Day 21, 22 and 23: Adventures with Rosie (and Max)

Day 21: We found Rosie and Max camped out by the TV, covered in glow sticks... they left a set for the kids (who had a blast with them) as well.

Day 22: We found Rosie tied up, hanging from a table and Max hanging upside down in the tree... apparently he didn't want Rosie to stop him.

Day 23: We found Rosie on the tree, hanging the kids' underwear in place of our missing star and Max taking a ride on the underwear lift...

Day 20: Adventures with Rosie (and Max)

The kids woke up to find that Rosie and Max had decorated the front door to look like a snowman this morning. They must really be looking forward to snow :)

Day 16, 17, 18 and 19: Adventures with Rosie

I really need to keep up with my blogging... I just sat down and realized I haven't updated for a few days... and while looking through the photos of our little Rosie the Elf, I realized I forgot to take pictures on day 16... oops!!

Day 16: We found Rosie on the table with a tray of goodies that we could decorate cookies with. We made cookies and spent the afternoon frosting and decorating them. So much fun!!

Day 17: We found Rosie on the table, holding pictures of Kaylen and AJ. We just sorted out all of the school pictures to be mailed out to family and Rosie must have snuck a set for herself. :)

Day 18: Max is introduced! On the night of "day 17," our friend, Ryan (or as the kids so affectionately call him, Uncle Ryan) brought us a special gift... a boy elf!! The kids read his special book and then decided to call him Max. Rosie took him to the North Pole with her that evening so that Santa could give Max his special elf magic and return to us. The kids found Max and Rosie, cruising in a train underneath the Christmas tree.

Day 19: Max and Rosie must REALLY want it to snow. We found them this morning having a snowball fight in the living room. Rumor has it that we will be getting about 7 inches of snow tomorrow, so maybe they can play outside and stop making a mess indoors. :)

Day 16

 

Day 18 

 

 

Day 19

 

AJ trying to knock Max out with a snowball...

Days 13, 14 and 15: Adventures with Rosie

We've had an interesting couple of days so I haven't been able to update our adventures with Rosie. K fell while playing and fractured her arm, so we spent yesterday morning at the doctor, then running around to find her a splint. We got her all taken care of and now she is styling in her new and very bright splint.

Day 13: Rosie made the kids snowflakes...
Day 14: Rosie made K a "Feel Better Soon" letter...
Day 15: Rosie left "magic elf seeds," that we had to plant in a bowl of sugar for a special surprise... can't wait to see what pops up :)

 

 

 

 

Day 12: Adventures with Rosie

This morning, Rosie delivered a package that Grandma D sent to the kids. It was a box full of craft projects for the kids to work on. They were so excited that they didn't want to go to school this morning, they would have rather stayed home and worked on their crafts.

Day 11: Adventures with Rosie

Well, Rosie invited her friends over last night... luckily they weren't very loud and the kids were able to sleep all night. The kids discovered Rosie and her friends (Rapunzel, Flynn Rider and Little Engine) sitting at the table, playing Sequence.

They quickly finished up their breakfast, got dressed for school and are currently playing their own game of Sequence until it's time to leave.

Day 10: Adventures with Rosie

Kaylen and AJ did such a great job at their Christmas programs that Rosie decided to reward them with candy canes.

 

Kaylen before her Christmas program.

 

AJ all dressed up for Kaylen's program.

 

AJ before his Christmas program.

 

Kaylen dressed up for AJ's program.

Day 9: Adventures with Rosie

The kids were pretty naughty last night... Kaylen had a big tantrum about brushing her teeth... Rosie did not have good news for Santa... hopefully today will be better...

Day 8: Adventures with Rosie

The kids got new teddy bears from their Grandparents... In the middle of the night, Rosie snuck into their rooms and "borrowed" their bears so she had something to snuggle with. :)

Day 7: Adventures with Rosie

This morning, we found Rosie the Elf roasting marshmallows over a campfire. A campfire you say? No worries, it wasn't a real campfire... well, not a big one anyway. She decided to light a candle and roast her mini marshmallows over that. The kids are still wondering how she was able to light the candle without adult supervision. I just explained that Santa must have stopped by to help her out. :)

 

 

She is currently off at school with AJ this morning. Santa gave her a little extra magic so that the kids can take a picture with her and pass her around and all that stuff kids do during "show and tell." AJ was so excited to take her and was practically giddy when I was showing his teacher how to use the camera.

 

We also made her a new scarf and earmuffs before she went with him. She somehow lost her earmuffs last night so we mad her a new matching set... which happens to match her pink and green skirt.

