Cookies anyone??

When we woke up this morning, there was the sweet smell of cinnamon and sugar coming from the kitchen!

"Good morning! Don't you just love the smell of cookies right from the oven? We remembered that Snickerdoodle cookies were your favorite cookies last year. Are they still your favorite? We even used Mrs. Clause's favorite Snickerdoodle recipe to make these- we're sure you will love them! We'll leave the recipe so that your Mom can make them later too (make sure you and Arianna help). Hope your Mom isn't too upset with us for not cleaning up- we ran out of time, so maybe you can help your Mom clean up this morning. Maybe she'll even let you have some cookies for breakfast if you help! Have a great day and remember that Prep and Landing is on TONIGHT!"



Despite the mess they left, those Elves are pretty handy in the kitchen. I wonder if they will help me with the cakes and cookies I have to do this week?? I told Daniel that I was going to report them to Santa for making a mess and he was not happy with that prospect. Ok, I guess I'll let them slide this time since the cookies are really good!

A few treats

I think I left off on Saturday morning.... When we came back from dinner Saturday night, the Elves had left a little something for the kids.


"We heard that you are feeling a little under the weather and we wanted to give you a little something to enjoy while you rest! We thought you would like to watch Santa Buddies. You have to do one thing for us- ok? You have to make sure that your Dad watches this movie with you! He'll love it! We hope that you are feeling better in no time!"





Tony has been telling Daniel how horribe that movie is, so of course he needed to watch it. Watching it together, we got a kick out of the movie(Tony's commentaries were great) and Daniel liked it so that's what matters. It was a fun movie night courtesy of the Elves.

The next morning, the kids got Crayola bath drops that we have been out of for a few weeks. Yay Elves!


They told Daniel to practice mixing colors and see what he got. It said to make sure he mixed all of th colors together at the end and see what he gets. He said "that's icky!"...good thing that stuff washes out!

Gingerbread and stories

Yesterday morning, the Elves left us a gingerbread kit so that we could continue our decorating tradition! Daniel had been asking about the house and was very excited to see it!

They were even nice enough to put the house together while Daniel was in school! So, after dinner we could just jump right into decorating! We had a great time (although I think the kids ate almost as much candy as they put on the house!)

Funny how you get one smiling kid and one distracted..and then they switch!!

This morning, the Elves left a note saying that a little friend told them that there was a Disney Christmas storybook at Downtown Disney that Daniel wanted. They pulled a little Elf Magic last night and got the book!! When we got up this morning, they had all of Daniel and Arianna's little friends gathered around listening to stories! We'll have fun reading tonight!

Now, I think we're all caught up! Can't wait to see what they do next!

A little help from some Elves

This morning they left a Disney Christmas countdown chain to help the kids keep track of how many days left until Christmas! What fun!

Apparently I need a little help in stopping the procrastination! The Elves apparently couldn't sleep much that night, so they decided to get some decorating done for Arianna's birthday. If it wasn't for the mess those guys make, it would be really handy to have them around to do everything for me!! They decided to write on the mirrors, tables, windows and even the oven- sure hope that stuff comes off! They got started on blowing up the balloons, but ran out of helium. While we were at the museum, they even got started on wrapping presents- how helpful they were!

They did ask in their note when Daniel thought his parents would turn the heat on in the house. :-) I'm sure it's much colder in the North Pole though!

A few treats and tricks

The Elves were tired after they travelled all the way from the North Pole! Daniel found them in the kitchen with treats in their little bags. Milk chocolate M&M's...those Elves know the way to my kids hearts :-).

The next night they were a little more mischevious... they decided that I was taking too long to decorate the tree, so they decided to help a little... hey, at least they had the Disney and Batman theme going on!

Initially, Daniel was a little shocked and embarrassed. But after he woke up more, he thought it was pretty funny. He pointed out to his sister that even her diapers (yes, clean!) were there! The silly string was quite the mess to clean up(although a hand held vacuum works wonders)- I sure hope that they had fun putting it on the tree! I told Daniel that I would be reporting these messes back to Santa and he looked a little scared about that!

Next up was a fun movie that Daniel has been wanting to watch...Merry Madagascar and Party with the Penquins. He was very excited for this treat and he and Arianna watched it at least 3 times (oh, I'm sure it was much more than that- I just lost count!). The Elves made sure to ask us to tell Santa and the Reindeer hi from then when we visited them that night. Santa was glad that we were enjoying the Elves. He misses the Elves but is excited to hear their stories when they return.

