Gordon, our Elf on the Shelf

This is the first year we have had an Elf on the Shelf in our house.  During this Christmas our littlest boys were 1 and 4 years old.  I figured they were the perfect age for Santa to deliver an Elf on the Shelf.  Gordon, the name Asher came up with for our Elf because he is currently loving Thomas the Train and Gordon is his favorite train, was mailed to us from the North Pole 4 weeks before Christmas. Below are the fun things Gordon did the 4 weeks he was with us.

The day he came, Bailey, our 14 year old, checked the mailbox on his way home from the bus stop.  (Ok, so I had the post office boxes hiding in the car and asked my teenager to pretend he checked the mail!)  Of course I didn't get pictures of this because instead of taking pictures I had the camcorder out so its a big long video of grandma reading the box to the little boys and then daddy helping them open the second package with the Elf in it.  It didn't take long for Asher to come up with the name and I think we all loved it, maybe not at first but it grew on us.  Some of us called him Gordie or Gordo but both the little boys loved having Gordon visiting us!

November 28
The first morning we found Gordon drinking maple syrup straight out of the syrup bottle with a note from Santa telling the little boys to feel better soon (both of them were sick!)

November 29

Gordon was hanging from the ceiling fan wearing a cape pretending to be a superhero

November 30

Found Gordon in the kitchen making snow angels in the powdered sugar

December 1

Santa delivered Christmas books to the little boys via Gordon

December 2

Hanging out in the stockings

December 3

Having a snowball (marshmallow) fight with some of the other toys

December 4

Climbing up the garland around the TV

December 5

Playing in the cereal, at least he got out the red and green bowls and spoons

December 6

Sitting on top of the microwave with a long note from Santa telling the boys how good they have been

December 7

Playing with new Matchbox cars

December 8

Cirque De Gordon, hanging from the dining room light

December 9

Hanging out with the rosters on top of the kitchen cabinets

December 10

Boys made gingerbread houses, Gordon and some other friends decided it would be fun to play with them

December 11

Repelled himself down the sliding glass door and wrote a note on it.  You can't really see it in this picture but it says "Merry Christmas Asher and Connor, Luv Gordon" (by the way....its still there, I keep forgetting to clean it off!)

December 12

Santa send Gordon back home with a puzzle of the United States.  Asher loves puzzles, Santa is so smart!

December 13

Mission Impossible: Gordon style

December 14

Mrs. Claus sent Gordon home with reindeer cookies...yummy!

December 15

Drinking hot chocolate, he sure is a messy elf!

December 16

Gordon switched out all the stockings for Asher's underwear....thank goodness they were all clean!

December 17

Crazy elf drew funny faces on our family pictures with an erasable marker

December 18

ziplining down Christmas lights

December 19

Toilet papered the Christmas tree, the boys LOVED this one.

December 20

Turned the milk green (note: my little boys wouldn't drink it after it was green so make sure if you do this that you do it when your milk is almost gone!)

December 21

Brought home magic seed and magic soil and told the little boys to plant them and see what grew!

December 22

The magic seeds grew plastic candy canes filled with candy!

December 23

We spent the night in Denver but when we got home we found Gordon hanging on the closet door near the front door with a note that said he missed us and that Santa would be coming soon.  (I forgot to take a picture of this one!)

December 24

Our last morning with Gordon.  He wrote all over my organization board, spelled out a message with red and green M&Ms, decorated the kitchen table with a Christmas table cloth, left fun Christmas plates and instructions for Asher and Connor's mommy to make them red and green pancakes for breakfast.

 

December 25

I didn't get a picture of this but Gordon left the little boys a note on the Christmas tree telling them that he would miss them over the next 11 months and that he would think of them every day until he came back to visit.

Doing the Elf on the Shelf was a lot of fun.  I know some people don't like it or thinks its crazy but I enjoyed watching my little boys' excitement each morning as they ran through the house looking for Gordon.  I loved how Connor would randomly run up to where Gordon was sitting throughout the day and point and laugh.  It was a lot of work but it was so worth it.  I'm already trying to come up with some awesome ideas for next Christmas!

