Meet Gregory, our new house elf!

So, Addi and Maren got the gift of the "Elf on the Shelf" this year. It is a terribly devious and borderline mean idea, but I totally love it!
Here is how it works:
1. Your elf is always yours.
2. He watches you from a high up place during the day, and flies to the North Pole at night to report to Santa whether you have been naughty or nice.
3. If you touch him he loses his magic.
4. You can talk to him all you want, and he is an excellent listener!

The first day we had him Addi would not take her eyes off of him -- she would crane her neck while walking so as to not lose eye contact with that sketchy little elf. We named him Gregory, and he has magically disappeared and reappeared in a new spot every day. Addi likes to talk to him, especially when it means she can rat out her sister and tell him of her naughtiness. She also refuses to touch him because she is very concerned with the idea that he could lose his magic.

I know the idea of having this little tattle-tale, Santa spy elf is a little mean, but let's face it, so is the idea that some old fat guy breaks into your house on Christmas Eve and leaves you a gift if you have been good, but a lump of coal if you have been bad. It's all a big head game anyway, right? The important thing is that the kids are absolutely mesmerized by the magic of it all -- Santa, the reindeer, Gregory, elves -- all of it! Every morning Addi can't wait to find where Gregory is perched, and Maren is thrilled when Addi finds him. She jumps up and down and screams "San-ta" "San-ta"(to Maren, all elves, snowmen and general Christmas characters are Santa)! I think this will be a fun and hilarious tradition that we will all enjoy for years to come.

Happy 5th Birthday Addi!

We celebrated Addi's actual birthday as a family. She requested mac and cheese for her special dinner and chocolate cake. It was a shirts-optional event.
Addi's party with family and friends was a night time zoo lights party! We had our own celebration room at the zoo, which came fully decorated for the special girl. The kids were treated to a live animal demo where they also got to touch the animals -- a lizard, a hog-nosed snake, and a hedgehog! After some pizza we all walked around the zoo to see the "zoo lights" exhibit -- it was awesome! The kids were amazed with the lights and enjoyed a carousel ride and some general rambunctiousness. All in all the party was a complete success, and Addi had a fantastic time!
Addi was exhausted when we got home, but still wanted to open some presents. So we put Maren to bed, whipped up some nachos (we were starving, ok), and opened all of the generous gifts from friends and family.
Addi was thrilled with her ladybug pillow pet from Auntie Erin, Uncle Manny and the kids!
She also got a wiggle car from Noni, Poppy and Auntie Ash. We thought the girls might have some issues sharing said car, but they found a way to make it work!
Maren enjoys boosting Addi's car when she is at preschool -- sneaky little monkey :) I love how her baby hitches a ride in the back!
There will be pics to come of the girls playing on the indoor mini-trampoline that Nana and Zia gave Addi for her birthday -- they are pretty hilarious!

Christmas Time!

Finding a tree. It was bittersweet because our favorite, locally owned nursery, Arapahoe Acres, is going out of business, and it was the last tree we will get from them :(
Addi loved helping to decorate the tree. She was so awesome at putting on the ornaments.
We found that the tree skirt doubles as an Addi skirt.
We let Maren help put some candy canes on the tree --- that is, until she learned she could crack them open and shove them in her mouth. Now the tree only has candy canes on its upper branches.

Scraggle muffin children.I took some pics of the girls for our Christmas cards. Too bad it was the day after Maren had a doctor's appointment and the doctor cheered her up by putting a stamp on her and her sister's foreheads. They are patriotic xmas pics!

Catch up: Halloween

Aaaaahhhhhhh. That was the big sigh of relief that came as my school semester ended, Brian met his work deadline and his massive amounts of overtime ended, and the holiday season is in full swing. Here are some things we failed to blog about in a timely manner while life was oh so busy.

So, for months before Halloween Addison told me time and time again that she wanted to be a chicken. I granted this request and made her the most kick-ass chicken costume ever! She had orange leggings, an orange ruffle skirt with a multi-colored feather tail, a hoodie complete with foam beak, large googly eyes, feather boas sewed up the arms, hot pink, orange, and yellow feather accents, and that red chicken mohawk thingy. She loved it!
Here are Addi and Maggie after their preschool party. All I said was "smile for me girls" and this was what they came up with.
Maren discovered Addi's old monkey costume while we were sifting through the Halloween decorations. She carried it around for a day, giving it snuggles, and loved the idea of wearing it for the big day!
I was sad that I had clinical rotations for my nursing class during the entire Halloween weekend -- and of course all of my shifts were from 3-11pm. It was the first time I missed trick or treating since Addi was 1. Brian took both girls out with our neighbors and they had a blast -- except when Addi let go of Maren's hand as she was trying to walk up some stairs, and she ended up plowing forehead first into someone's porch brick column. Maren loved walking from door to door and holding up her little bucket for candy (not that she got to eat any of it) -- she was such a big girl! Brian took a bunch of video, but no pics -- his hands were pretty full.
Even though I missed the big night I did get to go with the fam to the Highlands Ranch trick-or-treat street event. We had to wait in an enormous line, and by the time we got in and started getting candy, the girls were hungry and Maren was pretty grumpy. This is Maren just after she pulled a huge screaming fit and approximately 400 people stopped what they were doing to watch her -- you would never know, thank goodness there were free samples of Cold Stone ice cream as we left.
All in all, the girls had fun showing off their costumes and getting candy. They had a blast loading up on loot with their Daddy, and I got a taste of what life will be like when I go back to work -- holidays are no longer off limits.