Stop Bullying the Elf; an Elf on the Shelf Defense Post

Last year I started the Elf on the Shelf Holiday tradition with my girls because I thought it was the cutest idea.  I love anything creative and set off with many different ideas for these two little mischief-makers.  This tradition ended up being a great one with our family and began being a whole family tradition every December morning.  Before we did anything else, we would go find out what kind of trouble the elves were getting into and see if they left any little goodies or notes while they came to visit.  This is a tradition that we are continuing this year and plan on continuing every year to follow until the girls are too old for Elfie and Sofia. 

Now I know there are many people who dislike the Elf on the Shelf tradition and I completely understand the reasons they note.  Some think they're creepy, some don't like the idea of a magical elf that comes straight from the North Pole to observe children and report back to Santa, some don't want their children to have the emotional trauma of the elf leaving on Christmas Eve and some just think the elf is a stupid idea all together.  So in this post, I will address some of these things and voice my opinion about the now notorious elf that makes his appearance the day after Thanksgiving. 

The Elves are creepy...

I understand that many people think that the elves are creepy, but I think they're cute in a vintage and whimsical sort of way.  My mom and grandma had small elves from the 70's, when I was growing up, that resembled an older version of these elves, so maybe they're somehow nostalgic for me.

But if you think about it, how much more creepy can these Elves be than the big fat man who comes down your chimney on Christmas Eve, eats your cookies, drinks your milk and leaves you presents?  I think the thought of Santa being a peeping tom and seeing every move you make leading up to Christmas is a lot creepier than a magical elf... That's like a glorified home invasion, for God's sakes! Sure Santa gives you presents...but we terrify our kids for a hot second with the story of how Santa leaves them presents.  At least I was a little terrified at first when I was a child...

So in my mind, Elf on the Shelf is equivalently creepy to Santa.

I don't like lying to my child...

Wait...did you say that you don't like lying to your child?  What about that time you let them dress themselves and they ended up looking like a hot mess?  I'm sure you said they looked wonderful.  What about the tooth fairy, Easter Bunny and Santa?  You may say that you're keeping the magic alive, but the Elf on the Shelf is magic too.  

I'm sure you tell your child(ren) little white lies as we all do!  This is basically the same thing.  You're just fibbing to your child to keep the magic of the Holiday season and Elf on the Shelf alive.  If you say that you don't lie to your child, you're lying to yourself right there.  Lying through your teeth!  Give up the perfect parent act -- no parent is perfect!

I don't want an elf to keep my kid's behavior in check...

This one I do completely understand.  Part of the idea is that the elf is Santa's Eyes while he is busy preparing for Christmas and some parents do use the elf as a bribe (or a threat) to keep their kid's behavior in check.  I'm not going to lie, I do.  I use that elf to my advantage when I need to.

Fighting with your sister?  The elves are watching!

Not cleaning your room when I ask for the 10th time?  The elves are watching!

Arguing with me because you don't want to do your math homework? The damn elves are watching!

Those little plastic black/blue eyes stare right into their souls and make them question their behavior every single time!  Okay, maybe not quite...Sometimes it works and sometimes my nine year old laughs in my face, but your bet your ass I use those elves to my advantage; or at least try to.  Is it the proper thing to do? Probably not, but whatever maximizes the peace in my home, I'm open to.

But this isn't what everyone does.  You don't have to say that the elf reports back to Santa, you don't have to threaten or bribe your kids; every parent is different.  You can simply use the Elf on the Shelf as a fun way to have a scavenger hunt every morning.  You can say the elf came to visit for the Holiday season to play hide and seek, I don't know! The point I'm trying to make is, you don't have to use the elf as a behavior tool.

I don't have the time.

Look, I have two jobs plus my own business, I am a single mother of two kids, I help with homework, I cook and I also help out my mother who is disabled and I still have time for the elves.  Maybe I don't get as creative as some other people and maybe I don't go all out, but we still have the tradition.  

There are many nights I wake up in a cold sweat and panic, grabbing my phone to make sure it isn't time for the kids to wake up because I forgot to move the elves.  I'm usually quietly running down the stairs in the dark, trying not to stumble and break my ass, to move the elves and think of semi-creative ways to place them while I'm still half asleep.  The sad part is, I do have an alarm on my phone at 11pm every night to move the elves.  Sometimes I ignore the alarm telling myself that I will move them later on before I go to bed, sometimes I actually go to sleep early (what?!) and sleep through the alarm.  

If you have the time to sit down and write a whole post about how you don't have time for the Elf on the Shelf, you have time to move the elf.

It's too commercialized...

Welcome to Christmas, have you been here before?  Come on, the whole idea of Christmas is commercialized.  It's all about the sales, the shopping, the decorations, who can get the better presents, the new trends every year... The whole basic idea of what Christmas used to be is different now.  

Do you have one of the older more vintage elves at home? Use that.  Go to the Goodwill store, I'm sure you can find one very cheap. Go to the dollar store and pick up a small plush elf doll -- that works too!  I've seen people using non official Elf on the Shelf elves as Santa's helpers as well.  You don't need to get the actual elf.  

