on my shelf

You either love him or hate him.  He’s the (little creepy) bribery tool parents use to keep their kids well behaved for the month between Thanksgiving & Christmas.  You guessed it….he’s the elf on the shelf.  For the 2^nd year now this little elf has graced our house with his presence.  I have to admit that he creeps me out a little, but he’s become a tradition in our house and my son looks forward to finding “Adam” every morning.   (If you’re asking yourself “What the heck is an elf on the shelf?” then click HERE) 

The elf has been around for many, many, years but has recently picked up in popularity.  If you do a google search or just log into pinterest you’ll find hundreds of ideas for this stuffed sprite.  Some of these ideas are outrageous and as a working mom I don’t have the time to dedicate every night to setting up some elaborate scene for my elf.  I can barely remember to move him every night so to spend 15+ minutes setting something up each night is exhausting.  Maybe that’s just me but my 4 yo is not going to give a hoot if the elf is hanging off the chandelier or if he’s riding in a hot air balloon that was home crafted out of paper, ribbons and a balloon.    He enjoys finding him regardless. 

I’ve tried to get a little creative only because I’m running out of quick ideas of where to put this thing.  Half of me wants to wrap him in an ace bandage and say that he’s had an accident and can’t move for a week. But I can't disappoint my son, even though I’m pretty sure that he is not buying the whole story about the elf and is just humoring us as we move him every night.  But for now he’s playing along and we’ll continue to move our elf every night until Christmas Eve when we bid him farewell for another year.

Do you have an elf on the shelf?   cast your vote – creepy bribery tool or cute holiday tradition??

elf acrobatics

 

chocoholic elf

 

going for a ride on the Sodor Railway

 

made his own design with our window decorations

flying home to the North Pole makes for a hungry elf

zipline!

 

 

Celebrating Mothers

Happy Mother’s Day to all my fellow Moms out there!  Today is a day to celebrate both ourselves and the generations before us.  From kissing boo-boos, checking the closet for monsters, wiping away the tears and celebrating the wins.  We are the reason for all of it.     

I hope everyone has a relaxing day with their families.  Cheers to us all! 

A Very Merry Christmas

My family rotates the cooking of Christmas Eve dinner so this year I was “off”. Yay!!  No cooking for me!  Well, I did do appetizers on Christmas Day, but that’s nothing compared to the feast I prepared last year for Christmas Eve.  I did a little baking for a cookie swap I participated in and made the chocolate candies I always make, but other than that I didn’t bake/cook as much as I normally do.  Christmas crept up on me so quick this year.  It probably was the unseasonably warm weather (um, 60 degrees in December in NY?!?!) that kept me in denial that Christmas was so close.  Before I knew it I was up until 1:30 am December 23^rd wrapping gifts.

My son was very much into Santa this year and so I started a few fun Santa traditions: the elf on the shelf, writing letters to Santa and we continued the milk & cookies tradition.  For the letters I found a local charity run Santa’s mailbox that mails back personalized letters from Santa!!  Very cool and was a huge hit with A. I also made him a video on the Portable North Pole, did a personalized phone call from Santa and we tracked Satna on Norad the entire night of Christmas Eve.

A was a very lucky boy and once again was completely spoiled by our families!  Every year seems to be better than the last in terms of his excitement.  If last year I had categorized it as a “Thomas Christmas”, well then this year was a “Super Hero Batman Christmas”.  We now are the proud owners of a batcave, batmobile, batplane, joker-mobile, and a myriad of super hero action figures (with all their little weapons) which I will continue to trip on for months to come.  My favorite gift that I got A was a PB chair that I got during their secret sale, which of course got one glance from A and an “it’s ok…” out of him and he went back to playing with Batman.  To my surprise he opened gifts in record time.  I had visions of it taking us hours like last year and A wanting us to open each toy as he unwrapped it.  Nope.  Each gift was ripped open, slid across the wood floor and it was onto the next.  After they were all unwrapped he strategically decided what to play with first.  LOL

The excitement as he opened each, however, was priceless.  It made the craziness and stress of all my late nights working over the past month just melt away.  One of my most special gifts I received was a necklace that my son picked out himself.  My husband went online to buy me earrings and when my son saw him shopping he wanted to buy something different for me – and it is gorgeous.  Spending happy quality time with my family makes everything that I do throughout the year all worth it. 

Merry Christmas!!

Christmas Eve 2011

First Present (Batman, what else!)

Santa Has Arrived!!

Christmas Morning

One of my Gifts (and the story of my life)

Christmas Aftermath....

my hubby and I on Christmas Day

An Unexpected Meeting

Last weekend while shopping we had an unexpected chance meeting with none other than the big guy in red.  While browsing around a drugstore who walks through the door but…..SANTA!!  We had to do a double take since it’s not every day you see a fully dressed Santa walking into a drugstore to pick up a prescription.   As my son glanced upwards at Santa, the look of amazement on his face was priceless!  I wish I had been able to capture it on film but it all happened so quickly.  Santa was a very lovely man and gave A a candy cane and a even did a “Ho Ho Ho” chuckle for him. 

