Our Elf Adventures

This is the first year we have had an Elf on the Shelf in our home. He arrived the day after Thanksgiving in a package from the North Pole. He brought Santa hooded towels for the boys with him as well. We decided not to have our elf do naughty things for two reasons -- #1 - I'd have to be the one to clean up the messes he made and #2 (most importantly) we didn't want our kids to think it was cute/funny/okay to do naughty things. So we just played the hide him in a different spot every day thing instead. We had fun with it. We did have a few days without him after a particularly naughty day but he did come back and spend the rest of the holiday season at our house. The boys named him Thomas. 

 sitting in our lamp

hanging from the ceiling fan

sitting on the bananas (the boys thought this was hysterical)

sitting on the shelf eating Jake's skittles

 on top of our Christmas tree

hanging upside down in the flowers on our shelf

 hiding in the boys' stuffed animals with a note for Jake for his bad behavior

in Jake's stocking

On the shelf dressed up as a pirate for Jake's birthday party

Riding on mom's giraffe

wishing Jacob a happy birthday

Thomas wants us to take Charlie for a walk - he is hanging from the leash holder

hanging upside down in the pantry

Thomas built a marshmallow snowman in the freezer. Matt thought he might be cold so I made him a scarf and some earmuffs

sitting in the boys kleenex holder in their bedroom

hanging from the light - this is the day he left us

Thomas returned! Hiding in a very obvious spot on our shelf so he'd be easy to find on his return

shaving in the boys bathtub

on top of our kitchen cabinet

hiding in the Christmas tree

Thomas spelled the boys' names with Cheerios and he hid in the blinds

Locked out! Peeking in the front door window

hiding in the plant in the boys' bathroom

On top of the kitchen cabinets with a countdown note

on top of the boys' new Christmas tree in Jake's room

hiding in the lemon plant

Thomas wrapped himself up and hid in the Christmas book box

Thomas' last day! Sitting on top of the TV with a goodbye note.

What a fun new tradition! See you again next season, Thomas!

Interview With Jacob, age 4

State your name:  Jake

How old are you:  4

What’s your favorite color?  blue

Who is your best friend? June

What’s your favorite animal?  hmmm... I like a giraffe

What do you want to be when you’re all grown up? I want to be a doctor, a farmer, and a cowboy

What’s your favorite movie? Tarzan. And Up

What’s your favorite book?  Tarzan

What makes you happy?  when I take a fun bath

What makes you sad? When people hit me… like Jordan

What’s your most favorite food to eat? Tacos and oranges and bananas and lemons. They’re my favorite foods.

What’s your favorite song to sing? Old MacDonald Had a Farm. That is my favorite song. And the Itsy Bitsy Spider

What games  do you like to play? I like CandyLand, Chutes and Ladders, and the matching game

 What are your favorite Christmas songs? Rudolph The Rednosed Reindeer, Frosty, Santa Comes to Town, The Grinch, and Hey Santa, and Santa Baby. Those are all my favorite ones. I like all those. 

Thankful Three Year Old

With Thanksgiving around the corner, we've been reading some Thanksgiving themed books {thanks mom!} and they are mostly about being thankful for various things. Last night after we finished reading, I asked Jake what he was thankful for. "Nothing," he said. I then explained that being thankful meant that you were happy to have those things in your life {not the greatest explanation but... how do you explain thankfulness to a young child???} I told him I was thankful for him. He then said "I am thankful for Lolo and Papa. And you, Mommy. And Daddy and Jordan and Charlie." SO cute. I just wanted to be able to remember that.

Jordan Matthew: 25 Months Old

Last week (10.30) Jordan turned 25 months old. Here's a quick peek at who he is at this age. 

Weight: 22-23 lbs, depending on the day

Height: I did not measure him

Size: 18 month, 24 month, some 2T

Favorite Food: cheese sticks

Words: EVERYTHING!! I can't think of anything new though. He talks in full sentences and even uses proper grammar sometimes ("I do it" instead of "Me do it" for example) He is funny and when we say "I love you" to him he says "Love me" 

New Accomplishments: He can count to four, He says "ABC Now sing with me" so cute!!, He knows basically all the colors, he's been good about going pee on his potty and now says he's going pee (he used to call pee poop and poop pee) but he's still using his diapers to poop - he will mostly tell us when he goes now though because he wants to be changed right away, we are working on weaning him from his pacifier

Random Facts:

• He has been having "temper tantrums" lately. Boo. 
• He loves to swing and likes to "go real real high"
• He copies EVERYTHING his brother does and says. He does EVERYTHING Jake tells him to do as well. 
• He responds pretty well to 1-2-3 discipline but he will not budge until you get to 2. He will let you know if he is unhappy as well. 

