Christmas Photos

Our Christmas in photos.

Decorating cookies at Girl Scouts.

Edible playdough

Christmas Eve with the Adams'

Christmas Eve gift, slippers!

Tree ready for Christmas morning.

Christmas with my side.

My new chair covers.

Crayola Giveaway Winner!

The winner of the Crayola Giveaway chosen via random.org is comment number 2, Mr. Write!!

Congratulations to you! Thank you to everyone that entered!

Adobe Mountain RailRoad Field Trip

My son loves trains so when this field trip came up again I decided we should go. We haven't gone on a lot of field trips this year. There has been less cash and for several months we let my brother and his family use one of our cars, which means we didn't have one all the time. I hope that in 2012 we will be able to go on more. We will also be starting a park day for the new homeschool group so we should be busier with school stuff. hmm I think we were already busy. haha

Anyway, on Monday we went to the Adobe Mountain Railroad. It was so cool and the kids loved it. The trains are 1/8th the size of a regular train, built to scale. Everything works just like a big train would. It is on a huge area of land with tracks all over and the people who volunteer there have made little towns and different tiny sites along the tracks. It was fun to watch for all those things too. We rode the train, stopping halfway through to look at the museum and huge model train set up. Then we rode back to the station. We were lucky enough that they took us on a second ride, we switched trains and went on different tracks that time. It was a lot of fun. I think Nate would have enjoyed it too. Hopefully we will be able to go again when he can go too.

In the station waiting to start the ride. See my friend Tina behind Kaden. :)

A picture from our train of another one. There were three trains and our group had them all going. Only 21 people were aloud on each train.

One of the old fashioned looking towns along the track.

The train model inside one of the buildings on our stop.

Meghan was sooo happy to get to see her friend Miqa! Miqa's brother Dante is in this photo too.

Did I mention it was cold? We drove an hour and 20 minutes for this one, going through patches of rain the whole way. It was in the low 40's, but at least the sun came out.

Miniature airport along the track.

They have a big wooden train the kids can play on. I believe they said it was built by an Eagle Scout.

A great time! They had inflatable Christmas Decorations, (not inflated when we went through) and lights strung all over. They mentioned having nighttime tours this holiday season. You can find more information on their website.

Pillsbury Potluck Party

Sunday was my Pillsbury Potluck Party! It was a lot of fun and we tried lots of great recipes. If you are looking for quick and easy recipes to help make it through the busy holiday season Pillsbury.com would be a great place to start. Many of the recipes take about 30 minutes to cook and less than 5 ingredients. I have to admit I would have never thought about things you could make with ready made Pillsbury items, like Crescent Rolls. I thought a roll was a roll was a roll. ;)

Here is our potluck yummies. I made it a holiday theme with the decor'. haha

I decided to make the Cranberry Cresent Wreaths since it was mentioned in my last post about the party. They were super quick to make and they were yummy. My girls loved them!

Here are the other dishes we had.

Pepperoni'n Cheese Crescents

These were good! The kids in particular loved them.

Leftover Turkey Crescent Bake

This recipe looks awesome for using up leftovers from Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners.

It was really yummy too!

There were a couple different types of cookies.

Chocolate Chip

These peppermint ones were yummy. I have seen these in the store for the holidays. These were dressed up with white chocolate drizzle and crushed candy cane.

So we took a vote and the favorite dish of the night was the Pepperoni'n Cheese Crescents. They were really fun and easy to grab and eat. It was like a little pizza with no mess. With so few things needed to make them I can see myself making them often for a quick lunch. Of course everything was well received and enjoyed.

Check out the link for more quick and easy dish ideas. Like the Pillsbury Facebook page to keep up with the new stuff. You can print a coupon for Pillsbury products Here.  Maybe plan your own potluck party or make one of these dishes to take to your holiday party's. It was a lot of fun and a great way to kick off the Christmas season! Plus we tried so many things we had never thought of before. Making crescent rolls into a dish? Craziness!  ;)

If you try any of the recipes or host your own party please come back and let me know!

Pillsbury through MyBlogSpark provided me with product coupons and recipe cards to hand out to all of my party guests. We were able to use the cards to write down each others recipes. Here is my little "favor" station.

“Disclosure: The Pillsbury product, information, food ideas, online coupon link, and prize pack have been provided by Pillsbury through MyBlogSpark.”

We Love Arts and Crafts! (Crayola Giveaway!)

I think that you can tell from my blog that we like arts and crafts. My kids are always making, coloring, drawing or painting something. They love it. (Actually I do too, very big into the creative stuff. ) Meghan uses her own money to buy clay and loops for her pot holder making. She has been trying to find something to make and sell and is now painting wood pieces that I will help her make into home decor signs.