To be continued....

Guess who is back in Texas???

Before bedtime Thanksgiving night, Daniel left crackers and water with a letter to Santa asking for the Elves to visit us again this year. Last year, they were named DJ and Tinkerbell, but this year Daniel decided to change their names to Mickey and Minnie (I don't think they minded too much!). They arrived the morning after Thanksgiving with this nice letter from Santa:

"It is with extreme pleasure that I write you this letter to tell you that I have delivered your Elves to your home once again this year. They are very excited to return to you and find out what you have learned during the year.

These Magic Elves will remain with your family from now until Christmas Eve when I collect them to help me with my deliveries.

They have a very special task- and that is to make sure that there are good little boys and girls living in this house. Any mischief or acts of naughtiness will be recorded in their journals and they will share them with me.

They will explore your house from top to bottom and make sure that everyone in the family is behaving themselves. So make sure your parents and even Bandit are acting nicely!

I feel that I should warn you that these Magic Elves are also very mischevious. There is no telling what you might wake up to each morning. It might be a special treat or they may have been mischievous during the night. So, as soon as you wake up, you should search out your Elves and find what they have been up to!

I hope you and your Magic Elves have a wonderful time together!

Sincerely yours,

Santa"

Tomorrow I'll get caught up posting about their antics and treats!

Christmas Eve Fun!

Daniel & Arianna~ We can't believe that Christmas Eve is already here!! We know you have been waiting for this night for what seems like a really long time! The only sad thing about tonight is that it will be our last night with you and your family!! We have really enjoyed staying with you and learning all about you and your family! We are looking forward to seeing you again next year!! As sad as we are to leave you, we are very excited that we will get to see Santa and all of our friends back at the North Pole!

Tonight is going to be a special night at your house! We hear that you are having some very yummy Mexican food for dinner- your Mama has been working very hard on the homemade food! After dinner, you all are having "movie night"!! We thought this stuff would get you all in the mood for tonight! We have popcorn, cookies and candy for snacks! We also gave you a little movie that you can watch tonight or another time! Hope you really enjoy the movie tonight~ we'll be watching as well!! We also left you a bag of "Reindeer Food"... tonight before the movie, you'll need to go out and sprinkle this in the yard! The glitter will guide the reindeer to your house and they will munch on the oatmeal for some energy!!

We hope that you have a wonderful Christmas and a very good new year! Be on your best behavior because you never know when we'll be stopping in to check on you!! Merry Christmas!! ~DJ & Tinkerbell



While we were sprinkling the reindeer food outside, the Elves were busy in the house..


Looking cute in their new pajamas, they are ready for a movie and waiting for Santa's arrival!!

Cookies, cookies and more cookies!!!

Daniel & Arianna~ We know that you have been very anxious to make cookies and we thought today would be a great day for that! We thought we would help out by getting all of your ingredients together for you. So, now you just have to measure, pour and mix!! We put together ingredients for Snickerdoodles, Peanut Butter Cookies, Chocolate Chip Cookies, Oatmeal cookies and of course Sugar Cookies!! That sounds like a lot of work, but we know that you will have a great time!!! Don't forget to leave some Sugar cookies for Santa...those are his favorite cookies!!



Caught red handed....

Let's decorate!

Daniel & Arianna~ We thought your tree was a little bare, so we found these ornaments for you to make. We aren't allowed to use the spray paint, so you'll have to ask your Mama to help! Hope you have fun with these!! Have a good day!
~DJ & Tinkerbell



Today was unusual...the Elves made an appearance during nap time!

Daniel & Arianna~ You did so good with the ornaments and helping your Mama wrap presents that we thought you would like to decorate a rice krispy house!! Make sure you give your Daddy the leftover scraps...but don't eat too much and spoil your appetite for dinner!!! Have fun and stay warm!
~DJ & Tinkerbell

Party at the Mata House!

Apparently there was a lot of activity in our household last night!!

Daniel & Arianna~ We hope that we didn't wake you up last night with all of our fun! We had a lot of energy last night and couldn't settle down!! First we decided to work on some of your activity books and cut up some paper- do you think that you could help clean up our mess today?


