Our Elf!

I invited an Elf from the North Pole to join our family this Christmas!

He already knew that last year Bryson did not want to tell Santa in person what he wanted and that he had to write Santa a letter.  So he brought letters for the kiddos to use just in case they needed to send letters again. 

We read the book that tells of the Elf's magic and the rules.  We are not supposed to touch him or he will lose his magic for the night.  He watches how the kiddos behave during the day then flies to Santa to report each night.  Then in the morning he will be back ready to observe, but he chooses a different place to sit (even hang) for the day. Each morning the kiddos need to search for him to see where he is! 

We also needed to give him a name so we chose:

Frederick

Buddy

Elfis

Sabastian

Jingle

Jingle the Elf !

The first day of his observation he brought the kiddos a darling elf movie called "Prep and Landing". Bryson has loved watching this movie, good call Jingle!

He has already found some interesting places to be, we will have to see what else he decides to do!

Iron Man

Brady one day thought that he'd show the movie Iron Man to Bryson thinking that he might like it.  He was right!!

Bryson always wants to watch the movie, he got an Iron Man helmet for his Birthday which he wears all the time. 

Trix even got in the action with his own chest light!

To the boy's surprise Iron Man 2 was showing on TV, so they enjoyed some movie time together!

Hmm berries!

I found Kendyl laying under our tree trying to enjoy the delicious looking berries I have on the tree.

Luckily they weren't as tasty as she thought and has left them alone since!

Christmas tree!

We continued with the tradition of sleeping under the Christmas tree when we put it up!  

Bryson ready to sleep with his blankie's, and stuffed animals "trix", and "puppy"!

I figured that Kendyl would party all night long and not go to sleep on the floor with us, so she slept peacefully in her crib.  Next year she should be ready to join us!

Thanksgiving!

This was the year to spend Thanksgiving with the Knowles family!  It was the first time that we decided to go to a restaurant for our turkey dinner and I absolutely loved it! 

Kendyl didn't eat her dinner terribly well, but apparently she was holding out for the dessert.  My pumpkin cheesecake quickly became Kendyl's pumpkin cheesecake!

It was nice to eat a delicious meal (that we didn't have to prepare), then walk away from all the mess.  We went back to Grandma & Grandpa Knowles' home to have more fun!

Each family was given their own gingerbread house to decorate!

Nicole & Kenzie

The Lamb & Pace family's, making their houses!

 Brady & Bryson's finished house!

Janessa, Brinley, and Krew's house!

Their roof was trying to collapse but it survived with a little TLC from Matt!

Kendyl loves the entertainment with her cousins!

Next was ornament painting!

Brylie quickly became a finger painter.

Bryson chose to paint a Santa ornament.

Krew!

The kids topped off the activities with sugar cookie decorating...

and eating!

This year's Thanksgiving stands out as the funnest.  Perhaps because it was so easy, and there was lots of time playing and talking instead of cooking and cleaning, either way we would have had a Happy Thanksgiving!

Shhh!

They look so comfy!

Ahh, the memories!

Playin' at Grandma's house!

We always go over to Grandma & Grandpa's house each Sunday and today Grandma decided to build a fort out of the kitchen table for the kiddos!

 One of the first things Kendyl always does when we get there is pull out this container of crayons.  She will have them scattered around in 5 seconds flat!

Winter storm

We got a big storm today.  Some storms are not fun when you have to drive in it, but this storm was so pretty and clean.  It helps that it was night time and we didn't have to drive in it for a while. 

I had just put the kiddos to bed and decided to go outside to take a look.

I love how pretty the fresh snow looks on the tree's!

Chuck E. Cheese's!

I had a Chuck E. Cheese groupon that was about to expire, so I took the kiddos to play!

This was Kendyl's first time and she loved it just as much as Bryson always does!

I discovered a game that I am good at!

It's a game that if your timing is just right you can pop a balloon, or blow up the balloon to full capacity.  Every time you win you get at least 350 tickets, I was able to do it three times!

With all of our tickets, we were able to get some good toys!

Bryson chose this Toy Story bubble wand and Kendyl got some lollipops!