Adventures of Elfie: Day 9

We woke up this morning to find Elfie crawling into a bag of m&ms! The kids picked up all the candy around him, being careful not to touch him. I don't think Elfie meant for the kids to have m&ms for breakfast :/

Both kids have a sticker chart on the fridge and have been earning stickers for the past week. Madelyn is working on going potty & staying dry while Jackson is working on using manners without being asked. Madelyn filled her chart last night and set it on the counter for Elfie to take to Santa. Santa sent a new Chapstick with Elfie to give to her. She loves Chapstick! As of tonight, Jackson only has one sticker left to earn! 

Today was a busy day with Sunday school, church, brunch at the cafe and the RDO toy store. This afternoon, while Madelyn napped, I worked on our Christmas card list and some projects for the Sunday school Christmas program. Brandon and Jackson went outside to get the snowblower ready to go and do some odds and ends in the yard. He loves going with dad to "work"!

After Madelyn's nap, we went to the RDO toy store. Of course, Jackson loved it and Madelyn was in love with all the pink stuff. At supper, we read about how God protects us while we sleep. The activity was to say a prayer at bedtime thanking God for protecting us while we sleep. Both kids said their own version of that prayer during prayers tonight. Unfortunately, we didn't have time for our Advent calendar activity, which was to make Christmas cards for great-grandparents. We should be able to work on those tomorrow, though. 

Tomorrow's activity is family game night. Maybe Elfie will want to join the fun!

Adventures of Elfie: Day 8

Elfie was busy last night. He made a big fort in the living room! The kids searched high and low, all through the house before they found him sitting high above the fort. Jackson asked if Brandon and I made the fort last night when we were watching tv! He couldn't believe Elfie could carry all those blankets!

The Advent calendar activity for today was to go to Santa Village. So, after Madelyn's nap, we headed into Fargo. The kids had fun watching the train set, visiting the reindeer, playing with toys under the tree, making an ornament, decorating cookies with Mrs. Claus and of course, meeting Santa! They both sat on his lap and told him what they wanted for Christmas. Santa told them they were both on the nice list and to keep listening to mom and dad. 

Afterwards, we went out for supper and headed back home to get ready for bed. Tonight, we read one of the stories from our Christmas book. It was about Jesus' many names and what they mean. We said our prayers - Jackson prayed for more snow and Madelyn thanked God for reindeer - and tucked the kids into bed. It was a fun day!

Adventures of Elfie: Day 7

Since the kids stayed at grandma and grandpa's yesterday, they didn't see Elfie until they got home this afternoon. He wasn't on the main level like he has been every other day, though. He was in their room riding on Jackson's tractor :)

The Advent calendar activity today was to dance in the kitchen to Christmas music. We cranked up the music and had a fun dance party after supper!

During supper, we read our Advent story for the day. It was about birds and how God gives them everything they need. The activity was to prepare a feast for the birds. I googled what to feed birds in the winter and luckily we had two of the options in the cupboard: sunflower seeds and peanuts. We used part of an egg carton for the feeder and a pipe cleaner as the hook. We hung it on the tree out front and hope the birds like the "feast" we prepared for them :)

Tomorrow, we are taking the kids to Santa Village! It is a surprise as it's the activity in the Advent calendar. I'm excited to see how they react to the surprise!

Adventures of Elfie: Day 6

Today, Elfie was sitting on the counter with a big box and a note. The note said that the box was for the kids to fill up with toys they don't use or need anymore. After I read the poem Elfie wrote (with help from Pinterest), Jackson grabbed the box and ran into the play room.

Finding toys to donate was a little harder than I had imagined. The kids seem to have so many toys, yet they really play with almost all of them. However, we were able to find enough to fill the box and also went through our books and put a couple in there, too.

In our Advent calendar, the activity was to write a letter to Santa. Jackson wrote his all by himself this year. Madelyn told me what to write and drew a picture at the bottom. Requests this year were green shoes and a garbage truck for Jackson and Sophia shoes, dress, amulet and tiara for Madelyn. We put them on the counter next to Elfie to bring to Santa.

