I have to introduce you to our new family friend "Jonathan." He is a our Elf on the Shelf. I had seen many Pinterest pins about this fun little guy and I had to jump on the train. It was a little tough for me at first because of our crazy life with traveling for soccer and my current weird work schedule the commitment of daily elf activities seemed a little bit much to commit to. However I made myself this promise... DO IT! I sat down with a list of all of my ideas and my iPad calendar and narrowed them down and filled in the days. I then set myself out shopping to get the needed items... which turned into a shopping spree... and voila- no turning back.
We started our elf in November because we were taking a special family pre-Thanksgiving trip and I wanted to have the fun of Jonathan on that trip. I am uber late in my blog post so you are going to get many pictures all at once... sorry! ;)
We will start with the introduction and our Big Bear, Ca adventures!
While the kids got all ready for bed I surprised them with the book and elf by the fireplace:
A quick little photo shoot! ;)
Day 1: Snow Play
We were going sledding the next day so here is Jonathan breaking the news to the kids.
I am sort of giving gifts / craft things to do often during this but I started out with these buttons I found at JoAnns for the kids. My daughter is 9 and my husband sadly says that she is starting to figure things out. (Sad face mommy!) So I decided a little immediate dedication to Santa was necessary!
Day 2: Roasting Marshmallows since we had made this a nightly routine Jonathan HAD to jump on the track. He also left a package of "Magic Seeds" and instructions for the kids.
Day three: Planting the magic seeds: Pouring the sugar.
My son sprinkling his wishes.
This is how the garden was left at bedtime.
Voila: the garden grew!
Now for the CRAZY part! For 3 days my husband laughed at me and all of my needs to be "extravagant" but I did my thing and that is why he loves me. Then on day three we ran into a problem. I was unaware of the "no touch rule" when we started this venture. But now we were leaving in the morning... what were we going to do? Well I was going to put him in the pocket of my backpack and just leave a note and carry the backpack....but no my husband wanted to throw me a curveball, "make a video and leave it for the kids and have Jonathan gone." WHAT? I have never made a video, nor could I do it in the mountains with just my Ipad and phone. REALLY? Now that I had a challenge I had to do it..... so ladies and gentlemen 3.5 hours of work and here is the video that Jonathan the Elf e-mailed to the kids... yes I had to then create an email for the little dude. Thank you husband! However the kids LOVED it and I met my challenge, check and mate! :)
Well that is all of the fun we had in our few days at Big Bear. The kids LOVED the video in the morning and it was a huge hit! Come back for more adventures in Phoenix, Az!
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