Elf on the Shelf Brunch 2013

Today we hosted our annual Elf on the Shelf brunch. The day that Oak, our friendly and pretty calm natured Elf, comes to visit for the season. Our Elf will not be found making snow houses, playing in flour or playing cards with Barbies this season. It seems he is content sometimes to stay in the same place two days in a row. Silly Elf.


Our breakfast, I mean, early breakfast (our kids don't sleep in EVER), happened before 8:00 a.m. It came after two big days of being gone for Thanksgiving, so prep time was limited.

The menu was very similar to what we have every year. Pancakes, eggs, sausage, and lots of maple syrup. This year I made rice krispie treats and dipped them in peppermint chocolate and used non perils to add red and green.

Oak left them something in their stockings since they had been such nice girls. Allie got a yo-yo, Audrey Christmas stamps, and Ava a picture cube. They later used the stamps to decorate their letters to Santa.


Oak brought books for the girls this year  too and wrote them little notes as he often does. This year they were displayed in candy cane easels. 

The girls had a fun time--I love Audrey's face every time she enters the room for this brunch. She's always so excited. I'm happy we started this tradition three years ago. We tried to get a group picture of them in their matching gowns. That is never an easy task.

This year they are all three asking for dolls from the American Girl store.

Banner/napkin holders: Michaels scrapbook paper
Mason jars/lids/straws: Target/ TomKat Studio
Stockings: Menards and then I used supplies from Michael's to make them cute.
Menu: GF pancakes (Pamela's all purpose mix), Jimmy Dean Sausage links, Pure Maple Syrup, Scrambled eggs and orange juice, coffee and water.

napkin rings

Sarah

Decorating for Christmas and Audrey's special day

Nov 16th. I think this is the earliest we've ever put up a tree before. But at this stage of our life, it's not the date, but when we have a free moment. Audrey was gone all day with Grandmother and Grandpa. For her birthday they gave her a special day--a day with just them. I think they enjoyed it just as much as she enjoyed the constant attention and doting affection they gave her all day. They shopped, they ate pizza, Grandmother gave her a piano lesson, they made a small fleece blanket for Audrey's doll. They kept busy all day.

And so did we. We got most, but not all of our holiday decor put up. We did wait for Audrey to come home to decorate the tree--as this is one of her favorite things. 




Sarah

Audrey is 6

I have said before that when she turned 6 she might as well be turning 13. All in all I think I was pretty on target with that. Kindergarten has taught her new attitudes, but on the other hand, is teaching her how to listen better.

On her birthday we had both sets of grandparents over for supper (a pasta bar) and cake . We started this a few years ago and have really liked making her actual birthday extra special. She wanted a slumber party for her birthday with her friends. We compromised with a mini slumber party from 5pm-9pm on a Friday night. On Saturday afternoon family came to celebrate with us. Indeed we are so very grateful for our healthy 6 year old and not a day goes by that we aren't reminded how fortunate we are.

Audrey's theme was princess, more specifically, "Sofia the First,"the newest princess on Disney Junior.  She wanted a princess castle cake, the 32 piece one. That's what I get for letting her look at Pinterest with me! So, I took on this challenge and learned a lot in the process and renewed by knowledge about cake decorating a little. Her cake was gluten free, so since I didn't want to go broke on GF cake mixes and since I wasn't feeding 60 people, I made 4 batches of GF rice krispie treats and used those on the bottom and top layers and made a 10" yellow cake in the middle, stacked on top of the 10" rice krispie treats.  My plan was to assemble and decorate this cake on Friday. I was also scheduled to volunteer in Audrey's classroom this day (oh of all days). Turns out her teacher had changed their schedule around but forgot to tell me, so I had a sitter lined up and ran to the school only to be relived to come back home and work on this cake. It did not take the 10 hours that I read it took some, although I could have easily spent that much time on it. Thank goodness for Grandma S., who stayed well beyond what I'd asked her to that day. There are so many little things that go into decorating a cake, and if I could have ordered this cake from a gluten free bakery, by golly I would have. But, there's a little sense of accomplishment from actually creating it yourself. And apparently I didn't think my life was challenging enough...

We cut the cake from the back so we could display it the next day. The girls loved it and kept coming back for more. We served the same cake recipe (King Arthur GF yellow cake mix) as cupcakes the next day. Icing on the cake was a classic buttercream tinted light purple and the cupcakes were cream cheese buttercream. YUM!

During their free play time I found them once in Audrey's room, jumping on the bed and singing and dancing to Mamma Mia music. The girls had a great time.

The girls made Sofia the First amulet necklaces with gum balls and got their own blank princess book . This was a a journal/art book/scrapbook for a 6 year old. The girls really enjoyed making these, using the colored tape and stickers, drawing and signing each of their names on the "friends" page.

At the end of the night they got on their PJ's and watched the Sofia movie and ate popcorn. I greatly underestimated their liking of popcorn. We ran out. 

The next day we hosted family in the afternoon for presents and cupcakes. 

Audrey is so full of energy. And so full of conversation. She is very eager to learn, is getting better at reading everyday, writes constantly and has a strong opinion about most everything. At her friend party I found it amusing that she was the one giving direction and running the show, instead of me.

Those purple candies are Sixlets. Fitting since she was turning 6. And I will give my brother credit for putting that together. I bought them because they were purple and gluten free! Turrets were covered in Cake Mate purple icing and Cake Mate gold glitter. 

Paper place-mats from Hobby Lobby. I wrote their names in purple glitter glue from Michaels. The tiaras are also from Hobby Lobby. GF Gum balls from Party City. 

We used Schar gluten free pizza crust, made the sauce homemade and let them putt on whatever toppings they wanted. We had them design their pizza on parchment paper and write their name and baked it on the parchment paper on pizza stones so we made sure each pizza got to their owner. 

It was too windy to put this on the door outside. Sign by 733blog.com

making the forks fancy. Little gemstones from Michaels. 

cupcake toppers, sign, flags, water bottle labels all designed by Hostess with the Mostess. 

I think Audrey has had a princess party since she turned one year. But, knowing and thinking that she will soon be "too old" for princesses and dress-up, I humored her with yet another princess birthday party.






Sarah

21 months

On Audrey's 6th birthday, Ava turned 21 months. My baby is 21 months! Part of me is a little sad that she's growing up, getting more independent by the minute, but then I'm reminded by my middle born child, that growing up is what babies do. Indeed, Allie. You're right.

Ava is so fun at this age. I love it! She walks beside me in the grocery store and still listens when I tell her it's time to go. She is saying new words daily and she gives the sweetest and best kisses in the world. My favorite new words of hers: "din" for again. "an aid" for band-aid. " "er go" for there you go. She loves to say Audrey and says it for both Allie and Audrey. "nim nim" for M&M's. She calls herself baby. Never Ava. Never sister. Just baby. Always.

She still lets me dress her up, although she's very good at putting on her own shoes, or boots, or Minnie Mouse slippers. She loves Minnie.

She's cute. She's spunky. She's still missing some teeth.  She is the only one of our kids who gets in bed, puts her head on her pillow, pulls the covers up and goes to sleep. It's so cute.

Sarah