The Elf on the Shelf is Back

 My love/hate relationship with the Elf on the Shelf has reignited this year.  It was hard to remember in the beginning but we set a reminder and that helped.  Tommy named our elf Jac this year.  Not Jack, but Jac.  He spelled it for me. :)

 Jac arrived with a letter saying, "You have too many dang toys! Get rid of some and give them to other kids!" in much more polite phrasing of course.

Jac decided to take the kids dirty jammies and string them through the living room. How dare that little stinkpot?

But then he started behaving a little better.  He rode on one of Tommy's dinosaurs.

 He also married Princess Anna.  Charlotte loved that one.

 He hung on the microwave one day.  The next day he fell off.  So then he had to heal his boo boo.

 He left a Christmas Science Experiment for Tommy which he loved.  All you need is M&Ms and water.  Thanks Google!

 So basically if you put M&Ms in water, the M's will float to the top.  Crazy right? Explanation is in the link above.

 After the M&Ms, the elf decided to remind the kids to regularly brush their teeth.

 Tommy mentioned that he really hoped the elf would take a bath in marshmallows again so guess what happened?? Marshmallow bath time!

Near the end, I was losing momentum so he basically just dressed up in the toys clothes.  Strange indeed.

The kids really enjoyed it so I have to say I enjoyed it too.  It's hard to remember each day but it is fun to see the kids run down first thing in the morning to find him.  They love the tradition. :-)

Elf on the Dang Shelf

 I really hoped that I didn't have to do Elf on the Shelf this year.  But Tommy found his Elf on the Shelf book and acted like he should totally show up the next morning.  Aaahhhh!! There is so much to do during the month of December with Tommy's birthday and Christmas.  But I pulled myself together and dug him out of hiding.  I asked Tommy what he wanted to name him.  He said, "Johnny," very matter of fact-ly.  I have no idea where he had even heard that name before. Really threw me off guard.  Too funny.  But I'm glad he found the book.  I forgot about the magic of Christmas. The kids looked forward to finding Johnny every day.  We only forgot to move him once.  But that day he moved while they were at school.  Right into a bathtub (bowl) of bubbles (marshmallows).  We didn't take pictures of all the cute ideas we came up with (there weren't many).  But Johnny rode a dinosaur and hung from the ceiling fan.  He also fell off of the ceiling fan face first before the kids got home and the kids were very confused.  Duct tape was not strong enough I guess.  Anyway, Johnny got bandaged up and had a sling.

He also stayed in his spot since he had a ouchie on his arm. But he made sure to have some balloons for Tommy's birthday.  The kids were more concerned that he didn't move.  I'm like "HE HAS BALLOONS! Isn't that enough for you people?"  Haha!!

Uncle Adam forgot his glasses when he stayed at our house one weekend so we made sure to use his glasses as a prop one day. 

Also, Spiderman got in on the action and slung a web around him. 

Johnny also convinced the kids to bag up some toys that they don't play with anymore so they could donate them to kids who don't have toys.  They picked out two garbage bags full of toys for other kids.  So that was nice!
On the last day, Christmas Eve, Johnny showed up on the fireplace with a note that said he could be hugged today before he goes away until next year.  The kids really loved that.  Thanks, Pinterest, for that idea!
So whoever that evil genius is that created elf on the shelf and made millions of dollars, my kids thank you.  My To Do list doesn't thank you but they do.  Merry Christmas Johnny! Until next year! ;-)