The week started off with a bang. All weekend, Buggie had been pestering me to put up lights outside and to get her a toy christmas tree...I had initially planned to have Libby turn their little playhouse into a gingerbread house, but decided to just put up some lights and install a tree instead.
December 10
Not every idea needs to be complicated.
December 11
All of this flying back and forth to the north pole every night and then getting into mischief around the house must have made a mess of her clothes, because Libby ended up doing her laundry.
This one is pretty easy, but do put some more thought into the support for the laundry line if you do it. The useless bamboo knitting needles were really hard to keep upright. You can also buy mini clothespins at Dollar Tree if you want to make it even more authentic. To make the towel around Libby, I just trimmed down an old wash cloth and stuck some velcro to it. I may sew it in better in case I want to reuse the towel another year.
December 12
I think the movie night setup might be the all-time favorite of the girlies. Bug was nearly vibrating when she found her in the morning...and I don't think it was just because of the actual popcorn.
December 13
I deviated from the calendar. Call it lazy momma or call it tired momma but this momma really just wanted to go to bed early.
December 14
This one is pretty simple and can be made even more simple. Just tie the yarn between two light fixtures and hang the elf off it. I've seen some people fashion a handle out of a paper clip. I was just going to pin her hands together over the line, but decided to use those plastic candycanes again and tape them to her arms. It was actually better because she sat much more balanced on the line (the pin tended to make the line sharply pull down.)
In other news, the girls now think I am very angry with Libby because she keeps taking my stuff. First she stole the Christmas tree I "bought for my work" and she keeps stealing yarn and I am almost out of gift wrapping tape because she keeps using it up.
December 15
The hope was to keep it simple again. A swing made of a toilet paper tube and some yarn hung on the curtain rod. Yeah..it was all working so well until I tried to add Libby to the mix. It started to look like a strange trapeze act, the way she would suddenly flip upside down. Finally, I had to wrap her arms around the string and then put a safety pin through her hat and around both strings. She wasn't going anywhere by the time I was done. This one is pretty easy - I just made the mistake of thinking it would be fast on an evening when I was dealing with sick and puking kids...
Hope these help any elf moms who are struggling. If you like them, please pin them :)