 

I will update later so that you can see how her day at AJ's school went...

 

************************** UPDATE *****************************

 

 

Rosie with AJ's pre-school class

 

Rosie watching AJ and his friends play

 

AJ doing an art project while Rosie and Ito look on.

 

Waiting for snack time!!

 

 

Snack time!

 

 

Rosie in the sand box :)

 

Day 6: Adventures with Rosie

"YOU ARE NOT GOING TO BELIEVE WHERE I FOUND ROSIE!!!" Kaylen's excited squeal told me it was a good spot. :)

She found her repelling down (or climbing up... we can't decide) the Christmas tree.

"How the heck did she get up there, mom?"

I love how excited the kids are getting about our little Elf on the Shelf, Rosie.

 

K, still in shock over finding Rosie on the tree...

 

 

Rosie repelling down the tree.

 

 

She kind of blends in with all of our ornaments.

 

 

"I still can't believe it! How did she get there?"

 

 

 

 

 

 

Day 5: Adventures with Rosie

Rosie went back to the North Pole last night to report to Santa... but she forgot her scarf & earmuffs and came back with a cold. It's been in the 60's here and she forgot it was cold there...

Looks like she will be hanging out in bed all day... poor Rosie...

Day 4: Adventures with Rosie

Now that I am in my third trimester, I figured my energy would pick up and I would start feeling a lot better. Unfortunately, this hasn't been the case. This little mister seems to be causing me a lot of problems and some extreme discomfort.

Having said that, yesterday I was feeling absolutely awful. Ben was at drill for the day and I had no energy to do anything with the kids. Luckily, they were okay with that. They spent the day coloring and watching movies on Netflix and for the most part were really well behaved.

Rosie didn't have any bad news to report to Santa, which in this house was a HUGE thing!!

When Kaylen got up for school this morning she was immediately on the hunt for Rosie. She found her in the kitchen, half buried in a bag of chocolate chips. "I think she wants some cookies, mom!" was Kaylen's thought. When AJ finally woke up, he had to agree...

So, I made everyone happy and made some chocolate chip cookies this afternoon. The house smells wonderful and the cookies are delicious! I guess Rosie had the right idea this morning!!

Countdown to Christmas and other Pinterest ideas

Yesterday I realized it was December 1st and I hadn't put together anything to help countdown the days until Christmas. So, after lunch, I sat down and quickly put together our two new countdowns..

 

 

The countdown on the left is a simple paper chain.. ours however is a mini chain. I didn't have enough red, white and green to do what I had originally planned, so I used smaller pieces of Christmas themed scrap booking paper. The pieces were 1x4 and I just glued them together into a chain.

 

The countdown on the right was intended to be a Santa beard countdown... as the days get closer and closer, we cut another piece of his beard off... however, I ran out of room up top and it looks more like a snowman... which is completely fine.

 

 

After exploring some more on Pinterest for Christmas decorations, I ran across a cool idea. A Christmas tree made out of lights and a tomato cage flipped upside down. You can find the tutorial here or if you are looking for one that looks more like a tree, check this out.

 

 

Ours didn't turn out too bad. I may take a few zip ties and tie it in the areas that have fallen a little bit but otherwise, I am happy with it. We only have one tree out in the front yard and it's too big to decorate, so this will be perfect for outdoor decorations... we are also doing one in blue...

 

Day 3: Adventures with Rosie

Last night we went to Ben's Christmas party for drill. The kids had a lot of fun and made some new friends. I am always excited when they are able to walk into a room, not knowing anyone and leave having made at least one friend. They spent their evening playing "hide and seek," and spinning until they were dizzy.

Santa made a special appearance so the kids got to tell them what they were wishing for... Kaylen said she was hoping for a toy dog and AJ just wants a really a big train to play with (like we don't already have enough!!)

 

 

They each got a special toy from Santa's helper. Kaylen got a new fairy doll, which she has named Lilly, and AJ got a Lego set that makes a cop car. They were both surprised to see Santa and even more surprised to get a special toy. To top the night off, there were cookies, hot cocoa, and cotton candy for the kids. Talk about sugar overload!!! They crashed almost as soon as their little heads hit the pillows.

 

When they woke up this morning, they found Rosie the Elf camped out in the living room watching Christmas movies with her friends Woody and Lilly (Kaylen's new doll).

 

 

 

The kids were quite surprised to see this scene this morning. When the kids went to bed, they each had one of Rosie's friends with them, which made them a bit confused as to how they got into the living room. But then they figured, Rosie is magical, she probably gave them special elf dust to get to the living room!