Wordless Wednesday

   We finally got to check out the Garden of Lights +NorfolkBotGarden.  I think we made this an annual tradition officially.  Everyone enjoys them and we point put different things we may see and sing together.

  This is a great way to see plenty of lights in various ways, frogs jumping, a spider and many more things.  You stay inside your car and drive through the gardens and are able to enjoy various displays made of lights out of all sides of your car!

  No complaints from all the occupants in my car young and old.  It's just a nice way to get out and spend time together.  Bonus is catching neighborhood displays on the way there and back.
 
  Check times and rates for available discounts.  If you arrive early you may get to skip the privilege of waiting an hour to enter the gardens!

  Have fun and go check out some lights!

Elf had some chores on Day 16

 
  After the last couple of be kind days who knows what to expect from elf.  So every morning we just wake up and walk downstairs with some apprehension.  The first couple steps in the hall tells us a lot but not exactly what we are walking into.

 We followed a trail of cereal downstairs.  Why there was such a mess from upstairs to downstairs was a mystery.  We know any late night munchers (the father) would not have been as messy.

  We followed the trail straight to a the culprit.  Or so we think.  Well hello there Elf how do you do?  Sure we would like some cereal for breakfast.


  Everyone did their part with chores after we were done eating.

 Vacuuming up cereal takes an all hands on deck action.

  See you later Elf!

Day 15 with Elf part 2 Be Kind

  We the children had fun if I do say so myself.   The elf not only taught them two new words but also encouraged them to be kind to each other and others.  My youngest daughter would even randomly say be kind throughout her day as if she liked the sound of it, or maybe it was a great concept.  She would remind her brother to act on it as well.

  For our be kind movement we choose different areas to act on, explore and learn from.  There should be a who, what, why in everything and end in observing how the recipient felt as well as yourself.  If you feel good you will continue (hopefully).

  We chose for our be kind mission:

1.  The firestation.  The mission bring cookies. To make them happy and know they are thought of.

2.  Toys for tots event.  The mission to donate a toy for a child to have something on Christmas.  To make a child happy with a toy.

3.  Help an animal shelter.  The mission to provide a donation to the shelter.  To provide something of use or fun to the animals.

4.  Nature.  To provide substance to the birds.  Even though the ground is not covered over providing them some food will hopefully entice them to visit us more and make them happy.

  It took us all day but it was a nice day even if busy.  We started out by making cookies.

Of course while I was in the other room the kids needed supervision so Elf was happy to help.  He was pretty strict.  Not a finger went in the bowl, muscles were however made during this stirring session .

Chocolate had to be retrieved for one batch of cookies and Elf knows about kids and chocolate so he watched very closely.  (Hint: if you bribe with chocolate nothing will get eaten)

Finished product

delivered safely.

Next stop was our toy donation. We had trouble locating a box.  I guess they were all picked up but after I sent a Facebook message I was pointed to 1 location and we headed there to drop off our toy.

The kids choose a toy yesterday for this event and it was neat to have the dialog with them.  She never once questioned why.  She picked out a gift and was happy to make another child happy.

Last stop on our day was to give some donations to the animal shelter.  There are a lot in the area but I choose one that I have gone to several times.  I looked online to see what they were looking for.  We selected peanut butter dog treats and a couple shoe boxes for the cats.

We ended our day with making bird seed ornaments.  They do need to dry so hopefully they will be ready to hang up tomorrow.

Elf antics Day 14

  The elf has been very quiet today.  No antics or displays were put on.  Instead he sat at the kids table with 2 words.

Be Kind

  His goal today was to stir up excitement and intrigue.  What does do kind mean?  How can I be kind?  How do I show it?  Have I been kind before?  Has someone been kind to me?

  We discussed the many areas we could be kind.  Whom we could be kind to and how to perform actions of being kind.

  Today we have spent time preparing to do acts of kindness tomorrow!  We may even bring elf with us to see us in action.  This topic even stirred up future ideas.  I am so excited to share them with you in my goals of 2016!

  For now I will leave you with one thought be kind.

Monday

  Today is the start of a new week.  It started out just as nice as the weekend with 70 ° temperatures.  Working on an easier blog format for your comfort as well as mine.

  Today I thought a lot about goals and how I need to make them reasonable.  You can make 5 goals or 2 goals and if you can't cross anything off it seems like a hopeless case.  However to make a list and checking off everything with ease is not a perfect match either.

  I started with 3 goals and one is not even for today!

1. Paint my nails (I removed polish last week due to surgery so I'm ready to repaint and get back on glam track!

2. Finish a book. Oh for the love of patience and devotion to just block out everything and complete this task!!!! Been working on it hard and maybe I will not go to bed until it's done.... stay tuned!

3.  Make a goal for tomorrow.  Not cheating at all.  Keeping it within reason.  I didnt list things I knew I would finish.  I didn't list items that are not a challenge.  Making atleast one goal a day ahead will make me more productive.

  Stay tune for my update later.  I could of should have painted my nails while reading my book but I guess that was too easy so after an event I have tonight I will be burning the midnight oil!

The 13th Day of Elf

  We are almost to the Big day.  We have made it over the hump and are in the home stretch.  This has been a great journey.  I have had a lot of fun, creating entertainment for my kids.  My little girl now wakes up and asks me what do I think the elf did.  She is excited to see. Whether it's good or bad, helpful or fun.

  She understands it's all in fun.  We never bought the book and elf set.  We got the elf from grandma and just jumped in.  She doesn't know the traditional story of the Elf but it doesn't really matter.  He doesn't have to be Some creepy, nosey elf reporting back to Santa.  He doesn't have to be all about mischief.  He can encourage play, crafts, baking, kindness and 100% all fun.

  Today he was caught hanging around.

Of course it looks like fun! We all remember the monkey bars as a child.  Now a days age has set in and blood rushes to my head quicker or this type of fun has just run its course.

He was not just playing either!  He took the time to hang up the stockings! Thank you Elf.  I'm glad you are pitching in and helping out.  Finishing up in the holiday decoration departments I have slacked in.

The stockings were hung with care and visions of St. Nicholas soon to be here.

Before my daughter even went downstairs today she had said she would like to place elf on a day.  So she told me what she wanted him to do but, I was not to tell her sisters or brother.  So they could wake up to his antics.  See, it's all fun and games!  It would be nice to share the load and wake up to some surprises to!

Thank you Elf for creating a little daily dose of fun.  Something to always look forward to.  My kids know I pose him but they also know I orchestrated his antics for them out of love. I'm completely thinking of them when I position him for their joy and amusement.

12 Days of Elf

  Today I am woke up by my daughter to tell me she hugged the elf so hard he told her to let him go.  She was over the moon happy with the gift he brought her.  I just had to hurry up and come downstairs so she could show me.

  She is so funny because then she just leaves.  Of course she comes back with elf item in hand.  We go back downstairs to properly display elf with his goodies!

We managed to get breakfast in and dressed before diving into the arts of the day.

With two to choose from and two kids involved I am fortunate to not hear who was getting which one.  They came to an agreement of which one was going to whom.

The kids got busy painting their ornaments and did I say they were so happy with their goodies?

   I have said before nothing beats the individual technique and style of each child.  One child figures using a brush was just too slow a process!  The other child took her time.  It would be interesting to provide a object for her to paint and watch the process and she learns to control the brush and paints bigger objects.

They did a great job and thanks to Elf we have some new ornaments on the tree and they now officially have their very first created by them ornaments for their future tree.

Thank you Elf! One point for you today!