Title 9

At first Abby was pretty unsure of Sprinkle, but now that she is not so bothered by her we didn't have to put her up so high.  I did much better this week and remembered to move her every night.  There were even a couple nights I moved her twice because I had thought of a better hiding spot for her.

The girls lived having her in a bowl of m&ms.  It was fun to try and watch them get the candy out without touching the elf.

   

The fishing from the potty chair got the best reaction from both girls.  It was a real hit.

Then Sprinkle drew on the pictures. Grace thought it was hysterical, Abby thought she was bad.

Santa made Sprinkle a tutu so she sat front and center next to the gingerbread house to show it off all day.

Going for a drive in the Barbie car.  Got little to no reaction for this stunt.

Hanging out on the dining room table got the girls going because they know no one is supposed to touch the balls because one little finger sends them everywhere.  The elf even managed to move my tablecloth.

Last night I was too tired to think about it so I threw her in a bucket of poinsettias on my way upstairs.

Now I'm off to ponder up another week worth of elf ideas......

Made It Through Week One

  This is our first year doing Elf On The Shelf.  It's gone pretty good, except the fact that I almost forgot to move the elf last night.  I flew out of bed at about 2 am and ran downstairs to move Miss Sprinkle to a new location.  She joined our family on Tuesday, and here are a couple of her hiding spaces from the week.

The top of the clock was not the best of ideas.  Apparently, I don't dust the top of my clock very often.  She got a little dirty on that expedition.

I hope to make it through week two, and remember to move our elf each night!

Elf On The Shelf Take One

Today at work a friend was sharing with me her weekend experience with the Elf On The Shelf.  She sold me.  And since I needed to run to Target over lunch I grabbed an Elf On The Shelf.  I was convinced that Abby was going to find it hysterical and love it.  Boy was I wrong.  She HATES it.  In fact she's scared of it.  Grace on the other hand, surprised me.  We read our elf's book three times. After which Grace went to her room put on her pajama's, went potty, brushed her teeth, and got in bed.  This is huge for her. 

Grace named the Elf "Sprinkle".  I'm pretty disappointed that Abby wouldn't partake in the naming ceremony, but what can you do. . . . . .

I took it pretty easy on them for the first day.  I didn't want to "freak" Abby out too bad, and I didn't want Sprinkle within reaching distance because Abby could possibly destroy her.  We'll see how it goes. 

Thirty Days Of Thankfulness - Day Twelve

  I've set a goal for myself for the month of November.  I want to focus on everything I have that I should be thankful for.  I don't focus on this enough.  I think about the things I don't have that I wish I did, or the things that I do have that I regret.  Therefore, every day I am going to think about everything I have that I should be thankful for.  I'm going to reflect on everything I'm thankful for, and help others in my family do the same.

Day Twelve

I'm thankful that we have such a wonderful children's hospital in our city.  All three of our girls have had to visit it at one point or another in their little lives, and I always feel better having one of their specialized doctors taking a look at our girls.  Today Abby is scheduled to visit because there is a concern that she may need glasses.  

Thirty Days Of Thankfulness -- Day Eleven

  I've set a goal for myself for the month of November.  I want to focus on everything I have that I should be thankful for.  I don't focus on this enough.  I think about the things I don't have that I wish I did, or the things that I do have that I regret.  Therefore, every day I am going to think about everything I have that I should be thankful for.  I'm going to reflect on everything I'm thankful for, and help others in my family do the same.

Day Eleven

Call me crazy, but I am thankful for the signs of late fall and winter that are coming our way.  I love winter!  I'm so excited for it to be heading our way!

Thirty Days Of Thankfulness - Days Nine & Ten

  I've set a goal for myself for the month of November.  I want to focus on everything I have that I should be thankful for.  I don't focus on this enough.  I think about the things I don't have that I wish I did, or the things that I do have that I regret.  Therefore, every day I am going to think about everything I have that I should be thankful for.  I'm going to reflect on everything I'm thankful for, and help others in my family do the same.

