Elmer the Shelf Elf

Caleb and Emma received a special visitor this month!  A little Shelf Elf named Elmer who came all the way from the North Pole!

Those of you not familiar with the whole Shelf Elf thing - click HERE for more info. Our shelf elf looks a bit different and differed a little from the traditional Elf on the Shelf story (which was explained in the letter for the kids he came with)

He came with a letter from Santa explaining his visit. (if you'd like to see the letter, please comment below and I will send it to you) 

Apparently Elmer is a little naughty and gets himself into a bit of trouble! But most of all, Elmer just likes to have fun!

All pictures taken with my phone and posted on my instagram (not the greatest quality but did the job!)

Follow my instagram HERE

Our shelf elf arrived Dec 1st. 

He looks a lot like the vintage dolls Caleb and Emma's Great-Gma collects

.... just saying ;)

During the first night Elmer was here 

he helped himself to some popcorn leftover from our tree decorating party 

and watched Mickey's Christmas Carol!...

Elmer was up teaching the little people a lesson... 

Elmer was up making a "miss you" card for his friend Rudolph!

And OF COURSE we know his preferred brand of glue! 

Long story... Caleb accidentally swallowed a marble... a few days past.... 

stomach pains.... Dr.'s vitsit.... 4 hours in the ER.... 2 x-rays.... marble moved! 

Elmer must have found the x-ray, so he posted it on the window and let Caleb know marbles are

"NOT FOR EATING!"

Elmer with a thumbs up thinking HE is a better tree topper than the star!

Elmer is skilled in candy cane climbing!

Elmer found a cozy place to spend the night. I guess there was no room in the inn!

Oh boy! Someone needs to tell Elmer maple syrup is "not for drinking!"

Elmer flew over to Grammy's where Caleb and Emma were spending the night.

He spent the night trying to beat Mario and Luigi....

Kids woke up to find Elmer in the fridge with some special elf milk! It was green!

He also set up their bowls and a special sweet cereal for breakfast!

Elmer was up playing Scrabble Scoop with Woody, Mario & Dora.

Looks like Elmer was about to win! (Elmer was looking for the word ELF, Woody was

looking for JEANS, Mario was looking for TOAD and Dora looking for DOLL)

Elmer helped finish our tree by putting the icicles mommy forgot to put on! 

What a helper!

Elmer reminding us to start our "adornments" book. 

Elmer reminding us there are only 10 more days til Christmas! 

Good thing he found the erasable crayons! 

Elmer enjoying a marshmallow bath while scrubbing himself with Emma's toothbrush!

Elmer was on the computer! He elfed himself!

Caleb and Emma set up a bed, a rug, a bracelet (that I was told was a hula-hoop for Elmer) 

and a friend to keep Elmer company. So... Elmer Hula-ed!

Elmer sticks to the 4 main food groups: 

candy, candy corn, candy canes and syrup!

Oh oh. Looks like Elmer is a bit under the weather! (must have been all that candy!)

Elmer must be feeling better! 

We found him the next morning zip-lining through the living room!

Elmer wrapped the bathroom door for Christmas!

That Elmer!  He opened Caleb's Birthday present!

Caleb forgave him.... I think! :o/

Elmer knows the reason for the season!

We all had a BLAST having Elmer with us and were sad to see him go :(

But we look forward to seeing him next year!

LOTS of these Shelf Elf antics can be found on pinterest. (Most helpful!!!! ;)

Follow my pins HERE

Caleb's quote of the day...

Hubby says (taking about his busy sister): She has too much on her plate.
Caleb: that's cause she like's to eat!

First Day of School 2012

The Muller kids started school today!  We were about a week behind the rest of the neighborhood, but that flexibility is one of the joys of homeschooling!  We normally start the Monday after Labor Day, but the teacher got a bad cough that lasted for over a week and fell a bit behind schedule.  :)

One of the things on the schedule was some back to school shopping....

Set up some fun things on the kitchen table for them to see in the morn...

They were quite happy with what they saw. 

Caleb said to me "I thought today was gonna be boring, I didn't know we were getting presents!"  :)

Before breakfast - some fun coloring!

Kid's choice for breakfast....

Why Cheerios of course!

 Caleb asked for a picture with his presents...

 ...and Emma needed one too!

Dressed themselves... pretty good!

All dressed up and no place to go :)

Most days you will find us in jammies or sweats, but today was a special day!

