Tag - homemade

Homemade “Little Drummer Boy” Drum Christmas Ornament

November 29, 2018

Growing up with a brother whose birthday is 2 days before Christmas, I learned something: You always keep the birthday and Christmas separate.

Then I married a man who shares his 5-days-before-Christmas birthday with his father, and the separation thing was confirmed as fairly universal for December babies.

And then, of course, I had a baby in December, less than 2 weeks before Christmas. And while last year, I was good and managed to pull off a non-Christmas birthday party theme for our littlest guy that still went okay with our already-up Christmas décor in the house, this year I’m breaking the birthday-Christmas separation rule… at least a little bit!

Isaiah will still get individual presents for both days, and his birthday presents will not be wrapped in Christmas paper (a big pet peeve for some December babies).

But the theme is “The Little Drummer Boy,” which is totally Christmas….but also TOTALLY Isaiah.

(By the way, this post contains affiliate links, which means that at no additional cost to you, I may receive a small commission if you purchase through those links. For more, see my full disclosure.)

From the time he learned to clap, we noticed that our youngest has pretty decent rhythm. At barely a year old, he was mimicking the intro to The Greatest Showman’s “This is the Greatest Show,” complete with well-timed “chhh” sounds for the stomping. He watches the drummer at church closely, and he fights his way into the storage room where his daddy’s older electronic drums are set up. (It was originally for his older brothers, but he pretty much thinks they’re his now.)

The icing on the cake was the day I showed him For King & Country’s version of “The Little Drummer Boy,” and that video overtook his love for “Baby Shark”! Hallelujah!!!!

So, to help tie the party theme in with all our regular Christmas decorations, my mom and I put together some super cute little drum ornaments and drumsticks to add to our tree. I also made a slightly larger drum to use as additional decoration and for Isaiah to play with.

Since they turned out so well and were not hard at all once we figured out a process, I knew someone else out there would like to know how we did it. So here you go.

LITTLE DRUMMER BOY

DRUM CHRISTMAS ORNAMENTS

WHAT YOU’LL NEED

SUPPLIES

Round Cardboard Tube (the sturdier the better)

Red Acrylic Paint (Or whatever color you want)

Fabric

Gold Elastic Ribbon (Or similar rope or tie material)

TOOLS

Ruler

Pencil

Paper

Box Cutter or Hacksaw (depending on tubing thickness)

Paintbrushes

Scissors

Needle

Skewer, Nut Pick, or Equivalent “Tool” 🙂

The true idea for the drums came from my mom, who’d saved some industrial cardboard tubes from my grandpa’s screen printing shop a couple of weeks ago. While she’d originally planned some other craft for the tubing, she decided that making drum ornaments were a better use for them. (Thanks, Mom!)

So, while you probably don’t have access to the cardboard tube we used, you could use mailing tubes, an oat box, or even paper towel tubes. However, remember the sturdier the material, the longer your ornament will last – especially with kids around!

The fabric we bought was in the upholstery section and has kind of a suede-y feel. We wanted something strong enough to not rip once holes were poked in it and the ribbon was tied through and pulled taut. We also wanted it to look like something a drum head would be made of, obviously. Thankfully the material was on sale, and we only bought half a yard. Depending on how many drums you’re making, you really don’t even need that much. (So far, we’ve made 6 drum ornaments and one larger drum with plans for at least 4 more ornaments for my nephews and niece).

HOW WE MADE THEM

1. Cut the tubing into drum size

Our drum ornaments were 2-1/2 inches tall. The larger oat box drum was 4 inches. Depending on the size of your tube, decide how tall your drum needs to be. Then, using a ruler, measure the height you want, and make a pencil mark. Turn the tube, and add another mark at the same height. Once you’ve gone around the entire tube, you can use a piece of paper wrapped around the tube to connect your marks and draw a complete line all the way around. You can repeat that process for each additional drum down the tube.

Using a box cutter or hacksaw or similar sharp tool, carefully cut along your lines.

: Measure & mark at points all the way around.

: Use a piece of paper wrapped around to draw a straight line.

2. Paint your drums

We used acrylic red paint and paint brushes that we already had and painted the drums, making sure to keep the strokes on the same direction. We even let all three boys help us, and their drums turned out just fine. It only took two coats for the ornaments to be fully covered.

: Paint your drums.

: Let them dry. They may need a couple of coats.

