Elf-Capades 2012

I had several people email me and ask if I was going to share the fun that Buddy, our Elf on the Shelf had with us this year.  For those that follow me on Twitter (the link is in the about me tab above), there were daily updates.  I still wanted to post them all in a single place.  :)  Our elf got into a little mischief, had a lot of fun, and even left us several sweet gifts.  The kids miss him, but hopefully he'll be back next year....as long as they still believe!!!  :)

Day 1: Buddy created a hot wheels traffic jam!

Day 2: Played a game of Scrabble using all wintery words.

Day 3: He left us seeds that when planted in sugar became cookie pops.*

Day 4: Yes, he really took EVERY pillow in the house to create his mountain.

Day 5: Teepeeing the entire living room, not cool Buddy!

Day 6: Katie was at a sleepover so Buddy made himself at home in her bed.

Day 7: Recreated the North Pole Village with Little People.

Day 8: Catching up on his fav winter sports with ESPN.com and SportsCenter.

Day 9: How thoughtful, a new ornament frame...with a self portrait.  HEE HEE

Day 10: Taking very good care of Baby Doll Anabelle.

Day 11: He made some additions to Mommy's grocery list...sugar anyone???

Day 12: He left the kids their "Official Elf Reports". *

Day 13: We woke up to a donut delivery, complete with a Buddy sized one! *

Day 14: Crepe paper across all of their bedroom doors.  

Day 15: Having a little too much fun with the copier.

Day 16: Guarding the presents.

Day 17: Playing in the girl's BLING.

Day 18: Scaling the cabinets to his hidden stash of candy.

Day 19: Counting down to Christmas...TEN DAYS!!!

Day 20: Jammin' to Daddy's tunes.

Day 21: We found Buddy in the car with Christmas tunes on BLAST.

Day 22: He brought the kids some of their favorite candy canes.

Day 23: A note to say "Hi".

Day 24: He must have been worried about missing his ride home.

Day 25: Trying to get out to play in our first snow.

Day 26: Fine tuning his Super Mario Bros skills.

Day 27: Tower of cookies!

Day 28: He left us a new movie to watch on Christmas Eve and a goodbye letter.*

*On Day 2 there was a wrapped baggy of seeds (mini M&Ms) left next to his Scrabble game.  We planted them in sugar and woke up the next morning to cookie pops.  Learn from my trial and BIG OL' ERROR....put the sticks in before you bake.  :)  

*Here is the 'Official Elf Report' Buddy left on Day 12.  I downloaded and then made some changes in my paint program to change the year (though I found after she'd posted a 2012 version as well) and to make the checked items things that were important to us and I changed to columns to say Naughty, Nice and Close Call.  Also I didn't want them to think this was it for them, so at the bottom they say Nice List PENDING rather than deciding between naughty or nice.  CLICK HERE to see the original which is a free download and make the changes that work for you or you can right click and save my version if you wish.  

*The Buddy sized donut is simply a cheerio that is frosted with a powdered sugar/water paste and sprinkles!

*I thought the goodbye letter was very important.  One of my kiddos asked how come they would get on the naughty list for making a mess like that, but when Buddy does it we laugh.  So I made sure to explain his mischief in the letter.  I know the original idea for Elf on the Shelf was simply to provide Santa's eyes and ears in each house to help kiddos remember to behave, but our elf has fun each night when he is 'alive'.  To me, getting to see my kids faces each morning race through the house searching for Buddy and lighting up when they see what he's done now is a way to extend the magic of Christmas all month long.  For the letter I just opened Microsoft Word (I'm sure many programs have this capability too, but this came free on my computer) and added a watermark picture of Buddy really faded out.  Here is the text from our letter from Buddy:

Dear ________________, 

I have really enjoyed being your elf the past two years and I am so glad that you adopted me so that I can come back each year to see how much you have grown.  I know I am supposed to just sit on a shelf somewhere and watch quietly so that I can report back to Santa if you have been naughty or nice, but when I see how much fun you all have playing with each other, it makes me wish I could play with you too!  So sometimes when I get a little bored at night, I play with your things and pretend I am playing with you.

You guys were so good this year, but if you could try just a little harder next year that would be great.  I don't like seeing Santa get cross when I have to tell him that you have been fighting or not doing what your parents ask sometimes and there were a few times I was really worried Santa was going to move you to the Naughty List.

I know you have a quiet Christmas Eve planned and I wanted to help you make it a special evening.  So when you are making cookies for Santa (make sure you leave an extra one for me to munch on during my trip back north), brew some hot cocoa and watch this movie together as a family.

Love you all, 

Buddy

Thanks for visiting!

♥

Elf-capades part 2

...the adventure continues...

If you missed the first post about Buddy, check it out HERE, and then head back here to see what Buddy has been up to since we last left off.

Day 6: Mountain climbing on the advent calendar.

Day 7: Reading the Rainbow Fish.

Day 8: Taking the Barbie-mobile out for a cruise...let's hope she's insured.

Day 9: Norad??  Just how did Buddy get the wifi password?!?!

Day 10: Checking to make sure the kid's stockings have plenty of room for coal.

Day 11: Helping out Mom by doing a few dishes.

Day 12: Having a sip of tea in Katie's 'kitchen'.

Day 13: Buddy's gonna wind up on the naughty list if he doesn't 

             steer clear of mama's Stickles and chipboard stash!!!!!