Truth be told, I had two of our old, floppy and vintage elves from when I was a kid that I almost used as the Elves.  The only reason we have authentic Elves is because my mom and grandma decided to put their money (and coupons) together and get us the two elves.  Otherwise, I wouldn't have purchased them by myself!  

It's too much work.

Yes, yes it is.

Especially when you buy a small batch of flour and spread it all over your kitchen table to make elf snow angels.  Or when you stick a bunch of Christmas bows all over your house and blame it on the elves.  Or...when you take the time to set up elaborate scenes of elves playing Scrabble with the barbies, or elves roasting marshmallows over a candle...

It's a hell of a lot of work.

But it doesn't have to be.  You don't have time to make a mess or clean it up? Then don't.  You can simply have the elf bring a little surprise (lollipop, candy bar, sheet of stickers) or write a Christmas countdown on a whiteboard or even just surprise the kids in a new place every single day.  There's no rule that states that you must take the time to set up elaborate scenes and schemes for the elves.  To each parent their own...

But I just don't want to!

There we go!  Now we're talking!

Admitting it is the first step to recovery and I'll have a crap load of respect for you if you're just honest about not wanting to do this.  

This might go under the category of Not judging a book by it's cover because I've met many moms who couldn't stand this tradition until they tried it for themselves.

But at least you're being honest and not trashing an intimate object disguised as a magical elf.

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What Not to Do (in the Morning) Before I've Had Coffee

As I am sure many moms can sympathize, I need my coffee in the morning before I can fully function and my kids do understand that.  However, there are occasions where that slips their mind and mommy ends up not so happy.  So here is a list of what not to do before my first cup of coffee.

♥ Do not come down the stairs arguing about stupid shit.  I don't want to hear that your sister stole your shirt, your stuffed animal, your shoes or that she threw your toothbrush in the toilet just because she could. Not only is it too early to listen to arguments about that but I can't even fathom handling a situation like that before I am fully caffeinated.

♥ Do not ask me Math, English or Science questions.  You will not get an answer.  In fact, it's not even a guarantee that I will be speaking proper English before I've had coffee.  My brain can't comprehend putting words together to form a correct sentence let alone answer homework questions that I wouldn't understand anyway.  To avoid me wanting to chuck your entire backpack out the kitchen window, refrain from asking me these questions...ever.  (Not even when I have had coffee.)

♥ Do not try to plan my day.  My day is already planned and jam packed after I've had my coffee and after you go to school.  Do not ask me if you can go to Toys r Us after school, there's no friggin reason for it.  Oh? You have no toys to play with? Go tell that to your million-and-one toys upstairs in your room.  Do not ask me if you can have McDonalds for dinner when we have a refrigerator full of food.  You don't like what I'm making for dinner? Oh well.  When I was a kid I had no choice, neither do you!  The only thing I might agree to is a question pertaining to you going over a friends house after school...then I might actually have some peace and quiet. Thankyouverymuch.

♥ Do not ask me for lunch money.   You get free lunch at school and they no longer sell snacks.  So why do you need lunch money?  I know you're stashing that money in your wallet for a future shopping trip. No, I'm not psychic, I used to do the same exact thing to my mom.  You live and you learn!

♥ Do not pretend to be sick and ask to stay home. Once again, this is something I learned from experience.  I was the queen of excuses to stay home from school; don't do as I've done!  If you were perfectly fine this morning, fighting with your sister, watching your completely annoying shows and suddenly act like you're on your deathbed, don't even try it.  I know the second I agree that you can stay home you'll be bouncing off the walls again.  Once I have my coffee then you may act like you're dying.  We'll analyze the situation and see if it warrants you staying home (maybe I would even be nice and let you have a mental health day) but do not do this before my coffee  I definitely wouldn't be nice!

♥ Do not ask if you can have a bacon and eggs with waffles breakfast. #1 - I am not Ihop, I do not take orders for breakfast and #2 - If you wake up at 7:30 and we have to be dressed and out the door by 8:15 you're lucky if you have time for breakfast!  

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They Grow Up So Quickly! Olivia's 7th Birthday Party.

Time flies when you're having fun.  My daughter's birthday is actually on December 21st but after years of having trouble getting kids to come to her party, so close to Christmas, we pushed her party up a few weeks this year. Finally, we were able to have almost everyone that she invited come to her party! 

A brand new Chuck E Cheese just opened up two weeks ago about 10 minutes from our house, so we jumped to book the party there. It's actually really funny because that same place is where I had MANY parties as a child. Except back then it was Discovery Zone. (does anyone remember Discovery Zone?) 

Her party had a Frozen theme (duh, frozen is life. Doesn't everyone know that?) but I had such a hard time finding any frozen cakes. I usually make my kids' cakes but between her being sick last week, work and just hectic life, I didn't have the time to. I ran to Walmart this morning and found this perfect purple, blue and pink cake and picked up some smaller Frozen figures which worked perfectly on top of the cake. Voila! Frozen themed cake. (How great am I? Go on! You can say it!)

