Dancing with the Stars!

Be sure to go down to the bottom of my page and pause the music!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

The Elf on the Shelf

Meet Bernard.

He's one of Santa's elves and he's taken up residence with us at our home until Christmas. He works for Santa. You see, he has a very special job to do. Each and every day until Christmas, Bernard is going to watch over the children that live here. And each and every night he is going to make a trip to the North Pole with his report. He will tell Santa how the children are behaving....you know, naughty or nice. When Bernard returns to our house in the wee morning hours, he will be playing his favorite game....hide and seek. When the little ones get up in the morning, it is their job to find him.

Sounds like a fun family tradition to start. Lily, MeiLin and Maverick are the perfect ages!

Right now they're sort of afraid of Bernard and his ability to have a one way

connection to the naughty and nice list.

I'll let you know if it lasts!

Bottom right incisor

I'm not sure when most kids lose their first tooth. Lily is seven. Granted, the dentist has intervened on the removal of two *sick teeth,* but this is the first tooth Lily has lost naturally. Well, as natual as it is to have a mother twisting it until it finally popped out. I didn't realize teeth could bleed so much.

Of course the tooth fairy isn't allowed upstairs. Lily has instructed me to leave a note on the front door telling the tooth fairy that her tooth will be in the kitchen. I have to agree that the thought of a fairy with wings leaving money under my pillow in the middle of the night while I slept is sort of creepy.

In any event, Little Miss Lily has reached a very exciting milestone! Way to go, Lily!

Now....how much is the tooth fairy going to set me back?

Snow....ugh!

Even though I grew up in western New York, I have little use for snow. I don't like it. I don't like winter activies. I don't like turtlenecks. I don't like to be cold.

I don't like snow.

I live south of the Mason Dixon line for a reason.

Apparently Mother Nature didn't get the memo.

Not to mention....it's December 5th.

Sheesh!

It's Time for Cookies!

When my mom and I went shopping on Black Friday (yes, we do it every year that we are together on Thanksgiving), I bought new Christmas cookie cutters. My little ones couldn't wait to put them into action! So, even though the turkey leftovers are hardly used up, we made Christmas cookies today.

Sugar. Frosting. Sprinkles. The season begins.

Enjoy the pics!

*NOTE: This was a bedtime snack....I didn't serve cookies for breakfast!

Well, at least not today :)

My Favorite Season

Fall is undoubtedly my favorite season. Well....it is when it's 70 degrees and sunny, just like it was today at our house! The kids spent the afternoon outside running around the backyard and jumping on the trampoline.

MeiLin looks so serious, truly she's not!

Colin strategically managed to avoid my Nikon. His excitement came later this evening while he was at church. There was an armed robbery across the street and they needed to *lock down* all of the kids inside the church. I'm ready to move back to the apple orchards of upstate NY!

On a MUCH MORE serious note, little Stellan is headed into surgery tomorrow morning. I've been following the life of this little guy and his family for over a year now. It's going to be a big day for him and his doctors in Boston on Monday. And even though I'm a Yankee fan, I'm praying for a BIG home run in Boston tomorrow!

UPDATE ON STELLAN: SUCCESS!!!

Happy Halloween!

We started our fun weekend yesterday by making pumpkin cut out cookies. It was an early start....Magic was still in his jammies. After the first batch was cooking in the oven, the girls went to town playing with the flour that was left on the counter. For some reason, I have a hard time remembering my mom ever allowing me and my sister to play with the leftover flour. After seeing the amount of flour on the floor, I guess I understand why! By the time the cookies were actually ready to be frosted, the only one still interested was Lily. At least everyone else was happy to eat them! I think there's only a couple of cookies left.

After a relaxing afternoon out by myself this afternoon (this is a joke, I was at the dentist), I came home to find that my artistic son and my husband had gone to work carving out Colin's pumpkin. Ugh!

It is titled: Jack Had a Stomach Ache

The girls didn't want to *cut* into their pumpkins, so I just traced kitty faces onto them.

Maverick was ready to come home after about five or six houses, but the girls stayed out with John and came home with baskets full of sugar!

The two Rapunzels

Simba, the cranky lion!
Along with Mr. Kitty (who barks :)
This is the same costume Colin wore when he was two!
It is quite obvious he was NOT thrilled with the hood.



I hope all the little Trick or Treaters out there had a fun time!

Happy Halloween!