Elf on a Shelf....

Sooooo, my sister and I decided to get an "Elf on the Shelf" to start as a tradition with my kids (ages 5 & 7) and let's just say it was a complete and utter disaster from the start! We took the Elf out of the box, I lay in bed with the kids nestled on each side of me and read the book to them, then we discussed that the Elf comes alive at night and does mischievous things - I thought it was a great concept - except they were completely hung up on the fact this little stuffed Elf COULD come to life at night that it really freaked them out and they wanted nothing to do with their new Christmas friend! Alas, we finally came up with an alternate plan telling them the next day that we traded in the live Elf for just a plain stuffed one - which we pointed out had a tag attached to his side that said "Made in China" or something and that he couldn't come slice at night because he was just a stuffed Elf toy but that Mommy and Auntie were allowed to make him do funny things once the kids went to bed each night and they bought into the idea so here are a couple nights worth of Elf material - our 5 year old comes down in the morning, sees what the Elf is doing and yells "Good one Auntie!" and laughs and laughs ... Let me know what you think of his escapades so far - the Elf, not our 5 year old - LOL! 

Brrrrrrrr!

Since the last time I checked I wasn't a snowman, I'm not quite sure what to say about the bone chilling cold that set in today other than brrrrrr in a big way! For those of you not well versed in Midwest cold spells we are talking daytime HIGHS of minus 15 degrees then when you factor in the windchill it makes the actual air temp MINUS 30 DEGREES!!! I swear, mankind wasn't made to withstand this cold - sigh - and according to the weather we can expect this frigid arctic air to lock in over us for the next week, here's a shot that I just took which shows it's so cold there are sundogs in the sky (rainbow effect)....ahhhh I feel better already ... Thanks for listening!

Happy Post Thanksgiving!

Now that all those turkey dinners have finally started wearing off we are into the next stage of Thanksgiving...leftovers!!!  We had a lovely Thanksgiving with our little family, Auntie Karen and my stepdaughter along with her husband and their son who is the same age almost as our son! Food, family and good times not to mention the ever important Black Friday shopping...yes, I am one of those totally insane people who looove their Black Friday shopping because there's nothing like standing in line at your local Target and waiting over an hour to pay but I got some incredible deals so I am one happy girl! So from my family to your family, Happy Holiday season and I am so very grateful to each and every person that follows my blog and has ever bought a Pickle Barrel Designs pattern!