2011 Christmas Pictures

Okay so when we went to my IL's place in the Ga mountains over Thanksgiving they took us to jcpenney in Chattanooga to get Christmas pictures of the girls done(originally wanted me and Dawn in it too but I didn't want to do pictures). It was....stressful.
For #1 it was done on Black Friday. Which everyone can agree...worst time to go ANYWHERE(unless you actually like the insane shopping savings). And it was also at a mall. So yeah NOT really TONS of fun for me. For #2 the girls woke up that morning at 2 am. So they were cranky by our appointment.
But at least the pictures turned out GREAT!!

Brittney

Ashley

Bubbles.....

So this week isn't going as well as I planned. Not a lot of crafts out there to do involving the baby Jesus that don't require self-hardening clay or popsicle sticks or a pre-made nativity scene. It is quite frustrating!! And it is also hard to teach something that quite frankly I find impossible(I want go into SPECIFICS but you know what I mean). So I talked to my dear Dawn and she agreed it was okay to go on into SECULAR CHRISTMAS!!

So I am definitely excited about THAT!!

I am still very much looking forward to celebrating Hanukkah with the girls. We FINALLY bought our Menorah and candles(they are blue) and I can't wait to do it. I've read up a lot about Judaism and am really prepared to teach them about that.

So onto the MAIN reason for this post. November 27th, 2011 we adopted a beautiful:

This is Bubbles the Elf

Now I know, she looks creepy(actually I thought she looked adorable!!) but the girls love her. She came with:

In a special box(which we will store her in when she lives).

Off of the  Elf on the Shelf website:

Have you ever wondered how Santa knows who is naughty and who is nice? The Elf on the Shelf – A Christmas Tradition is the very special tool that helps Santa know who to put on the Naughty and Nice list. This interactive holiday hide-and-seek tradition is perfect for children and families of all ages.
The tradition begins when Santa sends his scout elves out to Elf Adoption Centers. Waiting for their families to bring them home, these patient elves hibernate until their family reads The Elf on the Shelf, gives their elf a very special name, and registers their adoption online. Once named, each scout elf will receive its Christmas magic and become a part of the family’s Christmas each and every year.
Excellent listeners and even better observers, these scout elves are the eyes and ears of Santa Claus. Although they cannot be touched, or else they may lose their magic, the elf will always listen and relay messages back to Santa. Taking in all the day-to-day activities around the house, no good deed goes unnoticed; these scout elves take their job seriously.
Each night, after the family goes to bed, the scout elf uses his magical Christmas powers to fly back to the North Pole. Once there, the elf will make his or her daily report to Santa and visit with elf friends where they will tell stories about their beloved families, play with the reindeer, and of course, sneak some of Mrs. Claus’ cookies!
Before the family awakes each morning, their special scout elf will fly back to their home from the North Pole. However, since these elves like to play games, don’t expect to find them in the same spot!  While some like to hide in the freezer (probably because it reminds them of the North Pole) and others prefer to sit on the fireplace mantle or hang from the chandelier, these elves love to play hide-and-seek with their families.
On Christmas Eve, the scout elf will listen for Santa’s bell and then fly back to the North Pole until the next season, wishing every girl and each boy a Christmas of peace and a year full of joy. 

So for the first week or so she just hid. On the fridge, the fan, the Christmas tree...Then we started noticing that Bubbles was just getting into trouble:

On 12/07/11

She got out Santa's cookie plate and some cookies in Mommy and Momma's room. I wasn't happy about that. She also dyed the milk red(actually it looks pink).

On 12/08/11

Then this morning we woke up to Bubbles playing board games with the Clifford twins and Zebra Claus. Now I don't mind her playing games but guess who had to clean it up. Yup....ME!!

The girls are going to tell Santa this weekend(at Bass Pro Shops) that Bubbles is NOT being good. Either that or they will write him a letter.

This is our 1st year with a Scout Elf from Santa. And I just adore her!! The "tricks" are going to be soooo fun. I don't know if I will post this EVERY day but I will try to do it every other day.

Now the girls are not allowed to touch her but the grown ups are(because she seems to fall down a lot) and because I don't want to cats to think they can eat her or play with her.

Well TTFN. It is school time(and breakfast time) so I better go. BYE!!

Happy December!!

This month is going to be an exciting one!!


Since I was not raised in religious surroundings and my dear partner was I plan on teaching the girls a LOT about this month.


First week, 5th-9th will be all about the Christian celebration of Christmas. I will be teaching the girls about the Birth of Christ. We will do nativity scenes, read stories, color pictures and maybe write a nice letter to Jesus. On Christmas Day we plan on visiting my IL's so I plan on backing a birthday cake for Jesus to take over there.
The second week, 12th-16th we will learn about secular Christmas. We will make Santa, reindeer and snowmen craft. We will read Christmas stories about Santa and decorate our house. We will bake chocolate chip cookies for Santa on Christmas Eve and leave out some milk for him and carrots for the reindeer.

Not our tree

Jolly man in Red

The third week won't start until the 20th, where we will celebrate Hanukkah til sundown on the 28th. During that week we will light a Menorah every night, although on Friday we will only light it for the traditional 30mins, instead of the 1 1/2 hours that is normally done for the Sabbath. We will play dreidel games, the girls will receive candy coins on that day and we will read about Judaism and the meaning behind Hanukkah. Last night we bought a paint your own dreidel kit that came with 3 dreidels, 3 sets of paints and 3 paintbrushes for 5 dollars are Target.

Dreidels

Menorah