November 2012 Gratitudes

Here is my list of gratitudes for the month of November.

11/1: my kiddos! Love them so much, life would be really dull without them.

11/2: my hubby! Love him! Life would be dull without him too!

11/3: the love Connor has for his daddy! It is one of the most amazing things I have in my life!

11/4: snack time with my little man....mmmm guacamole!

11/5: I'm grateful gas prices are falling in Wyoming.

11/6: like most everyone I'm grateful for the ability to vote, to have my voice heard, no matter how tiny it is!

11/7: skyping with grandma Mimi!

11/8: today I'm grateful for Halliburton. I'm grateful for the job my hubby has with them in this tough economy and I'm grateful they are so generous to their employees.


11/9: we are grateful Josten came up to visit with us!

11/10: today I'm grateful for team work...and electric sanders!

11/11: we are grateful grandma and grandpa made to Casper safely and that they are now staying with us.











11/12: today I'm grateful for Photoshop and the fact that I have a pretty good knowledge of what it can do!

11/13: gratitude: I'm grateful for Sams Club and their cheaper than everybody else's gas!

11/14: I'm grateful I have a warm bed to sleep in.

11/15: I'm grateful for kisses from my little boy











 11/16: today we are thankful for Coke Icee! :)

11/17: extremely grateful to the Casper Police Department this morning!

11/18: I don't have a picture for this (thankfully) but today I'm grateful for my parents because without them I wouldn't be celebrating my birthday today. I'm grateful for all my friends and family that wished me a happy birthday and I'm grateful for James who made it a nice day with the family.

11/19: today I'm really grateful for cheap movies and quiet nights to sit and watch them!

11/20: I'm grateful grandma and grandpa Sherratt are here to help me entertain my kiddos, too bad it wears them out by 8:30! ;)

11/21: it might seem kinda silly but I'm grateful for these cups with the lid and straw, you have no idea how many spills (both from my kids and me) they have prevented! Plus I love drinking my smoothies out of them!

11/22:  I'm grateful for all the helpers I had today in the kitchen, even the smallest who really only wanted to get into the middle if things! Oh...and pumpkin pie...I'm really grateful for pumpkin pie ;)

11/23: I never got around to yesterday's gratitude because at 5:30, in the middle of cooking dinner, Connor decided to throw up all over the kitchen floor, then an hour later all over me, an hour after that all over his bed, so on and so on. So yesterday I was thankful for washing machines!!!!

11/24: Casper's Christmas Parade!

11/25: today I'm grateful both my little boys are eating their dinner, usually one will eat while the other cries about it!

11/26: I'm grateful I have the ability to sew, those Christmas PJ bottoms I made Asher made him so happy and excited!

11/27: let's just say its been a really bad day so I'm grateful it's almost over!

11/28: today I'm thankful Asher is feeling tons better and that even though Bailey came home from school sick he is also starting to fell a little better.

11/29: (Guess I missed this day! Darn it!)

11/30: Today I'm thankful for a lot of things, but what I wanted to express is that I'm really grateful for all the people who shared with others this month their gratitudes. In the beginning of the month some people made comments about how its a stupid thing, or that people only use it to brag about what they have...but I'm a 'glass is half full' (at least most of the time) type of girl and I think that those who took time out of their day to really think about what they were grateful for and then expressed it for everyone to see are people who are truly grateful for what they have. Yeah, there were a few days where I was grateful for silly, trivial things, but isn't that what its all about? Being grateful for even the littlest of things? So, thank you to everyone who expressed what they were grateful for this month, I loved reading them and your gratitudes made me realize more things I was grateful for that I hadn't noticed.  And on an even more serious note...I'm really grateful that I was able to get out of Casper College today! I never really felt like I was in any danger but I know it was a very serious situation and I'm grateful to be home with my family tonight....even if most of them have the flu and I want to avoid them! (hehe)