The party ended up being perfect. The girls had so much fun, got tons of tickets to turn in for prizes and my little princess was the happiest kid on the planet. 

My girls are very close and my 9 year olds friends are also my 6 (and a half) year olds friends, so we invited three of their mutual 9 year old friends as well. My youngest and her 1st grade friends felt so cool because they were hanging out with third graders. It was adorable!  The older kids had fun too but they, of course, thought Chuck E was corny! 

After the party, we heard that Geoffrey the Giraffe was at Toys r Us and that they were doing a free ornament decorating activity. Well, Toys r Us was right next door so we went to see what was up! We walked in and Geoffrey was right there in the front and my girls were super excited to meet him! My youngest said, "Wow, you're so tall!" She was absolutely enthralled with the man in the giraffe costume! 

Side note: When my 9 year old was just a month old, she was asked to be in a babies r Us fashion show in New York. Well, I have a picture of her with Geoffrey at a month old, screaming her head off. I told her that I was going to find that picture and put that one and the current one side by side, just for my own memories! But I digress...

I can't believe that my baby is going to be 7 years old in two weeks. It really blows my mind to think how fast these 7 years have flown by. No matter how old she gets, she's always going to be my little baby girl! No doubt about that!

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Why I am Teaching my Kids to be Financially Savvy and Smart

I will be the first person to admit that I'm not always smart with money. 

My mother raised me on her own after my father passed away and she never really taught me ways to be smart with my money.  Rather, I picked up on all of her (not so good) spending habits while we were out shopping as a child.  My mother hardly used cash and always had her credit card or used a check while out and about.  I remember asking her, "Why does that machine just give you money when you ask for it?"  I was talking about the ATM.  Obviously I didn't grasp the concept of an ATM and the fact that you have to put money in for it to come out.  

Because of my mother not explaining financial caution to me, I got a credit card at 18 and spent more than I could handle. I did attempt to pay it off with my minimum wage part time job, at the time, but I didn't get very far and decided to give up.  After that I got a few more credit cards and took on even more than I could put on my plate at that time.  Fast forward 10 years later and I'm struggling to pay off my debt, including student loans.  

For this reason, I want to teach my kids how to be financially savvy now that I believe they are both old enough to understand the concept and value of money.

> When should you talk to your kids about money?

I think around 6 or 7 is the best time to do so.  Some people say that you should start as soon as they are old enough to understand what is going on in the world around them (2-3),but I feel that is way too young.  I think around 6 years old they are old enough to understand how much money they have and what happens when they buy something.  It's important to tell your children that money has value and when they spend it, it's gone until they can make some more money.  

> How to talk to your kids about money?

It's important to let your kids know that money just doesn't come to them with a magic wand.  There's no money tree, there's no easy way to get money.  The only way to get money is for them to earn it themselves.  We are following the way of age = allowance amount.  (i.e.  If your child is 6 years old, they will get $6 a week if they do their chores and behave.  If your child is 8, they will get $8 a week and so on...)

My kids know that everything we have, we have to pay for.  I explained to them that every month mommy pays for the rent so we can live in  our house, cable so that we can have TV and internet, electricity so we have lights in the house, our cell phone bill and other bills to keep living how we are living.  Of course, they found that out the hard way when our cable was shut off when I was between jobs.  As much as they wanted Disney Channel and Nick Jr. back, they had to patiently wait until mommy had the money to pay for it.  As much as I am ashamed to admit that fact, I'm sure that I am not the only person that has happened to in the past.  

Explain to your kids that saving is important for the future.  Do they want to go to college?  Do they want to buy a car when they get older? Is there something special they want to save their money for?  Then they have to SAVE.  We are doing the envelope method. 

We have two envelopes per child and each has "My Money" on one and "Savings" on the other.  I have a small lock box that we will be keeping our savings envelopes in so they are not tempted to spend any of it.  The envelopes for the girls to spend, I will be keeping in my purse each time we go out just in case they feel the need to purchase anything when we are out and about.  

I am going to follow the method that for them, 10% goes into savings and 90% they can keep for themselves.  So that would mean that Olivia (6) would have to put $0.60 into savings every week and Alayna (8) would put in $0.80.  I explained to them that though those amounts are small, they will add up over the course of a year. 

We are also turning this into a math lesson for my girls.  We found two blank check registers when we were moving and I knew they would come in handy.  We put each girls name on one of them and will start this week entering:

- How much they get at the end of the week

- Calculating how much they have in total

- Entering in their purchases

- Deducting their purchase amounts to equal how much they have left.

I feel that if we put this all down in black and white it will be a lot easier for them to understand where their money goes and how fast it can go when you want something you don't need.  

Why am I doing this?

Plain and simple -- I spoiled my kids for years.  They seem to think that every time they go shopping with me they are entitled to my purchasing them a toy, which is not the case.  I want them to completely understand the concept of money and how quickly you can spend it without even realizing it.  If I don't teach them now, I worry that in the future they will get into the same problem I am now in, trying to pay off tons of debt.  

Do you teach your kids to be financially savvy?

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Happy Thanksgiving 2013!

