More Mischief with Elliott the Elf

This morning the kids woke up to find this:

He decided to spill the sugar and write his name in it. Silly little elf! He's always causing so much trouble! But we are definitely having tons of fun! :)

I wonder what he will get into tonight?!

Today started out beautifully, the weather was crazy warm and it felt like Spring, then all of a sudden it started pouring and now it's chilly again. Oh well. It was nice while it lasted, the only problem is when it rains I can't bring myself to do anything. I'm always so tired. Even not it's almost 6pm and I'm ready for bed. Of course if I did I would end up waking up at 3am and not be able to go back to sleep. Now I am rambling lol 

Look for more mischief to come with Elliott :)

Fun With Elliott - Day 2

This morning the kids woke up excited and looking for Elliott,and this is where they found him....Such a naughty little elf! Madison thought it was hilarious! She was cracking up, while Caden didn't quite get it. He said "awwww Mommy! Madison drawed on the picture!" I told him Maddie didn't do it, Elliott the Elf did. Then he turned to Maddie and said "Madison , why did you draw on our picture" He still didn't get it. haha. He caught on after a few minutes that Elliott was holding the marker. :) The kids love him so much , he is all they talk about. I was a bit hesitant to pay so much for him but now I'm glad I made the investment. Maybe the kids will be able to do it with their kids when they have them.


On another note: Maddie got a perfect report card! I am so proud of her!! Her teacher said her reading level is on a third grade and she is very advanced in Math as well.

and here is a random cute pic I snapped of Caden and Alanna today:

Elliott The Elf

Meet Elliott the Elf. He is our little Elf on the Shelf . He decided to make his appearance today on our curtain rod. For those of you who are not familiar with it, He is a little Elf sent by Santa to come and watch over your family each year. Every night he reports back to Santa with all of the good or bad things the kids have done and then returns each morning to a different place so the kids have to find him. He is also very mischievous, so he gets into thing and plays lots of games!

So today he made his appearance for the first time in our home and the kids decided to name him Elliott. The kids were thrilled, except Caden got mad at something and started to throw a tantrum and kept yelling at him and saying "DON'T LOOK AT ME!" LOL I about died from laughing!

  I'm really excited to see what kind of mischief he gets into this season, and to start a new tradition with our kids. Of course I will be sharing it here as well :) So look out for more fun to come with Elliott.

Happy Thanksgiving!

The day is here! Last night Sissy and I stayed up and made 8 pies, pineapple upside down cake, cupcakes, pasta & shrimp salad, potato salad, and started the turkey. Now today we have the rest of the yummy stuff to make like my great grandmoms homemade mac & cheese , ham, and mashed potatoes. We are feasting today! We have a 28 lbs turkey and it's HUGE and looks delish! I can't wait to dig in the smell in the house is intoxicating and I am so hungry! :)

This is me stuffing the turkey for the very first time. Needless to say I was completely grossed out lol

Here is the after....it's so pretty :)

Apple Pies

Pineapple upside down cake

Those are just a few of the goodies we made last night! See why I can't wait to eat? What are your favorite Thanksgiving traditions? We are just starting to make traditions for Thanksgiving and I love it.

Happy Thanksgiving to you all, I hope it's wonderful! Enjoy time with your family! 

Be blessed & Give thanks! 

Much love! 

Thankfulness ; The Countdown to Thanksgiving Day 22

It looks like sickness has hit our house again. Caden went to bed and woke up with a fever......again. And Madison came home with a fever. We just can't seem to shake this sickness around here. The crazy thing is that they are still on antibiotics. Oh well.

Tomorrow is the day before Thanksgiving which means we will stay up all night cooking! I am sooo looking forward to it. I love to cook and we are going to have so much fun having a huge sleepover with my sister in law and all of the kids! I know the kids are looking forward to everyone staying over too, we got together some crafts and stuff for them to do while we cook.

But today I am thankful for facebook. I know it's crazy, but facebook does some really great things. For example, a friend posted about a family in need. So I reposted to see if anyone had any clothes or food to donate to the family and the response was overwhelming. I had people dropping off huge bags of clothes and toys, and my church made up a big box of food. It was amazing. And without the resource of facebook that wouldn't have happened. :) So a special thanks to everyone who gathered things for the family, I think it was really great and I am sure they appreciated it all.

Thankfulness ; The Countdown to Thanksgiving Day 21

Yesterday,our pastor spoke about the real meaning of thankfulness. When you hold our poverty in the USA to the poverty in other countries , those people in our country are rich. Wow, it puts things into perspective. We may not have a fancy car, a huge savings account and a giant house but we have a roof over our heads and food on our table. And when you don't have much you, it really helps you appreciate what you have.