We noticed that you are running low on snickerdoodle cookies, so we left a note on the oven for your Mama...maybe you can help her make some more cookies today!!


We made it up to the playroom and had a lot of fun with Mickey and the gang!! We got a little crazy and made another big mess! We hope you don't mind helping your Mama clean up there today!


Finally, we decided to wind down a little playing some video games! That new Wall-E game is really fun- we're sure that you will like it..even if you only watch Mama and Daddy play!!


We had a lot of fun tonight! Thanks for cleaning up after us!! We hope that you and Arianna have a fun day today with your parents! Be extra good and have lots of fun!!

~DJ & Tinkerbell


Daniel had so much fun finding the Elves and seeing what they did last night. He thought them doing his activity books was silly, but he didn't like cleaning up after them. He laughed about the writing on the oven and then asked for snickerdoodle and peanut butter cookies...I'm sure we'll be making cookies later today! About mid morning, he made it upstairs to the playroom. He turned on the light and boy was he quiet!! I think he was debating on whether he should tell us or clean it up. I heard "Ummmmm... Mama, can you come up here and see what my Elves did?" While he thought is was very funny and silly, he wasn't too thrilled about cleaning up after them- especially since he cleaned up after himself before bed!! He said that they should really have to clean up after themselves next time! After we got that cleaned up, we went back downstairs and he saw them playing the new Wall-E game on the Playstation. He slapped his forehead with his hand and shook his head and said "those silly Elves!". What a night....

Mmmmm...cake!

Looks like the Elves had a quiet night...

Daniel & Arianna~ Thanks for our snack! We were a little hungry though and found some cupcakes..they were yummy! We thought about icing your sisters cake, but we didn't know how to make icing!! We'll have to leave that up to you and your Mama!

We know how much you liked Meet the Robinson's, so we found this activity book for you- we hope you like it!! So, was the zoo a lot of fun yesterday? What was your favorite animal to see? We like the monkeys! Did you get to see our Penguin friends? They are so funny!! Have a great weekend with your family!!

To Infinity and Beyond!

Apparently Buzz Lightyear was running the show last night...

Daniel & Arianna~ Thank you for the snacks last night! Those cookies your Mama got are really yummy!! It sure did get warmer here the last few days- it doesn't even feel like December! We hope that you get some cooler weather soon...you would have so much fun if it snowed! I hear that you are waiting for snow to get your Mama back with snowballs!!

Last night, we ran into Buzz Lightyear and he was teaching us how to fly into space. I think we need to work on it a little more! It was fun trying, but we didn't get very far at all!! Have a good day today and be super good!! Make sure your Daddy gets some work done since he's working from home today!!
~DJ & Tinkerbell





Daniel found Buzz and Tinkerbell easily, but he kept saying he couldn't find DJ. I told him to look up a few times and when he finally saw him, he fell on the floor laughing! He said that silly elf thought he could fly!! It was cute!

Go Fish!

Daniel & Arianna~ Hope you are having a good week! Looked like you all had a good time for your Mama's birthday! We could tell that she loved the gifts and spending time with you all! We hear that you are taking her out to eat this weekend- that should be fun!!

You've been really helpful to your Mama this week, so we thought you could use something fun today! Your Mama told us that you have been wanting a fishing game to play with. We first got you a fishing pole for the bathtub, but we realized it was a toy for little kids like Arianna. So, your Mama can keep this toy for when Arianna gets a little bigger.


We thought you would like this a little better- we hope that you have fun playing this game with your family! Remember to take turns and play nicely!!


Keep helping around the house and learning lots of things! We'll be watching you and taking notes!! Have a great day!
~DJ & Tinkerbell

Yummy...cookies!

Daniel & Arianna~ Thanks for the yummy crackers and candy! It sure did get cold- too bad it didn't snow here in Texas...maybe another day! We thought we would help your Daddy out by wrapping your Mama's present but we don't think he would be happy if we got all the credit for buying the gift! We were just the helpful wrapping Elves! All that wrapping made us tired so we thought we would try out some of the cookies your Mama got from her friend. Boy...were they YUMMY!!

We hope that you have a great day in class and that you all have fun tonight! I think your Mama would like to go somewhere other than Burger King or Wendy's though- take her somewhere nice!! Stay warm!

~DJ & Tinkerbell

Let's color!

