Bella Elf~Week 2

Oh my what a mischievous little Elf we have.  No different then our three little ones.  :)  They have really been having fun with her.  There is going to be some good times coming up these next couple of weeks.  I am so excited to see their little expressions and what they come up with to say. 

Day 7

We found Bella texting with Daddy's old phone the next morning right by the TV so that she could watch the kids at all times.  OOPS...Lorelai was not happy with Bella having her dad's phone and grabbed it right out of her hands.  Oh my goodness, good thing she only touched the phone and not Bella herself otherwise her magic would have been gone for getting back to the North Pole.  Yikers!  That was a close one.

 

Bella sent many text messages that day.  I don't think they all were to Santa either.  Probably to her friend Elfs.  So we explained to Bella about our texting plan and gave her some LOVE & GRACE.

 Day 8

We found Bella "Hanging around" on our chandelier in the dining room. This was a good view of the kids playing all day long. 

Day 9

In our house once the ornaments are hung there is no more touching the tree otherwise you get in lots of trouble.  You could break an ornament or hurt yourself or tip the tree over.  That Bella she got right up into the tree right by the Angel.  Oh boy there went Lorelai just telling her that was not right and how in trouble she was in.  Again explaining

LOVE & GRACE.

 Day 10

Bella was having some fun through the night.  We found her driving Lil Harry's big tractor.  It fit her just fine but Ellaree explained that she must have been driving it around the area rug as the road because she could see tracks. 

Day 11

Bella got sick on her way back from the North Pole.  Poor thing had kleenex all over the place along with the tylenol & ear thermometer.  Those are behind her so you can't see them that well.  The kids were quite concerned.  Lorelai on the other hand was not happy that Bella had her babies blanket to wrap up in.  I think she thought that Bella should have gotten her own.  :)

 Day 12

On the mantel separating our living room from our dining room is the letters S N O W.  Bella must have thought it would be fun to hang out on the letter S.  She looks like she is trying to make the letter S with her body as well.

 Day 13

Oh Man!  Bella was really pushing mommy's buttons on this one.  She is drinking coffee out of mommy's favorite Christmas coffee mug.  Ooo the kids were freaking out worried.  I have to say this is the biggest and the prettiest mug I have.  So needless to say they were concerned.  Good thing I had to sub that day and had to take the traveling mug instead.  I explained to them that I could share one day with Bella...I guess.

 Day 14

Ellaree has been hoping that Bella would be visiting her room soon.  I heard lots of playing in the night.  Ellaree explained it had to be Bella because she was too tired to be playing in the night.  Bella perched herself on Ellaree's dresser today.  She looks quite innocent sitting there.

 



Reading

Yesterday I subbed in the high school office (thanks Grama for watching the little ones).  Ellaree loves it when I am working at the school.  Anyway, after lunch time I get a phone call.  It is the first grade teacher.  She says "Ellaree, I mean JoEllen" which immediately puts my defenses up that something happened downstairs...recess, hallway, etc.  Ellaree loves Mrs. Cade, first grade teacher, as much as she loves Ms. Johnson, her Kindergarten teacher.  She goes on to explain that Ellaree was in her classroom reading.  Sigh of relief.  And here is the story I was told...

Mrs. Cade has the lower level reading group where the other first grade teacher has the advance group.  Mrs. Cade had Ellaree come in to do sight words with her group.  Ellaree only missed 5 out of 20! She was so pumped.  Mrs. Cade reminded me that she would be reassessed at the end of the first quarter.  She has been very impressed with Ellaree's reading.  Ellaree is the only Kindergartener to advance read with the first graders.  We are receiving books and extra homework to help her until she is reassessed.  Mrs. Cade told me "Good job Mom for helping her along", my only response was "we didn't really do anything extra or special","We just read to her and kept helping her sound them out". 

We are so very proud of her!

Sunday Fun

Sunday was filled with lots of fun. Daddy didn't work and we were snowed in. We got 5 inches of snow and most things were canceled. We took advantage of it with some family fun.

We have been contemplating for some time now whether or not to take our island out.  We liked it but didn't love it.  Therefore we took it out.  We are not sure at this point what we will do.  If we will replace it or just put something under my kitchen window that we can pull out when needed.  But for now we are living without it so that we can figure out what would be best.

 

Ellaree was suppose to have her 4H Christmas party but it go canceled.  Therefore we headed outside!

We are down one sled for the time being.  So we had to share.  Ellaree & Harry had lots fun.