Today I am thankful for the little things like humility. I feel blessed every day but sometimes when bills are late and I don't have the money to buy something I want, things can get a little out of perspective. I get upset or angry when in reality, I have more then a lot of people. My children are clothed and fed, I still have both of my parents ,we are all healthy and happy and we are alive! For that I am truly thankful.

I saw this today and found it fitting to what I have been feeling!

I also want to wish my dad a very HAPPY 88th BIRTHDAY! 

I love you daddy!

Thankfulness ; The Countdown to Thanksgiving Day 18, 19 and 20

This weekend has been insanely busy. Leo was off work on Friday night so we decided to camp out with the kids. We got a tent, fire pit, sleeping bags, s'mores , and hot dogs. The kids had a blast despite the cold. We roasted hot dogs and made yummy s'mores, then the kids decided to "go to bed" at 8 in the tent but about 9:30 they decided they were finished with the camping and wanted to come in. So we ended the night watching a movie and camping out on the floor. 

Saturday night we had a nice adult night out with friends and went to watch the UFC fights at Buffalo Wild Wings, and today was spent watching the Ravens kick butt and cleaning the house. So it's been a pretty busy weekend.

I am so thankful for the quality family time I got to spend with my kids this weekend. It was so nice to do something fun with them for a change since Leo was off. The small things in life make life work living.

Thankfulness ; The Countdown to Thanksgiving Day 17

Four years ago I was in a very dark place. I was completely broken and empty. I was going through a divorce and my whole world was changing as I knew it. I didn't know what to do.  Then he came along and swept me off of my feet. The most amazing, wonderful, loving, accepting man in the whole world.  He came into my life and changed my entire world. He came in with so much love and acceptance that I didn't know what to do with myself , I was (and am) completely head over heals in love. He took in my children as his own and did everything imaginable for us. He is so caring and giving and on September 12, 2009 I became the luckiest woman in the world because I  became his wife! So today I want to say that I am thankful and truly blessed to have such an amazing man in my life and I get to call him my husband. 

Leo, you are such an amazing person and I fall in love with you more and more each day. Thank you for all you do for our family. I couldn't imagine my life without you. I love you more then words can express. 

Always & forever

Photo's by Erin Dickson Photography

Thankfulness ; The Countdown to Thanksgiving Day 16

Last night my sister in law and I went to get all of the food for Thanksgiving dinner! I am getting so excited since this will be the first Thanksgiving that I will be making. I can't wait. My sister in law is going to come over and we are going to cook all night. Thank goodness she knows what she is doing lol. I am really looking forward to Thanksgiving, I also love that I am blogging a lot more, even if no one reads my blog hehehe.

So today I am thankful for Netflix. Because of the Netflix app on my iPhone , I was allowed an extra hour of sleep before Alanna woke up. It kept Caden busy and he laid on the floor in my room watching movies all night. So hats off to you Netflix!

Thankfulness ; The Countdown to Thanksgiving Day 15

I just love this, don't you?

The kids are finally headed back to school today! Hooray! I am looking forward to a nap this afternoon. I stayed up watching For Colored Girls, which I don't recommend. I love Tyler Perry but this movie was a lot of nothing with a side of disturbing. I'm sad that I am so tired because of it. Looks like I will be drinking lots of coffee to make it through this morning, I'd give anything for another hour of sleep this morning.

This morning I am thankful for my momma. She is the best mom ever, yesterday she went to pick up the kids meds for me, she always does things like that. My mom will bend over backwards for people, she is always here for me and I don't know what I would do without her. Thanks mom for always being there for me and being a great mom. I am truly blessed to have such a great mom.

Thankfulness ; The Countdown to Thanksgiving Day 14

Another day that Maddie was home from school , she had 103 fever this morning and was crying of an ear ache. I'm telling you if  it's not one thing, it's another. Caden woke up with his eyes crusted shut....awesome. So I took them both to the doctors to get some medicine because clearly things are not getting any better around here lol. So it turns out that Maddie has croup, a sinus infection, and a double ear infection. Caden has a double ear infection, a sinus infection and an eye infection. So They are on a ton a meds. I'm just glad we got this taken care of because I hate seeing my babies sick.  I'm hoping they are feeling better enough for school tomorrow. 

Leo started his 4/10's at work this week, meaning he works 4 10 hour days so he has to go in at 4:30 which SUCKS!  But the plus side is that he is off on Friday so we are camping out with this kids. It's going to be a lot of fun....as long as they are feeling better :/

Anyway, Today I am thankful for my health.....although I have a slight cough I am pretty lucky that so far it hasn't been too bad. Because every mom knows that it sucks being a mom and being sick.

