day 16 eli the elf

this was certainly a day worth remembering.

we found eli buckled in the backseat of our van this morning,

complete with a backpack & a plastic suit.

the backpack was because he was going to school with sam,

and the plastic suit was so that we could touch him without him losing his magic.

you see, sam performed in the nutcracker at his school today,

and eli wanted to go.

apparently the elves do a performance themselves while at the north pole,

hey, that's at least what he said. 

he had a wonderful time,

and sam did a lovely job,

especially when they did the color red.

maggie and will were delighted to have an extra audience member with them,

and i was quite impressed with this little elves' clever attempt to come more alive to my children.

he's pretty committed, i tell ya.

day 14 eli the elf

eli out did himself today.
perhaps this was one of my favorite days.
we found him hanging from the kitchen light fixture,
examining snowflakes through his microscope,
and he left the snowflake bentley book,
which just so happened to be EXCELLENT!
it's about wilson bentley,
the first person to photograph snowflakes.
so interesting and entertaining.
we read it over and over today.
then we spent our time making snowflakes to mimic the ones eli brought.
he may or may not have printed them from this place.
there were a few tears shed when trying to stick to the exactness of the template,
so we bagged the templates and made our own.
the boys did it for at least an hour.
they just couldn't believe that they couldn't make 2 snowflakes look the same.
we even had a stranger stop by to buy some stuff we were selling.
both boys felt inclined to send him with 2 snowflakes.
i will never tire of watching my boys so engaged with a project,
or of admiring their uniqueness in the way they do things.
i appreciate them and love them,
and something about this activity really brought that home to me.

day 13 eli the elf

we found eli in the game closet today.
he knows we love playing games,
and he is scoping out what we already have
and sending suggestions for a new Christmas game back to the north pole.
our assignment today was to play a family game.
it provided a perfect time to make these scrabble pieces that i've been wanting to make.
there wasn't too much game playing with them,
but we sure had fun making & eating them.
we all discovered how much we love gingerbread,
and the dough is just as good as the cookies. :)
and the 1-inch squares are perfect for dipping in milk when you need a break from doing homework.

day 12 eli the elf

eli loves sweet treats,
and he was so happy we made sugar cookies last night.
he was disappointed that they weren't iced and decorated.
he spent his night decorating a few,
and our assignment today was to finish them up and deliver them to our cousins.
the kids put their best effort into this assignment.
maggie LOVED covering her high chair tray with red sprinkles.
sam tried his best to decorate accurately,
but then he became more interested in eating the candy circles.
will put the most effort into it.
each cookie had about 1 inch of icing and about 1 inch of sprinkles.
he loves the sweet stuff,
and i'm glad he got to share them with some of his favorite people.

through my child's lens

sam's lens

day 11 eli the elf

eli didn't make an appearance today.
maybe the orchestrator forgot??
i mean, maggie took too much magic yesterday.
he was working on building his supply back up,
so we just left him alone today.

day 10 eli the elf

another day in the snow for eli.
he didn't move from his spot today because we didn't complete his assignment of making snow yesterday.
he decided to spend the night making marshmellow snowmen in his sugary pile of snow.
the kids were so curious about his "snow" that he was sitting in;
they kept encouraging me to taste,
but i refused.
they finally got brave enough and discovered it was sugar.
then they couldn't keep their hands out of it.
even maggie.
she got carried away and decided to take eli out of the snow.
she carried it across the house to me.
the boys were totally panicked!
i grabbed eli by his string and placed him out of reach on the christmas tree.
we knew he lost a lot of magic with that episode.
the boys were frantic he would not come back.
we worked hard to keep him and untouched,
and we definitely made sure we completed his request.
boy, am i glad we did!
that snow was awesome!
i don't know if i was more impressed or the children.
if your elf hasn't delivered snow in seconds perhaps you should try to find some.
we enjoyed fulfilling this request,
and now we are nervously waiting to see if maggie stole too much magic for him to return again.

day 9 eli the elf

eli is ready for snow.

we found him doing snow angels in a pile of white stuff this morning.

his note informed us that he is getting a little homesick and missing the snow from the north pole.

he wants to build snowmen, have snowball fights, and do real snow angels.

he left us a package of snow in seconds.

he wants snow,

and he wants us to figure out how to make it.

i must admit we are a little ready for snow around here, too.

day 8 eli the elf

eli caught the stomach flu.
we found him in the medicine cabinet loading up on meds this morning.
the virus surely came from sam.
sam's on day 2 of missed school with throwing up,
so he wished us a day of resting & relaxing.
i guess the boys got that playing while i worked all day.
now i'm the one needing the resting & relaxing!
perhaps that's the request he will bring tomorrow.
one can hope, right?