Happy Turkey Day to all of my amazing readers!  I hope everyone has a day filled with family, fun and tons of Turkey.  I can't wait to have my first Thanksgiving in my new home with the people that I love.  It's going to be a great day, I just know it!  My mom and I have been cooking since yesterday and we can't wait to devour the great food that we made.  I also hope that I can make it out tonight for some Black Friday shopping fun!  

What am I thankful for on this Thanksgiving?

• My children who mean the world to me.  They're my life and I would never exchange them for anything in the world 

• My new home that I am absolutely in love with.  I'm so glad that I found this beautiful place to be in for the Holidays and love that we have a lot more room for our family.  All of my anxiety about moving was just silly!

• My family who is so supportive and helpful, I don't know what I would have done without them in the past year.  They've helped me emotionally, financially and in every way in between.

• My friends who have been there for me through absolutely every hardship and great memory I've had in the time that I have known them.  Some friends have come and gone but my true friends will always be by my side...I'm thankful for that.   

Once again, I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving.  

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Wordless Wednesday: A kid and her Build-A-Bear

She looks so adorable with her Build-A-Bear, who's name is Olivia-Bear! (Creative, right?)

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Do you clash with your kids because you're too much alike?

She is one of my best friends that I also have the honor of calling my daughter.  Alayna Danielle, or Laynie as we call her, is my mini-me.  Sometimes we argue and most of the time we are never on the same page but I think that's because we are so much alike we sometimes clash with each other. (My mother said that and that's actually why I was inspired to write this post!)

She's blonde, I'm brunette...She's skinny, I'm definitely not...She's awesome at Math & very smart, I wasn't either of those...but we are extremely alike in other ways.  We are both tall, we are both silly, we both have the same sarcastic sense of humor and we both love art, music and Broadway musicals.

Even though she looks a lot like her dad's side of the family, everyone says that they can tell she is my daughter by her mannerisms.  Apparently we have the same good heart, funny quirks, bad habits and silly faces.

We both absolutely love shopping for clothes and she is the person I bounce ideas off of when I want to buy a new purse.  She will honestly tell me what looks great and what looks terrible and she's usually right.  She may be 8 years old, but she's definitely fashion savvy and has an awesome sense of style.

I don't think we look anything alike, though some other people say we do, but she does remind me of myself at her age by some things she does and says.  It's actually scary sometimes but I think that's what makes us as close as we are.  

Are you a carbon copy of any of your children?

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Thankful Tuesday: My Two Lovely Little Ladies

 

Ok, so Thankful Tuesday isn't really a thing...whatever! I just couldn't think of a good title, so that's what my brain thought of first.  Maybe it could become a thing, we'll see!  I'm sure there is already a Thankful Tuesday thing somewhere -- but I digress...

Before I had kids I was a very selfish teenager who wasted money on shit I didn't need. (Hey, I'm being very frank...)  I would literally get everything I wanted without even thinking twice about it, wasting a hard earned paycheck before I even saw the money.  In fact, when I was 18 I made the mistake of getting a credit card and blowing the $5,000 credit limit rather quickly.  I still regret that decision, realizing it was the beginning of my debt snowball. 

I remember going to college in Philadelphia and shopping with my friends on South Street & at King of Prussia mall almost everyday.  We bought clothes, purses, DVDs, CDs, concert tickets, makeup and everything else we didn't need because we were independent and had no parents to tell us "no".  I never felt any guilt because I was replacing something that was missing in my life with these material things.  I never set a limit for myself, but what teenager does.

At age 19 I got pregnant with my oldest daughter and everything changed.  The second I found out I was pregnant, after freaking out, I decided that I had to grow up and not spend so much money on myself.  I realized that I would have to care for another human life aside from my own and spend my money on raising this child.  I always say it was an overnight transformation, and it really was.  Once the realization hit that I was having a child, I changed my ways and grew up.  I opened a savings account and started to save money for when she came, I applied for a credit card and used that towards furniture and necessities for her, I got a job and did everything I could to divvy up my money properly and felt amazing for doing that.

Once she was born I devoted myself to Alayna and made sure she had everything that she needed.  When I would go shopping I would look at things I loved and wanted, but then I would put them back. Knowing that I had other responsibilities made me feel great that I was able to do that.  

Now that I am 28 years old and a mother of 2 beautiful little girls, I splurge occasionally on myself  but buy my kids everything they need first and foremost.  I am a little more lenient with myself and spending however if my girls need something I will put my own wants aside and spend the extra money on them.  My girls are my life and I am extremely thankful to them and for them.  If I didn't have my babies I probably would be in much more debt than I am in now due to irresponsibility.  Because of them I know how to sacrifice in order to make them happy and have them well cared for.

I love you, girls!

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Christmas Came Slightly Early!

I am the first to admit that I am extremely lazy and hate standing on lines or waiting for anything.  I am definitely an instant gratification kind of girl, so when I saw Santa was coming this past weekend to the mall I jumped on it. I figured that if we went to the mall early in November to see Santa, I wouldn't have to stand on a three hour line later in the season.  I was so right.  We got to the mall, went right in by Santa and got to see Santa after just a five minute wait.  

