The story of our elf Evie . . . the second

     3 Christmases ago when we first had an elf visit our house, she was not received very well. I went out to buy a boy elf not knowing there was girl elves and all the boy elves in my area were sold out so I had to get a girl elf. At that time we only had Ace, he was an only child and was 3.5 years old. We read the elf on the shelf book, we named our girl elf Evie and Evie moved around the house for 24 days like every normal elf loving family does. Only our first elf Evie her story is has a bit of a twist. By day 2 Ace had definitely had enough of the "tattling elf" as he called her. Ace had been acting out that morning so using the elf like any parent would I told him "Evie is going to report back to Santa that you were being naughty today, so you better start making better choices and be good." and like every child Ace stomped off.

      Later that day from the corner of my eye I noticed Ace pulling up his stool to the tree where Evie the elf was resting for the day. Quietly I walked over so he wouldn't notice. Ace got as close as he could to Evie, quietly said in a stern voice all while shaking his finger at her "You stop tattling on me or I'm going to knock you out and throw you in the garbage!" I did everything in my power not to laugh and make my presence known. Ace continued with several "Are you listening Evie, no more tattling it not nice!" as I backed out of the room and then watched Ace pick up his stool and bring it back to its spot. I later asked Ace if he wanted to write a letter to Santa and have Evie bring it to Santa. Ace thought that was a great idea so we wrote to Santa and I took this picture of Ace with Evie and his letter to Santa that day.

      We continued on for all the days before Christmas having Evie move around and do a few silly things, but not many as we have quite a lazy Elf ;p! On Christmas Eve my Hubby dressed up as Santa and we staged a photo shoot of Santa leaving presents and picking up our dear little Evie. Then I put Evie in the box away in my closet, my dark walk in closet that Ace would never go into.

        In the morning we showed Ace the picture of Santa visiting our house and picking up our elf Evie. We read Ace the goodbye letter Evie left him and he seemed happy she was gone. Christmas day was fun and crazy and gone in a flash. I was 8 months pregnant with Terror but I know I put the elf away in the dark closet . . .

         A few days after Christmas I brought up Evie, ask Ace if he missed her and wasn't it fun having an elf in the house. Ace looked at me like I was crazy for bringing up the elf and said "No I didn't like it." I told him that maybe next year when she comes back to visit he will like it better. In a calm quiet voice while not making eye contact he said "oh she won't be coming back to our house ever . . . " The way Ace said it with such confidence made me want to run to go check on the elf, but I waited until he went down for a nap. I checked everywhere in the closet. The box, the book and the elf were gone! I searched for a few hours before giving up and realizing that maybe this Elf on the shelf thing was just not something we would be part of.

      A year passed, Ace was in kindergarten, Terror was 8 months old and I brought up the elf in mid November. I told Ace that if we wanted to have another elf come Santa said he would send us a different elf, a boy elf named Jingle. Ace had a melt down . . . not the reaction I was expecting at all! Ace was so upset and wanted Evie to come back and didn't want a new elf and Ace said he wanted to say sorry for being mean to her last year. So I spent HOURS while he was at school opening boxes cleaning the closet searching the basement for our Evie the elf. I finally gave up about a week before December 1st and went out to buy a new "Evie". My area was sold out of girl elves they only had boys this time and I needed a girl. I found one 3 hours away from my house and drove all the way to get a new girl elf. I grabbed the girl elf box spent another $39.95 and drove home. When I got home and opened the box I noticed the elves now looked different in the face. Ace is insanely observant and I knew he would notice the difference.

       So December 1st 2013 last Christmas our elf "Evie 2.0" as my husband and I call her arrived via
paper airplane with a letter for Ace and Terror saying she was back and was excited to be here and was a year older so she had a more chubby face cause she got older. It was the only way I could think of to explain it. Ace came down and was so excited to see her, he said sorry right away and then asked what happened to her face. I read the letter and the explanation satisfied Ace's 4.5 year old mind. So last Christmas even though our elf Evie was pretty lazy and just moved around the house from spot to spot she was a hit and Ace and Terror both enjoyed her. He enjoyed being able to go to school and share with his classmates what "his elf" was doing each day.  Ace was sad to see her go and even drew her a map of how to get back to our house next year so she wouldn't forget.

