The Adventures of Elfie

This was our first year having an 'Elf on the Shelf' at Christmastime. Katie named our elf Elfie, and he sure did have some fun adventures while he was here. It will be interesting to see what sort of mischief he gets himself into next year.

Katie was so excited when Santa left her a note on Christmas Eve morning, telling her that she could hold Elfie, sleep with him and play with him before he has to return to the North Pole. Then he ended up staying for Christmas break before heading back. We'll see you next year Elfie!!

Snuggle Buddies

In a rare moment, I caught the two of them sitting STILL together, snuggling under a blanket and watching a movie. They play together all the time, it's the STILL part that's hard to capture.

The Seamstress

Santa brought my little seamstress a new sewing machine. A REAL sewing machine. It's pretty awesome!! ~ She started sewing by hand at least a year ago, and has asked a couple of times if she could use my sewing machine. But, I never let her. So, "Santa" started thinking about getting her her very own sewing machine. I love the one he picked out. It's a very basic machine that is great for beginners!!

I started by giving her a piece of fabric and having her sew some straight lines, zigzags, use the reverse feature and then follow along various lines I had drawn on the fabric.

She did extremely well. I am so proud of her. She's a natural at all things arts/crafts/creativity. - After some practice stitches she was ready to do a real project, so she made a heart-shaped pillow. She did a great job!!

Merry Christmas!!

This year we were SO lucky!! Santa came to our house on Christmas Eve evening while we were gone to church. It was very exciting. Katie and Hunter got to open gifts and play with them before going to bed. I'm pretty sure it was the reindeer food that Katie put out before we left for church. That MUST have been what got them there early.



An unusual thing for me... I didn't take many pictures. I wanted to video, so I spent more time doing that. The picture below is Katie playing with her new Barbie styling head that Brandi got her. 

Brandi, Amber and Hunter 

Christmas morning there were still plenty of presents to open. John and I hadn't given our gifts to the kids yet. Hunter is all boy. He loves trucks and cars! 

A new scrapbook for Katie! 

A Cowboys hat for the Dallas fan. 

New dress-up clothes and boots for my stylish girly. 

Hunter got a new tent from Santa and we ALL squeezed into it!! 

Isn't she a cute little Indian?  

Hunter got an Aqua Doodle. 

Katie did get one more "big" gift from Santa, but I'll have an entire post of that one next!!

Look Who Got Her Ears Pierced!!!

Katie has been asking if she can get her ears pierced for the past few months. I've sort of been putting it off, but then of course she had to go and mention it in front of Daddy, who promptly said, "Let's go!" I was at least able to hold them off until the next morning, which turned out to be Christmas Eve morning. So, off we went to Claire's and Katie did awesome!! I do have this picture below which is the "before" picture. She looks a little worried, doesn't she?

Christmas on Main Street

Tonight we strolled along Main Street in St. Charles to see the lights, decorations and the various Santas, carolers and other Christmas figures.

It's not too often we get a picture of just the two of us, and this one turned out really nice.



Christmas Program

My little angel had her Christmas program at school Wednesday night. One of the songs the 1st grade sang was 'All I Want For Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth'. Katie was right there on the front row, missing her two front teeth. Too cute!!

(I would love to post a picture of her during the program, but we're not allowed to do that, and I don't feel like blurring out the 20 little faces around her.)

Oh Christmas Tree!

Finally!! Our Christmas tree is up!! We kept it very simple this year. With a new puppy and a handful of babies running around, it would just be less stressful for me to keep the decorations to a minimum.

Nonetheless... it's beginning to look alot like Christmas!