Santa was great this year.  Since there weren't any other kids on line he talked to my girls for a good 5 minutes before sitting them down to take a photo.  He joked about getting their names mixed up, asked what they wanted for Christmas, told them some Christmas jokes and then sat them down to take a picture. (Which came out great might I add!)  Olivia, my youngest, was so excited that she got to talk to Santa that's all she could talk about for hours after.  

After seeing Santa we saw that Red Robin had just opened in the mall, so we decided to take a walk over to have some burgers.  It was pretty good and Alayna was excited that they had chips and French Onion dip on the appetizer menu, that's her most favorite snack.  We had a great lunch and decided to walk around the mall for a few minutes.  

We saw that the mall had up their huge Christmas tree and Christmas scenery, so we decided to take pictures by that as well.  (Trying to get a good Christmas Card photo this year!)  As we were standing by the tree ready to take a photo these three children in back of us started to literally fight each other.  One child had the other child in a headlock on the floor, this boy pushed the little girl down and was punching her in the stomach then they were running around and fighting some more.  Meanwhile, the two parents were standing there oblivious to any of this talking to each other.  I was in absolute disbelief.  I tried to ignore it but this one kid got pushed into me and I almost dropped my camera while the other child decided to put his ass in my picture purposely.  That's when I turned around to the two moms talking and asked them to please tame their children because I was trying to take a picture.  She looked at me like she didn't understand me and continued speaking in whatever language she was speaking -- excuse me?  I know you speak English, you were just talking in English earlier.  So I said it louder and they finally walked away.  If you can't control your kids, don't take them to a mall or any public place for that matter!  Have some respect.

As I was taking the photo this woman said to me, "What kind of mother are you? You have your kids in tank tops while you have a sweater on."  So of course, I defend myself and start an argument with her.  Her closing argument was, "You young mothers have no idea how to take care of your children."  I followed that up with a few not so nice names for her and she walked away.  Firstly, I had them in their Christmas dresses which were sleeveless but I had sweaters for them in my rather large purse.  Secondly, don't judge me and stereotype all young mothers because you're closed minded and judgmental.  The end.  I hate people who are like that.  

After all was said and done, we had a great day together.  They were super happy to meet Santa and I was happy I got some great pictures of them together.  That rarely happens!

When are you guys going to see Santa this year?

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You Know You're a Single Mom When...

When I saw Mama Kat's writing prompt this week about..."You Know You're A Mom When"... I knew I had to use it.  I constantly make my own lists for this and I would love to share them!  I altered it to be, "You Know You're a Single Mom When", because I'm a single mom and have that experience to share.  :)  If you have any ideas for any other ones, please post them in the comments! 

10. When you feel accomplished when you actually have taken a shower, brushed your teeth and shaved your legs all in one session.  This is a rare occurrence, maybe once a week if you're a lucky single mom!  When I accomplish all of this while taking a shower without any little visitors calling me "mom", I feel like I deserve a medal for that feat.

9. When "it's at his/her dads house" is an automatic response.  You have no idea how many times we leave something at daddys house.  I would love to blame it on someone else, but I should remember what my kids left with too.  #mommybrain ;)

8. When you can go for days without washing your hair, doing your makeup or dressing in anything other than sweatpants and a t shirt. And why would you want to?  The kids aren't going to judge you!  There's no dress code for dropping the kids off or picking them up, so why get all dolled up?  Save that for the rare girls night out or date!  (HA! What are those?)

7. You turn into the worlds best handy woman.  Fixing the overflowing toilet, fixing the leak in your sink, climbing to change light bulbs, assembling furniture and landscaping has become second nature to you.

6. Sleep is a hobby that you wish you had more time for. If you can even remember what sleep is!

5. You've become a pro at asking for favors. You get used to bribing neighbors, friends or family members to babysit, it's become second nature to you!  Even if it's for 10 minutes to take a short child-less run to Target.

4. Mothers Day is a huge celebration and Fathers Day is just another day!

3. You're used to piling the kids into the car to run and get the bread you forgot the day before. (And getting home and finding random things in your bags that you did not remember purchasing.  Why do these random items jump in the cart and why are they always things the kids would want?  Damn lollipops with legs.)

2. When your kids are at their fathers house and you make a to do list only to realize there aren't enough hours in the day! I make a to-do list, take a significantly long and much needed nap and when I wake up I realize I cant finish my other tasks.  Oh well, sleep was the most important any way...check!

1. When you have to ask another family member to take your child to a father/daughter dance. This one actually breaks my heart because I've had to do this in the past, but it's how you know you're a single mom.  Every aspect of parenting has it's down side..

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Meet Elfie: Our Elf on the Shelf

This is Elfie, she is our new Elf on the Shelf for this Holiday Season.  Prior to this I never really got into the whole Elf on the Shelf trend and tradition with my kids mostly because my cheap ass thought that it was too expensive. ($29.99 for a small un-poseable elf...WHAAAAAT?)  My mom and I were browsing at Target the other day and she brought up the fact that she thought it would be a good idea to use this tradition to keep my (occasionally) unruly kids in check during the Holiday.  After a lot a bit of complaining about how expensive it was, she agreed to go halfsies with me on the elf -- I agreed.  