Then we got to work! 

Caleb is working on mostly 3rd grade work and finishing up some 2nd grade work. (If he were in public school he'd be starting 2nd, so we're doing ok :)

Emma is starting with 1st grade this year.  (She'd be in Kindergarten)  Her learning style is quite different than Caleb's.  She seems to not get frustrated as easily as Caleb, but her attention span is a bit less focused than he was at her age.  

Love learning their little quirks... the fun has just begun!

(Sorry no pics of actual school, we just got busy and I forgot to keep snapping pis)

Dress Refashion

Bought this dress 5 days before my brother-in-law's wedding.

I had bought another dress months before that I was just not happy with. So I took one last desperate trip to the thrift shop to see if I could find something. I found this long evening gown that was black (which didn't thrill me since the dress I had already was boring black) but after closer inspection I found that this dress had some potential for color.

*Sorry for the poor quality of the photos and the lack of photos. Didn't really decide to blog about this until half-way through and was too rushed to remember pictures along the way.

I decided I would cut the dress to the knee.  I then decided to take the (underneath) colored fabric I cut off the dress and make it into a belt/sash.

After that, I realized I could cut the black fabric a couple inches shorter to expose the underneath fabric!

Was excited to find color under the black fabric! Not just any color - but purple! The accent color of the upcoming wedding!

I used my "rolled hem" presser foot on my sewing machine for the two hems.  If you've never tried this presser foot before, do so!  It is great!  I've used it years ago, but I have now discovered a new love for this foot :)

Great video tutorial for rolled hem foot here

I was SO thrilled with the way it turned out!  I really liked that it had purple to compliment the colors in the wedding (since I was partly involved by reading during the ceremony) and it matched perfectly with the Best Man and the Flower Girl! (My Hubby and Daughter :)

My post about the wedding here

For those of you interested...
I spent $11.24 on this dress at the thrift shop (on 25% off day)

Gained another sister!

This Labor Day weekend I gained a new sister! My brother-in-law Darren married his lovely Pina.
Andy was the best man and Emma the flower girl. The ceremony was beautiful!
Love my new sister-in-law! I have known her for a short while, but feels as though I've known her forever. She's an awesome woman and just right for Darren. I've been told she's a lot like me in the sense that she has a laid back, easy going personality. And she's Italian! :) Although much more Italian than me! (very jealous of her ability to speak Italian!) SO glad she is now officially apart of the family!

Emma's plastic smile :-]

There's a good smile!

Emma rode to church in the limo with the girls.  She quickly grew fond of the Jr. Bridesmaid Chiada

I felt so special when they asked me to be involved in the ceremony by reading from 1 Cor. 13. (followed by her Uncle who read it in Italian) 

Darren reciting his vows.

Sweet moment when Darren spoke of and gave Pina a ring his mom gave him to give to his future wife. 

You may now kiss the bride!

This is Pina's Mom and Dad. We've been able to meet and spend time with her family on many occasions. They are just so wonderful and warm.

Family picture #1

Pina went from having no nieces or nephews to having 7!

 We all got to ride to the reception in style! 

Made a deal with them - if they give me a nice shot, I would take silly pics of them. 

  

 more requests of silliness...

Family picture #2

Andy's cousin's baby, Emm. She is soooo adorable   

Emma and her buddy!

Justin took this one. His idea... pretty good! 

Family picture #3 (my fav!)

 Had some dirt on my heels after posing for the previous pics. He was cleaning them for me. 

Entering the reception.

 NFL theme song played right before the new Mr. & Mrs. Muller entered.

 First dance "I Finally Found Someone"

They were so cute dancing together.

Flower girl and Best Man

 Cousins

Siblings with spouses 

Emma's other buddy Giada (Maid of Honor's daughter) 

 The cake was just the beginning of the dessert...

The boys enjoying the dessert ROOM! Here you see chocolate fountains

 Waiting for waffles and ice cream

 The cotton candy was quite popular amongst the young.... 

...and the not as young....

Caught Em getting another zeppole!  (I don't blame her, the best I've ever had!)

Emma with her strawberry and nutella crepe after she watched it be made.

Uncle D helping Emma light her sparkler. 

Emma got herself a little boo-boo after touch the wrong part of the sparkler :( 

Tired girls. (Emma still icing her finger)

Exhausted boy.

These are some of the photographer's pictures that were on a screen playing at the reception. 

Their photographer was AMAZING!