Elfie Returns!

Oh yes, our Elf on the Shelf has returned for another year with us!  Zach definitely is more into it this year....and seeing his face when he found Elfie (yeah , he was very creative last year in his name, LOL!) for the first time...priceless.  The magic of Christmas in a young child's eyes is amazing.

 That's Elfie right there in the middle!

 He made a sign to make sure we saw him!

Santa made Elfie a swing

The boys have been extra good since Elfie's arrival and are so interested in him.  I can't wait to see where Elfie shows up next! :)

Do you have any Elves visiting your house right now?

Stationery card

Flurry Of Snowflakes Holiday Card

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Happy Thanksgiving!

Hope you have a wonderful day full of family, friends, fellowship, food, and football! :)

Thanksgiving, Black Friday, and the Countdown to Christmas

One more day of work to go and then I am off for almost a week, YAY!  I am looking forward to the time off with my family.  It is my side's year for Thanksgiving so we are headed to my parents' house on Thursday.  I can't even remember the last time we had Thanksgiving actually at their house so I am really looking forward to it (and not doing all the cooking too!!)  :)  Excited to have my bro and sister in law there too before they head to Tulsa for the big U of H game...GO COOGS!!  When I was little, we always made construction paper pilgrim and indian hats (kinda like these)

and don't you know my mom and  have been dying to make them again!  We will see what the boys think of theirs... :)

Black Friday has been quite the controversy this year with the whole stores opening on Thanksgiving day or at midnight.  I have never done the whole black Friday shopping thing before but I must say I am tempted to go...not necessarily for the deals, but for the fact that it would be a great time to get out of the house to go shopping without the boys!  Are you going out?  Do you have your stores mapped out??

31 days to Christmas.  I have actually started my shopping, but I know time is about to start flying as soon as Thanksgiving is over so I need to step it up and get it done!  We will get the decorations started this weekend and I cannot wait!  I do love this time of year!!  I got my Christmas Planner made too.  I made one last year and it was great to have one place to keep track of everything.  (it also served as a great pad of scratch paper for a certain 2 year old while we were grocery shopping on Monday, ahem..)...I call that double success!

Anyway, I hope everyone has a great few days ahead of them, spent with family, friends, and any other type of loved ones!  Let me know if you have any great tips for Black Friday shopping or other great holiday ideas!

christmas shopping started!

I have started looking for presents for the boys and have a couple things in mind so far but am really trying to think purposefully about the toys I buy this year.  We have so much at times it seems, yet they tend to play with the same things all the time...cars, trains, trucks, vehicles!  :)

Have you bought any Plan Toys before?  I was looking at the City Garage.  It has good reviews and the boys love things to play with their cars on.  It is a little pricey, but it could be Mark's big gift and I feel pretty confident it would get played with a lot.

And for Zach...he has been really interested in playing on my computer lately which I would really rather him not ;-)  So been thinking about one of the educational handhelds.  Leap Pad, V-Tech or Mobigo?  Or something else?  Would love to hear your thoughts or suggestions on that! :)

Have you started your shopping yet?  Any good finds or sales yet?

Christmas...already?

It is not even Thanksgiving yet and I already feel myself getting stressed over Christmas.  Anyone else feel like that?  The stores have been carrying Christmas stuff since before Halloween....the catalogs are coming in the mail...and I am sure Christmas music will be playing soon!

I am starting a list of things I would like to have completed before Thanksgiving.  Have you started working on your lists yet?

• Order Christmas Cards
• Address and Mail cards
• Inventory Gift Wrapping Supplies
• Schedule Outside Lights to be hung
• Order all photo gifts (calendars, brag books...good stuff for the grandmas!)
• Make and Post a December calendar for entire family to see!
• Start making Christmas lists and watching sales

Anything I am leaving off that you like to tackle early?  How do you stay sane during the holidays and keep your focus on the reason for the season?

Books

I have ALWAYS been a reader. I love to read.  I love getting lost in books, staying up way too late past my bedtime because I can't put a book down.  But this last year...my reading has struggled.  I am not sure if it is finding something I connect with or the simply the time, but I miss reading.  And one of my "new year resolutions" is going to be start reading again.  Which coincides great with forming our 2012 Book Club list! 

It is getting close to that time when we figure out our books for the year.  We need some killer ones that will get us reading, thinking, and discussing more!  And that is where I come to you, dear readers!  Anyone have some great books they have read recently that they would like to share?  We read all different genres so definitely open to anything!

Here are a couple that I know I want to read:
Loving the Little Years- recommended to me by several good friends :)
The Night Circus- read an expert in a magazine while at the hairdresser....the reviews are ALL awesome!
Two Kisses for Maddie- followed Matt's blog from the beginning, would like to hear the rest of the story.
A Vintage Affair- Another one that has just been on my list and great reviews!
Have you read any must-read books lately?

I survived Halloween!

Otherwise known as I have not DEVOURED the giant bowl of deliciousness the boys ended up with! :)  I tell ya, for hitting only the houses in our little section, they ended up with more candy then they could ever need...I enjoyed a couple pieces the night of Halloween, and have decided at least half of what's left of it is going to the office tomorrow for OTHER people to enjoy! :)

Today was ww day, and happy to report that I lost 3.6 this week!  That makes up for the 2lbs I gained last week.  And leaves me with 4.8 to go to reach my goal.  It is coming off slowly now, but the end is so in sight.  I AM going to do it!!  So I was thinking today...what would be something good to reward myself with when I reach my goal?  My first thought is a fancy pair of jeans.  Anyone have a suggestion on a good splurge pair?  I am hoping I can reach goal by Thanksgiving and then somehow not gain the usual 10lbs of holiday weight, ha!

And here are a couple pics from Halloween...Mr. Particular decided he did not want to wear the Cars race car suit he picked out weeks ago, and I talked him out of wearing his super hero cape and lion mask, so he ended up being a football player like his younger brother.