Elf on the Shelf, etc.

The story of the Elf on the Shelf....
Aunt Susan brought the boys a new Christmas tradition this year when we saw her for Thanksgiving!

Last night after attempting the decorating, we decided to gather in the living room to read the book that comes with the Elf. CJ sat quietly, Marky crawled all over us wanting to hit the book and trying to tear the pages while Clark held Peyton who cooed so loud that CJ was hardly able to hear me read. Nevertheless, we finished the book and this is going to be FUN!

Basically, the book comes with this elf that watches over the boys and reports to Santa if they've been bad or good. We had to name him and after CJ went through a few names he decided that his name would be "Noodle Smoodle". Every night until Christmas he flies to a different spot in the house and in the morning the boys find him-although they cannot touch him or he loses his "magical" powers. This morning he was found sitting on top of the blinds on the back door so that he could see the living room...CJ found him soon after he woke up.

All day I reminded him that the elf was watching...he told me after we got back from Little Sluggers that he had been really good and that he's had a lot of "good" days lately. True, he's been pretty good although not long after we had been home, he decided to not be so good. I quickly reminded him that I was sure he wanted presents from Santa and that elf would be reporting to Santa tonight on his first days' work at the Miller house. CJ didn't like that too much...he quietly walked into the living room not knowing that I was watching from the kitchen. He got where he could see the elf and pointed his finger at him and with this voice full of grrrrrr he said, "ELF, I DON'T CARE IF YOU"RE WATCHING ME, GRRRRRR!" This is going to be a lot of fun!

A few more pics that I didn't post the other day...

CJ after he got home from his deer hunt. His Poppy carried him in asleep and I was finally able to get him to wake up for his bath. After his bath, he wanted to be wrapped up in my "cozy" robe. He quickly fell asleep...he was pooped!

This is Marky in the potting soil again...we have kept this plant alive for almost a whole year. Mandy and Tim got it for us for Christmas last year although I don't know how much longer its going to last with Marky pulling off the leave, breaking the limbs and eating the potting soil!


Finally all three can sit in the bathtub and play together. I threw away the seat we had for Peyton this weekend...he loves to play with the bath toys but now Mark is at the age where he takes everything away from Peyton. You would think that he would not even notice but Peyton gets his little feelings hurt and just cries and cries when his toys get swiped away!

Oh how I love these little boys!