Marco the Elf is back!

Guess who's back?  Marco's back.

Our version of the Elf on the Shelf phenom has arrived back at our house on November 30th, just in time to perform his first stunt on December 1st.   This will be our second year spending the weeks prior to the holiday with a sneaky little elf in our home.  We do things a little differently than the original book, you can read our whole start with Marco the Elf here from last year, but as a quick run-down here are the main things that differ from our Team Studer version from the original:

• we have The Elf on the Shelf: Plushee Pal so that the kids can hold him and love him all day.  In the original story, the kids are instructed not to touch him, but with two very young kids - they hang out with Marco all day and then put him to sleep in a box on our tv stand before bed. 

Grey and Marco playing the Wii together

• The biggest thing that we do differently than the original is that Marco is introduced to our kids as an elf that they are to look after and help guide towards being kind and making good choices until Santa comes to pick him up.  Our family operates on the idea that we are kind and try our best all year around, so the idea of presenting an elf to the kids that would tell Santa about when they were naughty went against all of the things we talk about all year.  The letter that arrives with Marco from Santa highlights this idea.  We don't talk at all about Marco 'telling on' the kids to Santa or that they should be good because Santa is watching.  We just continue to talk as we do all year (that we try to be good all the time) and Marco gives us an opportunity to remind others (Marco) about making good choices.

I wanted to re-use some of our activities from last year with Marco that the kids still talk about.  Marco had a whole page outlined in our 2012 yearbook and the kids love looking back on Marco and all the funny things he did.  Some of their favorites included the fort, green milk, and hanging up from their underwear!

Marco's first stunt this year was to build a fort and the kids loved it again like last year.  We thanked Marco for the fun surprise but also reminded him that, "if you make a mess, even for fun, you have to be ready to help clean up when we're done playing with it."  

Marco has also helped to give encouragement to Gemmi while she is practicing potty training.  He left a little note for her and some hilarious butterscotch chips in the potty.  The kids were cracking up.

It has been so much fun to see how different it is with the kids this year now that they are a little older.  Grey tried to figure out how Marco was able to sneak out the dollhouse from Gemmi's room without waking her up in the middle of the night.  And this morning after Marco was found playing Hot Potato with some stuffed animal friends, Grey announced that Marco was sharing with his friends and 'Great Job, Marco!'

Today we had the perfect opportunity to remind ourselves why we choose to do our version of the Elf versus the standard version.  Greyson decided to draw big swirls all over our leather couch today with A PEN.  [gasp].  After having Grey try to scrub it off (using Honest cleaner and a rag), until he sighed and said, "eh, I can't.  There's too much." I was fuming.  He didn't seem remorseful in the least!  And in the heat of the moment it was so easy to look at that 'Santa-it's-going-to-come' bait dangling in front of my face.  Mmm, it would have tasted sweet to snap at that.  But instead, I caught a glimpse of Marco and decided it was the perfect teachable moment to talk about making bad choices and what to do.  Instead I told Grey that it was a very bad choice to draw on the couches.  Very, very bad choice.  These were our couches for our whole family and we need to take care of our things so we can all use them.  I said, "when you make a bad choice, you need to come tell Mum and Dad and ask for our help to fix it.  We can't always fix your mess, but we can help if you ask us."

Then we acted it out - I went to the kitchen and Grey came in whimpering, "Mum, I made a bad choice and I need some help."  We went back into the living room again - Me feeling much less like a red hot scalding tea kettle - and we scrubbed together to clean the couch off.

Thanks, Marco for helping us, parents too.

It only takes a quick pin-search to see mountains of suggestions for Elf on the Shelf hilarity, but if you're interested in taking a look at our upcoming Marco schedule for the rest of the month, here is what it looks like for a 21month old and 3.5 year old.

Happy elf'ing out there to all of you!

Sunshine Award questionnaire

My friend, Shelly over at The Cunningham family in Bush Alaska has nominated me for the Sunshine Award (hi and thanks, Shelly!) and it's an opportunity that is specific to the blogger world where you get a chance to answer some questions and learn new things about some of your favorite bloggers.  

