Thursday, December 22, 2011

Dec. 18-22

More Patric pics. This little guy only has 2 more nights with us before he heads back to the North Pole until next Christmas season.

Dec. 18

Dec. 19

Dec. 20

Dec. 21

Dec. 22


Saturday, December 17, 2011

Dec. 9-17

I've gotten behind in posting the pics of the elf's adventures so I thought I'd combine them into one post. LJ has really enjoyed looking for Patrick each morning when he wakes up. I'm going to miss this little guy after Christmas.

Dec. 9

Dec. 10

Dec. 11

Dec. 12

Dec. 13

Dec. 14

Dec. 15

Dec. 16

Dec. 17

Friday, December 16, 2011

My little brother

My little brother is all grown up. Married and now expecting his first child. Ricky and Chrissy make such a cute couple. Last weekend they asked me to snap a few pics of them and I just thought I'd share some of my favorites. The third picture was us picking on studio photographers. You know the way they always make you pose with your hand on the other person's chest and your heads leaned in touching? It was a silly picture, but it turned out cute.







Letters to Santa

Maxwell Elementary had a Breakfast with Santa last Saturday morning and LJ went. He had a great time. First he enjoyed a pancake and sausage breakfast from McDonalds. After breakfast he typed his letter to Santa and then went to get his picture made with Santa. The last thing he did was decorate a picture frame. It was a great event and I'm glad I was able to take LJ.





Everyone wrote a letter to Santa (LJ and Alyssa were there to type their own letter and I typed Trinity up one. I knew what she wanted). They had a mailbox set up at the school for everyone to put their letter to Santa in, but we decided to bring ours home so Patrick could deliver them to Santa when he flew back to the North Pole for his daily report.

Christmas fun at school

I came across a cute idea for a goody bag on Pinterest. It's a packet of hot chocolate mix, mini marshmallows, candy cane and hershey kisses. SNOWMAN SOUP. I decided to make up enough for Trinity and LJ's classes and a few for Alyssa's friends. I didn't have time to make a fancy tag, so I just printed this simple tag and attached them to the bags.




For teacher gifts this year I decided on monogrammed fleece blankets. I got a sweet email from one of the teachers this afternoon telling me how much she loved the blanket and that she was ready to get home and snuggle up under it. I'm so glad I'm able to do things like this for the special people in our lives.

All wrapped up and ready for the teachers


Mr. Cook, Mrs. Hayes, Mrs. King


Mrs. Poss, Mrs. Land, Mrs. Howard



And LJ filled out the envelopes for the cards that we attached to the bags. He usually writes butter, but I had given him a sharpie pen to write with and I think that messed him up a little.



We have truly been blessed with teachers this year for the younger two. Alyssa had Mrs. Land and Mrs. Howard last year and they're great. I know Mrs. Poss and was excited to find out she was teaching Trinity this year along with Mrs. Howard and Mrs. Land. And LJ's teachers are fantastic. I told Mrs. Hayes that the group just needed to move on up to teach 1st grade next year so LJ could have them all again.

Thursday, December 8, 2011

Dec. 8

Patrick decided to be a little naughty when he returned from the North Pole today. That crazy little elf.

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Dec. 7

I didn't even hear the little guy come back in the house as I slept on the couch right next to the stockings. He perched himself in LJ's stocking when he came back from the North Pole.


Dec. 6

Patrick resting on my Merry Christmas blocks.

Dec. 5

Patrick decided to hang out in my wreath. Glad he sat on the side opposite my bow...I worked hard on it.

Patrick is here

Well, Santa sent an elf our way. He was given the name of Patrick (because Spongebob was vetoed...hehe) LJ calls him Pink Patrick because of Patrick the starfish on Spongebob. Silly boy.

He arrived Sunday with breakfast and what a breakfast it was. He brought snow covered donuts, blueberry muffins, red and green elf milk and peppermints. He also left each kid a special little gift (the girls got fun socks and LJ got a magnetic face toy like I used to play with as a kid!) He even brought snow from the North Pole in a can. Amazing stuff.

Wonder where all Patrick will hang around while he's visiting us this year?







I'll be posting pics everyday of where he decided to hang out around the house. I will simply label the post with the date. This way I can have the pics together and have them printed for a keepsake for this year's fun.

Cookies!

It's that time of year for cookie making and baking fun. I bought a big tube of the sugar cookie dough the other day at Walmart and thought I'd let the kids have a little fun with it. I looked up a recipe for cookie icing too because I've been wanting to try it. (not especially happy with the result...may try another recipe) I don't have many christmas themed cookie cutters, but the kids had fun anyways.





Saturday, December 3, 2011

Our elf arrives tomorrow

I cannot wait until tomorrow morning. Santa is sending us our very own elf to watch over the kids. He's bringing breakfast with him from the North Pole.
This is our first year with an elf (Elf on a Shelf).



Will post pictures tomorrow of our breakfast.