Elf Antics 2013

 The kids were so happy to have our elves arrive on schedule (December 1) again this year (in a box from the post office - trying to break out).  They got welcome hugs and a lecture from Tyler warning that this year we have a puppy and they had better watch out that they don't find themselves somewhere she could chew on them in the morning.
Dec 2 - being new to the dog thing, they thought the container on the counter must be cookies.  Nope - icky dog biscuits.
Dec 3 - must have angered the plastic Army Guys as we found them tied up/trapped under a vase and surrounded by the entire Army Guy collection
Dec 4 - toilet papered the Christmas tree

 Dec 5 - saw that we had decorated Tyler's door with balloons, so they added some crepe paper decorations of their own for him to wake up to on his birthday.
Dec 6 - helped feed the dog

Dec 7 - built their own swings (yarn and TP rolls) and were swinging from the ceiling fan, along with a paper chain countdown
Dec 8 - fishing for goldfish in the bathroom sink
Dec 9 - making copies of themselves on the printer

Dec 10 - brought Tyler a Cars theme Monopoly game and were playing it in his room with some of his toys
Dec 11 - Kaitlyn's turn for a new game.  The elves brought her a Hello Kitty (Trouble style) one and were playing it in her room with some of her toys.
Dec 12 - making Smores by the fireplace
Dec 13 - found them behind a chair in the sunroom, right next to the kennel teasing the dog
Dec 14 - in the garage roller skating and riding bikes.  They had even set up a little ramp for tricks.

Dec 15 - elf kissing booth with Barbies lined up to get (Hershey's peppermint) Kisses
Dec 16 - stuck outside on the front porch peeking in the window while perched on the candy cane wreath
Dec 17 - built snowmen out of mini powdered donuts
Dec 18 - made the kids lunches and packed them in their backpacks.  The lunches included a note from the elves, some elf style lunchbox jokes, snowman shaped Nutella sandwiches, chips (with snowflake sprinkles in the bags), chocolate milk, and sugar cookie flavor Pop Tarts for snack time (the kids were excited to point out that there were pictures printed onto the icing)
Dec 19 - paper sack race with some of the toys/stuffed animals

Dec 20 - hid candy canes around the house and wrote a note asking the kids if they could find them

Dec 21 - brought us a cotton candy machine (we had been to Disney on Ice the night before and didn't spring for the $10 cotton candy)
Dec 22 - guess they figured they needed some exercise.  We found them on the yoga mat with Tinsel trapped under the hand weights and Twinkle tangled in the exercise bands.

Dec 23 - brought a new puzzle and had started putting it together

And Dec 24 the kids are predicting the elves with forego the antics and instead write them a goodbye note and let them know if they made it to the Nice List! 
Do you think they made it on the Nice List?

Christmas, Christmas, Christmas!

How did I not get this posted a couple of weeks ago?!  That's the Christmas Craziness hitting I suppose.  I did start uploading photos and had saved the draft for this post quite a while ago.  Oh well.  Better late than never.  Here's a peak at our house all ready for CHRISTMAS!

Setting up the tree (day after Thanksgiving, as is our tradition).

Fireplace.  I'm seriously considering changing out the stockings for next year.  The kids insist the puppy needs one of her own (and I did buy a $2 one with an animal print for this year, but it's not making an appearance until Christmas Day).

And look how nice the new console table looks with a few accessories!  Can't wait to figure out how I want to decorate it for daily use.

The "window box" near the entry - still one of my favorite things from craft day with friends years ago.

The front porch!  I had a little fun with it this year and added some deco mesh around the door.  Good thing too as, once again, we decided not to buy a bunch of lights for the exterior of the house.  (We got blinds for the living room and craft room instead!)  So at least we look very festive during the day.

The elves showed up right on schedule (December 1st) and we've been having fun seeing what they've been up to every day.  (I'll try to do a post all about their antics for the month tomorrow!)

 

 Let's see...more decorations for the inside.  The ledge by the stairs.  (craft projects that didn't get done is a couple of things to add on each side of the shutter thingy for Christmas.  Maybe next year)

 A peek into Tyler's room.  Their tiny bedside trees are one of the kids' favorite things.

