the elf on the shelf

This morning, we got a new addition to our family. His name is Joe, and he is an elf sent by Santa! Joe will stay at our house until Christmas Eve, at which time he will return to the North Pole until next Thanksgiving. (or there abouts...) Joe is with us to help keep an eye on Noah, remind him to be good and to report back to Santa. Joe came with a book (called The Elf on the Shelf) that gave us exact instructions on how to handle Joe. No touching him (or his magic may be lost), we had to give him a name, (Noah made a list that included Jolly, Red Boy, & Shaggy, to name a few) we can talk to him as often as we like but he, unfortunately, can't talk to us, (Santa's rule) and each night he will return to the North Pole to give his report to Santa and then return by morning. We have to find him each morning, as he likes to play games and doesn't want to stay in the same spot every day.

I found this book last year after telling a friend that Noah refused to visit Santa. Nothing we have said or done in the last couple years could convince him to sit on Santa's lap. No way, no how! Noah would barely even wave to him at the mall. My friend told me about this book and I loved the idea. It's so much fun! I wasn't sure if Noah would really buy it, but it seems he has, at least so far.

We put up some of our Christmas decorations yesterday, including a small tree for Noah's room. This morning when he woke up, he found a present under the tree. He came in to our bedroom this morning (way too early) and said, "Thank you!" I asked him, rather sleepily, why he was thanking me and he went on to tell me he was thanking me for the present under his tree. I played dumb and asked him what he was talking about and we went from there.... I had written a letter from Santa to Noah and we read that together and then read the book. He didn't seem all that interested and I was too tired to care, so I went back to bed. When I finally woke up, Noah didn't mention anything... until he found the elf! He was so excited and immediately went and made a list of names and decided on "Joe." For the rest of the day, he asked us repeatedly if we thought he was being good - he was so concerned that Joe would give a bad report. Also, I overheard him several times talking to Joe. One "conversation" went something like this:

"Joe, I'm going to sing you a song. You know Rudolph, the Red Nosed Reindeer? Well this is a song about his cousin, Randall. My dad taught it to me..." He then proceeded to sing "Randall the Green-Tailed Billy Goat," a song that Michael did indeed teach Noah. I was in the next room, doing my best not to laugh out loud! :)

To be honest, we really don't put a lot of focus on Santa. We set out cookies and milk for him each year and Santa fills a very large stocking for Noah and usually leaves a note of some sort, but that's about it. This book is so cute though and I thought it would be fun. Now, although we've added another bit of Santa to our Christmas tradition, that doesn't mean we'll take focus off the true meaning of our Christmas celebrations. We thank and praise God for His perfect gift that He gave us in Jesus. Because after all, even Santa knows that Jesus' birth, His life, suffering, death and resurrection and the hope and the promise that He has given us for life eternal with Him is a gift that can never be matched. May our Lord be with you this Advent and Christmas season and always! Merry Christmas!

dessert shopping spree

Last night I tried a new recipe (Michael and Noah started planning alternate meal options as soon as I started chopping) that wasn't all bad but it left us wanting for something more. For the last several days, Michael and I have both had a sweet tooth and with nothing sweet in the house (except our store-bought pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving, which we considered digging into...) we talked through our dessert options. We live in a town where dessert is not easy to come by. There is the local fast food ice cream option or another local fast food pie option, but neither was really sounding good, so we decided to do something we've never done before: Head to the grocery store and shop for desserts. We checked out the bakery first - creme horns, pies, cakes... hmmm... We ended up in the frozen dessert area and picked out two Edward's cream pies - a Turtle pie and a Chocolate Creme pie. We thought we should probably stock up on ice cream too, since it's cheaper to buy a gallon than it is for the three of us to go to previously mentioned fast food option, so that went into the cart. I had a coupon for Klondike bars (what would you do for a Klondike bar?) so we couldn't pass those up...and Noah really wanted Twinkies. Now, I'm not one to ever turn down a Twinkie, so down that aisle we went.

