S&S INC. + B.: Elf on a Shelf and reindeer games..

We're still in the midst of our Christmas Countdown with books... Here was Wednesday evening's pick...

Super cute story- but sort of too long for all of the boys but Noah to sit still and listen to. Instead of paying attention to the story itself, most eyes were on this Chunkalicious kid below! He's a real hoot. Aside from his cRaZy hair (that seems to have a mind of it's own and does whatever it wants regardless of how I brush, comb or style it), Atticus has a BIG personality and most of the time, giggling and making his brothers laugh it up is TOP of his agenda! His new thing is to stick his tongue out... it's hanging out of his mouth ALL.THE.TIME. He's been drooling a lot too- I think it's because he's teething, but then again, he still doesn't have ANY teeth in sight! He's a rolling machine; he's discovered that he can get to just about anything by rolling to it--- of course this means it doesn't matter if any kind of toy, jacket, food or brother is in the way- he just steam rolls over it. He still has to work on his speed and accuracy, but I imagine in another week or two, he'll be a pro at it. Another thing I've caught him trying to do all week is crawl. Yup. I give it till the end of the month and I'm certain he'll be crawling by then. Right now, he just sort of inches along on his belly like an inchworm. He doesn't ever get too far, but far enough we'll all notice he's in a new spot on the floor where I hadn't left him. Oh and can I get a WHAT, WHAT! for my baby boy who is FINALLY sleeping through the night?! Say it ain't true- IT IS!!! AFTER 7, nearly 8 months of interrupted sleep at night, I'm finally getting my zzz's... Yay!!! I'll lay him down to sleep around 7:30 in the evening when we put our other boys to sleep and he'll sleep until 10 if I let him- but most mornings I have to wake him up at 7:30 with the other boys, AND yes, he still naps during the day. He takes 3 naps--- usually totaling 6 hours, maybe a little more than that.

Thursday some of Noah and Ian's friends came over to play...
It was another "Monday", kind of day... the boys kept doing target practice, shooting arrows and balls at my Christmas tree--- f.y.i. it wasn't our guests who were involved in Operation Shoot Down the Christmas Tree- nope, fact is, it was MY boys--- Ian and mostly Noah. After, oh say, the millionth time of telling Noah NOT to aim his arrows at the Christmas tree and he DID, the very second after I turned my back to him--- I got pretty upset. I'm pretty sure it probably shocked his little friends to see that the "Kool-Aid Mom" lost her cool... he spent a good 10 minutes sulking in his room in time out. The booger needed to understand that I meant what I said, and I needed a minute to unruffle my feathers. Once Noah realized he wasn't just going to do whatever he pleased just because we had guests over (that's usually when he acts out--- why is that?! I hate to tell him "No more playdates!" because my other boys really enjoy having friends over), we got down to business and had some fun.

The boys split into two teams and made snowmen.

Note:

The boys friends don't usually look like Picaso creations,

but I'm trying to be mindful of posting other peoples kids on my blog

without their permission

{which I'm sure this friend probably wouldn't mind},

so I decided if it's still a picture I really want to add,

I'd just distort the kids faces.

Solution found!

This arrived in the mail on Thursday...

It was in a package addressed to Spencer,

but I decided to open it anyhow,

because that I'm here for, right?!

I'm still unsure exactly why he got it-

I mean, I know what it's used for,

but it had something to do with one of his cousins...

anyhow, our boys had a blast poking each other with it!

We may need to order 5 more!

It's been COLD all week long- I'm talking in the teens and twenties!!! But no snow, HOW incredibly LAME is that?!!! My thoughts are if it's gonna be cold- it better had snow... how do I explain to my boys that yes, it is cold outside, but yep, you're right, the sun, which makes everything warm it out too?! They're baffled probably just as much as I am about where the snow is. Anyhow, on Wednesday evening as we were getting the boys ready for bed in their p.j.'s I told Noah to put on a pair of socks. He didn't want to, but I explained that it was going to get pretty cold over night, cold enough to make water turn into ice, so of course that led us to doing a science project. Our boys LOVE doing science projects! We filled up a small cup of water and left it outside on the front porch over night. I promised the boys that by the time they woke up Thursday morning it would be solid ice and SURE ENOUGH, it was!!!

