This post is brought to you by Daisy Squeeze Sour Cream. Squeeze more out of the holidays with a #DollopOfDaisy.

Fresh Fruit & Fruit Dip Platter
perfect for kids to put together and serve for the holidays 

Ingredients:
Variety of fresh fruit (the ones with a little bit of tang are ideal)
Daisy Squeeze Sour Cream
1 tbsp sugar
1/4 tsp honey

Directions:
Squeeze out about half the sour cream from the tube, add the sugar (add more if you want it sweeter), and combine well. Add a drizzle of honey on top.

This is how my mom used to serve us fruit when we were little; there was always some sour cream fruit dip on the side. Ben think it’s the strangest combo because fruit already has this wonderful sweetness, but I love the extra little zing of sweet and sour that this fruit dip has. A friend in high school would add brown sugar to sour cream to make the fruit dip. It was slightly different, but just as delicious.

I told the girls about how my mom used to make this dip when I was little, and that now I was going to teach them. They love getting to help in the kitchen, so they were eager to make it. They all got stools and chairs lined up against the kitchen island so they could all take part in the preparations. Everyone had a job and made sure that they were able to do it (I did have to do a little refereeing here and there when one wanted to do it all). True did the sour cream squeezing, Soul added the sugar, Brave did the mixing, and Glow helped put fruit on the platter. Oh, and I did the drizzling of the honey (and chopping of the apples). After that step, the girls were eagerly anticipating filling their tummies with all of it. They were practically salivating!

True set up our platter on top of a little table wreath and voila … it was the perfect little snack as we decorated the house for Christmas! We host Christmas Eve at our house, and I’m giving everyone a job of what they need to bring. I think I’m going to leave it to the girls to get the fruit platter and fruit dip ready. They are definitely pros now, it was so easy to set up (and clean up!).

I’m a big fan of the shop Treehouse Kid & Craft (and they also carry my book!). It’s such a cool site stocked with lots of things I would happily give to my children. I put together a list of favorite things from the shop, and some are things that I have given to our girls in the past. I love toys that encourage a lot of imagination and things they can create with. We also really appreciate practical gifts like the Klean Kanteen. I still have one more present to purchase, and then I think I’m done. If you still need some ideas, maybe this list will help you out! Are you done with Christmas shopping or are you a last minute shopper?

1) wooden geometrics house. 2) colorburst toy. 3) klean kanteen. 4) mini piano. 5) unicorn costume. 6) lapin & me doll. 7) natural toy car. 8) brave pennant. 9) unicorn pencil holder. 10) tegu blocks … our fave!!! 11) balance bike. 12) playon crayon.

I’m patterning with Treehouse Kid & Craft to giveaway this set of Tegu blocks on instagram. I think these blocks are the toys that get played with the most in our house. They turn them into villages, Star Wars characters, airplanes, cars, and the list goes on. They got it for Christmas last year, and they love it so much, they asked for more pieces this year. I will share more details soon on instagram (@cakiesblog). Don’t forget to follow along there, so you won’t miss out!

Merry Elf Doll

Supplies:
Merry Elf Doll template
1/4 yard patterned fabric (body)
1/4 yard striped fabric (legs and arms)
1/8 yard plain fabric (head)
1/4 yard wool felt, various colors
Embroidery floss
Embroidery needle
Poly-Fil

Tools:
Scissors
Pins
Sewing machine

Directions:
1. Cut out all the pieces for the doll.

2.  Place the wool felt piece for the hair on top of the front and back pieces of the doll head and edge stitch on. If desired, add more stitching to give the hair more detail.

3. With the right sides together, line up the raw edges of the neck to the base of the head, pin in place, and stitch together. Repeat for the back body and head pieces. Press the doll body open.

4. Pin the two leg pieces together with their right sides facing, and sew around the perimeter making sure to leave the base open. Turn and press. Repeat for the remaining leg and arm pieces. Lightly stuff all the arms and legs with Poly-Fil. I wanted to give our doll elbows of sorts, 3″ up from the arm tip, I sewed across the width of the arm.

5. Place the back body fabric with the right side up, and place the arms right at the base of the neck going diagonal across the body (arm opening out near the edge of the fabric). Repeat for the arm on the other side, and then place the front body fabric with the right side down, sandwiching the arms inside. Pin in place and sew around the entire perimeter of the body and head. Leave the bottom open. Clip the curves, then turn and press.

6. Fold the base of the body in 1/2″ and press. Insert the legs 1/2″ into the base of the body with each leg 1″ from the corner of the body. Pin in place and edge stitch the opening closed.

7. Cut out the elf clothing pieces from your wool felt. Wrap the collar around the elf’s neck and attach the ends together with a button.

Place the right sides of the hat together, stitch around, turn, and press. Place the right sides of the boots together, stitch around, turn, and press. Add any additional decorative touches you might want like poms or jingle bells at the tips of the hat and shoes.

8. Embroider on your elf face.

Are you an Elf on the Shelf fan? Though we have an Elf on the Shelf (it was a gift), we don’t really participate in the whole find the elf thing. Instead, we thought it would be fun to give our Elf on a Shelf a friend to play with (and let our girls play with them). If you wanted to do the whole elf on a shelf thing with this handmade elf, I think he would happily oblige to be part of it!