: Getting ready to paint the larger, oat box drum.

3. Cut out the drum head

This was, by far, the trickiest part of the process, as we needed to figure out the right shape and size. We settled on a rounded hexagon shape, and then my mom cut it down more to a slightly sheriff’s badge shape. 🙂

To save you time, I’ve scanned our pattern, so you can download it and resize as needed. This is the size we used for the ornaments, and this is the size I used for the larger drum.

Just trace the pattern on the backside of your fabric, and cut it out. You’ll need two drum heads for each drum you’re making.

4. Lace your drum heads together

On the underside of each drum head, use a needle to poke a small hole in the center of each of the six points, leaving a little fabric so the tab won’t rip easily.

To make the holes large enough for our gold elastic ribbon to go through, we widened them using a nut pick or wooden skewer, because that’s what we found worked. 🙂

Once you have two drum heads with ribbon holes, lay one top-side down and place the other on it, top-side up, but so that the points are staggered, not directly aligned. Then lace them together, taking your ribbon through the top side of each. Stitch them until you have only two or three holes left. Don’t pull the ribbon too tight, as you’ll want enough ribbon to stretch over the sides of the entire drum.

We didn’t measure and the cut the ribbon. We just worked from the spool, leaving extra length on the end to be tied off later.

: Poke holes in each point. We used a needle & a nut pick.

: I also used a wooden skewer.

: Lace together two drum heads.

: Ready for the drum.

5. Put the drum heads on the drum

Separating your laced drum heads, slide them over the (dried) drum. Once it’s all together, adjust the drum heads so that they are centered and even on the drum. Then adjust the ribbon to be spaced neatly and taut.

(Note: On my larger drum, I used two of the plastic oat box lids on the top and bottom of my drum – cut from an oat box- to give it more stability since I knew Isaiah would be handling it.)

To finish it up, lace the last sections together, adjust your ribbons, cut it from the spool, tie the ends together, trim them, and tuck them under one of the points of the drum head.

: Slide drum between drum heads.

: Center drum heads, then tighten and adjust ribbon.

: Tie ends and tuck them up under the drum head.

: Large drum with ornament-size drums.

TO HANG THE DRUM ORNAMENTS

You could either just set the drums in the branches of your tree (which is what I did), or you can attach an ornament hook to one of the ribbons.

BONUS: Drumsticks!

For our little drummer boy, we couldn’t have drums without some drumsticks! So here’s how we made some simple drumsticks for the tree.

WHAT YOU’LL NEED

Dowel Rods (matched to fit into the knob – ours were .312 in diameter)

Wooden Knobs (ours were a 3/8” hole)

Paint

Glue

Ribbon

HOW MAKE A DRUMSTICK

1. Glue a wooden knob onto the end of a dowel rod. We just squirted glue into the knob hole and put the dowel in. Apply a little pressure, then set it aside to dry. You could also use hot glue. We placed ours in a Mason jar while they dried.

2. Once the glue dries, trace a ring around the center of the knob. We used a piece of ribbon that was the right thickness. Just wrap it around the knob, and trace with a pencil.

3. Paint the ring. Again, we put them in the jar as they dried. Then we erased any showing pencil mark.

4. Criss-cross two drumsticks slightly and tie them together (around and between) using a ribbon.

5. Stick them in the tree or on top of a larger drum.

: Glue the knob on the dowel.

: Let the drumsticks dry.

: Paint & let dry. Then tie together.

There you go! Cute little drum ornaments and drumsticks for your Christmas tree or other holiday decorating.

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Homemade Instant Oatmeal

May 1, 2018

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Tried It Tuesday: Homemade Instant Oatmeal. Make your mornings easier with this easy, inexpensive DIY recipe that gives you all the convenience of instant oat packets with the flavor and nutrition of homemade oatmeal. You and your kids will love this recipe for homemade instant oatmeal!

It’s been a while since I’ve done a “Tried It Tuesday” post, I know. But, honestly, not many of the DIYs or recipes I’ve tried recently were very exciting. And those that were, well, I’ve failed to get pictures so far. (Sometimes I’m just focused on getting dinner on the table before the natives get too restless…)

But a few weeks ago, on a whim, I decided to try a recipe and DIY combo to make our mornings easier, and it was such a hit, I have to share it!

