Elfie's Antics

We've had so much fun searching for Elfie each morning and seeing all his crazy hiding places & tricks!

One morning, he had stolen my camera and taken pictures of himself.  This is what we found on our computer when we turned it on:


Another morning, we found Elfie with instructions on planting some magic seeds!  She planted them in sugar, sprinkled with magic snow, and waited......later in the day we started to see the magic working...the sugar turned green!!  And by the next morning, m&m candy canes had grown!!


Elfie is not quite so extravagant every morning.  Some days we just find him hiding in silly places - or checking  himself out in the mirror.

But then the other day, Claire had a hard time with one of her "rules" that Santa had specifically asked her to work on.  Elfie left a note saying he was sad that his magic did not work and that she would need to really try hard to follow the rules so that his magic would work again.

Luckily we found Elfie again the next morning! 

More Christmas Fun

So much to do this time of year and the calendar is filling up fast!  Claire wanted to be sure we got her letter in the mail in time for Santa to receive it.  She wrote it all by herself and was very proud of it.  In case you have trouble reading it (because the picture is so small of course) it says:
Dear Santa,
Say Hi.  How are you today?  I want a Doc McStuffins Doctor kit.  Bye

She's been talking about a new doctor kit non-stop....I hope Santa comes through!

Last night while Daddy was at a basketball game, we met up with Aunt Mere and Kate at the Stony Point Christmas tree.  When I first got there, it had a few white lights on it and there was a song playing.  I thought to myself "gee, is this it?  I can't believe we drove all the way over here for this...."  And then the music started and the lights were dancing - the look on Claire's face was so worth it!  She loved it and Fielder seemed to enjoy it too.  Then we went to Panera for a treat and by the time we finished it was time for the light show again.  Thanks Mere for a fun Christmas activity!

O Christmas Tree!

We found Elfie on Sunday morning hanging from our light in the playroom.  We noticed he was holding an ornament and took that as a hint that he wanted us to put up the Christmas tree!  We certainly didn't want to disappoint the little guy (that reports to the Big Guy) so up went our tree!  After reading Alison's hilarious story about getting a real tree, I'm happy to say we still have our trusty old fake tree!  Within an hour with Fielder strapped to my back, we had it out of the attic, set up and decorated.  Ok, I'll admit....it would be really cool one year to go chop down a real one!
Here are my helpers:


This is how we rigged up the furniture to keep Fielder out of the tree.  It works for him, but it definitely doesn't keep Claire out.  She's been rearranging and playing with the ornaments ever since.

We've also been playing a lot of "find the pickle."  I think the tradition is supposed to be that it's hidden and whoever finds it (the first time) wins a special prize.  Claire just likes to play so we do this over and over and over, but no prizes!

Even though it's such a hassle to keep Fielder from destroying stuff, I love having all the Christmas decorations up!  Nothing better than hanging out with my family and the lights from the tree sparkling in the room  :-)

Elfie's back!

Elfie made his grand appearance on December 1!  He brought Claire and Fielder a note and some snow donuts straight from the North Pole.  (notice he is enjoying a donut himself)  When Claire saw that he had also set the table for her with a Christmas place mat, plate, and cup she said "Wow, I guess Elfie really is magic!"
Looks like Elfie might be stepping up his game from last year...

December 1st was also the Parade downtown.  We squeezed in an hour of parading between Fielder's nap and lunchtime.  It was fun, but I think next year we'll plan a little better, get there early and set up camp.  Claire loved Rudolph and Frosty the best.

The parade is the most random mix of floats, bands, groups, and balloons.  The strangest is the Star Wars people that are totally dressed up and look exactly like from the movies.  I was cracking up because at one point Claire was covering her eyes and scared to death while Fielder was high-fiving Darth Vader.  I wish I had a picture of that!!

 

Thanksgiving 2012

Happy Thanksgiving!  This year I am thankful for antibiotics  :-)  The day before Thanksgiving, I was sure we were going to have to miss out, but luckily after a visit with the pediatrician we were deemed "not contagious."  Both kids on antibiotics and a day of rest allowed us to go to Mimi and Papa's for turkey day!
(Sorry Mere, I totally forgot to get the picture you requested, but this one in the backyard turned out cute anyway.)

The kids all had fun playing outside in the teepee - it was such a beautiful day!





Claire and Samara did a great job of making a mess.  They pulled out Mimi's "jewels" and got dressed up.  Then they headed upstairs to the toy closet and pulled out just about everything.  (the next day Mimi went upstairs for something and noticed a bedroom door closed.  The girls had put the baby doll in the crib for her "nap" and turned on the box fan.)


The kids each had gifts to open before dinner....they were excited to get Pete the Cat's Christmas book!  And Fielder got a Santa board book - thank goodness he's finally slightly interested in looking at a book!

Thanks to Mom and Dad for hosting a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner !

Cardboard Creations

We've been going a little crazy with the cardboard boxes lately (ok, mainly me.)  It started with Claire wanting a rocket ship.....which ended up looking more like a coffin.  So then I made the "cars" which weren't very exciting but the kids loved.  I've been keeping an eye out at work for the perfect box to make a house and then one day we were outside and saw the neighbors getting their furnace repaired.  This huge box was just sitting there calling my name.  I went up to the workmen and asked if I could have it - I'm sure they thought I was nuts as I was dragging it across the neighbors' yards while holding Fielder in my other arm.  It was so big I couldn't even fit it through the door, but by that point I was determined to have this box.  After work that night, I turned it into a cool playhouse to surprise Claire in the morning.  They played in it all day!  Fielder thought it was great fun to open and close the door and deliver mail. 


It was perfect timing to have something fun to play with at home because Claire was sick (sinus infection....actually both kids have been sick all month) and we couldn't really go anywhere.  The next day we took Claire to the doctor, got her on antibiotics, and she spent the day resting.  She even fell asleep in the box for about 2 hours!

Now that the box has lost it's initial appeal, I have to figure out how to get it out of here!  I guess we'll be playing with it for another week until Recycle Day  :-)

1st Birthday Party

Claire was very excited to make this sign for our front door.  (She wanted it to say "party for Fielder and Claire"....hmmm, maybe a little jealous?)

How do you like my birthday wreath I made?!  After several trips to the craft and dollar store and 300+ balloons, I think it turned out pretty cool!  I loved seeing Fielder's photos all lined up.  Claire said the first 3 pictures were "another baby."

Birthday party day!  We invited the family over for brunch and celebrating.  I had to wake up the birthday boy to come join his party.  He was very clingy and to me, seemed more "shy" than his normal self, but I guess that's what happens when you wake up from a nap and there are 15 people in your living room. 

the kiddie table

cardboard box "cars"

The girls all helped Fielder with his presents.  (He liked the tissue paper best of all.) 




No surprise that Fielder loved the cupcakes.  I put one down on his tray and he scooped up all the icing in one hand and shoved it all in his mouth.  Then the other hand grabbed the rest of the cake.   

Thanks everybody for coming and celebrating with us!   And thank you for all the nice gifts!!