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Santa was good to my girls this year.

When I left my house to go to see Les Mis last night it was snowing like crazy.  As much as I hate snow I was extremely excited since it was Christmas Eve.  There's just something about snow on Christmas Eve/Christmas that makes it really feel like the Holidays.  I was hoping the snow would stick a little, enough for us to have a white Christmas but by the time I got out of the movie theater the snow had turned into rain.  

The girls were sleeping on the couch when I got home so I carried them each to my bed.  Alayna was perfectly fine and still asleep when I put her in her bed but Olivia was scolding hot.  I had a feeling that she had a pretty high fever so I put her in bed and got a thermometer.  Turns out I was right, she had a 102 temperature and refused to take Tylenol for me until I dissolved the meltaway on a spoon for her.  She went back to sleep and woke up again 10 minutes later crying that she didn't feel good... That went on for about 2 hours.  Finally at 5:30 AM she was asleep soundly, her fever seemed to be down a little bit and I was able to make sure that Santa put the presents under the tree.  

Olivia and Alayna woke up about an hour later and shook me awake to open presents.  Keep in mind, I only had an hours worth of sleep and was falling asleep while the presents were being opened.  However I stayed awake enough to take a few pictures of my girls opening presents.

They made out like little bandits! They got a Fisher Price Serving Surprises Table, pretend food, Alayna got a guitar & Olivia got a keyboard, Journey Girl dolls, Play Doh, games, craft sets, dollhouse furniture and so many more goodies that we can't wait to play with together!  After opening presents Olivia asked if she could go back to bed and not play with her toys until later; that's when I really knew she was sick.  She usually wants to rip open everything and play with it right then and there.  

After presents we prepared for my uncle and grandma to come, just our usual small family get together, for dinner.  We had a great Christmas despite Olivia being sick.  I still have no idea where we are going to stick all of these new toys but we now have an excuse to put together the second bookcase that we've had in a box for about 4 months! :)  I hope everyone had a great Christmas! 

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Pre-Christmas Adventures with our Family!

Due to my new job (that I have been at for almost 3 months now!) and my mom, kids and I being sick, we were pretty late on doing everything Christmas this year.  I didn't get to do my Black Friday haul but still got my shopping done by budgeting $100 every week for my kids, family and friends presents.  I think I did pretty well with what I had and have no complaints at all.  Our tree (shown above!) was put up the weekend after Thanksgiving but we did not get around to decorating the tree or the house until just two weeks ago.  We went a little overboard this year getting decorations done...I mean putting a Christmas toilet seat topper on the toilet and a Christmas rug in the bathroom. 

Next came Olivia's 5th Birthday & Party on Dec. 21, 2012.  I couldn't believe my little princess turned 5, it was so hard to accept that she was another year older because she is my little baby! (And she will ALWAYS be!)  We had her party at Michaels Arts & Crafts with just a few of her friends from Pre-School.  The party went over extremely well, even though we only had 3 other girls aside from my two!  Olivia had so much fun and couldn't stop talking about her big girl party!  We all made foam Gingerbread Houses in honor of Christmas, which was right around the corner!  I also took some time out of my morning to make Snowman cupcakes for her party, which turned out adorable!

We didn't get to see Santa until yesterday, the day before Christmas Eve and boy was there a line.  We waited for about an hour and 45 minutes to see Santa at the mall, but that hour and 45 minutes was so worth it when my girls got up to see him!  They told him what they wanted for Christmas and Olivia got to tell Santa that her birthday had been just a few days before.  She was super excited when Santa said, "Happy Birthday!" to her.  The picture came out great and I also snapped one really quickly on my phone as well! 

After meeting Santa we ran over to mail our letters at Macys.  This was especially important to Alayna since every letter that's "mailed" is a donation to the Make A Wish foundation.  Alayna has a best friend that has been in the hospital in Philadelphia for almost an entire year.  He needs a heart and kidney transplant and so far has had no luck, but he is part of the Make A Wish foundation and that cause has become very dear to my 7 year old's heart because of her best friend.  

So today I got a bit of last minute wrapping in when the kids were still asleep and I am in between doing some cooking for tomorrow and getting ready to bake cookies for Santa.  Tonight I'm going to be seeing Les Miserables with one of my friends at the movies so I want to make sure I get everything done with my girls and get them into bed before I leave!  Santa will be here before we know it and I'm sure he'll leave lots of presents for my girls -- they've been good this year. (We won't talk about the times they weren't!)

Merry Christmas Eve to all of you!  

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Mommy Gone Crazy -- Where's my sanity?

This is my day after I leave work today.  

I usually work until 4pm with my day job and get home by 4:30pm, I work about 30-35 minutes away from where I live.  Today I have absolutely no free time at all today, not even after 11:30 when I finally get home from finishing shopping.  