Halloween

The boys had fun for Halloween this year, despite the cold and rainy night. Jacob dressed up as a dragon and Jordan dressed up as a lion. Jordan was not a fan of his costume at first and started crying when we put it on him. 

We started trick or treating in our neighborhood. We only went to maybe 15-20 hours and we were FROZEN. Then we warmed ourselves up in the car on the drive to my parents' neighborhood. My parents' next door neighbors had their garage all 'pooky and Jacob would not go in there. It was too funny. 

After we trick or treated at both of my parents' next door neighbors homes, we spent the rest of the night warm visiting with my parents, while Papa fed the boys way too much candy!! They had a great time. 

Here are some Halloween pictures. 

Silly Saturday 10/27/12

It's been awhile since I've posted a Silly Saturday, but I wanted to be sure to remember these Jake-isms. 

We went to the mall tonight to have my ring fixed. Then we let the kids play in the play area. On the way there we passed the Pillow Pets stand and Jake was looking at them. He told the guy working it (young guy) "We're going to the tree house!" I'm sure the guy had no idea what he was talking about. He just said "Oh... I hear that place is fun..." 

Later, as we were heading back, we had to go back to look at the Pillow Pets again and Jake went around the corner to find the guy and said "Hello again!" (Little creeper!)

Then we walked into Kohls to get to our car. When we walked in Jake said to the lady at the first register "It's NOT Christmas!" and as we passed the lady at the register by the parking lot he said "We didn't even buy anything!" He kills me. 

Wordless Wednesday: Leaves

Jordan's Construction Themed 2nd Birthday Party

It's been awhile but Jordan's birthday party was a success. I was way over-stressed about the whole thing. Lesson learned: there is no reason to go "all out" for a party. The kids have fun regardless of the details. I'll keep that in mind for next time. 

We had a construction theme for him. I decorated with construction caution tape, construction cones, dump trucks, and orange, brown, and yellow balloons. Matt made a construction barricade out of his saw horse and put that out by our sidewalk. We also lined our sidewalk with construction cones. 

the cones blew down in the wind!

 

Matt made this banner from VistaPrint

I had gas cans for the drinks (don't worry, they were brand new and clean!) and they were labeled with gas signs for "Regular," "Unleaded," and "Premium." The food was also labeled. We served sandwiches (there was a sign that read "{Sandwich} Construction Zone" above where the sandwich supplies were), macaroni and cheese (pipes), pretzel sticks (logs), grapes (boulders), chocolate donuts (spare tires), and licorice (ropes). I made signs for all the food except the licorice, which was a last minute idea on Matt's part and I ran out of time to make the sign. The food was served in dump trucks. 

For the cake, I combined several ideas I found on Pinterest. I made a simple rectangle cake in a 9x13 pan. I decorated it by making a 2 shaped road with chocolate buttercream frosting. Then I piped "grass" around it. I bought construction cone candles and added those onto the road as well as a couple small construction vehicles. I also used a spoon to scoop out part of the cake (before it was frosted) and had the digger truck digging into the cake. I topped that area with broken up cake crumbs and oreo crumbs to look like dirt. I think it turned out pretty cute. And the best part was it didn't take me very long to do!

The guest of honor wore his dump truck t-shirt. I also bought a construction vest that he kept on for a short time. And he wore his hard hat only for the picture :-)

The party itself was very nice. There were few guests which was perfect because it was not rushed at all. Jordan actually got to PLAY with his things as he opened them. It was perfect! He got lots of nice gifts. And he was a very happy boy -- except when Jacob was trying to take over his toys -- then the pouty face came out! Sooooo cute and funny! 

there's that pouty face!

"Help me, Mommy!" (after he intentionally put the net on his foot... goof!)

Thanks Uncle Buddy!

Lolo had to hold Jake back for awhile so Jordan could enjoy his new things

This book was a big hit with both boys

Bat Mobile! Jordan needs to work on steering. He kept running into everything and still trying to go

Jake was happy to get a turn

After presents, it was time for cake. As soon as I set the cake down on the table in front of Jordan and even as the words "Don't touch" were coming out of my mouth, his fingers were in the frosting. Oh well! We sang Happy Birthday and he tried to blow out the candles. That was a sight! It took several tries -- and some help from Daddy! I decided to only light two of the candles since he's only two and hey, who wants baby spit all over their cake? 

This is what I get when I tell him to smile. Nice look, buddy!

trying to blow the candles out

still trying...

still trying....

all his birthday presents! thanks everybody!

It was a very fun party but it was too much work. I was one exhausted Mama when it was over!