Our boys thought this was SO COOL! On his way out the door that morning, Noah suggested that we freeze more cups of water later that night and make an ice castle. So that's EXACTLY what we did!

I'm always AMAZED by how such a simple idea can bring so much joy to my boys! I believe they're planning on freezing more cups of water overnight tonight. I may suggest they add food coloring to tint the ice, or maybe freeze some of their soldiers and aliens in the ice. We'll see... I guess when it comes to water and ice, the possibilities are endless!!!

We received ANOTHER package in the mail on Thursday... Our Elf on the Shelf from The North Pole arrived!!! The boys were ecstatic!!! It arrived in the morning, but I made them wait until later that evening to open it... of course they were devastated they had to wait SO.LONG but when the time came to open it that night, Cohen ripped right into it!!!

We read the book that came with our Elf on the Shelf that evening as our Christmas Countdown book... {b.t.w. I hate to leave those of you who are wondering "WHAT THE HECK IS AN ELF ON THE SHELF" out in the dark, so click here to find out}...

The boys decided to name our elf who came with brown hair and blue eyes (he could almost be related to Cohen), JOLT. Yes, with a name like JOLT it sounds like he's addicted to heavily caffeinated soft drinks {which would be horrible if that were the case because we have ZERO caffeine in our house} but Jolt was the name the older boys decided upon.

Noah was terribly worried that our elf wouldn't be able to breath with out air holes in his package while he was being shipped from The North Pole to our home... anyhow, he was completely relieved to see that Jolt had a nice little air hole in the packaging above. Kids...

Our elf, Jolt, is pretty darn mischievous.

The morning after he arrived,

I found him here!

At some point during the night while we all slept and AFTER he flew to and from The North Pole, he built a zip line from the top of our stairs down to the star on top of our Christmas tree. Apparently, he convinced some of the boys Barrel of Monkeys to join in on the fun and I must had woken up right when he was catching a ride down with three of them, because Spencer and I found him frozen like so. (wink.wink.) {In case you were wondering, yes I wake up while it's still dark outside}.

He must NOT have any fear of heights and it looks as if he enjoys a good adventure, which is PERFECT, because he's come to the right home for that!!!

Note to reader: Please don't mind the bats hanging from my light fixture. They're just left over from Halloween. One of these days, I'll remember to get the tall ladder out and cut them down.

The boys nearly flipped their lids when they discovered Jolt got out of his box and made a zip line!!! All day, the 4 older boys sat there and told me they saw Jolt move {ha! I laugh about it, because we had our heater on, so any time the air would turn on, the heat from the vent would make Jolt move!} or that they saw him looking at them. They're certain, he watches them with his eyes! It's really stinkin' cute how all 4 of them BELIEVE Jolt really is REAL, but I just pray they don't have any sort of elf nightmares... My sister Tricia told me the first night they received their elf, 3 of her boys had elf nightmares!!!

This morning, I woke up and found Jolt missing from the zipline.

It looks like he ditched his monkey friends and decided to help Mr. Croc (he's our boys Crocodile for golfing) brush his teeth...

I'm impressed that Mr. Croc didn't snap at Jolt- he usually has a bad temper and snaps at our fingers any time our hands go near his mouth!

The older boys, Cohen, Ian and Noah, weren't here this morning to find Jolt... they spent the evening last night with Grandma and Grandpa C. Which meant I enjoyed a nice, quiet evening... just me, Spence and the two babes- who really are such a cinch to take care of. They were both in bed by 7 and I was in bed by 7:30 and asleep before 9. I know, I'm not much of a fun date, but hey I was tired AND Spence had grading and work to do. You'd imagine I would have slept in this morning but the latest I could sleep until was 5:30. A.M. that is!!! Darn my internal clock and shoot on me for going to sleep so early last night!!! Anyhow, I decided after last night- while it was nice just having the 2 babes at home for the evening, I wouldn't EVER want to downsize my family--- it's kinda boring. I like the chaos and madness that 5 kids bring to our family circus!!!