Elf-capades

Buddy, our elf on the shelf returned to the Skinner casa the night after Thanksgiving and also picked up where he left off with his mischief making!!!  For those of you that haven't heard about this fun family tradition: Santa sends an elf down from the north pole to watch the kiddos in the house and report back to him each night.  He sits on a shelf and watches the good, the bad, and the ugly and then after the last kiddo falls asleep he travels back to the north pole to tell Santa.  When he gets back, he usually gets bored and finds something fun to do around the house.  When the first kid wakes up, his Christmas magic stops and he freezes doing whatever he was doing.  We hunt him down each morning with lots of laughs and return him to his shelf.  It serves two purposes:  1-It helps kids keep their behavior in check because they know that Santa will find out and 2-It brings a little of the magic of Christmas Eve to the entire month of December.  He flies home with Santa on Christmas Eve and next year returns after you put your tree up!  For those of you that haven't been give their own elf from Santa, he also left some at Target!  ;)

I plan on taking pictures of what we find Buddy up to each morning and making a scrapbook of his adventures for the kids to treasure in the future and thought that any of you looking for ideas for your own elf might enjoy them too.  So here are days 1-5.  I'll update with more pics when I can.

Day 1: Buddy climbed into Allie's MegaBlocks and started an elf sized tower.

Day 2: Totally busted in Mama's spot watching Nick Jr!

Day 3: Snowboarding with the Playstation.

Day 4: Playing peek-a-boo with the Christmas ornaments.

Day 5: Even elves like to color!!!

A fun little tag for a fun picture =)

I was tagged!!!! Twice actually =) By Cathy and Amy. In this fun little tag, you need to go to the 6th folder of your pictures and select the 6th photo and show it off then explain it a bit.

The 6th folder in my pictures is labeled 'Wedding' and it's my parents wedding pictures. Now I should explain a bit because the picture is of my kids and most would say, how were your kids at your parents wedding. Well, it's actually my father FINALLY marrying my step-mother after over a decade. So they truly have been my parents, regardless of their marital status. Just a clarification ;)

The 6th photo is one of my favorites that I'd forgotten all about! My son (8) was the best man and stood up (getting past debilitating stage fright at first) and delivered a heart warming speech about his 'Pappy' and 'Noni'. Then Katie (my 4 year old daughter) prompty took the mic and announced that it was time for everyone to have some toast! This picture was snapped with her little chocolate covered smirk at a job well done and my dad reaching in to grab the mic and my son covering his face in complete and utter embarrassment. LOL

If anyone wants to give this a try (come on it was FUN!!!!) consider yourself tagged!!! Make sure you come back and leave me a comment that you posted so I can come by and see =)

I'm soooo STICKERS!

My friend Sherry shared this fun little quiz with me and I thought who better to share it with than my fellow scrappers. If you are feeling froggy, I'd love it if you shared your results with me in the comments.

My Result:

You are STICKERS!
You like brightening things up in life and decorating your living space with your own personal style. You are versatile and able to get things done with a stick-to-it attitude. People love your colorful personality and personal flair! You like exploring new things and are willing to try anything once. But Stickers beware - sometimes you like to stick to someone that you like a little too much and take them into your confidence a little too easily. Your personality tends to make you a steadfast friend, but make sure the friends you choose are worth your efforts!

So, What scrapbooking item are you?

25 ways to tell if you are a scrapaholic!

There haven't been any new posts in a few days (okay over a week) because I've had strep and on top of that all kinds of crapola has gone down in our family and it's been a high stress time. It is high time that I let my scrapping calm my nerves a bit so look for more posts soon. In the mean time I had to share one of my favorite things I've read in a while. Thanks Krislyn for sharing it with me :)

25 ways to tell if you are a scrapaholic!

• all of the Internet addresses under your favorite files are scrapping sites
• the box that holds your paper is too heavy for you to lift.
• the first thing you pack when going on your vacation is your scrapbook stuff.
• more than one scrapbook store recognizes your voice and greets you by name when you call.
• a regular sandwich is no longer acceptable...it must be cropped or cut with decorative edges.
• when you are house hunting the only thing you are concerned about is where you will have your new scrapping space.
• you are very excited when the doctor says you can take pictures of him putting the stitches in your child so that you can make a page.
• you burst into tears at the camera store when the clerk tells you that you will have to send your camera to the manufacturer for repairs and it could take 6 - 8 weeks.
• you carry a camera everywhere you go.
• you check several scrapbooking message boards every few hours and switch back and forth between them to see if there are any new posts.
• you decide to give your child piano lessons so you'll be able to use the musical instrument stickers.
• you find photo splits stuck in places inside your underwear!
• you have more than two scrapbook projects in the works.
• you have re-done at least one page
• you have scrapbook shops programmed on your speed dialer.
• you have supplies you bought six months ago and have never used them.
• you have yet to get current on your latest project and you're already thinking of a new project.
• you keep buying baby stickers even though your baby pages are done, just in case you need to re-do them.
• you plan birthday party themes according to the stickers and pretty paper you can purchase.
• you start thinking of having another child just so you can even out the pictures on your pages.
• your child is the only one in class who thinks "crop" means "to cut your photos".
• your children ask you if the toilet paper is acid free.
• your 15 year old dyes her dark brown hair BLONDE 3 times in 4 days, and you say "Here, let me take some pictures so I can do a page on this before your hair falls out".
• your three-year-old wants to know if her coloring book is "archival quality."
• you're arguing with your three year old to give YOUR stickers back!

For a little fun

I was reading through emails tonight and had a hysterical video sent my way that I just had to share. I think we almost all have a man like this in our lives. This is my dad through and through!