Let it snow, let it snow...

Today's been one of those days- you know the kind... not like my "Monday, Monday" day, but the kind where I have probably a million different tasks and errands I need to do/run but the day's already drawing to an end- kind of, and I haven't started doing ANYTHING!!!  It really baffles me too- I mean I was up at 5a.m. this morning- you'd had thought my morning would have been really productive, but yet I feel like I've just been running in an Alice in Wonderland caucus race... hmm, I suppose it probably doesn't help either that I just spent the past 2 hours talking on the phone with my sister {that was.NOT.on.the.agenda.for.the.day}...  if it's worth it, we DID discuss some VERY important matters- mostly kid matters... I mean- come one, between the two of us we have 14 kids!  You didn't seriously think we discussed celebrity gossip, like how ridiculous Kim Kardashian is on her new television show with he sister Courtney- she's such a DIVA {yes, f.y.i. I confess- I DO watch trash t.v. like E News and The Kardashians Take New York.  I also like to watch Tori Spelling's reality t.v. show with her husband and kids; Community,  Teen Mom and when it's airing,  MTV's Challenge or Rob Dyrdek's show Ridiculousness... f.y.additional.i.... I DON'T actually have a whole LOT of free time to watch most of these shows, so I just DVR all of them and watch whatever I can in the evening, after the kids have gone to bed, while I fold laundry, iron clothes or try to wind down and fall asleep... yes, I prefer to fall asleep to the t.v. on... it works like a charm!... If it helps, I also REALLY enjoy watching more informative shows like the news, documentaries on PBS and TLC,  The Today Show, Dateline, 60 Minutes, 20/20 and 48 Hours- oh and I can't forget Biography and E! True Hollywood Story. There have I redeemed myself?} Okay- I lied. We did discuss Kim and we also discussed how we'd both just like to skip out on making and handing out neighbor gifts all together this year.... isn't it enough that we have to find, buy, wrap presents for our children from us and Santa, presents for our parents, presents for our in laws, presents for our husband's co-workers, presents for the needy (this I DON'T mind doing AT.ALL), presents for our children's teachers, presents for the women whom I visit teach and the families my husband home teaches, but then, we have to find or make something totally cute and unique for our neighbors and the people in our ward at church!!!  That's like 30 more gifts!!!  It's absurd! Not the "giving" factor, but just the numbers!!! It's like present overload!!!  No offense, but if you're a neighbor and you're reading this post right now, I like you, I really do and I LOVE that we're neighbors, but please don't be offended if you don't get anything from our family this year... I just want to be able to ENJOY my Christmas without stressing about WHO I didn't get presents for.  Thanks!  I'm going to try and keep things simple this Christmas season- for the sake of my sanity AND our bank account.

Another subject we discussed extensively was our Elf on the Shelf elves...

I do believe our elf Jolt, must had been pretty disappointed about the lack of snow  here in our neck of the woods, so when he flew home to The North Pole last night to report the boys behavior to Santa, I'm pretty darn sure he also requested from Santa that he make it snow, because this morning when we woke up we found it SNOWING!!! Both inside our house AND outside!!! 

It looks like Jolt found my stash of cotton balls and fishing twine and made some snow to decorate the windows in our dining room...  The look is stunning, really {my pictures hardly do the look ANY justice at all... the lighting at the time I took these pictures was really poor}... I wish everyone could have seen what it looked like while real big snow flurries fell down outside from heaven above. It was magical... My boys LOVED the surprise!

Yep!

It was still pitch black outside at 6a.m. when I   I mean, 

Jolt finished hanging all of these cotton ball strands.

OOPS!  

It appears as though Jolt  

got himself into a tangled up mess of fishing wire and cotton balls!  

My boys thought it was hilarious!!! 

 

Okay, so did you notice that our elf moved?! 

Yep it's true.

My boys were WILD about the fact he moved his arm!

They didn't see him actually do it, of course,

but they thought that if they stood there and watched him long enough

they'd see him move again.

Ian said he thought he saw Jolt blink.

If so, I missed it.

He did move a little though.

Perhaps it was because he was hung right above a heat vent on the ground;

anytime the warm air would turn on,

it would blow right onto him

causing him to move a little...

either way,

my boys are pretty  positive

our clever little elf likes to wriggle around when we're not all looking!

{I REALLY wish the lighting in my house were better and not so yellow'y-

that 

or that I actually knew what I was doing with and without my flash on my camera...

Either way though,

don't the cotton ball strands hanging from the windows

with the snow drop blanketing the ground and the rooftops in the background

just look amazing?! 

It truly did look like a wintery wonderland!}

Onto a different note: Our Christmas Book Countdown is still on.

Below were the books we read on both Monday and Tuesday evening.  

They're both real treasures; 

I'm not even sure either book is still in print any longer- my m.i.l. Linda lent them to me.  I wonder what it would take to convince her to let me keep both of the books???