Christmas time is the perfect time to talk about Crayola art products too. I always love to give gifts that inspire creativity.

So when I was asked if I wanted to talk about Crayola products of course I said yes! We were sent this lovely package of items. We love Crayola here! (Have you ever tried another brand of, say crayons, for example? The colors are always too light.)

Here is a little information about each item.

You can see it in action here, it looks so cool! Meghan will have a blast with this!

Crayola Jewelry Boutique
With the new Crayola Jewelry Boutique, kids can become their own jewelry designers! Crayola put a unique “spin” on jewelry making with a special “jewelry spinner” that creates multi-colored beads using Crayola Model Magic. As kids spin their beads into shapes, they can string them together to create original bracelets, necklaces, earrings, and pendants that reflect their own personal style. Let the designing begin!

• By combining eye-popping colors to create unique beads with the Jewelry Boutique “spinner,” the amount of fun and creativity is endless because no two beads turn out exactly the same!
  
• For a dazzling finish, coat designs with bead glaze. For even more sparkle and pizzazz, add gems, and interchangeable pendant and bracelet charms!

Recommended for children ages 6+, each Jewelry Boutique kit includes 8 packs of Crayola Model Magic to mold 160 beads, 5 bracelet charms, 3 pendant charms, 2 shape cutters, a bead dryer rack, 5 toggle sets, 4 earring posts and ear wires, a bead punch, 18 gems, 2 necklace cords, 1 elastic cord, bead glaze, and the Jewelry Boutique Spinner with storage areas and retails for $24.99.

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The Glow Book video is here. Again super cool and so fun!

Crayola Glow Book
Let your kids’ imaginations run free this holiday season while creating glowing, moving art with the Crayola Glow Book. Turn the lights out and watch their artwork come alive on each page and appear as if it is actually moving!

Using special glowing-ink markers to draw on each of the four clear pages, kids can choose one of the four tracing guides to create original scenes, signs and messages, and arrange them in their desired order. Then, just hit the lights and allow your kids to wow you with wildly colorful, glowing animated scenes. Variable light settings create colorful, multi-layered effects. The Crayola Glow Book wipes off easily so kids can use their imaginations to create endless glowing artwork! A simple wet cloth will do.

Recommended for children ages 6+, the kit includes one Glow Book with 4 clear pages, 4 animation tracing guides and 6 glow markers and retails for $24.99.

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Video! We need some huge boxes for sure!

Crayola’s Telescoping Crayon Tower and Ultimate Art Supply Case
For everyday inspiration and creativity, be sure to keep Crayola’s Telescoping Crayon Tower and all-inclusive Ultimate Art Supplies case handy, so they’re can always be prepared to create! Filled with crayons and all of the classic art tools for drawing and painting, kids can share their creativity through colorful works of art! The Telescoping Crayon Tower and Ultimate Art Supplies case make great gifts every child can use to jump start their creativity.

• The Telescoping Crayon Tower puts limitless color at kids' fingertips and compacts neatly for storage with 150 Crayola Crayons and a built-in sharpener for extra convenience.
  
• There are no limits to a child's imagination with the all-in-one, portable Ultimate Art Supply Kit.

Recommended for children 4+, the Ultimate Art Supply Kit contains 24 crayons, 8 washable broad line markers, 12 colored pencils, 8 washable watercolors, 1 paint brush, school glue, scissors, and colored paper and retails for $16.99. The Crayon Tower retails for $17.99.

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You can find many more awesome products at www.Crayola.com

We have never bought a Crayola product that we didn't love!

I think the crayon maker looks really cool too!

I am very excited because Crayola through MyBlogSpark is allowing me to give one of these gift sets away! So fun. You will receive

(1) Jewelry Boutique

(1) Glow Book

(1) 150-ct Crayon Tower

(1) Ultimate Art Supplies case

Here is how to enter! For each item you complete you get one entry, so you can enter 5 times. You HAVE to write a separate comment for each entry or it will not count. :)

#1. Follow Inspired Mom with Google Friend Connect. If you area already a follower just leave a comment letting me know. (This is the required one.)

#2. "Like" Crayola on Facebook. Do not post there but come pack here and let me know you liked their page for another entry.

#3. "Like" Inspired Mom on Facebook- comment here for a 3rd entry.

#4. Leave me a comment letting me know which of these products from Crayola would you most like to give as a gift to a special child in your life to inspire creativity, and why?

#5. Share this giveaway on your Facebook page and come back and leave a final comment letting me know you shared.

I will be drawing a winner for this giveaway on Wednesday December 7th via Random.org.
Good Luck everyone!!


“Disclosure: The Crayola Innovative Holiday prize pack, product information and prize pack for giveaway have been provided by Crayola through MyBlogSpark.”