Thankfulness ; The Countdown to Thanksgiving Day 12 & 13

Yesterday I didn't have a chance to post because I was completely exhausted by the time I got home. We went to our friends house warming party and stayed there pretty much all day and night. So I was beat. Today we had a ton of people over for the Ravens game and I got to try out a few recipes I got on Pinterest. For those of you who have no idea what it is, definitely check it out because it's life changing lol. I have become super motivated, crafty and organized thanks to this site. It's fantastic! I have spent the last 4 days cleaning, organizing and rearranging my house because I caught the cleaning bug. Leo has no idea what happened to his wife but he likes it. hehehe. I still have a ton of laundry to finish even though I did like 10 loads already. I feel like I can never catch up.



Anyway, today I am thankful for awesome parties with awesome people! I had a good time yesterday and today and I love all of my awesome friends!

Thankfulness ; The Countdown to Thanksgiving Day 11

Today is 11/11/11, what a cool day. I don't believe in wishes and such but it's still pretty cool. But you know what is even cooler....it's Veterans Day. So today I am thankful for my freedom. I am thankful for all of those who fought for our freedom as well of those who died for our freedom. So today lets stand for those brave men and woman who have and will risk their lives so that we can have our freedom.

I am also thankful for my Daddy who was a WWII Vet. He served in the U.S Navy and fought in WWII. My dad is the smartest man I know, because he did everything he could to learn. He taught himself to read and write. He is amazing. He worked hard all of his life to support his family and I was lucky enough to have him retire when I was born so that he could be home with me. He knows pretty much everything and can build anything. Up until last year he was still climbing on the roof to repair it. It doesn't matter how old he gets he still does everything lol.  My dad is the ultimate role model, he has been through so much in his almost 88 years and he taught me so much about life, and still continues to teach me everyday. He is such a wonderful man, and I can't speak highly enough about him because I am the luckiest girl in the whole world that I get to call him daddy!  Thank you dad for everything you have done for me. I am truly grateful to have you as my daddy! I love you so much!

This is my dad during WWII, he was about 22 here

Not a great pic of us but I can't seem to find my favorite pic :(

My favorite recent pic of my daddy!

100 posts!

This makes my 100th post! Woohoo! How cool is that. I will post my thankful post later but I wanted to make the 100th post all about 100! :) So here are a few random facts about the number 100!

• 100 is the sum of the first nine prime numbers, as well as the sum of two prime numbers (47 + 53), and the sum of the cubes of the first four integers (100 = 1^3 + 2^3 + 3^3 + 4^3). Also, 2^6 + 6^2 = 100

• On average, 100 people choke to death on ball-point pens every year.

• An ant can lift 100 times its own weight.

• Wolves are capable of covering over 100 miles in a single day.

• A sneeze travels out your mouth at over 100 m.p.h.

• Lips are 100 times more sensitive than the tips of the fingers

• A 100-pound person on Earth would weigh only 38 pounds on Mars and could jump three times as high

• A transplanted heart beats about 100 beats per minute (70 beats is about normal)

• A dog's sense of smell is about 100 times better than a person's.

• A jiffy is an actual unit of time for 1/100th of a second. Thus the saying, I will be there in a jiffy.

• Americans eat nearly 100 acres of pizza every day - that's approximately 350 slices per second!.

• Crocodiles can live up to 100 years.

• Every second around 100 lightning bolts strike the Earth.

• Sharks can live up to 100 years.

• Watermelons can cost up to $100 in Japan!

Thankfulness ; The Countdown to Thanksgiving Day 10

Today was pretty uneventful, other then the fact I spent a small fortune on baskets lol. Pinterest put me in the organization mood so I decided to clean.....which of course Leo was thrilled about....no really he was thrilled. He loves when I clean and usually if I clean well he rewards me with letting me sleep in. lol I know that sounds funny but you have no idea what a few extra hours of sleep compared to an hour or two of cleaning can do. He's wonderful! It's the little things that make it work lol. Needless to say my house looks wonderful....at least the living room and kitchen....I'm too tired to do the rest, but the kids rooms, our room and the bathroom is on the agenda tomorrow....giving that I can move in the morning. :)

Anyway, on to my thankfulness.....Today I am thankful for my beautiful little monster Alanna Robin. Alanna is crazy...all of the time. She's really smart and I can't believe how grown she is already. She is talking in sentences and everything....now if I could just get her potty trained. hehehe kidding, sorta. Miss Alanna is so funny and she loves Poptarts....no I'm not kidding....if we don't have poptarts ready for her in the morning you can cue the meltdown. She LOVES them! She also loves to color, play dress up and she loves monkeys. She's such a silly girl and my heart.

Photo's by Erin Dickson Photography.