Anyhow, since Bentley hung around with us, he found Jolt in his bathroom!

He was really terribly confused and could NOT figure out HOW elf moved from the zipline to the bathroom! I can't wait to see the look on the older boys faces later today when they come home and discover Jolt brushing Mr. Croc's teeth!!! B.t.w., They'll be at G'ma and G'pa's house for most of the day... they've gone with them to their ward Christmas party, which is a breakfast, and they're going after that to The Scera to watch a Christmas puppet show.

One of my favortist friends, Heidi, came over yesterday after my boys got home from school. She brought her 3 kiddos. Heidi was my mission companion TWICE, my bridesmaid, and she's been a dear friend since, who I hardly ever get to see enough of, but when I do, I LOVE IT! Our kids played while we chatted for a while... I don't EVER see enough, or get together enough, with my own friends, I'm too busy with kids, remember, but when I do get together with friends, it's such a nice change.

After Heidi left, I took the boys on a drive up to Herriman to see the UP house (click here to read about it)- that is, before they went to Grandma and Grandpa's house. I heard about the house over the summer and I've wanted to visit it with my boys ever since then, but I've decided to wait until now because for the first couple of months it was drawing large crowds to the house... 5 little kids and a crowd, don't tend to mesh very well. I was pleased to find not too many visitors there yesterday. It was just me and my boys and probably 10 other people or so.

We got to inside the house...

These precious photos of Carl and his wife lined the mantel and the stairs...

My boys REALLY thought we were visiting the REAL UP house!

They kept asking me where all of the balloons were!

We found this bedroom below in Carl's house...

My boys all decided they want a bedroom just like this!

Hmm, so I guess it's goodbye Cat in The Hat and Superheroes,

HELLO TOY STORY!

I'll have to see about it...

I still haven't completely finished Ian's Superhero bedroom!

Note to reader: I just might have a little crush on Carl. He reminds me of my Grandpa Truesdell... to the T. Even in a canny way looks like him too!

Okay, so that's about all that has happened over the past couple of days... I had to look at the calendar twice this morning because I couldn't believe it's ALREADY the 10TH of December. Do I REALLY only have 2 more weeks to get all of myChristmas shopping done?! I haven't even started. I think this year I'll be doing most of my shopping on the internet. I hate the thought of running all around town finding gifts and dealing with mobs of people at the mall. I also need to start and finish our family Christmas video card. I know, I know, you're probably thinking, STOP talking about it and just do it! I know, I should... I NEED to! That's my goal over the next three days. I FINALLY found a song I'm going to use on it! I LOVE it and it's SO my boys. It's nothing like LMAO's Party Rock Anthem (relief!). I think I'll spend the afternoon today making fake snow out of string and cotton balls, to hang from my windows... seriously, I really AM disappointed it hasn't snowed yet! I just might tell Spencer at the last minute to pack the car with our bags- we're heading to San Diego! (Probably NOT though- I doubt he'd be up for it, since I was JUST there), but really, what good is WINTER in UTAH without SNOW?! I can't take much more of this dry cold!

Oh, before I forget, this is funny. So yesterday I was in my room, looking through some magazine. Bentley was in the room with me, while the babe slept and the other boys were all at school. He wandered off into my bathroom and turned on the water in my bathtub (this happens on a REGULAR basis) so I wasn't surprised and I DIDN'T jump up to shoo him out of the bathroom immediately because I figured he'd turn it off with in the minute. Well, 5 minutes later, he was STILL in there and he STILL had the water on, so I went in there to do some investigating. Turns out, he had Pooh Bear's head UNDER the running water- he was trying to wash Pooh's hair just like I wash the baby when I'm in a hurry in the mornings!!! Needless to say, Pooh was SOAKED! So here he's sat, head down in my bathroom sink since then to drip dry some before I can put him in the dryer on low to finish drying. It's a sight that breaks Bentley's heart. He can't BEAR to be without his Pooh Bear! Last night and this morning during nap, he plead for thirty something minutes for his POOH!!! Oh my heart!!!