JEN SEVERN'S BLOG

Elf on the Shelf ideas are so FUN!  My nearly 10 year old is in charge of our elf this year and she is enjoying getting belly laughs from her brothers as each morning the find out what the elf was up to last night!   My daughter and I brain storm with pintrest and google and then she has free reign!  I am her assistant! We are having a bit of fun together and of course seeing the boys is fun too!  We even get dad to laugh!! Elf under attack! We all love the Christmas Blend! Our elf Twinkle is crazy for sugar!  Syrup out of a straw! Fishing for gold fish!  A favorite pass time!  Ha! Swinging from the Christmas lights! Writing notes in cereal!  He wrote the kids name then a heart and his, which is Twinkle!  

Need a free Holiday Party Printable a class party?  I do!  I signed up to bring water to my kids holiday parties.  My girlfriend, yes Amanda, suggested I make labels that say "Melted Snowman".  Too cute!  I just made them this morning and I thought you may like them for your holiday parties too!   Enjoy!  Just print, cut and tape to the water bottle!  Happy Holidays!

Enjoy these Thanksgiving FUN ideas! Leaf Turkey from TwoKidsCooking! Thankful Turkey from Little Family Fun . Wreath of Plenty from Parent Magazine . Beautiful Art by Red Letter Words. Martha Stewart Thanksgiving Crafts Simple!  Nice!

Print, frame and place on your entry table for a fun fall feel for friends when they walk into your home! Here are three of my favorites! Place in an 8x10 frame. By Ansti- Pants By The Graphics Fairy By The Creative Paige

This is the easiest recipe!  Just 3 ingredients and SO delicious!  I re-post it every year because it is DELICIOUS.  Click here PUMPKIN MUFFINS for the recipe! mmmmmmmm!

Shalel Lounge Shalel Lounge.  I can't wait to go back. Love REW.  This is the only picture I have of us:( I am looking pretty tired, true, I was!  With friends, it doesn't matter.  Just so thankful to be together! I just returned home from visiting a few of my dear friends on the east coast!  I started in a sweet little apartment just off the Hudson visiting my girl friend and her husband.  We went to an incredible Moroccan restaurant called Shalel Lounge.  It is a little romantic cave hidden in the Manhattan rock.  I was engaged in the most amazing story of miracle after miracle and the hesitant hope of a child.  Heart warming and I just can't help but get teary with gratitude.  Then we went home to be loved on by Ama their little big eyed pup who turns his head as if to say, "really"!  We racked out and in the morning her hubby and I talked shop. LOVE.  Rebecca treated...

My husband went to a men's retreat this weekend and this was one of the verses that was a highlight for him.  Men carry a ton of weight as the providers for our families.  I think it is more than we often even realize.  There are so many times in the Bible that the apostles ask for prayer for themselves.  We often read "pray for me...".  So today, I will ask you all to pray for me.  I am on the verge of making some pretty big decisions about jumping back into work.  As I consider it, will you pray this verse for me?  Also will you pray this verse for my husband.  I was reading the other day in 1 Corinthians, "these three remain, faith, hope and love, but the greatest of these is love."  Jeremiah 29:11 is a verse of hope, faith and love, three things we all long for.   I encourage you too, to click on this picture and print it.  What should you do with it after you print it?  Maybe you could write a ...

We had a free day on Sunday.  Not a single commitment on the books.  No type of ball, meaning, T-ball, softball or baseball.  Whew.  What to do?  Scott and I have been talking about romancing our children's hearts by bringing adventure into their little lives and ours too.  We are home bodies and enjoy chilling at home, so it takes a little motivation to get us all united and out the door. Yesterday I was flipping through 5280 and noticed a breakfast place called Waffle Brothers.  Yum! Treat yourself to a breakfast here.  They highlighted the restaurant downtown, but after doing a little research I found there is on one the hill in Boulder too, which fit perfectly into our plans.  The one on the hill is more of a take out joint.  You can call ahead and order, which we did. Sunday morning as we headed into Boulder we called and ordered the delicious Natural Borne Killer, a waffle infused with Brown Su...

You can print one of these and put it in a frame for your entryway table to jazz up your July.  The One Nation is proudly welcoming my guests standing tall in a white antiqued wooden frame.  It's super cute.  Enjoy! From Detail-Oriented Diva From Detail-Oriented Diva From Detail-Oriented Diva

I save glass jars! Why? Because, you can do tons a great things with them.  All kinds of everyday foods  come in glass jars, like, pasta sauce, garlic and jelly, to name a few.  These 4th of July luminaries look fun and festive.  Ambiance is a special part of any holiday.  Why not let everyone in the family get involved in creating it.  I want to see our family's artistic energy in these and can bring beauty into our home.  You can even recycle them after the holiday or use them next year.  I am putting this on our "to do" list!  Get your smock on. From Crafts by Amanda.  Click here for her step by step instructions.

Lets take it one day at a time has been my mantra of late. It seems to be all I can handle. Today, for me, really does have enough worry of its own. Tomorrow, I will do tomorrow. That is not to say I am not concerned with the future. I am a planner and love filling in calendars. The big picture, Rome, motivates me. Here is how my one-day at a time mantra folds into my workout schedule. "Rome wasn't built in a day and neither was your body." Tony Horton coined. This daily encouragement plays through my head when I begin to whine about working out. Is it worth it? Is my health really improving? Well at least today I did something. I can only do so much each day. I am a big believer in taking care of our bodies. Though, until recently, I have not been real consistent, post children. My youngest is now five and I am crediting his age for my new found consistency. "Rome wasn't built in a day and neither was your body." Do it again, today. One day at a time ...