Lorelai needed a turn with her Bubba

During nap time Ellaree helped me roll out the sugar cookie dough, cut and bake them.

Then the decorating came next

Look at that smile saying I am ready for action!

Lorelai took lots of time to get just the right amount of frosting on it.

In the evening we got a wonderful text message saying that our dear Mikaila got a gold medal at State in Gymnastics.  All I have to say is the 11 year old is one talented amazing girl that I have had the privilege to know her whole life.  She is very precious to me and will always be my "lil peanut".  AJ & Uncle Harry are so very proud of her accomplishments!

Bella Elf ~ Week 1

Oh it has been very fun around this house this week.  As I wrote we got a visitor with us this month.  Bella the Elf has been very mischievious.  The kids love it.  Here is how things have been going in our house this week.

Day 1

When we got home from Ellaree's birthday party Saturday there was a box sitting on our step in the garage.  This note was on top.  The kids were super excited.  Didn't really want to sit and listen to the letter but they did.  When Ellaree opened up the box she said "oh it is a toy" and then when I got to the point of having magic and if you touch it she will loose her magic, she dropped it instantly on the table.  It was hard to keep a straight face.

Day 2

And the fun began...Bella got caught trying to bake cookies in mommy's mixer.  Just look at all the flour on the counter and her face. 

 

Not a very good picture but Lorelai is giving Bella quite the tongue lashing for making such a mess.  She is my cleaning lady.  She cleaned the flour off the counter and went to start cleaning her face as well.  I told her we needed to give her Love & Grace for what she did.  She was not impressed about this.  I explained that when she got back to the North Pole and her face was a mess that she would need to explain why to Santa and he would take care of it.  Just like when they are naughty and mommy & daddy takes care of it.  But she also needs to ask forgiveness from Jesus for being naughty.  I caught her later explaining this to Bella in a matter of fact tone.

 Day 3

The next day Bella must have been told to take a bath and clean her face because her she is on my dining room table taking a bath in my gravy boat with bubbles! 

 Day 4

The next day Bella was fishing for goldfish.  Ellaree was not happy that she borrowed the kids fishing pole from their fishing game.  I explained to her once again about Love & Grace. 

 Day 5

Now the day before the kids were told many many many times how they can look but not touch my nativity set.  This is very tempting to see Baby Jesus and just touch a little.  Bella got another tongue lashing from Lorelai when she saw where she was sitting.  "Momma told us not to touch.  You are going to get a spanking." Yes that is my daughter that does not hold back on what is on her mind.  Love & Grace!

 Day 6

Bella was in Ellaree's stocking this morning with a note on the top...Bella is Good!  We think Bella is trying to convince us she is good.  Ellaree never even blinked an eye, she went to the desk and wrote her own note...Bella is silly.  I thought this was very cute

Oh What Fun...

Here is what Ellaree is up to today at school...

I am pretty sure I will have lots of stories on the way home from school today.  :)

Exhausted

I am feeling like I have not blogged forever.  Yes I will admit I scheduled my blog for the Elf arrival.  I have had this done for two weeks and have been patiently waiting to have it pop up.  Thank goodness I did everything early and just needed to put things out as our lives have been very crazy lately.  Here is our updates.

Thanksgiving

We host Thanksgiving at our house each year for our family and anyone else who would like to join us.  We had a great time this year.  Harry actually went home with Uncle Jerod & Aunt Kassy overnight.  This was his first night away by himself and he LOVED it.  He was not impressed with me & the girls coming and getting him the next day.  But I have to tell you that Lorelai cried when he left and we were so sick from missing him that we had to go and get him. 

Before everyone got to our house Ellaree was showing Aunt Jen what a great reader she has become.  Look at her audience!

 

 Twinkle Fest Parade

The day after Thanksgiving there is a parade at night with lots and lots of Christmas lights.  Here we are all bundled up and ready to get out of the Tahoe to watch.  Did I mention all the candy they get!  It is insane how much they came home with.  This night was very windy and cold but we stuck it out and had a great time with our friend Lisa.

 

Grammy

Sunday, November 25th Harry's Grammy went to the Lord.  As hard as this has been on us and Harry's family we know she is in a much better place.  We headed to Kentucky Tuesday morning at 330 in the morning.  The kids did great on the trip.

A cousin Picture

This was so nice to have as there was some that I had not met yet and was nice to get to know them.

