Elmo's being held prisoner

Emily:  Santa Clause bring Emme toys.

Me:  What kind of toys does Emme want Santa to bring her?

Emily:  Pink toys!

Anthony loved finding his elf this morning before school.  When Emily found him she picked him up and carried him around all morning hugging and kissing him saying, " I like elf."  Don't anyone tell Anthony she touched him.  I hope his magic hasn't worn off.

Sleep over

Friday Corbin dropped Carysa off for a sleepover.  The kids had such a great time. They played for hours and then watched the Yogi Bear movie and fell asleep on the couch.  Emily wasn't feeling well and woke the house up at three in the morning.  That is when we discovered that our elf had been very mischievous   The other day he poured all the salt from the salt shaker out on the kitchen counter and made snow angels.  This time, the kids found our elf in Anthony's bed reading the Elf On The Shelf book to ALL of Emily's stuffed animals.. Yesterday the kids played Othello and Headbands, and then watched The Smurfs movie and the 12 dogs of Christmas.  This morning we found our elf on top of the computer printer making imprints of his butt.

Kids say the darnest things...

What do you do when your two year old refuses to sleep and you're exhausted?    Yep, when you're desperate like I was last night you will attempt anything.   I sent Emily to be with her brother.  I'm not proud of this idiotic decision and unfortunately, it didn't work out the way I hoped.   After hearing all the banging and talking (all Emily - Anthony was behaving surprisingly perfect) I went to take her out of his room.  What I saw almost brought me to tears.  Anthony was covering his sister back up with her blanket.  I asked him if he wanted me to take her or give her one last chance.  He asked me to give her one last chance.....

Mommy:  Emily if you can't be good and go to sleep, you're going to have to sleep in your bed.  Anthony wants to give you one last chance.  Do you understand?
Emily? (in an innocent little voice)  Nooooo.  I'm cute!


This morning I was heating up Emily's milk in the microwave and there was still 40 seconds left on the timer.
Emily:  I want to watch it ding!
Mommy: I know.  Let's wait until it gets closer.
Emily:  I wanna see it go 5.4.3.2.1. DING DING DING!!!!

I didn't know she could count backwards without us counting along.

On the way to school

Mommy:  If you could have any Christmas present this year, what would it be?
Anthony: Carysa. (to move back across the street)
Mommy: What would be your favorite toy?
Anthony:  Oh! More nerf guns. 
Mommy: You sure like to shoot people.  I hope you don't grow up to be a criminal. (joking)
Anthony:  (rolls eyes) Don't worry.  I'll be fine.........I'll probably be in the army or something.

Storytime Santa

Today was the Christmas party at the library.  Emily, Connor, and I stopped at the bread store on the way to pick up some snacks for the party.  They had such a good time.  They each picked a number for song time. Ms. Virginia sang This old man.  Emily was number 9 and Connor was 10.  Then Santa Claus read the kids The Night Before Christmas.  He gave all the kids candy canes and they sat on his lap and told them what they wanted for Christmas.  Connor wanted a Buzz without a rocket. (A Buzz Lightyear toy, from Toy Story)  Emily just wanted to stay as far away from Santa as she could.  She was very happy to see him, she just didn't want to go near him.  She whispered to me, "Santa has Emme's toys." with a huge smile on her face.  Then the kids did their craft and ate their goodies.  They ate a lot of goodies.  I'm surprized they didn't end up with belly aches.  We skipped lunch and we all had a nice two hour nap. :)

After naptime, Celina picked Connor up and Daddy, Emily, and I picked Anthony up from school and dropped our garbage off at the dump.  Anthony didn't want to go but was glad he did.  In the pile of "keep" stuff was a toy keyboard.  All it needed was new batteries and now he has a new (like new) toy.  Grandpa and I went on our annual Christmas shopping trip while Daddy stayed home with the kids. We got lots of cool stuff.

Elf's magic

Anthony wasn't taking his elf on the shelf seriously.   The book says you are to put your elf on the shelf so he can watch you and report back to Santa whether or not you have been good.  You are not to touch him or  his magic will wear off and Santa will never know.   Anthony didn't believe until after three days in a row, our elf keep moving to different places around the house.  At first I thought he moved him and he thought I did. Then we wondered if it was just a strange coincidence that he moved.  Now we know the truth.......The magic of elf on the shelf is very real.

Santa and Jesus

This morning after mass, we went to pancake breakfast at church.   They had activities for the kids.  They got to decorate cookies, make ornaments, get reindeer food, and make a nativity scene out of stickers. They even had goodie bags for the kids.  Santa and Mrs. Claus were both there.  Anthony got his picture taken with him but Emily wanted no part of it.  She was fine with him from a far, but made it perfectly clear she had no interest in sitting on his lap or having any pictures taken.

Anthony on parade....

Today was the Seymour Christmas parade.  Anthony got to ride in the last float right before Santa Claus with the other boys in his cub scout pack.  He said it was a lot of fun.  I know Grandma, Grandpa, Emily, and I sure had a good time watching the parade and catching the candy that was thrown at us. Emily even got a stuffed animal and some beads.  She was so tired she fell asleep on the way home.

It's going to be one busy month.  The Ogle's across the street moved away almost two weeks ago.  It's lonely around here without them.  Corbin came by last week with Carysa when he turned on our road out of habit.  They visited for a few minutes and I promised Carysa that anytime she didn't want to go to one of her brother's ball games, that she was welcome to hang out here. She called the very next day :)  She spent a few hours with us and played with Anthony.  I've been watching Connor once or twice a week still, so at least Emily still gets to play with him.  They are so funny together.  Connor always wants to play football with Emily.  He says ten set hut and then tackles her to the ground.  The first time she was confused but now she thinks it's fun.