Day Nine and Ten

Somehow I overlooked days nine and ten.  Not good when I'm supposed to be being thankful all month.  Day nine would have been Friday.  One Friday I was thankful for some girl time.  After dinner my mom and I went and ran some errands free of kids.  I love my girls dearly, but I can run errands some much quicker on my own.  It also gave me the opportunity to do some shopping for Grace's birthday.  Thinking back it gave me two things to be thankful for.  One -- my husband for agreeing to keep all three girls in the evening (the hardest time of day around here) and two -- for my mom who went driving all over the city with me.

Day ten, I was thankful to be able to stay home ALL day long and not go anywhere.  I love these days, and don't get enough of them.  I sorted through all three girls rooms.  Tagged and bagged all clothes that will not be reused for a spring garage sale, and folded and toted the rest.  It took all day, but I felt like I had accomplished a lot at the end of the day.

Thirty Days Of Thankfulness - Day Eight

  I've set a goal for myself for the month of November.  I want to focus on everything I have that I should be thankful for.  I don't focus on this enough.  I think about the things I don't have that I wish I did, or the things that I do have that I regret.  Therefore, every day I am going to think about everything I have that I should be thankful for.  I'm going to reflect on everything I'm thankful for, and help others in my family do the same.

Day Eight

Today I am thankful that I got to have lunch with two good friends and my hubby.  I'm especially thankful for my tech savvy friend that fixed my iPhone for me.

Thirty Days Of Thankfulness - Day Seven

I've set a goal for myself for the month of November.  I want to focus on everything I have that I should be thankful for.  I don't focus on this enough.  I think about the things I don't have that I wish I did, or the things that I do have that I regret.  Therefore, every day I am going to think about everything I have that I should be thankful for.  I'm going to reflect on everything I'm thankful for, and help others in my family do the same.

Day Seven

I'm thankful that Obama was elected President for a second term.  My cousin said it best when she said:

My per-existing conditions, my student loans, and my rights with my future spouse are all going to be able to sleep tonight.

I think health care is one of the biggest things for me.   I will never forget the struggles we went through with Grace before she was diagnosed with cough variant asthma.  The doctor was hesitant to diagnose her with a form of asthma because she would then be labeled with a pre-existing, and she did not want to jeopardize her future coverage.  No child should have to worry about health care, and no parent should have to worry about whether or not their child will be covered because of an illness or disease they have no control over.  I think President Obama gets this, and that's why I'm thankful he was elected for a second term.

Little Girl Style

I love Carter's clothes.  I love them because most of the time I can either find matching outfits for all three of my girls, and if I can't find matching I can at least find coordinating.  I like my girls to coordinate.  Very rarely do we leave the house when they do not coordinate.  Cheesy, yes.  But it makes me feel good.

Over the weekend my mom came over because we needed to make a trip out to the Christmas Warehouse.  She needed lights for her house.  I needed lights for my newly planted evergreen tree.  So of course, the girls coordinated.  Grace and Emma both have on a Carter's outfit.  Abby has on Carter's jeans and vintage JCPenney's shirt.  (We don't call our hand me downs, hand me downs.  They are vintage.  It's much cooler that way.)

A smooch for the road.

Love this headband.  It's so much fun.  Only thing I don't like is that it's sewn onto the headband and is not on a clip, so when the headband is too small we can't use it any more.  Next time I order one I will request the clip.

Here's Emma in another Carter's outfit. 

Grace clearly did not want to stop to have her picture taken.

No one want to pay me any attention.

Finally someone wondered what I was doing!  Here's Abby.  Snagged this cute little number at JcPenney.  Except for the skirt.  That was leftover from summer.

You can also see the girls over here today.

Emma Wants Chow

Emma is starting to let us know that she is ready to move beyond milk.  You know when they watch every little bite you put into your mouth in hopes that some will fall on them and they can taste what you are tasting.   Thank goodness there are no words to accompany it like:

 Are you eating again???

Are you really going to eat that???

Should you be eating that???