Most mornings are busy enough with getting Elijah off to school and Brad on to work that our go-to breakfast is simply cereal, although we do try to have healthier cereal options for most days. (Saturdays are the exception.)

However, some days I’ll make time to whip up oats or eggs or something more, and on those days, my boys are excited for breakfast.

Then not too long ago, I snagged a box of instant oatmeal on sale, and our boys ate it up in a matter of days. Not only were they getting oats in the morning, but they were also getting to exercise a little bit of independence, as Elijah could mix up and microwave the packets on his own and could even help Josiah.

So, when I saw a post on One Good Thing about making your own instant oatmeal, I knew we needed to try it, especially when I read her “secret trick” for making it have the texture of store-bought instant oats but of course, with better flavor.

Within a few minutes, I had thrown together our first half-batch of instant oatmeal (half-batch in case our boys didn’t eat it very well). I bagged it up into individual servings, and we were ready to try it out.

That first batch (with about a dozen servings) was gone in less than a week. Yes, our boys really love oats for breakfast!

We have since gone through two more half-batches (I haven’t done the full amount yet, just in case my guys tire of it…but I probably should just go with it, since they eat it so well, especially Josiah and Isaiah!)

Since there are any number of ways you can customize oatmeal, you’d think I’d be tossing in raisins or cranberries or nuts or different spices, but nope. My boys like it pretty simple: with brown sugar and cinnamon.

I do, however, sneak in some ground chia seeds for a little nutritional boost that doesn’t affect the flavor or texture at all (and my boys don’t see the ground seeds like they might whole chia seeds.)

: Chia seeds and oats to blend

: Oat powder, oats, cinnamon, & brown sugar

: Bagging the oat mix in 1/2 cup portions.

: Little guy eating his oatmeal.

If you’re wondering what the “secret trick” is that I learned from Jillee to make your oats really “instant” oats, it’s this: grind up 1/3 of the oats for your batch then mix them with the whole oats, sugar, salt, and whatever else you choose to put in your oatmeal.

I just toss the chia seeds into my NutriBullet with the oats I’m grinding up, and boom! Done. 🙂 (Of course, you can use a decent blender to grind up the oats, too.)

And since we were out of sandwich bags when I made our second batch of instant oatmeal, I skipped bagging it altogether and just stored the whole mix in an empty oats container with a ½ cup scooper inside and directions written in Sharpie on the plastic lid. Saves me time and plastic bags. 🙂 Plus, we can make smaller portions for Isaiah!

So here’s the recipe I’ve been using for our own Homemade Instant Oatmeal. Feel free to double it, triple it, half it, or whatever you need. Just make sure to blend 1/3 of your oats you’ll be using.

Easily and inexpensively make your own homemade "Instant" Oatmeal Packs!

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Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Protein Balls

March 21, 2017

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Life in Lape Haven: Tried It Tuesday - Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Protein Balls. A simple recipe for healthy energy bites. Great for the whole family.

In the past three months since Isaiah’s birth, I haven’t done a lot of extra cooking or baking. Right now, I’m doing well to get dinner made most nights. 🙂 However, I still like my goodies and making what I can from scratch, and on occasion my older two boys will behave and Isaiah will nap or be content long enough for me to throw together a little something special.

As a mom with a newborn, I haven’t only been looking for recipes that are quick and easy, but also ones that could be helpful to my milk supply since our new little guy LOVES to nurse. In the first few weeks especially, I needed healthy, easy-to make and easy-to-eat snacks for both my boys and myself. I found a perfect answer for all of those in the form of simple, customizable protein balls.

I’d seen these little treats, also called “energy balls” or “energy bites,” before online, and I’ve even sampled some that a mom friend of mine had made. However I’d never made any myself. So, I had to find a recipe.

Since protein balls can be made with such a wide variety of ingredients, I wasn’t sure which particular recipe to try from the myriad I found on Pinterest, so I looked for ones with ingredients that I had on-hand, especially ones with oats and flaxseed, since both are foods that can boost a mother’s milk supply.

Once I found a few options, I compared the recipes, used the common measurements of ingredients, and made up my own recipe, following the same basic procedure that all the protein ball recipes followed.

: Combine dry ingredients.

: Whisk together wet ingredients.

: Add wet ingredients to dry mixture.

: Thoroughly combine.

: Roll out mixture into balls.

: Refrigerate. Enjoy.

