The Elf on the Shelf...

Don't know if you've ever heard of this book/toy, I saw it on the world wide web...anyway...I believe you buy the book, which comes with a stuffed elf. The gist of the story is that it is a "magic elf" that Santa has sent to spy on the children in your house to report back to Santa on whether they are good or bad. While in your house, the elf may get in to his own mischief and be found doing funny things when the kids find him in the mornings. He then returns to the North Pole with Santa on Christmas Eve. Sounds cute and kind of fun right? At least all of the people online raved about this wonderful tradition they do with their children and how much fun they have. So, you may notice my elf looks much like the elf from "Rudolph", which it is. I bought my own elf and devised a letter from Santa introducing him (much cheaper than the book). He arrived on the doorstep tonight. Apparantly, my kids are much more gullible than I thought (or they really really do believe in Santa)! They are terrified. Raeley actually just seems genuinely concerned, and can the elf see if she is good at school? Mya told Scott that she doesn't like the elf, he will put her on the naughty list. I honestly thought they would think he was a fun friend. I'm not sure whether to get rid of the elf or relish the next 2 weeks of (hopefully) very-welled-behaved children!!

Happy Halloween

Another successful Halloween. Here's the carving...

That's Kitty and Dracula.

The dress-up and trick-or-treating....

You may notice that there is no pics of Cason, he was quite grumpy when getting ready to go out trick-or-treating, so that wasn't happening. I'll have to put his costume on and take a pic in the next few days. He did enjoy going around to all the houses and getting candy though. Scott and I had a party to go to again this year and had a great time.

These were a few of the highlights of the summer that got away from me, but we had a great time enjoying the sun. It was super hot here at times and we love it! In between work, the kids and I spent many days at the beach, the park, and the spray-park, making Scott jealous of our time and our tans. We spent time at grandma's playing with cousins. At the beginning of summer, before Scott's bike broke, we also spent a lot of time at the track. We went out riding again on the long weekend at a spot near our house, and miraculously, Raeley has started to like riding her dirt bike, WITHOUT training wheels. She got pretty brave and even did a little jump. Cason can't get enough of bikes and trucks and all things boy, Scott is pretty sure he will be riding Raeley's dirtbike next year. He already tries to ride it, and the runner bike and the scooter, so he's well on his way. Of course, Mya is right in there and she really wants to ride too. Now, we're getting into the swing of things with grade 3, preschool, and gymnastics. Lots of fun!

Still here...Happy B-day Mya!

A princess for a princess. Mya was pretty excited about this cake, isn't she beautiful?

Cason really enjoyed the cake too!The presents!

Mya's new Rapunzel tower. She loves the movie and thought this toy was pretty great.

Of course, a new princess dress, she wore her old favorite out. Thanks to Grandma and Grandpa Scott for the fun panda family, all of the kids like to play with them.

The kids love our dirt-pile and Cason is no exception. So much fun. You should see the bottom of the tub when they are done though, it's pretty gross! Oh well, keeps 'em busy.

Mya, Sam and Raeley each crawled into a hole that Thor has dug. He's been busy! If Raeley puts her feet to the bottom of the one she is in, you can't even see her head!

Ballet

Yesterday was Raeley's year-end ballet performance. She was lucky to have both sets of grandparents come to watch her dance so beautifully! She of course LOVED her costume. I enjoyed seeing her facial expressions in the pics, how she's trying to be so graceful and looks like such a ballerina. Most of the pics are of the ballet portion, she also does tap in her class. She looked lovely and we are proud of her. It's too bad she tells me this is her last year of dance.....

Thor

You got a glimpse of our dog in my last post and I promised more pics. After ten years, I have given in to Scott and we have a puppy. He is a golden lab who is now 4 months old. I hate to admit it, but it is not as horrible as I imagined it being. He is a very good-tempered dog and learns very quickly. We have had him at home 6 weeks now and he's only had a few peeing in the house incidents. He will be an outside dog, but we wanted to kennel-train and potty-train him first, so he is in the house often. Good thing is, he is only allowed on the lino in the kitchen and he knows this. It's kinda funny to see him stop abruptly at the carpet when following/chasing kids. That being said, there is not a lot of chasing being done, he's a pretty lazy puppy, I keep thinking there is something wrong with him! He sleeps a lot. Just in the past week I've seen him perk up a bit more and he's wandering from home a bit. Before when we left him at home he would just sit on the deck all lonely. He's awesome with the kids. Cason hits and pokes and walks on him and he takes it all in stride. Scott's dream is now fulfilled - family, truck with dirtbikes and dog in tow!

Here, he is about 1.5 mths old, then right after we brought him home at about 3 months, and just this past weekend.

This is what he does a lot of.

Scott cuddles with Thor when he gets home from work, I think he loves him more than his kids!

Good thing we have this sandpile in our backyard, he's diggin' to China. This was a week ago, now all you can see is his butt sticking out. Then he gets really tired and has to rest!

Recent Pics

I have not been on the ball lately, I felt really busy. Anyway, here's a quick update!

Cason has gone from this...To this...To this...He wanted to walk so badly and was so excited, he just kept trying. He doesn't walk all of the time, but is lovin' when he does. He's doing awesome

After 10 years, I have given in to Scott and we now have a dog, who Cason likes quite a bit. He's a golden lab named Thor(more pics to come)

Too cute and he loves the bathNot too pleased...It starts... (this one was supposed to show up first) Scott was out of town by the wayHere's a glimpse of the girls as teenagers with their beautiful makeup...