But, like my mother always said:

ACTIONS SPEAK LOUDER THAN WORDS

So, Emma thought she would demonstrate that to us.

The stare down.  Mmmmmmm, that sure looks good daddy.

 

No one will notice if I sneak my hand up here and grab a handful. 

 

Success 

 

Mimi took it back. 

 

No fair. 

 

We decided it was time to get her some age appropriate food. 

 

Here comes the cereal. 

 

First bite. 

 

Barely got any in. 

 

Second bite.

 

 

 

No thank you. 

 

I don't think she actually got any in her tummy that first night, but she continues to practice.  Practice makes perfect.  And as you can see this baby has some cheeks to maintain.  She'll get it down.

Thirty Days Of Thankfulness - Day Six

 

I've set a goal for myself for the month of November.  I want to focus on everything I have that I should be thankful for.  I don't focus on this enough.  I think about the things I don't have that I wish I did, or the things that I do have that I regret.  Therefore, every day I am going to think about everything I have that I should be thankful for.  I'm going to reflect on everything I'm thankful for, and help others in my family do the same.

Day Six

Thankful that I live in a country where I am able to freely cast my vote for President.

Thirty Days Of Thankfulness - Day Five

I've set a goal for myself for the month of November.  I want to focus on everything I have that I should be thankful for.  I don't focus on this enough.  I think about the things I don't have that I wish I did, or the things that I do have that I regret.  Therefore, every day I am going to think about everything I have that I should be thankful for.  I'm going to reflect on everything I'm thankful for, and help others in my family do the same.

Day Five

I'm thankful that despite how ugly this looks that it's not broken.

Thirty Days Of Thankfulness - Day Four

I've set a goal for myself for the month of November.  I want to focus on everything I have that I should be thankful for.  I don't focus on this enough.  I think about the things I don't have that I wish I did, or the things that I do have that I regret.  Therefore, every day I am going to think about everything I have that I should be thankful for.  I'm going to reflect on everything I'm thankful for, and help others in my family do the same.

Day Four

Today I'm thankful for daylight savings time since we fell back and gained an hour of rest.  I'm hoping Grace will have an easier time getting up for Sunday school today because her body will think it's 9:00 (closer to her actual wake up time) verses 8:00 am.

Thirty Days Of Thankfulness - Day Three

I've set a goal for myself for the month of November.  I want to focus on everything I have that I should be thankful for.  I don't focus on this enough.  I think about the things I don't have that I wish I did, or the things that I do have that I regret.  Therefore, every day I am going to think about everything I have that I should be thankful for.  I'm going to reflect on everything I'm thankful for, and help others in my family do the same.

Day Three

I'm thankful I live in a country where everyone has a right to choose.  At this point we are all tired of the campaigning.  The endless phone calls, commercials, junk mail, blah, blah, blah.  And of course I want my party and candidate to win, but when I step back and look at the big picture I'm thankful that I live in a country where I as a woman have the freedom to choose my candidate and cast my vote for them.  All women everywhere should have that freedom.

Thirty Days Of Thankfulness -Day Two

I've set a goal for myself for the month of November.  I want to focus on everything I have that I should be thankful for.  I don't focus on this enough.  I think about the things I don't have that I wish I did, or the things that I do have that I regret.  Therefore, every day I am going to think about everything I have that I should be thankful for.  I'm going to reflect on everything I'm thankful for, and help others in my family do the same.

Day Two

I'm thankful that my husband drives me to work.  I hate to drive.  In the morning I just hop into the car and off we go.  On the ride in I eat my breakfast, touch up my makeup, check my phone, etc.  I don't worry about the traffic (unless I have re routing advice due to traffic) I am just along for the ride.  I've never really asked him, I'm sure he gets tired of driving every day, but I love it.  If I had to drive to work I would be stressed and tense by the time I got there.  So, a shout out to my hubby for driving me to work every day.  I'm very thankful for that!