A few weeks ago I found out that I have a leak in my air valve on my front passenger side tire and it keeps losing air. I finally just put electrical tape around the air valve, it did help, but when it rains it looses it's sticky and it starts losing air more rapidly again.  The only time I can get to the dealer is on Saturdays and they have no time until after Christmas to see me.  Finally, I called Firestone and asked if they can do anything for me.  Thankfully they said that they can replace the air valve for me instead of the whole sensor -- but my air pressure light will still be on my dashboard.  Who cares about the damn light, I just don't want to have to constantly fill my damn tire with air every other day!  I set up an appointment at 4:40pm for that, directly after I get home.  

Yesterday my oldest, Alayna, woke up with a fever, horrible cough and very scratchy throat.  I figured it was just a 24 hour thing and gave her Tylenol while she stayed home from school.  Optimism is definitely my thing because I thought she would be better this morning.  WRONG!  She still had a fever this morning and felt even worse so I kept her home again and made a doctors appointment for her at 5:15 today.  Now I have to run home from Firestone after that is done, get Alayna, my mom and Olivia and go to the doctors office.  Why do I have to bring them all with me?  I have a job interview at 5:45 with H&R Block.

For the past 7 years I have worked seasonally at H&R Block as a receptionist and this year will probably be no different.  Yes, I do have a day job but unfortunately I need a second job to help catch up on the bills we were late on when I was unemployed.  I figure that this seasonal job (jan-april) will help with paying those bills down so we are current on all of our bills.  Right now we don't have too much leeway with money after paying bills and I wish we had some extra. So basically I have to leave my mom and the girls at the pediatrician's office while I run to the interview and then pick them back up.

After that (bored yet?) I have to finish Christmas shopping, I'm going out with one of my friends for a few hours of sanity tonight and then come home and make:

• 18 Christmas bags for Alayna's class
• 22 Christmas bags for Olivia's class
• 22 Birthday/Christmas cupcakes for Olivia's birthday tomorrow. (Class)
• 15 Birthday/Minnie Mouse cupcakes for Olivia's birthday party tomorrow night
• 15 Goody bags for Olivia's birthday party tomorrow night

I also have to prep her Birthday activity for her party since we are having a bunch of 4-5 year old making foam gingerbread houses at the party.  I'm going to be up until probably 3 am doing all of this and I don't know how I'm going to do it.  Nobody better bother me tomorrow, I'm sleeping for as long as I can before I have to do a million more things....

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What's with the Elf on the Shelf craziness?

My 7 year old came home from school one afternoon and asked me if I could buy an “Elf on the Shelf” elf.  I was actually surprised she even knew what it was since she is one of the most selectively deaf children on the face of the planet – but anyhow…  I thought about it for a few minutes, knowing how much parents rave about the tradition, but dismissed it.  Why?  I can barely remember to grab my laptop bag when I’m off to work in the morning.  There are days I completely forget about activities and constantly have to use a “reminders” app on my phone to remind myself of anything.  How was I going to remember to move a little elf around every single day?  My dismissal wasn't due to lack of creativity – I could definitely think of creative places to put the elf, I just didn't have the time…or the memory.  (I suffer from a very bad case of CRS – Can’t remember shit.)

Long story short, I felt like a horrible mother for not wanting to start this tradition.  Especially since we had an elf for our decor (somewhere) that looked almost exactly like Elf on the Shelf that we used to have up when I was a child. (Saving me $30…)  I felt like maybe I was the only mother in the entire modern world who did not have an Elf on the Shelf tradition to carry on with my children every year.  Well, yesterday I got an e-mail about a blog by a mom named Jen from the blog “People I Want to Punch in the Throat” and I was rolling on the floor hysterically laughing.  Though she has an Elf on the Shelf, this mom suffers from CRS as well and makes me feel so much better about my reasons not to have one at this point.

Next year I may break down and use our elf or buy a new Elf on the Shelf for my girls.  Unfortunately, it’s too late to start it now, but it might be fun.  Maybe I’ll make a New Year’s Resolution to actually exercise my brain, even though it would be hard! (I’ve been forgetful all my life and becoming a mommy just made it worse.)  It would be a cute tradition to start with my girls that they could carry on when they get older and maybe this little damn elf WILL keep my kids in check. (Lord knows they need it!)  I love to jump on those damn bandwagons, why not the Elf on the Shelf one as well!

Do you and your family have an Elf on the Shelf?  Do you get super creative or slack off and forget to move him?  

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Halloween and Hurricane Sandy

Monday October 29th was a scary day for most of the east coast, especially for those in New York and New Jersey.  Like most people, I thought the news stations were over hyping this hurricane.  I was sure the storm was going to be a mild one with just some rain and maybe higher than normal wind.  Boy was I wrong.  Monday morning came with high winds early in the day and some rain.  By the late afternoon the winds were starting to shake our windows and make us worry about the large tree in our yard.  We all kept our eyes glued to the TV to stay updated on the hurricanes progress.  When we saw what was going non down the Jersey Shore, we knew we had to be prepared for the worst.

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NEVER go to the mall with kids.