I have made up several batches since then, and my whole family loves them. However, since the protein balls do pretty much give you a boost of energy, I try not to let the boys have them too late in the evening. 🙂

I have also tried a few different variations, such as using different nut butters (I like using both almond butter and peanut butter as the same time) and using either date syrup and/or raw honey as a sweetener (I prefer the date syrup because the honey can make the balls very sweet and a bit stickier).

I think the fact that I can easily adapt the recipe to what I have makes this a fun, almost foolproof snack. However, here’s my favorite way to make protein balls…so far. 🙂

Tried It Tuesday: DIY Hand-Lettered Wooden Sign

November 22, 2016

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Life in Lape Haven: Tried It Tuesday: DIY Hand-Lettered Wooden Sign. One of the projects I wanted to complete for decorating our boys' new combined room was this DIY Hand-Lettered Wooden Sign featuring a scripture that fits their "adventure" theme. Here's how I made this wall art at home.

Earlier this school year, right about the time we were making plans to move Josiah out of the nursery and into Elijah’s room, I got a text from Elijah’s teacher about his school work for the day. She was very excited about something he had written on one of his papers.

While she had attempted to send me a picture of it, it never came through, so it wasn’t until later in the afternoon, once Elijah got home, that I saw what had made her day and what she’d tried to let me know about.

Each day the students have to use their “Sight Word of the Day” in a sentence on their daily review sheet. That day’s word was “as.” Elijah’s sentence was: “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

I was pleasantly surprised. I didn’t even know that Elijah really knew that verse. I’m sure he’s heard it before, but I didn’t know he’d memorized it. However, I knew immediately where he’d most likely seen it most often: on the wooden sign in our living room over our pocket doors.

When I asked him, he just smiled and nodded.

While I want our boys to be encouraged and know the priority that we place on God’s Word in our lives, I hadn’t really thought about whether or not our boys were really noticing or remembering the scriptures or sayings they see hanging on the walls throughout our home. His schoolwork was a nice little reminder of how much our children notice the things around them every day and how important it is that some of those things speak to their spiritual growth.

With that in mind, I was determined to make sure that as we made “Elijah’s Room” into the “Big Boys’ Room,” that the first big project I completed was a wooden plank sign I’d already saved on Pinterest. It featured a scripture that fit perfectly with the “adventure” theme for their new combined room. It is a verse that will encourage them in their walk with God and His calling on their lives:

“Be alert and on your guard; stand firm in your faith. Act like men and be courageous; grow in strength!” – 1 Corinthians 16:13

Unfortunately pregnancy and life in general pushed this wooden sign project to the back burner for a bit, so I didn’t get to do it as soon as I’d originally hoped.

But over the past couple of weeks or so, I managed to work on it a little at a time, and TAH-DAH! It’s finally done and ready to hang up! (I knew I needed to get it done before Baby #3’s arrival, or it would have to wait even longer.)

So, how did I do it?

Well, it was easy…and it wasn’t. 🙂 Or rather, it was easy, but it was a bit more time-consuming than I’d expected because I had to change my approach a little after I started the project. However, I am still really happy with the results.

SUPPLIES:

Blank Wooden Sign (I got mine from Hobby Lobby with their weekly 40% off coupon)

Print Out of the Verse

Scissors

Tape

Ink Pen

Acrylic Craft Paint (I actually used some from my parents, so that saved money)

Paintbrush

Small plate or container for paint

Sealant (Rust-oleum Matte Clear Ultra Cover)

Hand sanitizer

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. PLAN – The first thing I did was type out the verse on my computer in different fonts and laid it out close to what I wanted it to look like on the board.

2. LAYOUT – Then it was a little bit of trial and error to find the right size that I needed it to be when I printed it out. I would print out the first couple of lines, cut out the words, and arrange them on the board. At first some lines were too big – too long for the board or too tall – so I had to play around with the font sizes and arrangement until everything fit neatly on the wooden sign.

3. TAPE – Once I had the layout as I wanted it, I taped each section to the board so the words wouldn’t move around.

4. TRACE – Using an ink pen, I traced over each letter, FIRMLY, leaving an indent of the word in the wood underneath. This took a little bit of time, especially since I chose a long verse and fonts that were more ornamental. I worked on tracing the words over a few different days, as I could find time to do it. (I made sure to peek at the “tracing” I was leaving on the wood. I didn’t want to be missing a section when I removed the print out)

: Go over EVERY letter FIRMLY with a pen.

