Review: Days 8-14

Week 2 in Review!
Even though I was quite sick this week, I did my best to keep the elf magic going. I didn't want to let the magic die. It's too much fun! :)

Day 8: Letters to Santa

(Full post for Day 8.)

This one wasn't so easy. The clothespins were too heavy for the tape holding the ribbon up. I had to keep adding more tape. But if you had a place to tie the ribbon up, it would work really well.

Day 9: The Nutcracker

(Full post for Day 9.)

Oops! I forgot to take a picture. I was so tired! And feverish! The next time the kids are at school, I'll set it up again and get a picture.

Day 10: Christmas Music Dance Party

(Full post for Day 10.)

The stinky, little elf stole my ipod! :)

Who doesn't love Christmas music?

Day 11: Reading a story

(Full post for Day 11.)

Clyde is a friendly, little guy who likes to do things for his friends. Can you believe that some stuffed animals still don't know how to read?!

Day 12: Taking a shower

(Full post for Day 12.)

Apparently, you have to watch your step at the North Pole. Those reindeer have no manners!

Day 13: Elf Sleeping Bag

(Full post for Day 13.)

I guess Clyde had a long trip back from the North Pole. He took a nap in a stocking. Maybe his plane was 39th in line on the tarmac. (That happened to me once! I fell asleep before the plane made it into the air.)

Day 14: Rocket Ship

(Full post for Day 14.)

Good thing the blender wasn't plugged in! Maybe Buddy the Elf could do a few sessions on Human Culture for the rest of the elves so mistakes like this don't happen. :)

Day 14: Rocket ship

They need to have more classes about Human Culture at the North Pole. Our elf has made a few mistakes about objects around our house. The kids think it's funny, though. :)

The "sleeping bag" idea went over so well, that I thought it would be fun to think of another one. Matthew and I had just gone grocery shopping and had purchased frozen fruit for smoothies. When he saw Clyde in the blender, he was quite surprised!

His note says. "I found this cool rocket ship! The seats are kinda pokey and it smells like fruit. Why is it in the kitchen?" (I need a new camera. It doesn't always focus. :( )

Matthew pointed out that the blender couldn't be a rocket, because Clyde's hat stuck out of the top. And if it were a rocket, he'd blow right out of it. Smart, little 6 year old. :)

Day 13: In an elf sleeping bag

It was late, and I had spend the day sleeping. The plush stockings kinda looked like elf sleeping bags to me. Clyde agreed. He climbed right in and got comfortable.

See the little hat sticking out? :) Here's a close up shot.

And here's the note that he left.

My favorite part is seeing the kids light up and enjoy whatever Clyde is up to. They thought it was so funny that he thought the stockings were sleeping bags. What's really funny is that the rest of the day, my 12 year old kept accidentally referring to the stockings as sleeping bags! And then she'd laugh at herself that the elf got her calling them sleeping bags! And my 8 year old was delighted that Clyde wanted to know why we hung up the sleeping bags. :) It was a quick and easy one that brought a lot of smiles.

Day 12: Taking a shower

I saw this ridiculously cute and funny idea on Peanut Blossom (via Pinterest, of course!) and just had to do it. I couldn't get it out of my mind and I knew the kids would think it was really funny. Plus, it reinforces the idea that the elf really does go back to the North Pole each night.

The note says that Clyde accidentally stepped in reindeer poo while at the North Pole. :) I added that he hopes he got it all off! Hee hee hee! I wrapped a kleenex around his head. I had to add a piece of tape to keep it in place. And I crocheted a little towel for him. My least favorite part about crocheting or knitting is weaving the ends in. But I didn't need to! I used them to tie the towel on and then to tie it and Clyde to the shower head. Then, I tucked a little ducky finger puppet that the kids love, in with him.

The kids LOVED it!!! They thought it was SOOO funny! And they talked about it all day. Mission Accomplished!!!

Day 11: Reading a story

So, as you know, the kids were sick. Then, I got sick. Then, I got really sick. As in, I was just so absolutely exhausted that eating half a sandwich was too energy zapping and I had to take a 2 hour nap to recover. Now that I'm back to the land of the living, I'll let you in on what our little Clyde was up to.

Due to me being in bed or asleep on the couch, Clyde decided that just hiding somewhere fun was good enough and there didn't need to be an activity for us all to do each day. Also, it's hard to get supplies for an activity when you're busying drooling the day away.

Even though most of our books are still in boxes in the garage, Clyde found a Christmas themed one to read to some of his animal friends. "Junie B., First Grader Jingle Bells, Batman Smells! (P.S. So Does May.)" That's a long book title! But his friends seemed to enjoy it. :)

This house has a pretty basic layout. There aren't a lot of great hiding places. This happens to be tucked away in a corner between two bookcases. You can't really tell from the picture. My hubby took this one for me while I was sleeping. Thank goodness he was here! The kids got to school and were fed dinner. Applause!!!!!!

Day 10: Christmas Music Dance Party

The plan for today was to make cookies for the neighbors. Since we're all sick, I don't think that's a good idea. Unless, we really don't like our neighbors. Just kidding! I definitely want to do that at some point, so I just looked over the schedule and swapped it for something easy we could do at home that wouldn't be spreading disease to our poor neighbors.

We never got around to watching the Nutcracker yesterday. So, we're watching it right now, as I type this. Clyde is very understanding of our illness, so with his note today he left a gentle reminder to watch the Nutcracker and then have our own Christmas music dance party.

He stole my ipod! But since I'm definitely not in the condition to go on a run, I'll forgive him. :)

The girls have both taken several years of ballet, so they are into the beautiful, twirling dancers. But Matthew will not be listing this as one of his favorite activities.

He does like to dance, though. I'll try and get a shot of him boogieing down later. :)

Day 9: The Nutcracker

When I was in Junior High, all the girls in my church youth group would get dressed up, go out to dinner in downtown Portland, and then go see The Nutcracker ballet. It was so much fun! We all felt so grown-up. It is one of my favorite Christmas time memories. Tchaikovshy's music is so intertwined with Christmas, I thought the kids should see it.

Since they've all been sick and now that I'm sick, it really wasn't feasible for us to go out to the ballet. Enter Netflix! Nutcracker: The Motion Picture from 1986 is available on instant streaming on Netflix. So, all us sickies could cuddle up on the couch at home and enjoy the Nutcracker. I still hope to take at least the girls to a full stage production of The Nutcracker someday. But for this tired, achy, stuffed up mama, the movie is just fine. Where's my blanket?