So,
Box of Twinkies: $3.99
Gallon of vanilla ice cream: $5.79
Klondike bars w/coupon: $8
Two ice cream pies: $14
Family time gorging on desserts & feeding our sweet tooth: PRICELESS

New in our pew

For the last year or so, I've been trying to "pew train" Noah. This has had its ups and downs. As any mother knows, keeping a child quiet and still in church can be a real struggle. Until about a year ago, my main goal was just to keep Noah quiet - I didn't really care what he did, as long as he didn't make noise doing it. He did surprise me at times by singing along with the liturgy and he knows the Lord's Prayer so I always made him stop what he was doing to pray along with the congregation. However, once he turned 5, I felt like it was time to put the coloring books away and start paying attention to what was going on around him. As I said, this has had its ups and downs! Noah usually sings along with hymns, sometimes humming, sometimes singing on la la la and sometimes making up his own words. (He has also been known to sing the correct melody but use the words to SpongeBob SquarePants or other less appropriate words...) Today he did something that made me almost jump for joy in our pew: he sang the ACTUAL words of the first hymn! The hymn was familiar, but I know that Noah was not singing the words from memory, he was following along and singing the correct words. He followed along with the liturgy as well and spoke along with his dad and with the congregation. I am truly amazed at how quickly he is picking up reading and I am so excited that he is able to follow along with the worship service now. Surely this means that life in the pew will get easier, right? I know there will still be ups and downs but for now, this was a step in the right direction and confirmed for me that it is worth the struggle each Sunday to teach Noah not to just be quiet and still in church, but to actively participate in worshiping our Lord.

Wiggles Fanatic

As most people who know Noah are aware, he is a total fanatic when it comes to The Wiggles. For those of you not familiar with this group, The Wiggles are four grown men from Australia who created this kids "band" as a college project. The Wiggles are now the highest paid Australian entertainers, earning more than Nicole Kidman and Russell Crowe! Anyway, Noah loves The Wiggles - we've had a Wiggles birthday party, he has many Wiggles CDs, movies, coloring books, toys and books and Noah can tell you anything you ever wanted (or didn't want) to know about each of the characters. We had assumed that this fanaticism would pass by the time Noah hit kindergarten. The Wiggles are really popular in the preschool set and interest usually dwindles. However, Noah remains enthralled with this singing and dancing group even to the extent that he knows every song and the dance that goes with it, he can draw them and their "Big Red Car" and has colored every Wiggles picture we've found on the internet.

So there's the background for this story. All of his Wiggles coloring books are colored in and have gone the way of all filled up coloring books - into the garbage with the occasional page torn out and sent to grandparents, friends or put into the art box. Once again, Noah is asking for a new Wiggles coloring book and we have searched everywhere to no avail. I went to Ft. Wayne yesterday and promised Noah that I would check Target and other stores for a Wiggly coloring book. I think in his heart, he believed that his mother would go to the ends of the earth if necessary, to fulfill this desire. So when I called to let "the boys" know that I was on my way home, it wasn't unexpected that the first thing Noah asked me on the phone was, "Mom, did you get me a Wiggles coloring book?" When I said no, I wasn't able to find one (and believe me, I looked!) he surprised me by bursting into tears! My first reaction was to turn around and try more stores... after all, I hadn't looked at EVERY possible store that might stock Wiggles coloring books... but the practical voice of reason kept me on the road home. I calmed him down with promises that we would check the internet and see what we could find. Of course, by the time that the phone had been passed to Michael, the Wiggles coloring book was forgotten as the snow outside beckoned. By the time I got home, Noah didn't even mention the unfound coloring book and was happy to see me.

But, I'm happy to report, there are two Wiggles coloring books in the mail as I type. :) The internet really is a wonderful thing!

Another proud mother moment

Michael and I just returned from our first official Parent/Teacher Conference. To say that Noah is doing well would be an understatement. Of course, we really weren't surprised that he could count to 20, knew his letters, could identify and write letters and knew all their sounds. We could've told them that 2 years ago! :) Mrs. Vandermark reiterated that she wishes she had a whole room full of Noahs and said over and over again how well he is doing in kindergarten. She also said that he and another student (a girl) are the best students in the class. I think we're most happy that he is not acting out because he's bored - a concern we've always had with school.

Here at home, Noah continues to read well, draw amazing pictures, and is a two-wheeler champ. :) He's also not bad at Wii Fit (he's a tightrope master!) and has some wicked bounces on Wii tennis. lol He's also a great hugger and shows us his love in lots of different ways.

We're very proud of our little boy!!