: This leaves an indent in the wood.

5. PAINT – With all the words traced onto the wood, I was ready to paint. My original plan was to use a paint marker, which would have saved a lot of time. However, those require a much smoother surface than the wood provided, and the tip was way too wide for fine detail. It just didn’t work. So, I went with a paintbrush and some acrylic craft paint. (Thanks, Mom!)

Starting at the top, I peeled back the first section of words, but left it taped on the far side, just in case I needed to retrace a letter or something. Then, using a very fine-tipped paintbrush, I first traced the outline of the letter, then filled it in. Some parts of the wood were really easy to paint on, but other areas were rougher or had little divots or more obvious grain to them. But that’s part of working with actual wood. A smoother plank or surface would have made the painting easier, but I really wanted that rustic look of real wood.

: I used craft paint and paintbrushes.

: Only peel back where you are painting…just in case.

: Trace the outline, then fill in.

Once I got a section painted, I removed the print out completely. Then I went on to the next section. The painting takes time and not having little boys bumping into the table constantly, so I could only work on it off and on. But a little here and a little there, and I managed to finish it all. 🙂

*FIXING MISTAKES – As I went along, a few slips of the paintbrush were inevitable, especially when the boys were running around in the kitchen as I worked on the sign at our table. However, thanks to all my work with various stains on the laundry, I knew that rubbing alcohol and hand sanitizer both work to get most paints out of things. So I kept a small bottle of hand sanitizer right by my paint. If a letter got uneven or I dropped my brush on the wood (it happened more than once), I used another paint brush with a little hand sanitizer on it to dissolve the mistake, carefully wiping it away with a paper towel.

6. SEAL IT – After the whole verse was painted on, and I was happy with it, I covered the whole sign with a matte clear sealing spray to protect all my work (spraying it outside, of course). I’m not sure that it’s entirely necessary, but since it’s going into the boys’ room, it can’t hurt to have a little extra protection against damage. 🙂

Is my wooden plank sign perfect? No. But it really wasn’t meant to be. It was hand-lettered, so imperfections are to be expected.

Will I be making more scripture or word art signs for our home? Probably. But not until after Baby #3 is here and a bit older (leaning over a baby bump as I traced and painted did NOT make the project easier). And next time, I think I’ll choose a shorter phrase and larger fonts. Haha.

Overall, this was a fun project, and I’m proud of it. Our boys were ecstatic when they saw the finished sign, and they can’t wait for it to be hung on their wall. Hopefully, the message on the wooden sign will find its way into their little warrior hearts and stay with them throughout all the adventures God has ahead of them.

YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE:

How to Easily Create Beautiful Chalkboard Lettering

The Most Important Thing My Child Learned from His 1st Grade Teacher

Inexpensive Crafts that Make Great Christmas Gifts for Grandparents

November 18, 2016

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Life in Lape Haven: Inexpensive Crafts that Make Great Christmas Gifts for Grandparents. We've made it a holiday tradition for our boys to make something special for their grandparents' Christmas gifts each year. These are some of our favorite DIY craft ideas.

Ever since Elijah’s second Christmas, when he was old enough to “help” a little, we’ve made it a holiday tradition to have the boys make something special for their grandparents’ Christmas gifts each year. We want our children to take an active part in giving, using their own talents and creativity and thinking about ways to bless someone else during the holidays. (We do give our parents additional gifts. These homemade items are just part of their Christmas.)

Thankfully both our boys enjoy crafty things and drawing, so they are usually pretty excited to help out and work on their “projects.” Of course, since they are children, Mommy has to be ready for lots of supervising, some mess (or a lot), and stepping back to give them room to actually do it themselves (as much as they can). Their vision of the finished product might not always match mine, but if the Christmas gift is to be from THEM, it needs to be THEIRS. (And sometimes, younger kids, like Josiah, are more interested in the process than actually finishing the craft, which can try a parent’s patience.)

Over the last few years, we’ve made a number of different items, so I thought I’d share with you some of our favorite inexpensive, homemade Christmas gift ideas. (The title of each project has the link to more instructions.)

(This post may contain affiliate links, which means that at no additional cost to you, I may receive a small commission if you use the links.)

ORNAMENTS

Our boys love all the decorations at Christmastime, so making keepsake ornaments is one of their favorite things. They love seeing the ones they’ve made in the past on their grandparents’ Christmas trees and ours each year.