This fun guy would also be a nice gift to see hanging out of a stocking on Christmas day, or make this wee felt house for your elf to live in. The girls have tons of homemade dolls, so this elf for sure won’t be lonely. If you want more handmade gift ideas for kids, don’t forget my book, Let’s Sew Together, has plenty of suggestions for you! I still have one handmade present left to make this Christmas, so let’s see if I have time for it. With less than two weeks left to go, I may not have time, and it might end up being a Valentine’s Day gift for the girls instead. We shall see…

We arrived to the Staples Center, and mommy told us we were going to a Laker game, which we weren’t happy about because we aren’t Laker fans. When we were walking in we saw all this Disney stuff,. That made us so confused. When we sat down in our seats, mommy told us our surprise was to watch Disney on Ice presenting Frozen! As we were sitting down, someone asked for our tickets and then gave us new tickets to move closer. We moved so close to the stage, we were only 5 rows back from the ice.

While we were waiting for the show, we took pictures. It was so cold. Then, a boy and girl came out to show the audience how to do a snowman dance. After they left, Mickey Mouse and Goofy came out on a sled, and they were talking about love. Minnie Mouse came out and Glow started waving to her!

Mickey kept talking about love and he called out some characters who knew about love. He called out Snow White and her prince, Ariel and Prince Eric, Rapunzel and Flynn, Cinderella and her prince, Nemo and his dad (and Dori), Buzz and Woody, Timon and Pumbaa, and lastly, Donald Duck! All the characters started singing and dancing together. Finally, most of them left, except for Mickey, Minnie, and Goofy, and Mickey began to tell a story about two sisters, and then Frozen began…

During, the song “Do You Want to Build a Snowman?”, I saw the younger Anna switch with the older Anna. We liked it when Elsa and Anna both said, “Chocolate!” at the same time. My favorite song is “For the First Time in Forever,” and Brave liked “In Summer.” Soul said her favorite was “Fixer Upper,” and Glow’s was “Let it Go.” As Elsa sang, “Let it Go,” and used her powers, snow was falling down and all of us loved that part so much.

The funniest part is when we saw Olaf and his head came off. That part was hilarious! When the show was ending, we saw all the characters come out and dance again. Then, once we were in our car and heading home, we kept talking about how much fun that was. My sisters and I liked it so much that we want to see it again!
– True

Disney on Ice presenting Frozen runs in Southern California from December 9th until January 4th. To see a complete list of tour dates and see if they’re headed to your area you can check here.

This post is in partnership with Feld Entertainment as a Feld Family Ambassador; complimentary tickets for the show were provided. I’m always so thankful opportunities such as this (my girls are especially thankful), and also for the time you take to support me and this space.

Frozen Peanut Butter and Chocolate Banana Bites

Ingredients:
Banana (the more ripe, the better)
Crunchy peanut butter
Chocolate chips
Parchment paper

Directions:
Slice the bananas and place on top a sheet of parchment paper. Put a light dollop of peanut butter on top of each slice, along with a sprinkling of chocolate chips. If you love peanut butter, put a heaping! Place the parchment paper in a small pie pan and put in the freezer. Allow to freeze completely.

Sometimes, I cut my banana in half width-wise, then down the middle of each piece length-wise, and put about 2 tbsp of peanut butter in the middle. Of course, I don’t forget to sprinkle my chocolate chips on top, and stick it in the freezer. After it freezes, I chop it into smaller slices. Either technique works and it’s still the same delicious result.

It’s one of my favorite things to snack on! It’s like eating peanut butter ice cream. I make a bunch at one time, and once it’s frozen, I put it in a big ziplock bag in the freezer, so I can have some ready at all times. What makes it even more delicious is to slather some nutella on it when I eat it. Ohhhhhh … yummers!!!

If you have a peanut allergy like we do, sunflower butter is just as good too! True has no complaints about it.

For her birthday, Soul requested a hotel stay so she can do lots of swimming, and a Luke Skywalker themed celebration.  Thus, we delivered by heading out to the desert to stay at the Saguaro hotel (this is where our hotel birthday tradition started, see it here when True turned 6!), and we made sure that her requests were granted.

We started the day off with the traditional birthday breakfast in bed. No matter where we are, we still make sure we do it (we bring cereal and milk to make it happen). This time she got pumpkin O’s and vanilla soy milk, and Darth Vader delivered the first present. The other girls also showered her with lots of homemade presents, and some little things they bought at Michaels with their own money.

The present Vader delivered was a Star Wars dress; I made it from a large Star Wars t-shirt. She was so excited about the dress. I think she’s worn it three times since, and has even slept in it! She claimed she wanted Star Wars everything, so that’s indeed what she got. True even made her a light saber; their creations for each other are so cute and creative. Soul even made (and bought!) presents for her sisters too. Seriously, their thoughtfulness is so endearing.

Then, we went out to the pool to relax and swim. Ben and I were really nervous to head out because we thought it would be way too cold to get in the pool. To our surprise, the temperature outside and in the pool was perfect! The girls jumped right in. It was cold if you stayed in the shade, but sitting in the warm sun was so glorious. Also, no one was at the pool but us, so it felt like we had the whole thing to ourselves. Actually, we didn’t see one hotel guest at all during our stay there, so everything felt really private. December is a good month to go to Palm Springs.

We also fulfilled her Luke Skywalker themed request (you can see a tidbit here), so I’ll be back to share more pics of that starry party we held in our hotel room.