Thirty Days Of Thankfulness - Day One

I've set a goal for myself for the month of November.  I want to focus on everything I have that I should be thankful for.  I don't focus on this enough.  I think about the things I don't have that I wish I did, or the things that I do have that I regret.  Therefore, every day I am going to think about everything I have that I should be thankful for.  I'm going to reflect on everything I'm thankful for, and help others in my family do the same.

Day One

I'm thankful for vacation days.  I'm thankful that I have these days available to me so I can spend more time with my family.  Today I was able take the girls to their well child visits, and then spent the afternoon shopping with them at The Legends.  And while it doesn't seem like much, my girls loved spending that extra time with me.  It was a beautiful afternoon and the last that we'll probably be able to spend outside without our jackets for awhile.  So today, I'm glad that I have those vacations days to spend a little extra girl time with my little ladies because it refreshes me and makes me feel like a better mom.

Halloweeny Stuff

Oh my goodness, it seems like forever since I've written something on my little blog and I've missed it!  My world seems to be so crazy lately.  Work is crazy.  Home is crazy.  My little ladies are crazy.  But we've had fun the last couple of weeks doing Halloweeny things.

I wanted to give the girls the opportunity to wear their costumes more than once.  Over the weekend we dressed the girls up and took them over to Briarcliff Village for their trunk-or-treat event.

Miss Emma was a "cat" this year.  I found her costume at Cracker Barrel.  They have adorable infant outfits.  Em had a growth spurt though and I had to stuff her in the outfit.  Oh well, she still pulled off the cute look pretty easy.

 

Group shot of my three little ladies. 

 

Abby has always been and will probably always be Minnie Mouse.  Not a red Minnie though.  Has to be pink.

 

Grace's second year as Cinderella.  Thankfully the dress MeMe made her still fits.  She beams with pride when she tells people her MeMe made it for her.

 

Bean bag toss. 

 

A view from Emma's spot.

 

Enjoying popcorn. 

 

Fantastic face painting. 

 

After trunk-or-treating and a quick dinner at Red Robin we came home to carve pumpkins.  Grace LOVES to carve pumpkins.

 

Abby is not as crazy about it.  She's fine until it gets on her hands. 

 

The inside of Abby's pumpkin.  It was too "dangly" so she gave the pumpkin back to Daddy. 

 

After watching Grace play in the pumpkin Abby finally decided it was ok and let it touch her.

 

Typically on Halloween we have a party.  I seem to be running out of time for everything right now so I didn't get a party planned.  Our family that doesn't have neighbors came over and trick-or-treated in our neighborhood, but it felt like something was missing with the absence of my party.  I will be more on the ball next year.

 

Halloween day finally arrived so I let the girls fill up the treat pumpkin. 

 

I think my Dad had almost fallen asleep when I snapped this.  Poor Dad. 

 

Me and my "big" girls. 

 

Abby and MeMe. 

 

Grace was fully aware that this was MeMe dressed as a witch but she still was pretty unsure of her.

 

Daddy and his "big" girls. 

 

My little kitty fell asleep before any trick-or-treat action happened. 

 

Grace and her jack-o-lantern. Picture Perfect Princess.

 

Abby and her jack-o-lantern.  

 

C'mon Dad, one more picture with us. 

 

All our pumpkins lined up. 

 

Action shot.  Tonight I heard proof that my girls listen to me.  I proudly observed as they said "trick-or-treat" loud enough for everyone to hear, followed by a "thank you" that could be heard two doors down.  Just when you think they aren't listening..... 

 

Came home to find Emma ready for bed! 

 

The candy sort. 

 

I think Abby had been eyeing this yellow sucker since it first hit her bag. 

 

Everyone jumped in bed when the evening was over.  They were worn out.  Don't let Grace fool you.  That's her pretend princess sleep. 

 

Hope everyone had a fantastic Halloween.  We're ready to move on to Thanksgiving in our house.  The decoration swap will begin tomorrow, and we are sooo excited.  (Let me clarify that last we, as in Grace.  I'm exhausted just thinking about it!!)