1. What is your favorite TV show?
We are really bad at TV and getting into shows.  I wish we did more because its sort of odd that the only two shows that we make time to watch every week...are True Blood in the summer and The Walking Dead in the winter.  Um, I promise we aren't just weird, sci-fi loving, gore maniacs.  TV is a hit and a miss for us and generally it's just children's shows (bubble, bubble bubble.  gup, gup guppies.  kill me).  I do enjoy catching-when-I-can Girls, The Mindy Project, Arrested Development, and Law & Order SVU.

2. What makes you happy when you're grumpy?
little moments of my favorite types of bliss:  crossing off an item on my to do list, watching a new movie trailer online, a cup of coffee, nap time.  Little moments that feel like a 're-start' to my grumpy day.

3. What is your favorite childhood memory?
I had a wonderful, wonderful childhood.  Most of my favorite childhood memories include my sisters; playing trampoline-football, or making mudpies around the tree that fell over in the woods, roller-skating in the basement, or playing barbies.  My sisters are my favorite childhood memory.

4. Who is your best friend? Why?
I guess it depends on the definition of best friend.  If you mean someone who it's hard to tell where they begin and you end - then Brandon.  Or if you mean someone who makes you laugh, picks you up, and keeps you going - then Greyson and Gemma.  If you mean someone who can read your mind by looking at you- then my sisters Kayla and Tasha.  If you mean someone who would drop everything to be there for you and you would do the same - then Katie and Allison.
I am a very lucky girl.

5. What's your "feel good" movie?
Rob Reiner movies:  The Princess Bride, Flipped, and When Harry Met Sally.

6. When you were little, what did you want to be when you grew up?
I had pretty standard dreams when I was a little girl.  I wanted to be a teacher and also a Mom.  Check, check - little Tab would be so glad.

7. What inspires you?
I feel inspired by setting goals and making plans to reach those goals.  Biggest nerd ever.  But once I set a goal - no matter how small (Get all kids' clothes folded and put away today) or how big (start a small business) - I feel inspired to make more goals and plans and my mind just starts racing.  I love it so bad.

8. What is your favorite book?
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (P.S.) by Betty Smith

9. Who is your favorite author?
for a laugh: David Sedaris
for a can't-put-it-down-until-I-finish-it:  Jodi Piccoult
for beautiful writing:  Paulo Coelho and Leif Enger

10. What is your favorite song?
current: Avicii - Wake Me Up
ever: Three Dog Night - Joy to the World

My Nominations for the Sunshine Award:
(and for some of you, it's a call for new blog posts please, hehhe)

Ashley at The Big White Farmhouse
Nora at Ramblings of the Ribble Family
Shellie at Just Another Manic Monkday
Nicole at September Sweetheart
Zina at Restless Legs
Melodye at MelodyeJoy's Weblog
Luci at The Amateur Stepford Wife
Lea at The Life of the Mayers
Janelle at Queen of the House of Boys
Sarah at Messes Made With Love

Here's how it works:
1. Include the logo in your post (at the top)
2. Link up to the blogger who nominated you 
[ Hi, again to Shelly at The Cunningham Family in Bush Alaska  ]
3. Answer the 10 questions below about yourself that I created :)
4. You nominate 10 other bloggers 
5. And tell those bloggers about their nomination

My 10 Questions for my nominees:
1. What is the first thing you drink in the morning?
2. What is your favorite day of the week and why?
3. What is your least favorite chore?
4. What are the biggest changes from your life today compared to five years ago?
5. What category of pins do you like best? (food, nail art, crafts, etc)
6. If you had 60 minutes all to yourself in the middle of the day today, what would you do?
7. What was the last movie/video/commercial (damn you, Carters) that made you cry?
8. If you had the time and money to study something in depth for 6 months, what would you want to learn?
9. What are three things you took for granted today?
10. What is your favorite personality trait about yourself?

My Sister's Wedding Shower

We had a simple & elegant outdoor wedding shower for my sister in early September; the future Mrs. Love.

Tab, Bride to Be Kayla, Mum, Tash

As I was headed out to pick up necessities of the day that morning, I got trapped for over 15 minutes in a complete downpour.  Like monsoon style.  Knowing that the wedding shower was outdoors with more people than we could have comfortably fit inside, it caused for a little worry that morning. 