Siblings & Spouses

(Papa Harry & Nonie, Uncle Dennis & Aunt Jean Marie, Uncle John & Aunt Beth)

Aunt Allison was there and we have not seen her in such a long time.  I thought it would be great to get a picture of her with the kids.  Well see that consisted of asking Lorelai to smile with not a very long nap.  Yup that did not go over very well but hey they are all in the picture. 

 

Do you see Harry with his tie still on.  Once we were back to Uncle John & Aunt Beth's I tried to take it off of him and he got mad at me.  He kept it on all day and took it off at bedtime. 

 

We traveled back to Wisconsin Thursday and was very uneventful and the kids did great once again.  We miss everyone down south but glad to be back home.

 

Painting

Friday (the day after getting back from Kentucky) I decided we needed to paint Lorelai's room. 

Yes I am exhausted, No I should not have waited as I need to get Harry's done before Christmas.

Thankfully I had wonderful help as Lisa had the day off from work and she helped paint while Grama had the day off from work and came and watched the kids.  Oh how I needed all the help.  Lorelai was great help with helping tape the trim.

Lorelai watching from the doorway as once we started painting we blocked the door so no one could get in.

Did you know that with blue walls and covering it up with a lighter color like Pink that you should probably prime first.  Yup 3 coats later we are done and Lorelai LOVES it.

 

 Rotary Lights

Santa at Rotary Lights.  The kids stood in line for over 30 minutes but they got to talk with Santa.  Ellaree informed me that he is not the real Santa.  The real Santa doesn't have time to sit and talk to the kids therefore this is his helper.

 

We came here on Saturday night after going to a birthday party for Ellaree's friend from school.  It was sprinkling but still pretty warm, around 43 which is good for Wisconsin.  Quite foggy though on the way home.  But all in all we had a great time coming with our friends Ty & Heidi & their two adorable girls.

Snowy Ridge Christmas Tree Farm

Harry got called into Kwik Trip to work on Sunday therefore we had to wait until after he got done to go and get our Christmas tree.  It worked out just fine but some of us were a little tired and cranky.

Lorelai has decided that she doesn't need naps anymore.  Although the minute we got in the Tahoe she was out and you could not get her awake.  Harry carried her across the whole field looking for a tree.  He finally put her down so he could cut the tree.

Here Lorelai is still sleeping sitting up along with Harry & Ellaree in front of our tree!

Now we are finally waking up a little.  Daddy did a great job at cutting down the tree

Harry was done with pictures by this point.  Afterwards we at cookies, drank hot cocoa and then came home and put our tree up.  It was a great day.

Tomorrow is Ellaree's leader day~which means we made Holiday Carmel Corn! Holiday M&M's in carmel corn.  Oh who couldn't resist that!

A Special Treat

As Christmas is approaching and everyone is getting ready with presents, holiday decorations, baking and all the fun stuff that goes with Christmas.  I feel like sometimes the real meaning gets pushed to the side.  Last year the kids received a wonderful gift from their Aunt Allison.  They received an Elf on the Shelf.  Now if you have not heard of this before it is a little magical elf that comes and sits and watches you throughout the day.  Once everyone is in bed at night the elf flies back to the North Pole and reports for the Naughty or Nice List.  I thought this was a wonderful tradition that I wanted to keep doing with my kids.  Until I found this awesome idea on Pinterest on how to incorporate Santa & Jesus together.  The blog was called A Small Snippet.  Here is a small portion of what this mom had to write and I fell in love with her knowledge, her imagination and the love she shows for her children.

let me pause a minute to talk a little Santa with y’all.

here’s my take (for what its worth!)

i {big fat heart} Santa…a whole heck of a lot!!! we totally believe in him around here, and we enjoy the excitement and celebration that He brings.

i know there are differing thoughts on the proper way to deal with Santa and kids. i understand and truly respect those who choose to do it differently than we do…i really do! but we’ve chosen to enjoy his presence in our house, because, frankly, i don’t want my kids to grow up without the excitement of wondering, hoping, and joyfully awaiting his arrival. i have very vivid memories of being absolutely SURE that i heard sleigh bells as we were leaving church on Christmas Eve, Rudolph’s hooves landing on my roof, and i can’t tell you the wonder it brought my brothers and i to see that Santa had eaten the cookies we had left out for him. there’s nothing quite like that feeling, and i want my kids to enjoy that feeling FOR AS LONG AS POSSIBLE!! if my kids come to me and ask me if there is a Santa, my answer will be yes, because the way i see it, there is. and i mean…someone’s gotta be leaving those presents under the tree…don’t they? so if your kids believe otherwise, i think that’s perfectly fine….but will you please tell them to not talk about it with mine??