It was at this same store that we had come to drop off A’s letter he wrote to Santa (there’s a drop box that is managed by volunteers who send personalized responses back from Santa).  I couldn’t have had this more perfect that if I had set it up myself.  My son was convinced that Santa was there to collect his mail from the mailbox.  When he received his letter from Santa in the mail a few days later he knew that Santa was listening and I gently reminded him that he needed to behave because Santa could show up at any time.

Who needs to wait in lines at the mall to see Santa when you can find him shopping ;-)

O’ Christmas Tree

It’s that time of year again when we go looking for our annual family Christmas tree.   Last weekend we took a drive up north to pick out and cut down our family Christmas tree – a tradition we started last year.  We decided to try a different farm this year since we weren’t overly happy about the prices of last year’s place and from friends’ recommendations decided to check out Battenfeld Tree Farm.  A had so much fun running around the farm looking for a perfect tree and telling Daddy to cut it down.  Santa & Mrs Claus showed up to take pictures with the kids and there was a sleigh ride complete with mini clydesdales pulling it.  Throw in some hot cider, doughnuts and a big bonfire to sit by to keep warm and it made for a very cozy afternoon. Of course A wasn’t into Santa or the sleigh ride (just wanted to look from afar) but if you wanted, one could spend the entire day there.

Once we got the tree home A wanted to help us put it in the stand and then anxiously awaited me to put the lights on so that he could decorate.  My little elf did a great job helping. Only two ornament casualties later….we have our fully decorated tree.  All ready for the big guy to leave presents under!!

A Thanksgiving Feast

I was so happy that I was able to attend the Thanksgiving Feast A’s preschool class held this past week.  Being a working mom with such a demanding job, it’s very important to me that I be there for these types of events.  I was very impressed with everything the class put together for the party.  They made turkey hats, turkey cookies and prepared thanksgiving songs to sing for all the parents.  Afterwards each student got a certificate of appreciation for all of their hard work.  A was so thrilled with his first “award”.

Posted on the wall of his classroom was a turkey he had made by cutting out his handprint.  Written on each of the feathers were what he was thankful for this year.  My 3 year old is thankful for:  my mom & dad, Layla (our dog), and my food.   Although he wasn’t a huge fan of the turkey hat he made, I got some quick pictures out of him, ate some cupcakes and then we went home early for some extra mommy & son time. 

These are the type of days that I am thankful for.  I’m thankful that I have a job that allows me to have this family time and I’m thankful for having a happy and healthy family.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Showing off his turkey hat

His turkey cookie

Wordless Wednesday - Pumpkin Picking

Baby You’re A Firework

It may be one of A’s favorite songs, but this year he just wasn’t into fireworks.   Sparklers were great and lots of fun, but the real thing with their loud explosions were only good for their colors.

The whole afternoon at the 4^th of July party we attended went a little something like this:

:::fireworks exploding; boom, boom, boom:::

A:  “Mommy, I want to go home now”

A:  “Mommy, I miss Layla”  (Layla is our dog)

5 minutes later….  :::more fireworks exploding; boom, boom, boom:::

A:  “Mommy, I want to go home now”

A:  “Mommy, I miss Layla” 

This went on for HOURS.

Then he discovered if he had to use the potty we would go inside our friend’s house to use the bathroom.  So every time a firework went off the conversation switched to:

A:  “Mommy, I have to use the bathroom”

A:  “Mommy, I have to poop….NOW”

Yeah…he’s quite the smart kid.

After a little trip to McD’s for a happy meal he was a much happier boy and was ready for the big color fireworks.  I have to give him credit because they ARE loud.  He was great and sat on my lap, held his little ears and watched the fireworks with us, all the while singing Katy Perry’s “Firework” as they went off :)

Father’s Day

Work has been insane lately so my blogging has been a bit delayed, but hey better late than never.

Father’s Day used to make me sad.  Once A was born the holiday turned to more of a bittersweet day for me.  The sadness thinking about my dad remained, but now a layer of happiness was added as I watched my husband and A start building their own Father’s Day memories.   Each year I rack my brain as to what to buy my husband for a gift.  A frame?  A mug?  A shirt?  Naah.  This year I got my husband a pretty cool Father’s Day gift that I was very excited for him to open.  I purchased from Silver Sentiments on Etsy a key ring that had A’s fingerprint imprinted onto it with his initials and birthdate printed on the back.  The seller sent me a kit to take an impression of A’s fingerprint, I mailed it back and in a couple weeks viola!  the key chain arrived.  He loved it!!!

We spend every Father’s Day at my in-laws house so we went over there this year for an afternoon visit and early dinner.  A had a great time playing with his cousins and since the weather was nice they were able to have some fun with the water table and play in the backyard.  It was a great day!

Hippity Hop Hop

(This post is a little late due to my craziness this week, but better late than never.)  

We had a wonderful Easter this year with our families.  We spent Palm Sunday with my husband’s family and Easter Sunday with mine.  We were able to squeeze in a few outdoor egg hunts with our niece and nephews in-between the bad weather we kept having (and even did some with A inside the house for fun).  The excitement on their faces every time they found an egg was such a joy to watch.  It’s so much more fun celebrating the holidays now that A gets it a bit more.  Here are a few highlights from my favorite moments:

Dying Eggs

I think the Easter Bunny left something....

Following the trail

Hey, what's this he left me??  and yes, it wouldn't be
Easter without the Thomas Easter train

Egg hunt fun