 And here's my favorite - our big tree!

 Believe it or not, the kids helped quite a bit with it and no, I did not move a single ornament either one of them placed.  They're getting so good at decorating (another sign they are growing up oh so quickly).

Oh - I almost forgot!  The candy cane wreaths I made at craft day a couple months ago.  Did you notice they weren't in the earlier picture of the front porch?  I forgot about them for a week or so too until I spotted one on my neighbor's front door.  So I switched them out for the wreaths on the windows and moved the wreaths onto the railing on the porch.

All set for Christmas!  I'm in SUCH a holiday mood! (hehe)

Elf Antics 2012

Three days until Christmas!  We're all so excited!  With the last half-day of school for vacation yesterday, we have hit the end of the Have To events, planning, parties, and prep and I'm looking forward to spending the next 3 days just relaxing and having fun with my little family.
That also means we only have 3 more days with the elves, which have been visiting us the entire month of December and reporting back to Santa.  So it's probably a good time to do a quick recap of what those mischief-makers have been up to.

Week 1:
-showed up with Hello letter
-wrapped the toilet with wrapping paper (and themselves!)
-brought Christmas cereal - and got stuck in the box!

-played with the legos the kids left out in the playroom.  Tinsel built himself a sleigh and turned the monster trucks into reindeer.  Twinkle disassembled the Lego Friends shop (Kaitlyn wasn't happy about that) and built a winter scene with christmas trees and a snowman.

-Were found with Tyler's presents on his birthday, with Tinsel trying to peek into on of the packages!
-had a Nerf gun war with all the new toys from Ty's birthday

-Twinkle fell asleep in the decorative sleigh on the ledge in the stairway while Tinsel tried out his repelling skills
-hid in the Christmas tree
-on the day after Ty's Nerf Top Shop party, were found in the garage where the obstacle course was still set up with Tinsel on the hanging rings (bow and arrow targets) and Twinkle had taken a tumble off the balance beam

Elf Antics

Thought I'd share a few photos of our elves this month. They've been quite busy! Trying to break the pinata the day of Tyler's birthday party

yarn & candy cane zip line

ooops! He must have fallen into the stocking while trying to leave a surpise for the kids! (mini gingerbreah house kits)

blanket fort!

Thank goodness he was too little to get the Harley out of the garage! The elves did get to ride in the car to take the kids to school that morning though.

Playing dress up

What have your elves been up to?

*you can see original idea post for our elves here (link) as well as some of the other elf antics throughout the years if you search tags for Christmas, or elves.
Linking to:
Elf on the Shelf party at Come Together Kids

31 Days: Day 25 - Traditions

What is the first thing you think about when it comes to celebrating the holidays? My guess is that most of you would list something that involves some of your family traditions, right? Gift giving, decorating, parties...they all include some sort of tradition. For example, I always wait until the day after Thanksgiving to get out the Christmas decorations and put up the tree and I almost never fail to do that on that day. Tradition. My husband makes gingerbread waffles on Christmas morning. Tradition. Taking one night to drive around the neighborhood to see the lights while drinking hot chocolate and listening to Christmas music (Trans-Siberian Orchestra). Tradition. It's what makes the holidays special and fun.

Traditions aren't just for the holidays. I'm sure a lot of you have ways you like to celebrate birthdays or good grades on a report card or a promotion or National Cheesecake Day. ;) The kind of things that make the difference between and ordinary day and one that's just a little bit more. Please share!

One of my favorite traditions for the upcoming holidays is the month-long visit from Santa's Elves. This is an idea I started 4 years ago (original post here) and the kids have been in love with it ever since. In fact it's very highly anticipated and Kaitlyn has already been talking about them this year.
For those of you that aren't familiar with what I'm talking about, our Christmas elves are a variation of the Elf on the Shelf. Santa sends his elves to our home to report back on the kids' behavior. During the day the elves are just stuffed toys, but of course they're magic and at night they like to play. We often wake up to find they have been up to some silly stuff while we were sleeping. Sometimes they bring things for the kids. Sometimes they leave notes. Sometimes they get in a little bit of trouble. (really it just depends on how creative I am and how well I planned ahead!) It's all a lot of fun.