This kids got to spend the night at their grandparents' tonight while Brandon and I went out, so we did not have supper together or read out of our Advent book. However, we had a really fun morning writing letters and going through toys! 

Adventures of Elfie: Day 5

Remember the picture Jackson drew of himself for Elfie yesterday? Today, Elfie drew a picture of himself for Jackson!

The activity in our Advent calendar today was to buy food to donate to the food pantry. 

We talked about why we have a food pantry and why people might need to use it. I asked them what they thought we should buy and they had some great ideas. So, we headed to town and bought two full bags of food. The items we bought were macaroni and cheese, ravioli, canned vegetables and fruit, soup and saltine crackers. We drove right over to our church, where we have the local food pantry, and stocked the shelves. Unfortunately, I left my phone at home and didn't get any pictures :( 

When we opened up the pantry, I was surprised what was on the shelves. There was an enormous amount of canned vegetables and beans, ramen noodles and jello boxes. I thought about if we ever had to use the food pantry, what would I even be able to make with this selection? I recently read an article about how people donate food they don't use in the cupboards to the food pantry and how hard it is for families who use that service to make meals for their family. I am guilty of bringing cans of kidney beans and tomato sauce as donations on several occasions. 

This experience, even though it took just a few minutes, was eye opening to me. I hope it was for my kids as well. We take for granted that our cupboards and tummies are full. I complain that "we don't have any food in the house" the day before I go grocery shopping, even though there is plenty of things we could eat in the cupboard or fridge. 

Did we change lives today? No. But, I hope that we made a few people smile when they opened the cupboard and saw something different than beans and ramen noodles to choose from for supper this week.

Check back tomorrow to see how Elfie is jumping on the giving train!

Adventures of Elfie: Day 4

On the counter this morning was a note from Elfie. It said, "you'll never find me!" It took about 8 seconds before Jackson said, "look, he's up in the tree!" I guess Elfie isn't as tricky as he thinks ;)

Jackson wanted to draw a picture of himself for Elfie, so he used the other whiteboard and drew himself in his blue jammies.

Day 2 in their Advent calendar had some peanut m&ms and the activity for the day. Today it said "make snow angels in the snow". Thank goodness it was warmer than yesterday! Right after Jackson got off the bus, they put on their snow pants and headed outside. Jackson laid right down and knew exactly what to do. Madelyn was a little hesitant at first, but made multiple "no angels" after she figured it out!

Tonight we read Day 4 in our Advent book. It was another story about stars and the activity was to make a star ornament. I am loving our little Advent tree!

I just love, love, love this time of year! Its a lot of work to coordinate everything, keep it all straight and create new surprises and experiences each day, but seeing the excitement and wonder in their faces is 100% worth it! Plus, I am having way too much fun :)

Adventures of Elfie: Day 3

Oh boy, did Elfie make us laugh this morning! He built a house for himself out of Lincoln logs, but it was a little small...

Since today is December 1st, the kids got to take off the "1" on the Advent calendar. Inside, they found a Christmas gumdrop and an activity. Today, the activity was to sing Christmas songs with mommy at the piano. 

They wanted to sing right away, so we had a quick breakfast and went down to the piano! We sang Jingle Bells, We Wish You a Merry Christmas, Away in a Manger and Silent Night. Jackson even played Away in a Manger on the piano (with a lot of help from mom, of course!). They went back to the art table to color while I played Christmas songs out of the hymnal. What a great way to start our day!

At supper, we read Day 3 in our Advent book. The activity for tonight was to go out and enjoy the night sky. Since it is incredibly cold out, we shut the lights off and gazed out the window instead.

We talked about how dark it would be if we didn't have the moon or stars to light up the sky at night. We tried to count all the stars, but it was really difficult. It reminded us of the story of Abraham and Sarah. God told Abraham that he would be blessed with as many children as stars in the sky!