Monday, December 19, 2011

The Elf

This morning the kids woke up to find the Elf clinging to the star atop our Christmas Tree.

Weird, but none of them was worried that he might get burned by the star...


Wednesday, December 14, 2011

The Elf

Like many families, we've been using one of Santa's little helpers to keep our little helpers in line leading up to Christmas. We've come up with some pretty good spots for the little guy to keep an eye on the triplets, so I've decided to start snapping some photos of him on his various perches. I'll share some of the better ones here.

Today, I really just want to turn the fan on:


Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Christmas Picture Outtakes

This year, I wanted to get a good picture of all three kids for our Christmas Card. Somehow, every year, I seem to forget how difficult it is to get all three of them to look at the camera with a nice smile at the exact same time. While it is frustrating while I'm doing it, when I look at the "outtakes", I'm glad I do it. Their individual personalities really shine in some of these pictures. They're each so funny and cute in their own little way.

Now I'd like to share a few of the outtakes with you.













Friday, December 9, 2011

Chim-in-ey

We've been talking a lot lately about Santa Claus and how he gets around, especially how he gets into houses. I absolutely love the way Juli has been saying Chimney.



We've also been fielding a lot of questions about the Elf on the Shelf that has taken up residence with us to keep an eye on the kids for Santa. Each morning when they wake up the Elf is in a different spot in the house, out of reach of the kids, but somewhere that he can keep an eye on them to make sure they're being nice.

The kids want to know how he gets around in the house, and how he gets to the North Pole and back while they're sleeping (he uses magic, just like Santa uses magic to come down the chimney).

Last night, after the kids went to bed, I placed the Elf high up in our Christmas Tree. This morning I forgot to check whether or not he was still there this morning when I went to wake the kids up. They rushed downstairs to find the Elf face down on the floor next to the tree. They were a little confused, so I told them that he was tired from a long trip up to the North Pole and must have fallen asleep before he found a good spot to watch them from. I distracted them with some breakfast and quickly placed the Elf back in the tree while they weren't looking. They were very relieved to see that he was okay.


Monday, December 5, 2011

Thomas the Tank Engine

This past weekend I did something that I've always wanted to do. When I was growing up my family never put a train under the tree. We always put a train up, but the set was too big to put under the tree, so we set it up in the basement on a ping pong table. It was fun, but I still wanted to have a train under the tree.

So, on Saturday morning after the kids woke up, we got out the Thomas the Train set that we bought last year but never put out because the kids weren't quite ready for it yet. After a little set up and a lecture about when we can and when we can't play with the train, I let them play.

I know it's a simple thing, but the kids enjoy it, and I enjoy watching them and the enjoyment little things like this bring them. You can't tell by their expressions in the pictures, but they did have a pretty good time with it.