with the message you decided to include the other is a purchase slip just in case your recipient needs to return for any reason. They have the basics of the order on the slip but they do not list the price or your credit card information. So you don't need to worry about what information they are getting. 

Here is the beautiful box unwrapped. You don't need to guess what is in this box.

Finally here are the 3 wonderful candles I picked. I got the Happy Holidays assortment which includes Christmas Tree, Candy Cane and Gingerbread. Let me tell you I would buy this assortment over and over because they smell so good. With Christmas Tree my house smells like a pine forest. With Candy Cane a nice, calming but not overpowering peppermint smell takes over my house. Lastly Gingerbread ohh Gingerbread it makes my house smell wonderful. It feels like Christmas time and brings me back to my childhood of being in the kitchen with my Mom baking cookies. I am guilty of lighting it just for the wonderful memory it brings back. I am loving this candle gift set.

I want one of my readers to to win a wonderful Old Factory Candle Gift Set of their choice. Winner must have an Amazon account. The winner will receive an exclusive coupon code for 1 Old Factory Candle Gift Set. They will also reimburse you for the shipping through paypal if needed. If you are an amazon prime member you do not need to worry about shipping. At this time this giveaway is only open to the United States. To enter please use the rafflecopter widget below.

You can purchase your own Old Factory Candle Gift Set here. Just use the drop down to select which assortment you would like.

a Rafflecopter giveaway



I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.