More Elf Shenanigans

I’ve been really bad at keeping these posts up.  Let’s be honest, we all knew it wouldn’t happen on a daily basis.  Luckily I’ve taken pictures each day.  Let’s recap:

Elli decided to do a little “crafting”.  She made snowman paper dolls, snowflakes, and Max’s name.

Then she hid amongst the stocking holders and other Christmas figurines.  A lovely and quiet place to catch up on a little light reading.  Do you see her?  Here..

Even wee-little elves sometimes need reading glasses.

Elli has seen how much fun Maxwell has shooting hoops in the living room.  Guess she decided to try it out!

The next morning we found her dangling from a disco-style Christmas ornament under the ceiling fan.  Silly elf!

Max noticed Elli before Isaac or me this morning.  She was climbing trees.  See?

She’s so fun!

Here’s a couple of photo’s of Maxwell, when he fell asleep early on my recliner.  He’ll be mad about this kind of thing one day… but until then:

So sweet.

But wait…. this one cracks me up.  He fell asleep in the afternoon while eating Oreo’s:

Notice the icingless cookies laying in front of his head.  Nice!  So funny, that boy is!

Day 5-7 (EOTS)

So I missed posting a couple of days.  My bad.  I could blame OG&E again, but that would be a lie.  So…. here’s day #5.

Elli drank her lion’s share of maple syrup, got in the Rice Krispies box (probably thinking those three cute elves on the box were inside playing).

When she couldn’t find Snap, Crackle, and Pop she must have decided to leave us a message…

Day 6:

We woke up to the sweet smell of cookies…

Kicking back in her stylish apron with some baked goodies.  What a sweetheart!!

Day 7:

Give an elf a fish, and she’ll eat for a day.  Teach an elf to fish, and she’ll eat forever!  

Day 8:  Coming tomorrow.

Stay tuned….

Day 3 & 4 (EOTS)

So I missed a day of posting.  Well, I thank OG&E for this.  Our electricity was out most of the evening due to who knows what!  So I have two days of Elli-antics.  Here goes:

Elli invited her cousins along for a motorcycle ride.  Paulie rode in her sidecar.

Frankie let the owner of this bike do the driving.

 

The main elf road solo.

Maxwell played them a couple ragtime tunes, then left them to their journey.

The next morning, Elli performed an act of graffiti.

Nice facial hair, boys.

“Mom!  Hey, it’s Elli!”, exclaimed Maxwell as he looked up at the picture!  Then he shot me with his lazer gun.

 

 

 

Day Two (EOTS)

I didn’t pressure Maxwell this morning about finding Elli.  Instead, he came into the TV room, sat in my chair, played with a plastic M&M, and sneezed a half-dozen times.  Poor kid has some serious allergies, even though Matthew has assured me that “Murray’s” don’t have allergies.

So when Maxwell hopped up to scurry off for some t.p. to wipe his nose, he made a discovery…

He said, “Hey!  (and looked over to where Elli had been flying in her airplane.)  Look!”

The plane was still there, but only with the pilot.  Apparently some snowman building went on while he slept.

There’s the toilet paper he used for his non-allergies.  Just saying…

Elli is proving to be a fun addition.  Wonder what she’ll get into tonight.

Stay tuned…

Day One (EOTS)

Elli began her journey by making a bold entrance on a jet plane.

She flew first class, with the wind in her hair and a smile for the pilot.

The wind must have been a little strong, so she put on her stylish argyle scarf.

 

Maxwell was indifferent about finding Elli this morning.  The idea of locating her only became important post pop-tart.  He looked at her and went about his business playing with a tin container.  Because that’s what he plays with… tin cans and acorns.

We’ll see if tomorrow morning brings an ounce of excitement as to where Elli is and what she’s been up to.

Elf On The Shelf

I’d like to think we have lots of fun family traditions at the Murray house during the holidays.  So far, the most consistent ones involve buying a new tree ornament each year for every one of us, putting our names and the year on the bottom of the ornament, and reminiscing over each one year after year.  Another tradition involves me hanging Christmas lights on the house, usually I stick with the classic white lights and a few icicle lights… then Isaac comes behind me and hangs as many lights (any color.. all colors) as possible on anything he can wrap them around; trees, birdbath, light poles, cats (they just don’t sit still long enough for him), etc.

This year we are starting a new tradition.  You know the one, elf on a shelf.  The funny thing is twelve years ago, Isaac’s great-grandparents gave him two elves that came from The Ukraine (their homeland).  Pauline, his grandmother insisted they were for Isaac.  So, I put them out every Christmas and remind Isaac whom they came from.

When the trend began a few years ago with positioning an elf in random, funny places throughout December, I knew I’d eventually get on board.  We bought a new elf today.  Maxwell named her Elli (with a little coaxing).  Here she is with her distant cousins Frankie and Paul..

The plan is to post daily about the silly things Elli does to entertain Maxwell and Isaac.

Stay tuned….

Dinosaur Digging

So, I took Maxwell to a birthday party today for his friend Tyler.  Ty is turning four, yet can hold a conversation with most adults… maybe better than most adults.  I’m just saying the boy has verbal skills, he’s awesome.  Anyway, he hosted a dinosaur themed birthday party and the kids (and big kids aka adults) had a blast!  I probably should have taken more picts of Ty, but for some reason my Sony follows Max like a cat follows mice.  Just saying..