Emily is getting to be very independant. The other morning she was the first to wake up. (or so she thought-I went back to bed after dropping Anthony off at school)  I heard her open her bedroom door and walk down the hall.  Lucy jumped out of bed and followed her wagging her tail. I heard Emily unlock and open the front door so I ran after her. She was still inside.  I watched her close the door and she said, "Lucy go out.  Lucy go pee."  Once yesterday, and once so far today, she has gone to the potty by herself.  Yesterday I had no clue until I heard her say, "I pee peed on ribbit!" from the bathroom.  Today she told me she had to go and went all by herself.   This morning she plugged in the lights to the Christmas tree and said, "I like it on."

Anthony's doing great in school.  He's getting mostly A's.  He is loving cub scouts.  Two weeks ago his den met at the fire station.  The den leader (Nicolas's dad, Smokey) is a volunteer fireman.  They got to sit in the firetruck and get a tour of the station.  This last den meeting they learned how to properly fold a flag.  Anthony practiced at home last night.  I asked him to fold a throw blanket and he folded it up into a triangle.

I can't wait until Christmas.   Grandma has been bringing the kids to Lowe's on Saturdays.  One week the kids built Santa's sleigh.  Last week Anthony built two train kabooses.  Grandma and I took Emily to the library for storytime Monday. Mr. Spence was sick and didn't come and Emily must have asked at least a hundred times, "Where's Spence?" Not much longer until Anthony starts his Christmas vacation.  I have to think of some fun projects we can do to keep him busy.

Anthony went with the neighbors to church last night.  He came home all excited and told us he wanted to show us what he learned in church.  He started folding a piece of paper all kinds of ways and then cut it.   When he was finished and unfolded it, he had a cross.  When he laid out the pieces that had fallen that were cut, it spelled out the world hell.  He said a man taught him that and said it was how he could prove to people that there was a God, without even speaking.

Happy Halloween

The night before Halloween, Anthony asked if he was off school.  After I told him no, he said, "Curse you Halloween."  I was debating telling him he could stay home, but figured I'd wait until morning to make my decision.   I didn't make him go and he was thrilled.   Grandma and I took the kids to the library.  Mr. Spence read two Halloween stories. The kids colored while Grandma made the craft.  They got to bring home a pumpkin.

Last night Grandma, Daddy, and I took the kids to Trunk or Treat at a Baptist Church on Maryville Highway.  We've been the last three years.  Anthony got to ride the Shriner's mini trucks again and a tractor train.  He loved the bounce house and the bounce house slide.  Grandma and I did the cake walk.  The kids had a blast.  We got to pet a sheep, who's owner happened to be where we got Madelyn when she was a baby bunny. Anthony would move on to the next car to get his candy.  He was in a hurry to take off his costume and play.  Emily walked patiently with Grandma and never even peeked in her bag to check out her goodies. Until one of the last cars.  One lady had put a banana in her bag and she really wanted it........

Then we went trick or treating at a few houses in Boones Landing.  Emily was a little shy at first.  We had to open her candy bag for her. She never said trick or treat like we had practiced at home.  Mostly she stared at the people as they opened the door and until I dragged her away.  After every house she said, "More porches."  She got much better and stood in front of Anthony at every house and put her bag on the ground and held it with two hands so people could reach inside.  When it was time to leave she would pick it up and go to the next house. At one house a man held out o bowl of full of candy and Halloween pencils and one apple.  I heard Emily say apple.  The man didn't hear her and told her to take what she wanted.  Of course, she was too shy to do that, so she just stared.  I told him she was checking out his apple.  He laughed and said, "An apple.  You don't want that."  I said, "No really, she wants your apple." He smiled and put it in her bag, but not before hiding a kit kat bar behind it so she wouldn't see.  Anthony and I were laughing because in between houses she was singing, "low, low, low, low." (from Apple bottom jeans with the boots and the fur........ shorty got low, low, low, low.  One lady said Anthony's costume was the best she'd seen all night and everyone thought Emily was the cutest kitty cat.

Boo at the zoo times two

Last night Grandma and Grandpa took Anthony, Emily and I to the Knoxville zoo.  We did their trick or treat trail twice, once with Grandma, Grandpa, and Emily, and the second time with Jayden and Nicholas from cub scouts.  The kids had fun but they were both wild as can be.

Tiger Can't Sleep on parade....

It took several trips to the store and three nights to make Anthony's costume and it was a hit. Grandma came up with the idea to incorperate Tiger Can't Sleep and the little stuffed tiger to tie his costume into the storybook charactor theme. Daddy attached the strings after we figured out the best way for him to wear it.  All the kids at school and the teachers loved it. But most importantly Anthony loved it. It suits his personality so well.  He's always drawing pictures at school of himself sleeping. Or making sure every sentence for his vocabulary words somehow involves sleeping or his bed.  He said when he walked into class this morning, all the kids gathered around him and his teacher told them to sit down.  When she saw him she said, "Now, I'm impressed."  She told me later that his costume was her all time favorite. His teacher from last year, Ms. Dale also commented on it.  And his speach teacher, Mrs Burnette, asked to take his picture. You could tell Anthony was proud.  After the school parade, when I went to his class to pick up his costume, he ran over and gave me a big hug right in front of all his friends.  I was so excited.  I think I was happier then he was. 

Tonight we rented Zookeeper with Kevin James for our movie party.  Daddy brought home pizza and soda for the movie.  We tried to put Emily to bed, but she wouldn't have it. She cried so hard she got sick.  So tonight Emily had her first Friday night movie party.  She kept saying "monkey and elephant," two of the animals from the movie.  She still didn't want to go to bed after the movie was over either, so Anthony agreed to sleep in the chair in her room.  He doesn't like to admit it, but I can tell.  He loves his little sister.