       To this day I have no idea what happened to our first elf Evie. I doubt I will ever know. This Christmas 2014 Ace was counting down the days until Evie the elf returned. So Evie 2.0 decided to arrived in grand style this Christmas by throwing our kids a North Pole Breakfast full of fun, but I will post about that another day!

Thankgiving Printable Hand print FREEBIE

If your 5 year old is anything like mine Ace they LOVE to create, paint, color, write and glue things. One of Ace's favourite things to create is art using his hand print. This year we made this adorable turkey hand print art to add to our Thanksgiving decor. 

To make this hand print art simply download the FREE printable PDF here and print 2 of the printable per art piece you want to make. Then choose your paint, we usually use craft paint from the dollar store. Depending on the age of your child have them paint their hands (this is Ace's favourite part) and have them press their hands so their palms are on the body or head of the turkey. Repeat this as many times as they want till the turkey looks like it has a full back of feathers.

 

Once the painting part is over on the second printable cut out just the turkey and glue him over the one that has paint all over him and there you have a adorable thanksgiving hand print art! ENJOY!

The hunt for matching Christmas pajamas!!

Every year since Ace was born I have looked for those adorable Christmas Morning pajamas.
Last year was no exception, only it was the first year that Ace had a sibling so I had to get them matching Christmas pajamas. Terror was only 8 months old but fit into a 18 to 24 month old Hately Christmas pajamas. This year at 20 months I am sure he will be in a 3T . . .
Last year Hatley had so many adorable sets to choose from but I finally decided on the "Do Not open till Christmas" pajamas for Ace and Terror as you can see in the picture . . . . Super adorable! Had I known then I was pregnant again and pregnant with a little girl I would have gotten their "Cookie Cutter" pajama set for this year during their clearance sale in January because they had the most adorable nightgown for little baby girls in that set. Sadly Hatley did not bring the "Cookie Cutter" set back this year, so now I am on the hunt for new Christmas pajamas for this year before its too late and all the sizes I need are gone! Finding the perfect Christmas Pajamas has always been a bit of a hunt but this year instead of finding a cute pair that I can get in 2 different sizes I need to find one that works for both boys and girls and is available in sizes 6 months to 6x which is proving to be a bit of a challenge . . . . also do I want to get us all matching Pajamas this year its the first Christmas our family is complete.

I have narrowed it down to these 5 sets to choose from.

The Santa Pajamas from Pajama Gram

For the whole family - Pajama Gram has about 9 different sets. Each pair ranges in price from $30 to $40. I think these are adorable I am just not sure my husband would get on board and wear them. It might take me another year to convince him!






The Elf Pajamas from Hanna Andersson

For just the kids - These are adorable and have a little night gown for little Miss! The reviews on these look like they are great quality. Each pair is roughly $40

The Snowflake footie pajamas from Sleepy Heads

For the whole family - Sleepy Heads has a ton of family matching pajama sets. Not just for Christmas either. They are very cute but as a comfort whore I am not sure as an adult I want to sleep with those footie slippers on, but the are extremely cute. For each adult pair its roughly $75 and $40 per pair for each child.





The Stripe Pajamas from Old Navy

For just the kids - Old Navy has a ton of Christmas pajamas and I have always found it easy to find sizes for a baby and a child that match. This set is also a steal at only $16 a pair!




The NEW Do Not Open Till Christmas Pajamas from Hatley

For the whole family - I know these are very comfy and so adorable. Even though we did this one last year this year there is a white stripe so it changes it up a bit! Prices range from $65 for the adult sizes to $40 per child size.





Only a few more weeks before Christmas pajamas sell out every where so I guess I am going to have to make a quick decision soon! If you have any other suggestions as to where to find mainly red or mainly green Christmas Pajamas please leave links in the the comments for me :)