Amy (Tyler’s mom) was still getting everything ready when we arrived.  Luckily Max was there to help with the balloons.  Ha..

That’s the birthday boy.  He was laughing at me as I tried to chase him down for a photo-op.

Right before the dinosaur excavation, the kids played in and around the fort.

As always, Maxwell surrounded himself amongst the ladies.

Amy was so clever to think up this dinosaur dig.  She hid mini skeletons in a pile of sand.  Kitty-litter scoops and paint brushes were used to uncover the treasures.

Four-year-olds love this kind of thing.  Even in 110 degree heat.

And then, there was the pinata.

This was no child’s play.  The dino full of candy was most likely made of concrete. I’m pretty sure Ed Brinkman would not have stood a chance against this ancient reptile.

Everyone headed in for ice cream, but Max wasn’t ready to leave the excavation site once he found a safari hat that fit his new lifestyle.

Max honestly had the best time at this party.  It was genius on all levels for this age group.

I am so thankful that Tyler invited Max to his party.  The only thing that would have been better would be if Matthew and Isaac had been with us.

Happy Birthday T-Rex!

Post-it Pretty’s

friend Kobi is opening a new boutique in McLoud.  She has everything from unique baby clothes and accessories, women’s clothes, teacher appreciation gifts, mums (I mean it is called, “Mum’s The Word”), greeting cards, and all things gifts and crafts.  She found these neat little post-it note folders and asked if I could decorate them for her.  Here’s how they looked before I dressed them up:

And here is how I finished them:

Don’t worry, there’s OSU for you Pokes too… Just trying to make ya sweat…

I also made some that would be appealing to local schools:

Go Panthers!

And the neighboring rival:

Go Redskins!

For the most part, I think these turned out really cute.  What do you think?  Would you buy one of these?  How much would you spend?

Basically, if you are around and want to visit her super sweet boutique, you should.  She’s so inspired to create school-spirit for our schools (the way it was when we were in school).  She has a true mission, and I hope you support her.

For good measure, here are a few more photo’s of gifts offered at Mums The Word:

These are the most adorable metal flowers.  I imagine hanging them on my back patio to add color and whimsy.  Everyone loves whimsy.  Oh… I am so naming my next pet “Whimsy”.  Why am I just thinking of this???

Anyway, where was I?  Oh yeah, how about a little Thunder-Bling:

And one more thing I want to show is one of the many tin buckets with personalized vinyl lettering, anything you want… and then made into a gift:

Kind of wishing my name was Chloe about now..  Or Whimsy.  Whatever…

Social Butterflies

I started another blog with my partner in crime, and now in business; Melanie W.  You can find us at RIGHT HERE.  Yes, click there and you shall see!  We’re completely excited about two upcoming events that we have the privilege of coordinating.  More to come on those events, just keep coming back!

When It Rains, It Pours…

I guess I should have written, when pipes freeze, burst, and thaw out… then it pours… Here’s my story.

It all began with a small water leak.  Our entire water system is stationed in the garage.  Hot water heater, water softener, pump, drains, etc.  During the coldest part of our winter, the hot water tank decided to spring a very small, yet noticeable leak.  Since Matthew has been working eight days a week, I called on his dad, Tommy; and my dad too.  My dad has made it be known since I was teeny tiny that he doesn’t do plumbing, and after all the troubles I’ve had lately… I totally get it.

Tommy came over to help me (and by help me, I mean do 99% himself) take out the corroded tank and drive in the icy-snow to buy me a new shiny one.  Long story short, the new tank didn’t work, had to uninstall it, take it back and exchange it for a different one.  Problem solved.  And believe me, there is way more to that story.  It wears me out just thinking about it.

Then… the weather starts warming slightly.  I go into the garage to do some laundry, and I hear water gushing.  The outside water spout which is right outside the garage, in between the garage and the formal living room had burst.  Water was literally gushing out of the sheetrock.  Immediately I flipped the breaker to the well, and called my dad and Tommy.  As I waited for them to arrive, I went into the living room and noticed one of Maxwell’s sippy-cups turned on its side.  Went to pick it up, and thought, “dang.. that’s a lot of water for a tiny cup”.  Took another step and water splashed up on my ankle.  My mother walked in at this point and the two of us cleared that room of all the furniture and toys faster than we’ve ever moved before.  I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves..

Thank the sweet Lord above for such great family and friends!  Kyle and Tonie helped rip this nasty wet carpet out of my house!

Look at that shiny kitchen knife!

The look on Maxwell’s face is exactly how I was feeling.  😦

More help came!  John and Liz are two more amazing friends who knew I needed help!  And of course, Isaac was a help to John.

Maxwell was happy again.  And so was I.  🙂

I thanked John and Liz with a box of Banana-Cinnamon Cupcakes topped with a Spiced Cream Cheese Frosting.  I mean, what says thank you like a ton of sugar, butter, cream cheese, and more sugar?

Did I mention that I topped them with some pecans that I toasted in more butter, sugar, and cinnamon?  Yummy…..

So it goes without saying that I am so lucky to have such amazing family and friends.