Daniel & Arianna~ Hope you stayed nice and warm last night! After we enjoyed our snacks, we were in the mood for coloring. What do you think of this new Potato Head coloring and activity book? We thought it looked pretty neat!! Hope you enjoy coloring and completing the activities! We hope you don't mind cleaning up our crayon mess- we were a little tired last night!!

You did a great job helping your Mama clean up yesterday! We know that she really appreciated the help! It looked like you also had a lot of fun with your little sister. You are a really good big brother to her!! Stay warm today and learn lots of things!! Oh and have fun in class too!!
~DJ & Tinkerbell

Play Time!

Well, Saturday was busy and we got home late on Saturday night. We forgot to put out snacks and sprinkle the Elves with snowflakes. So, they didn't come to life that night. Last night, we made sure to remember and they were back to their antics this morning!

Daniel & Arianna~ We have been really tired lately, so thank you for the extra sleeping time! We were all rested and ready to go last night after our snack!! We decided to try out your playroom upstairs and it was fun! It looks like a mini Toys R Us store!!! It looks like you and your Mama are going to have to make room for your new toys after Christmas!! My favorite thing upstairs was the basketball hoop on the playhouse and Tinkerbell liked the swing most of all!! It was all so much fun!

Wow- it got really cold here last night after a warm day yesterday!! Hope you all stay nice and warm and have a great day!!
~DJ & Tinkerbell

Story Time!

The Elves must know how much Daniel loves books!

Daniel & Arianna~ Thank you for the snack and candy! We gathered up some of your Mickey's and Minnie's for story time! They sure did like it! They especially liked these two new Christmas books- we hope you like them too! Reading is so much fun and you need to do it every day! Make sure your Mama and Daddy read with you every day! Be really good today~we're watching you!

Oh and tell your Mama we're sorry about the markers on the mirror- we didn't know it would be hard to clean!

~DJ & Tinkerbelle

I didn't do it!!

When Daniel went into the bathroom this morning and saw what his Elves had done, he was shocked! He was adamant that it wasn't him and was quick to point out that DJ and Tinkerbelle were holding the markers. His Daddy is working from home today and is not happy about the writing on the mirror ;-).

Daniel & Arianna~ Thank you for the snack last night- it hit the spot! Thank you also for the pieces of candy you left us! We found some markers last night and decided to have a little fun- we hope you like it!!

Sounds like you all have a lot to do today, so be good and help your Mama! You did a great job cleaning up on your own yesterday- you should be very proud of yourself! We'll be sure to tell Santa how good you are!! Have a great day!

~DJ & Tinkerbelle

Brrrr.....

You are probably thinking that we forgot about our Elves today..we didn't. It just took awhile to find them this time!

Daniel & Arianna~ We were a little disappointed that it didn't snow here like they forecasted. So, we decided to climb in the freezer for awhile! It sure did feel like the North Pole in there!! The only problem was that we couldn't get back out!! So make sure you and your sister never try that on your own!!

We're glad you enjoyed your new shoes! We got a pair for Santa for Christmas...sshhh don't tell him!! We hope you like the new coloring book we left you today! Have a great day and be good!
~DJ & Tinkerbelle

Warm fuzzies!

Daniel & Arianna~ That was so exciting that you got to see Mr. & Mrs. Santa Claus last night! We hope that you were able to tell him everything that you want for Christmas! Arianna, we know that he was a little scary to you this time, but I'm sure next time will be better! While you were taking pictures, we were able to go see the reindeer waiting on the roof! That was fun to see Rudolph and all the others! We'll be sad to leave you all on Christmas Eve, but we sure do miss our friends in the North Pole!

Speaking of the North Pole....wow, it got COLD here yesterday, didn't it?? We know how much you like wearing your Mickey Crocs to Wednesday gym classes. So, we got you a pair of Mammoth lined Crocs for class today! That way you can slip them off easily, but keep your feet warm at the same time!! Hope that you like them! Since your sister won't even keep her socks on these days, we didn't think she would wear shoes!! She'll get some when she starts walking! We hope you have a great day and stay warm!!
~DJ & Tinkerbelle




Daniel loves the shoes- he has had them on since he got up this morning! Sure is making me wish I had a pair. Well, maybe not...I'm not fond of the Crocs on me~ I'll just take a pair of nice fuzzy socks instead!!