Tinsel

So I think the last time I wrote Tinsel was trying to go out the front door in an RV. Well because she couldn't take a trip outside of the house she decided to take a fishing trip INSIDE the house...

Joyeux Noel!

Gangnam Style a la Sam & Juliet

And who can forget about Sof...

'twas the week before Christmas

What a CRAZY week it's been. Last Friday night was my staff Christmas party and believe it or not, I was home pretty early. I was in bed by 10 and sometime overnight got hit REALLY hard with the flu. I slept for 34 hours straight. Didn't even see the kids until Sunday morning when I was forced to parent because Sam had a hockey tournament. It was awful. Clinging on to life I did my very best to mother the girls while Sam & his hockey team cleaned up that tourney & took home the gold! Way to go Novice C1. Sam even got MVP for one of the games....

deck the halls

In comes the holiday season out pour the crafts & festivities. Well, sort of.

In the past I've been known to go a little cookie crazy...

It's like a crazy 5-day extravaganza. You can see more about it here. Unfortunately last year I forwent the cookie baking process because A.) I was pregnant and who wants to do anything when they're pregnant and B.) We were in the midst of kitchen renos. This year I have no excuse. Ok let's go with lack of time and laziness. But come to think of it... I should really bake this weekend.

Herself the Elf...

Got some more photos to share of Tinsel. So on day 3 she decided to have a party on the kitchen counter and got together with Ariel for some cake & sprinkles... a little too much of the latter.

Juliet was a bit freaked out to have her just sitting on the counter. "Mommy if I just reach out my arm I could touch her." Well don't reach out your arm then.

Elf on the Shelf

I just wanted to keep you up to date with the goings-on of our elf, Tinsel. I think she is going to be a trouble maker... talk about setting an example! Yesterday the kids found her swinging in the chandelier! Worse still... this morning she was hiding in the milk jug and had dyed the milk green! Sam was not interested in drinking the milk but once we showed him it was okay he had honey nut cheerios & green milk. I wonder what she'll be up to next....

Happy December

Last year I talked about the little family traditions we've started... the Prescott Parade, the Nutcracker (which is this Friday night!!). Well, I'm happy to say I've got a couple more up my sleeve.

While browsing the web for craft ideas I came across some really cool ideas for advent calendars. Forget cheap chocolate hiding behind doors... this year, and every year thereafter, we're counting down the days to Santa's arrival with books! The idea was to get 24 Christmas themed books and wrap them up. I've numbered each one and every night beginning today the kids will find the number for the day & unwrap the book. That way every night they will get a Christmas story before bed! Once Christmas arrives the books will go away until next year when I will wrap them again in random order. The initial investment has been a little pricy because I've had to buy most of the 24 books, but then they'll just get re-used year after year. The kids will be so excited every December to get to read all their Christmas books again, all the while counting down the days until Christmas!

Unfortunately my book shopping backfired and I haven't received all 24 of my books. I really wanted to have ALL 24 books wrapped by today but I had to order quite a few of my books online. So I'll wrap them as they arrive & add them to the box.

Then I used a little heart-shaped punch & sticker paper to create tiny little hearts to hide the numbers on...

So today the kids opened # 1. Enter new tradition number 2...

Oh yes. I'm sure you've all seen it before by now. And I caved. I pretended that I just bought a book about this elf but that Santa must have come last night and somehow brought it to life. Oh that sneaky Santa... never ceases to amaze! So we sat on the couch and read the book. The kids were in awe. They hung on every word and by the end were fully engulfed in the story of our elf on the shelf. They just couldn't believe it! She comes to life every night and visits the north pole to report to Santa on their behaviour (good & bad)! First they needed to give her a name so the magic would work, but they can't ever touch her or her magic will vanish. Sam freaked out when Juliet "pretended" to try and touch her. Lol. Sam immediately wanted to call her Dairy Queen. Really? I don't know where he gets his ideas, but Juliet didn't like that. We couldn't even sell her on DQ. Then I suggested a name and both kids thought it was great.

So her name was chosen and then we decided on a place for her to sit & watch us for the rest of the afternoon. Sam panicked.... I told him it was okay for adults to touch her. "How do you know?" he asked. "I looked it up online." I said. "Oh. Ok." Phew...

So... here she is perched on the TV where she spent the day observing.

They are SOOOOOOO excited to wake up tomorrow and find her hiding in the house somewhere, and equally excited to open book #2.