in my opinion (which i realize isn’t worth much, but i’ll give it to you anyway!) enjoying Santa with our kids is not lying to them or creating scars for them not to trust us. its instead choosing to give them the opportunity to be kids, to wonder, hope, imagine, dream, play. this world doesn’t offer too many opportunities like that anymore, for kids to just simply be kids, innocent and playful and imaginative. i’m committed to giving them a childhood, even in this world that makes them grow up way too fast, and i personally believe Santa is one (of many) ways of doing that. so there…that’s my take

we believe that Santa has the capability to deeply add to the meaning of this season. one thing that Santa has over the years done for our family is remind us of the most wonderful gift that we are celebrating. In all his communication with our family, he always tells us that his gifts are twofold…

1) they are to show us that Jesus is sharing with us the joy of His birthday celebration, His coming to earth, God with us. Jesus bestows gifts on us because of His great love for us, personally.

2) they are a reminder that the best gift we have ever or will ever receive is the gift of a Rescuer.

So after reading this part I immediately went to her letter she wrote for her children.  I have to admit I am not this imaginative.  But I did take to the idea and here is what I came up with for the kids letter (with this ladies help) that they will receive instead of reading the traditional book that comes with the Elf. 

Dear Ellaree, Lorelai & Harry ~

Well, well, well…three of my favorite little children!

First off, I have to tell you that I think you are all very special.  I know that you are filled with love for each other, your parents, but most importantly, you are filled with love for Jesus, and I know that He lives in your hearts.  He lives in mine too, so that makes us all especially special!

 

I had to let you know something important.  You know that whole naughty & nice list that you hear everyone talking about?  Well…truth is, it is not completely true.  I do have a naughty & nice list but what is more important is GRACE and LOVE.  Because I know Jesus, I also know a lot about grace and getting what we don’t deserve.  I know you know all about that!  Like when you make the wrong choices and when you choose to sin, Jesus gives you grace and loves you still!  And sometimes I know that your parents even give you grace too…like when you deserve to be disciplined, but they give you another chance!

 

I know that kids are not perfect.  I know that you guys are not perfect.  But I know that Jesus loves you all the time, and I do too.  So you don’t need to worry about being on my naughty or nice list.  If you believe that I will come to your house on Christmas Eve and leave you something special, then I will come!  That’s all you need…is to believe!

 

To help you remember about grace and about getting love even when you don’t deserve it, I wanted to send you a very special treat for this Christmas season.  Since it is the first day of December, the month that we celebrate Jesus coming to earth to be our rescuer, I thought you might enjoy a little visit from a very special friend of mine.

 

This is Bella the Elf…

 

She is a dear friend of mine, but she tends to be a bit naughty.  I have explained grace to her many many times, when she chooses to sin and be a little stinker.  I have told her that that is why Jesus had to come…to rescue her, because she has sin in her heart.  She is beginning to learn, but I thought that if she stayed with you for the Christmas season, then you might be able to teach her some more about the way Jesus loves us even when we sin.  I know that you three are learning that you get to obey and love God because He first loves you so very much.  I love Bella so much and I want her to understand and believe Jesus and know that her heart can make good choices too because Jesus loves her so very much!

 

A couple of important things about Bella…she is an Elf, and elves are not exactly the same as humans.  You cannot touch Bella for her magic from me will go away.  Bella stays still all during the day, but she comes alive at night.  While she is sitting very still, she is listening and watching you.  The gleam you see in her eyes and her bright smile shows you she is listening. Through these actions you are teaching Bella the importance of grace and love.  Once you go to sleep, Bella’s magic helps her to fly back to the North Pole and gives me a report.  When Bella returns back to your home, everyone is still sleeping.  This is usually when she can get into some trouble, so you’ll have to watch her very carefully.

 

When I told Bella that she was going to go stay with you guys, she jumped up and down in excitement!  She really thinks you guys are so much fun!

 

Have fun!  I’ll be back to pick up Bella on Christmas Eve when I come to drop off a special gift for each of you! 

 

I love you each so very much!

 

Santa

 

I am hoping to post pictures throughout the season of the kids and Bella.  I hope that this tradition continues throughout every year.