North Pole Breakfast

At about 7:00 am our bedroom door flew open and the hallway light shone into our room (bright enough to blind you) and Sam yelled "Mom! You HAVE to come see this!" Talk about giving me a heart attack-sheesh. "The Elves are here!"

He ran in and woke up Jack and I heard them run downstairs. Jack squealed in delight - "The sleigh!" He's been waiting and waiting for the sleigh and the Elves to arrive. Thankfully they didn't bring any baby elves...YET.

However, these elves seem to be enough. They called my work and told my boss I couldn't come in today because I needed to do some Emergency Christmas Baking since we had no cookies in the house. I guess maybe they aren't all bad?

Almost here!

While the girls were gone this weekend (including mom), the elves had their things delivered to our house. They left a note saying that they were bringing some large cargo and it was taking longer than usual. They asked the boys to set up their house and put out some snacks for them because they were going to be exhausted when they finally arrived.

Papa had to remind Jack that Elves eat crackers and water and not ham and cheese. Jack set everything up quite nicely and set out their snacks. Occasionally throughout the day He would notice that Lucy had eaten their crackers and he would get so upset and say "bad dog". Poor Lucy. I don't think she enjoys the elves and reindeer visits as much as Jack. She tends to get picked on by them or scolded by Jack.

The 2012 Adventure Begins!

I received what I assume will be one of many phone calls at work from my kids today, informing me of what the Elves were up to. Seems that a letter was left at our house while we were all gone. The letter stated that we were lucky enough to be able to host another Elf this season. But wait...that's not all! Apparently over the past year there has been an Elf-baby-boom of sorts in the North Pole, along with plenty of new reindeer. Seeing as though our elves are seasoned veterans, they have been given the duty of babysitting one of the baby elves throughout their visit. YIKES! To make matters worse, our letter even warned us that baby elves are more mischievous than just your regular run-of-the-mill elves!

So, while I was on the phone with Sam explaining to him that I did NOT sign up for this and I was not pleased with the amount of mess a bunch of baby elves were going to make, I could hear Jack squealing with delight in the background. And of course, Sam promptly told me that if I didn't agree to it then I was headed straight for the Naughty List. At least I will have a few days to prepare myself.

The Letter from the North Pole Announcing their Arrival!

Mrs. Claus would be proud!

I received a call at work from Emily one day after school. She and Ana just wanted to check to see if I was in a good mood. Strange, don't you think? Apparently the Elves had left a bit of a mess and they know how I dislike having to clean up after the Elves. But they wouldn't tell me what it was. So I picked Jack up from school, and when I told him that the Elves made a mess at our house and we had to hurry home to see what it was, he did a fist pump and yelled "YES! I love when the Elves leave messes!"

When we got home, the girls greeted me at the door and wouldn't let me go in any further until they decided my mood was acceptable to deal with this situation. I walked into our kitchen and there were Laney, Alabaster, and Jangle making cookies! There were messes ALL over! One of them had spilled flour on the counter and had made a "Snow Angel"; the reindeer were hiding in the mixing bowl (I might too given the mess on the counters); Laney was mixing up a new batch of cookies, Jangle was rolling them out, and Alabaster was in charge of decorating them!

Laney and the reindeer making gingerbread cookies

Alabaster's Snow-Angel

Jangle got out ALL my cookie cutters!

A Elf-sized gingerbread cookie (Alabaster sized)

Alabaster was pretty good at decorating cookies

The whole MESS!

So, since there was already a mess in my kitchen, and about 8 more pouches of ready-to-mix cookie dough, we decided to do some holiday baking that night.

Ana rolling out more dough

Jack helping Laney

Ana decided to decorate the Elf cookie to look like Alabaster

Sam doesn't go far without his football

The icing was a bit runny

Do they look alike?

The Elves weren't the only goofy ones!

Our finished cookies

Jack LOVES the Elves

Jack has taken quite a liking to the Elves since they've arrived. He plays with them all the time and is a fierce protector of them from his siblings. He tends to monopolize their time! He loves to draw pictures for the elves and reindeer too. Some days I can't tell if Jack has put the Elves is certain spots, or if the Elves did it themselves!

This is a picture of the 3 Elves 

With a note that says "I Love you!" from Jack

Getting into Everything!

That lampshade looks like it's about to tip over!

Jangle trying to get the candy suckers

Ana came home from school one day and found Laney in her room trying on her jewelry. She had even pierced her ear and was wearing one of Ana's dangly earrings! Jangle was also being sneaky...he had stacked some boxes up and was trying to get the candy that was attached to Ana's poster on the wall. We can't seem to leave them alone at all without the getting into all sorts of trouble!

Isn't she pretty with earrings?

Reindeer Games

Apparently the Elves aren't the only ones who like to play games. The reindeer left us a note telling us that they really like to play games too, and if we didn't believe them, we should ask rudolph. So, as we came downstairs in the morning, we had to be very careful not to step on the reindeer or their notes. One of their favorite games to play is called "Candy-Cane hunt". They told us that they hid lots of candy canes and we were to find them- but we had to be careful not to step in any "Reindeer Poop".

The girls searched and searched the house that morning. They were a bit disappointed they couldn't find any candy canes before they headed out to school. But as soon as they opened the door to catch the bus- Emily almost stepped in Reindeer Poop. Turns out the reindeer hid all the candy canes OUTSIDE!

They FINALLY found some!

Reindeer Poop

Looking for Candy Canes

The reindeer poop is just as good, mmm...

The reindeer pooped in the sleds too!

Gotta be tall to reach that candy cane!