Tuesday I made the very hard and stressful decision to leave Old Navy.  I enjoyed the job but the 45 minute commute to and from work everyday was very stressful on me and tough on my wallet for gas money.  As much as I loved everyone there and enjoyed the job (and the discount!) I told them that we had to part ways as I didn't want to be unfair to them when I couldn't give my all to the job. As I was in the car on the way home from telling them I had to leave (and I was in tears) I got a phone call from Coach.  I had applied with them a few weeks prior and had gone on an interview about a week and a half before...  They were offering me a job!!  I was so excited I could barely contain myself and all I wanted to do was get out of my car and jump for joy.  Not to mention how perfect the timing was of their phone call; when I was crying and stressing over my decision to leave Old Navy!  

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Back in the job searching world.

So, I'm back in the job search world.  Last week I got a call from my boss that I lost my job.  I took a leave back in June that was for 8 weeks and apparently they wanted me back before the 8 weeks was over.  (Though they never told me that.)  Maybe my mom being sick and having 2 mini strokes, diabetes and then getting her gallbladder removed wasn't a good enough excuse for me needing that 8 weeks to help her out.  I sent them all the medical documentation they needed, but they didn't really care.  I'm the only caregiver of my mom and that's why I needed the full 8 weeks... It was very frustrating.  I'm upset, hurt and very angry that they did this to me, especially during the wrong time of the year.  I have my kids' birthdays coming up as well as Christmas and now I'm back trying to find a job.  

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First day of Kindergarten. :(

Alayna started her first day of Kindergarten yesterday and mommy cried.  Alayna didn't cry but mommy did! I can't believe my little baby is getting older!  It's so hard to think about her already going to school for a full day, but I am grateful!  I'll have some time to myself since Olivia is so easy on her own.  She amuses herself well! :)  

There was just one problem when I dropped her off yesterday -- She's the only one from her AM pre-school class in her Kindergarten class.  We were all very upset, but Alayna took it like a trooper.  When she got home yesterday she expressed how upset she was.  It seemed like they kept all the AM class together except for my Alayna.  Her teacher also seemed like she was a tough one and not too compassionate towards the children.  To tell you how un-compassionate the teacher is, there was a little girl in her class who had a broken arm.  The teacher said to this 5/6 year old, "What did you do, get hit by a truck?"  I mean...who says that to a 5/6 year old!  

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My kids think I was born with the Cavemen

We had very basic TV when I was a child.  Until I was 5, we didn't have cable and just had the very basic ABC, NBC, CBS and so on.  Our TV was small and one of those tube TVs with the very large back.  When we did get cable, our cable box was hooked to the TV and had buttons on the box itself.  The buttons weren't regular buttons, rather they were those hard buttons that popped one up when you press down another. (I know I'm not explaining it right! lol)  Picture to the right of a similar box to what we had.  

There were no remote controls to our television back then, we had to get up and change the channel when we wanted to switch it.  I remember laying on the living room floor with the cable box in front of me while watching TV.  Of course, my mom would yell at me that I was too close to the television and that my eyes were going to get hurt.  (Didn't all parents say that?)  Even our cable channels were few and far between.  I believe we had about 31 cable channels at that time.  Even so, that was a huge difference from the 4 or 5 regular local channels we had previously.  Yes, even our TV, while hooked up to a cable box, still had an antenna.  There was no digital cable back then.

Believe it or not, my two girls are in disbelief when I tell them about this.  They either think I'm crazy or that I was born in the days of the cavemen and dinosaurs.  This all came about when I made the decision to get rid of DirecTV.  The prices were getting outrageous and when I called to lower my bill, they completely gave me the runaround about why they didn't want me to lower the bill.  I got so frustrated with them, I asked them to put my account on hold while I tried to find a solution for this.  Right now, my kids are watching Netflix through my Wii and I don't mind that at all.  The minimal price of Netflix is much better than the pricy satellite service.  I think it's perfect because I hardly watch TV.  I'm too busy to watch anything and mostly watch Netflix at night or watch shows that I did miss on the computer.  I don't really see the need for expensive TV service when we don't really use all of the channels that we have.  I feel like it's a waste of my hard earned money.

My girls told me that they can't live without the TV and that actually scared me.  Do my kids think that TV is everything?  I get them out of the house and they get plenty of exercise, I don't let them sit by the TV constantly and I don't use the TV as a babysitter, but every once in a while when I'm making dinner or my mom is making dinner, they would sit down and watch TV.  I really do think it's sad that this generation of children think that TV is so important to them.  It made me realize that kids these days take a lot for granted.  They don't understand how it was when we were little and they don't want to understand either.  

I'm going to have to start limiting TV time and getting my kids to exercise their creative muscles.  After all, I'm an artist and I feel that being creative is much more important than watching TV and turning your brains into mush by doing so.  I'm going to really start to make my kids realize that there is more to life than watching Wow Wow Wubbzy, Dora the Explorer, Imagination Movers and whatever else they watch.  I'll show them that creativity and using your imagination is much more important and much more fun.  That's what we had to do when I was little, and I owe that to the reason why I am so creative and artistic today.  

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