Since I started the tradition, I've had more than one of my friends join me in it. And this year I've been happy to see even more ideas and fun things online that go along with it. (Check out my Christmas board on pinterest. I have a few unique ideas pinned on there) There is a fun website devoted entirely to Elf on a Shelf (link here) and they are even coming out with an Elf on the Shelf movie! (set your DVRs! this site says the TV special will be on CBS November 25th then on DVD after that) So fun!

Now, it's time for me to get a couple orders ready to go in the mail before heading up to the school to watch my daughter race in the elementary school's traditional pre-Thanksgiving Turkey Trot. I'm interested to know though - what are some of your favorite traditions (holiday or otherwise)? Do Santa's elves visit your house, and what do they do while they visit?

Magic Elves

Meet Tinsel and Twinkle. They are the little elves that Santa sends to our house in December to keep an eye on the kids for him to make sure they are being good. (I love this little trick of Christmas - makes my life so much more pleasant when I have something extra to keep Katy in line) But we need to keep an eye on the elves too because each night they find something new to keep them busy, and sometimes get into mischief! This will be our second year hosting the elves and Kaitlyn is very excited to see where she finds them each day.

They showed up on our doorstep this morning with their passports, a letter of introduction/instruction from Santa, and their report forms that will be given to Santa on when he pickes them up on Christmas Eve. Kaitlyn's response, "Well, then we'd better be good!"

I have to admit that this year I wasn't totally prepared for the elves yet. The first of Dec just kind of crept up on me and Sam actually reminded me last night that they were showing up today. So I was secretly getting the letter written and updating the pastports while Katy was watching a cartoon before bed last night. Then the seldom experienced but very gratifying moment when I showed everything to Sam and HE WAS IMPRESSED! :) He even told me that our kids are lucky to have such a creative mom! Sorry - just had to share because a lot of the time guys just don't "get it" and I was impressed with him for expressing those sentiments.

Here is my Elf Schedule
1-on doorstep w/
-letter of introduction
-passport
-report
2-crumbs all over, hiding in laundry room by mini vac (Didja know elves live off crackers and water??)
3-in stocking w/ coloring pgs*
4-in kids’ closets
5-in living room with Ty’s bday presents
6-making breakfast (on counter, in cupboards)
7-under K’s bed
8-watching a movie w/ popcorn, blankets, new DVD?*
9-in hall w/ paper snowflakes*
10- left note on computer
11-in car
12-making cookies - dough in fridge, one in cupboard
13-TBD
14-TBD
15- in kitchen/living room w/ craft project*
16-in bathtub (clothing trail?)
17- in freezer with ice cream
18-reading books in Ty’s room w/ new book*
19-tree
20- in Katy’s room having a cotton ball snowball fight
21- outside - can see them from windows
22-my room
23- living room/kitchen w/ thank you card made out letters from newspaper
24-Katy’s room? Outside? Under the tree?
**have ready and waiting by the cookies and egg nog for Santa to pick up


I can't remember where I first saw this idea but for those of you that are interested, I did get a lot of inspiration from http://www.organizedchristmas.com/. They even have the reports, etc that you can print out. Just look for their Magic Elves section.

Update (12/13): I am adding a bit more information due to lots and lots of emails asking for more! I am happy to give you even more if this doesn't get you off to a good start. Feel free to keep emailing. And if you do implement this be sure to let me know!

Here are a couple of links that will give you ideas on how to "explain" the elves showing up. http://magicalholidayhome.com/elves/?page_id=33
And though I can't find it right now, I think the letter I put with the elves last year (to start the tradition) must have looked something like this http://magicalholidayhome.com/elves/?page_id=32 Be sure to look all around this site - it has tons of cute ideas!
Someone has also started up a Magic Elf profile on MySpace LOL.

I have also found that there are some "package deals" that you can get a set of elves along with a book about their story. Just do a search on the internet for Elf on the Shelf or The Night Before Thanksgiving (I think this is the better of the two).

And I meant to tell you - I had the devil of a time finding stuffed elves in the stores last year. (this was long before I stumbled across the package stuff, but I think the elves I found are cuter) So you may just want to skip the search and go directly to Amazon.com to buy your elves :)