Salt Dough Ornaments: These were one of our first DIY gifts from Elijah. It was a relatively easy dough to mix up, if I remember correctly (it HAS been about 5 or 6 years). We rolled it out, then used a portion of it to make a couple prints of Elijah’s hand (because baby handprints are always adorable). We also cut out circle shapes for smaller ornaments and gift tags. Once the ornaments were baked, I had Elijah paint his handprint and draw designs on the circle ornaments, too. Then we added a nice ribbon to hang them with. (Note: The bigger the ornament, the heavier they will be, so roll them out as thinly as possible and keep them small).

Popsicle Stick Snowmen: Elijah has always loved snowmen, especially Frosty, so this was a really fun Christmas gift for him to make, and they turned out so adorable. I had the boys paint the sticks and help me glue them together, as well as adding the googly eyes. Then I painted the rest of the faces, including the noses.

Wooden Ornaments with Photos: This Christmas gift project was a bit more tedious than I expected, so the boys didn’t get to help as much. However, I was really pleased with how they turned out. The idea is to take a picture printed out on a laser printer and after coating a small piece of wood with gel medium, you glue the picture onto the wood, smoothing out all the bubbles. Once it has dried overnight, you use a sponge and water to remove the paper (the TEDIOUS part), leaving behind the print. I had to do the sponge and water step several times to get all the paper off (you can see it as little white specs and lines when the project dries). For our ornaments, we used differently shaped pieces of wood – rectangular, round, and heart-shaped (maybe 2”x 3”). Two of the pictures were ones that I took of the boys playing with the Christmas lights, and then I used a photo editor on my phone to add fun word art. Also, I used some pictures of them in the snow. I did some in color and some in black and white, and they all turned out nicely. (By the way, the link above is only to the Pinterest pin because the site is no longer active.)

: Adding the word art made this a magical picture for the ornament.

: Even the black and white works well.

: Make sure you use a laser jet, not an ink jet to print your pictures.

: Now we get to see this smile each year on Grandma’s tree.

While we didn’t make these for gifts, these homemade drum ornaments are super adorable.

PAINT SOMETHING

If we aren’t making ornaments, our projects tend to involve painting or drawing on something else. 🙂

Oven Gloves: Another “handprint” project was the “Grandma’s Helper” oven gloves that we did. I basically just bought some plain oven gloves, had the boys add their handprints on the front, and then wrote “Grandma’s Little Helper” or “Grandma’s Helping Hands” (something like that – haha.). They were really cute, though, and both grandmas were delighted with them.

Mugs: Since the grandmas got oven gloves, we wanted to do something for just the grandpas, too, so that year I had the boys paint on plain white mugs. There are tons of ways you do this, and I think the most popular seems to be to use Sharpie Markers. However, we didn’t. We did paint with a clear coat. I’m not sure how well they’ve held up through a dishwasher, but from what I’ve seen on other sites, there are ways to make them last a long time. (Note: We made sure to keep the paint and clear coat more toward the bottom half of the mugs. Also, the link above it NOT to the tutorial we used. Again, that tutorial is no longer available.)

Picture Frames: Another thing that the boys have painted as Christmas gifts was picture frames. We bought some plain black 4×6 frames, removed the glass, and let the boys paint designs on them. Then we put a nice family photo in it. Simple.

Blank Canvas: Elijah always wanted to do finger painting when he was little-little, so one Christmas, I simply bought a pack of blank canvases, and let him do his thing. They actually are quite neat. He made paintings for his grandparents and great-grandparents. He even had one left over for us, which is still hanging in our bedroom.

PICTURES

Okay, technically this isn’t a “craft,” but it’s always a good gift idea. I don’t know about your family, but my parents and in-laws always enjoy getting actual printed pictures of their grandchildren. While I try to get prints to them throughout the year, I know that many of the photo-printing sites offer coupons and great deals on not only prints, but other fun Christmas gifts around the holidays.

I always watch Shutterfly for their coupon codes for free 4×6 prints, but my two favorite coupon codes to get are either for free photo books or calendars. In the last couple of years, I’ve gotten at least two calendars each season for just the price of shipping. 🙂 You can personalize the calendars with multiple photo layouts and add important family dates, such as birthdays and anniversaries. This way the grandparents get to spend the whole year adoring their grandbabies.