Alas, due to a combination of good karma and lots of wishing- the sun came out and the bridesmaids, Mother of the bride, and Ninna (the ever present hero:) got to wiping down and fixing up so that everything was ready to roll just in time for the shower to get started.  Seriously, it was like a real life wedding shower miracle.

The shower was at my parents' house on the back deck and patio.  We set up their outdoor tent and also had round tables with umbrellas.  The centerpieces were simple vases&flowers (thanks Mum!) and we placed pitchers of water with frozen lemon ice cubes on each.  The food was set up on the patio under the pavilion.  We had croissant sandwiches, various salads (linguine salad, spinach&strawberry salad, potato salad, etc) and an assortment of sweets.  Simple and light fare for the day.

 Each bridesmaid had a 'shower job' at different parts of the day, which makes for a big difference when it comes to timing and organization.  At the start of the shower, three maids were directing people to park and taking gifts.  And two more bridesmaids held trays of small glasses of water for guests to pick up on their way to their seats.

Instead of traditional shower prizes, we had each bridesmaid create a 'lottery tree' and the mothers of the bride and groom created 'money trees' that would be given out to guests throughout the shower during the gift opening (at the ring of a timer, whomever's gift the bride was opening received a 'tree').  Each tree was created from the unique ideas of the bridesmaids and moms - so it turned out to be beautiful decor for the shower too!

Our littlest sister had created a set of photo frames called "Meet the Maids" which was also displayed for guests to read a little bit about each of the bridesmaids and a small description of how they know the bride.  It turned out beautifully (thanks Tash!) and was such a sweet and personal touch to the day.

As people arrived, we mingled and caught up with relatives and friends.  Gemmi and Grey played and ran around the yard giggling.  I snapped one hundred and fifty pictures...

the bride and the Moms :)

little flower girl

 After lunch, we got to opening gifts.  There was a beautiful moment while my sister was opening gifts when a huge butterfly kept swooping and flying around her head.  As both our grandmas have passed, my sisters, Mom and I were smiling at the thought that maybe it was the Grams making their presence known on such a special day.

 Gift opening was another important 'shower job' time for the bridesmaids.  I was acting as photographer, Tasha was keeping the detailed gift log, and Kayla's best friends were in charge of keeping the gifts a'moving.  We had a gift giver, gift taker, waste management (hah), and opened-gift-organizer.  It went off like a well-oiled machine and there wasn't any waiting or downtime (thanks girls!).

Speaking of grandmas, our paternal grandma was an amazing cook and baker.  Never as a profession but she was well known for her goodies and treats.  I asked for all of her recipes after she passed and created recipe books for all of the cousins and aunts for one of the first Christmases following her death.  But I heard about this amazing company CustomSepia and knew I wanted to do something special for Kayla's Shower.

I contacted CustomSepia earlier in the summer and with only a scan&upload of one of my Gram's original recipe cards, and a few weeks - I had a beautiful custom platter of our Grandma's handwriting ready for Kayla.  Her reaction was so touching and beautiful.  My sister is the prettiest, most graceful crier ever.

After the gifts, Kayla gave a sweet speech of gratitude and we finished up eating, drinking, and mingling right into a light sprinkling of rain (that held off until the very end).  We made sure to grab several important pics of the Bride-to-Be with different groups of family members, including one with just her and her flower girl.  (hehhe, tiny Gemmi!)

And then the Groom-to-Be arrived to deliver a bouquet of flowers and a couple of smooching photo ops to his Bride.  Ryan spent the day golfing with a bunch of the guys connected to the shower attendants (Brandon, our Dad, various other boyfriends and male relatives).  And they were happy to discover that my Mom had set up a feast in the garage for the boys where they all headed before helping to load up cars with beautiful wedding gifts. 

It was a perfect afternoon- even with a monsoon of a rainstorm right before!  What a wonderful start to the wedding festivities for my little sis.  Can.not.wait. for more to come in the upcoming months.  eeek! #Lovepartyoftwo