day 7 eli the elf

today worked out great for eli.
i was certain he would never be found tucked away in sam's stuffed animal net.
due to a series of unordinary events he was found rather quickly.
sam got into our bed last night because he was having a dream that pete was trying to blow up our house.
will got in sam's bed this morning in an attempt to trick us.
while he was laying there he spied eli all tucked into the animal pile.
eli was thrilled to find the animals and knew how much the boys love animals,
so he delivered tickets for a night at the zoo to see the zoo lights.
unfortunately it was freezing cold, sam was sick, and the tickets expired today,
but we loaded up anyways to make an appearance.
it was cold as expected.
freezing cold.
sam was still sick.
the lights were cool,
but the real treat was the free refill hot chocolate mug we bought.
we all shared,
so we will probably all be sick.
all in all, a fun time.
thanks, eli!

will proud that he finally found the elf

day 6 eli the elf

we found eli in the box of christmas books this morning.
he was enjoying them so much he decided to send a request in for another.
thankfully amazon, i mean santa, was delivering the i spy christmas book today.
we have been laying under the christmas tree spying things all day.

day 5 eli the elf

we found our elf in the shower this morning.
he has been trying to figure this bath thing out since he has been here.
apparently they don't do baths in the north pole.
he was enjoying the bath so much he left us a christmas shower curtain to enjoy.
the cutest part of all about today's find was maggie.
she wondered into the bathroom this morning and noticed the new curtain and began ooohhhing and aaaawwwing.
she ran for us right away and was thrilled to show us her new find.
she couldn't keep her hands off those cute reindeer.
fun for all.

through my child's lens

will's self-portrait lens

day 4 eli the elf

the kids found eli the elf staring into our manager scene this morning.
he came with the important reminder that christmas is more than just the fun things,
but the main purpose is to celebrate a little baby's birth from many years ago.
Eli wanted to share the story of Christmas with us through the movie The Story of Christmas.
i don't know how that sneaky elf knows about netflix!
however, we were too busy cleaning up the trees in our neighborhood & having dinner with friends that we missed the movie.
it's in our queue ready & waiting.

day 3 eli the elf

our elf got hungry during the night.

he decided to use some of his magic and some of the ingredients we had on hand and whip up these tasty vanilla pretzel santa hats.

he said they were his favorite,

and they were pretty tasty i might add.

his message to us today was to clean up the mess he made in the night

and then make a batch of these tasty treats to share with a friend. 

perfect timing,

we were spending the evening with friends.

will and maggie slept through the making of this creation,

but they sure enjoyed eating them.

who knows where he will end up tonight.

the boys surely can't wait to wake each morning and find him.

day 2 eli the elf

we had a horrible wind storm yesterday.
it knocked our power out,
so we stayed over night at pete's mom's house.
we worried about eli and if he was going to be ok,
much less be able to move around.
he surprised us.
when we returned home this morning we were surprised.
the fireplace doors were open,
the parachute on the floor,
and eli was missing.
it took a minimum of  5 minutes for my boys to find him.
we combed the whole house.
sam found him in the christmas tree.
he got all tangled in the lights while trying to the eat the dried apple & dried orange ornaments.
he took a bite out of an apple ornament even!
the boys could not figure out how he got over there.
will was explaining his theory with lots of hand movements.
he accidentally touched the elf,
and sam panicked.
poor will.
it was such an accident,
but he immediately started to cry.
he was so worried that eli was going to leave.
we got that worked out with the explanation that he doesn't lose much magic with a one time accidental touch.
whew!
he had 2 messages today.
1. he had observed how much the kids like being with their mom all day and how good they were at cleaning up when she asked. he sent santa the message that a kid-sized broom and vacuum would be fitting gift ideas for these kids. the boys chuckled and thought it would be a good idea. hmmm.
2. since eli loved hanging out in the tree so much he wanted the kids to have a tree in their room, so the activity of the day was decorating small ones for their room. we accomplished that.
can't wait to see where the little guy ends up tomorrow.

welcome eli the elf

we had a visitor arrive in our home today.
he arrived by parachute down our chimney,
and got a little stuck as he was trying to get in.
he's small,
doesn't say much,
and looks like he could have come from the north pole.
thank goodness he came bearing a note.
he introduced himself as eli the elf.
he informed us that he has come to observe our family,
learn all about our likes
and see the things we own,
so he can help santa make the most suitable gift for our family.
he will explore our homes every night,
and we must find him the next day and read his note.
the tricky part is that we can't touch him.
if we do he loses his magic and must return to the north pole.
thankfully we haven't touched him yet.
the letter that he brings every day contains a christmas activity for us to do that day.
if we do it he brings us another one the next day.
our activity today was to write in our family christmas journal about what makes christmas special to us,
what we like to do at christmastime,
and what we like to eat at christmas.
he has created so much excitement around here.
while this is not our usual type of christmas activity,
i think it is exactly what we needed this year,
and i hope eli finds his way back here each year,
and perhaps he will help create fond memories for my children to take to their own homes.
welcome, eli the elf.