I like to make the photo books into stories. 🙂

THIS YEAR

As of right now, I don’t know what project our boys will be working on for their grandparents’ Christmas gifts. Of course, even if I did, I couldn’t write about it, yet. 😉 With Baby #3 due mid-December, it will definitely have to be something simple that doesn’t require as much supervision from Mommy. Thankfully, they’ve had several years of practice at being crafty and creative for Christmas, and no matter what they do, as long as it’s from them, I’m pretty sure their grandparents will love it.

DO YOUR KIDS MAKE HOMEMADE CHRISTMAS GIFTS? WHAT HAS BEEN YOUR FAVORITE?

Roasted Cinnamon-Spiced Butternut Squash with Sweet Potatoes & Apples

November 1, 2016

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Roasted Cinnamon-Spiced Butternut Squash with Sweet Potatoes & Apples. This delicious roasted butternut squash side dish spiced with cinnamon and sweetened with sweet potatoes and apples is a great healthy addition to any meal or holiday table throughout the fall and winter.

As much as I love summer, there is something to be said about all the crisp weather, cozy clothes, fall fun, and tasty treats that come with autumn. While I love all the apple and pumpkin goodies to be made (Apple pie? YUM! Pumpkin cookies? Yes, please!), I also get really excited when I start seeing butternut squash in the stores.

I’m not sure when I first tried cooking butternut squash for my family, but it quickly became a staple of our autumn pantry. I love making this Winter Squash soup (Pumpkin-Butternut Squash Soup) by the Food Network’s Ina Garten. However, I think my absolute favorite way to enjoy this seasonal veggie is to simply dice it up and roast it, usually along with some sweet potatoes and apples.

The other night I was ready to make this sweet combination as a side for our dinner, but I couldn’t remember at what temperature I usually roasted it. So, I searched online for “roasted butternut squash.”

The first recipe I checked out was one for cinnamon roasted butternut squash from Chew Out Loud. Suddenly, I was ready to spice up my usual recipe a little bit. 🙂

: Butternut squash, sweet potatoes, & apples

: Mix salt, pepper, and cinnamon

: Toss veggies & apples in olive oil

While their recipe calls for adding brown sugar to their squash, I didn’t since I already add sweet potatoes and apples to the mix. I didn’t want to make my dish into too much of a dessert. I also had to adjust the oil and seasoning a bit since I had more to roast overall.

The resulting Roasted Cinnamon-Spiced Butternut Squash with Sweet Potatoes and Apples was delicious! (Even my little picky eater Josiah ate it well.) Not only is it a tasty side, but it is simple and healthy! This is a perfect dish for any meal throughout the fall and winter and would be a great new addition to your Thanksgiving table.

: Stir in the seasoning, toss to coat evenly.

: Spread out on prepped baking sheets

: Bake at 425 for 35-40 mins.

Note: Don’t let the prepping of the butternut squash intimidate you. It seems tricky, but it’s not that bad. I’ve learned that if you microwave it for a few minutes, that will make peeling it much easier. It will even help make it easier to cut up (butternut squash is a hard squash). Of course, be careful, as it will be hot! For more info on prepping your squash, you can check out this How-to from Simply Recipes.

Here’s how I make this yummy fall dish.

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Tag - homemade

Homemade “Little Drummer Boy” Drum Christmas Ornament

But the theme is “The Little Drummer Boy,” which is totally Christmas….but also TOTALLY Isaiah.

LITTLE DRUMMER BOY

DRUM CHRISTMAS ORNAMENTS

WHAT YOU’LL NEED

SUPPLIES

TOOLS

HOW WE MADE THEM

1. Cut the tubing into drum size

2. Paint your drums

3. Cut out the drum head

4. Lace your drum heads together

5. Put the drum heads on the drum

TO HANG THE DRUM ORNAMENTS

BONUS: Drumsticks!

WHAT YOU’LL NEED

HOW MAKE A DRUMSTICK

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So, how did I do it?

SUPPLIES:

INSTRUCTIONS:

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ORNAMENTS

PAINT SOMETHING

PICTURES

THIS YEAR

DO YOUR KIDS MAKE HOMEMADE CHRISTMAS GIFTS? WHAT HAS BEEN YOUR FAVORITE?

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Roasted Cinnamon-Spiced Butternut Squash with Sweet Potatoes & Apples

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