We are having some friends stay with us this summer for a week.  I really want to be sure that they are comfortable and feel welcome.  Is there anything you do to make your guests feel welcome and at home?  I am looking for some good ideas!  Most of our family lives in Colorado, so we just don't have a lot of out of town guests.  I found one good idea on pinterest, but looking for more.  Any ideas for me? Here is a simple and sweet idea for a guest tray. Oh, I forgot to tell you about our guests.  A dear girl friend of mine, her husband and their two boys, 9 and 6.  Any fun ideas?

That was a very long break.

Hey Friends!  I am going on spring break!  I have to brag a little, our garage looks AMAZING!  I'll post a picture of it on FB via instagram.  I am going to take then next couple weeks off and get ready for spring break, and then just enjoy some R&R with my kids.  No cleaning during spring break.  I like to do that when I am all alone.  I have time to think and sort.  I can get rid of things with out any vetos :); it's hard enough as it is.  I hope you all have a great couple of weeks!

Hey Friends!  I hope you all have an excellent weekend!  We have 2 soccer games, 2 buddies to celebrate, a whole lot of March Madness to relax to, and a garage to clean!  Whew!  Hello Friday! I need a little of this to make my weekend right... Corned Beef and Cabbage

Are you ready for a modern challenge?  Today  your goal is to clean out your email inbox.  DELETE!  Make folders and drag important emails to a safe folder.  Answer emails.   I have mine all cleaned up and organized.  Just 4 emails in my inbox.  Yeah!

Your challenge today is to straighten up a linnen closet.  I worked on my bathroom yesterday, so for me this is part two from spring cleaning my place where I get ready. I have a linnen closet in my bathroom.  It stands 6 shelves high.  I store  towels, finger nail polish, and lots of extras in there.  I keep extras of thing I hate running out of.  It's a real bummer when there is no shampoo or contact solution, so I try to keep a few extras, and purchase them when they are on sale. I have extra shampoo, soap, lotion, cosmetics, contact care, dental hygiene products and personal items for traveling.  Each category has a basket or a bin.  We keep all of our extra dental hygiene products in one basket, another for eye care and so on.  Today I plan to go through each of those baskets or bins.  I will clean them out.  Get rid of or recycle what I will not use.  Resort.  Clean the inside of each bin. Before  I ...

Make-up mayhem.  What is under my sink? Today's challenge is to go to the bathroom where you get ready and clean out the the area!  All the hustle and bustle and the morning rush can leave this area a disaster over time.  It is a place we use every day, so it gets lots of love.  My area needs a make-over, and a through spring cleaning! Every morning when I go to put on my make-up I tug on my hickory cabinet gingerly, expecting something to come crashing on to my toes.  My make-up is nicely organized into a pink polka-dot traveling case.  One section holds foundation products, one for eye make-up and one for lips.  It works well and it's washable!  It is great for running off to the gym and it's one less thing to pack when I am getting ready for a vacation. Here is the problem.  My pink case is sitting on top of a big black caboodle type box.  It is NASTY inside.  Coated with layers of old mak...

Hey friends!  Here is your challenge for today.  Think of an area that is cluttered and driving you crazy.  Make time to tackle that area this week/end.  If you live with someone get on the same page, and plan how you will accomplish your goals.  I suggest doing it on a day when you don't have a lot going on.  Carve out plenty of time to get it done.  Put good music on!  Music makes the time go by faster and eases the tension.  Order pizza for dinner that night or do something easy.  If it's a big project you will be cooked by the end and no one wants to stand in the kitchen after a day like that.  My husband and I attacked our storage room today.  It was a disaster.  You really could hardly walk from one end to the other.  We stopped half way and bought 4 new clear storage bins with lids from Target and then finished it up.  It feels GREAT!  We are already planning to take on the garage next ...

Here is an EASY one!  Go to a place where your magazines accumulate and clean it out.  My magazines tend to pile up.  I have the best of intentions to read all the interesting articles in my favorite magazines and it seems a new one is in my mail box before I have read the last one.  Recycle!!!  Start fresh.  Clean out those magazine racks!  Maybe only leave one.  Or get rid of all of them, and then choose a new one on spring time topics.  Good luck! Start FRESH! This looks much more appealing.  One or two magazines looks clean, appealing, inviting, neat, orderly, and inspiring.  Keep it clean!  Something so small can change the look and feel of a room.

Day 3 Today's challenge is to attack one stack of papers.  Sometimes I feel like I am overwhelmed with papers.  Papers from school, mail, bills, recipes, coupons, news letters I want to read someday, tax documents, lists, papers I need to sign, thank you notes I need to send... Papers, Papers, Papers...  So what do I do?  Put them in a pile.  Today's challenge is to find one spot that you stack papers and go through them.  Put them where they belong.  Throw out trash.  Read it and recycle.  Get the letters in the mail.  One stack completely done!  You can do it!  Okay I am off to do mine.  Have a wonderful day friends! 30 Minutes maybe an hour.  You could even watch a show while you do it? Good luck!  I know you will feel a weight off your shoulders, and maybe you didn't even know it was there!  Happy Wednesday Everyone! No stacks of papers on this desk and isn't it NICE!