Fred, our elf on the shelf

This is Fred, our elf on the shelf. He shows up every year on the day after Thanksgiving. He watches the kids all day from a place in the house where they cannot touch him. Every night after the kids go to bed, Fred flies up to the North Pole and tells Santa whether the kids are being good or bad. The kids can also tell Fred what they want for Christmas and he passes the message on to Santa. In the morning, when he returns, he finds a new place to sit in our home and the kids have fun trying to find him. Christmas Eve is always bitter sweet for the kids, because on that night Fred leaves, not to return until the next year on the day after Thanksgiving.
Here is the last of Nana and Papa's puppies. The others have all found homes. This little guy came to visit us last week and will be going to his new home on Christmas Eve.
Sammy loves his Papa!

Finally! Snow!
Okay, so Jonah puked up three quarters of a Little Caesars Pizza last night. It was awesome because for the first time one of our kids actually had the where with all to make it to the toilet. We held him on the couch for a while and then Shelly tucked him into bed. While in the room she covered a sleeping Hudson with his blanket and did the same for our sleeping Sammy. Jonah observed this and asked Shelly if she fixes his blanket at night when he sleeps. "Every night." Shelly replied. "Oh," said Jonah "I thought that my Jesus did it for me at night." What a sweet boy.
On a side note: Jonah was so excited to tell the kids, this morning, that he puked out of his mouth and nose at the same time. They were impressed.

Our Little Elves

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

I Really Enjoy Beating My Kids...

...with our giant stuffed snowman.
Sammy is getting so big. This week he took his first steps.

He has been using the walker on and off for a few days. We kept making fun of him pushing around the girl's pink stroller, so he picked up the Star Wars toys, and started walking.He hasn't quite mastered it, but he's getting better.




A couple weeks ago, Emma asked if she could get an American Girl doll if she saved her own money. Shelly said that it would be fine but that they are almost $100. Emma instantly asked how much was in her bank (she already knew because she had made a deposit at the bank the week before). Shelly told her the amount (which was more than $100). Emma then said that she had saved enough money and wanted to order it. Well, she was right, so we ordered the doll and it came this week. She has been carrying it all over and is so proud of the fact that she bought it with her own money.
Last week we broke out the power tools in order to make a new stable for our front yard nativity. The old one was really moldy (we stored it under the deck) and even though mold probably added to the realism of what the actual stable was like, it was time for an upgrade. Hudson and Jonah really helped. They stayed in the garage for hours and helped me measure, cut and attach all the parts. They even came out the next day and helped me paint.

I swear I am not stupid, but...

...I could not get this fantastically great picture of Jonah's first Thanksgiving to attach upright. So, I gave up. But here are the numerous attachments to show that I tried... a lot!






Here is Gracie, foraging for jell-o salad where ever she can find it. This plate happened to belong to Great Grandma.
Sammy was really confused with the whole "somebody is trying to feed me" thing. Yeah, being fed is not really his thing. Thanks for trying Great Grandma.

It took him a while, but Jonah finally finished his dinner. Not a big fan of stuffing or ham, but devoured the mashed potatoes and ate a lot of pie. He even said that Thanksgiving was his favorite day in America.

Gracie, still eating other people's food. That is my pilgrim hat she is eating. It's weird, the girl will not touch her own food, but seems to find satisfaction in taking food from others. I cannot remember a thanksgiving where the weather was so nice that we could go out and play.
Thank you great grandma for making us all laugh...err...I mean...for teaching Emma how to use a baton.
The day after Thanksgiving is the day we break out the Christmas decorations.






Every day after Thanksgiving, for the last 6 or 7 years, our good friend Keyla also comes to visit. I met Keyla as a missionary years ago and her mom and brother moved here a couple of years ago. Here is a picture of Keyla's mom, Olga. Olga is going in for surgery this week to remove a tumor from her face and we are praying for all to go well. We love it when Keyla's family comes for several reasons:
1-They help with the Christmas decorations that Shelly and I hate to do (last year they put the lights on the tree).
2-Keyla's little brother Ramsis is a computer whiz who is able to get our computer running again in spite of our efforts to destroy it. He does remind me of the computer tech guy from Saturday Night Live that Jimmy Fallon used to play (he says a lot of computer things that I don't understand, but I just nod my head as if I do).
3-We always learn something new from Keyla's family. For instance, they asked where our cat went. We told them that the cat went crazy and kept attacking Sammy, so we had to find her a new home. They told us that all cats are racist. Well, I didn't know that.
Let's try one more time with this photo....
...Nope.