Glue Gun, Dremel, and a Tub of Glitter...Stuff Just Got Serious

Making gifts for the Grandmas is serious business.  We never know what to buy them so after some discussion (and some convincing) we decided to make their gifts this year.  It's been a looooong time since I've busted out the craft cart and I found all kinds of goodies in there that had been long forgotten.  After looking over the inventory we finally decided on snow globe ornaments with bottle brush trees!  I was really happy with the way they turned out and they were pretty simple to make.  Messy, but simple.  Good thing I had that Dremel just laying around unused or we would have never been able to get the tree inside the bulb.  We made three, one for us, as well as the Grandmas.  Each one got a little more difficult for some reason and the trees ended up looking a little crooked.  This sent Jayke's OCD into over drive until I explained that it made them look "wind-blown".  He loved this idea and was satisfied with the finished product.  We popped them into a cute gift boxes and were all finished!

Misc Christmas pics

Santa filling the stockings!!  Barely any room for them!

Jayke was way excited about these custom Nike Elite socks.  He is obsessed with his clothes.  The socks are every bit as important as the rest of the outfit.

I don't know about these two nuts.  Jayke is taking a picture of Oma's eye with his new iPhone.  It just happened that his phone case matched his outfit perfectly.  He was thrilled about it and asked if we could go get phone cases to match all of his clothes.  He is out of control!

This is what two stockings at my Dad's holds.  I don't even have room to put this all away!  Jayke is well stocked on his snacks now.  I didn't even put the non food items in this pic. 

Happy Christmas Eve Gift

from Jeff.  Kissing Crystals ornament and Meet me under the mistletoe sign, Love it!  I don't even want to pack it up with the Christmas decor, so I think I won't.

You'll Shoot Your Eye Out!

Opa got Jaykeb a rifle for Christmas.  I agreed with a couple of stipulations, he isn't to shoot any animals with it and he has to keep it at Opa's house so that he doesn't end up shooting me with it!  With The Boy going to hit puberty the same time I am going to hit menopause the fewer weapons in the house the better!

I might make an allowance on the shooting of animals though if THIS dog doesn't stop sitting at the table for dinner...

Throw back Thursday...

Naughty or Nice?  Always nice, in fact, sometimes I wish there was a little more naughty in him.  Not a lot...just a little bit.

A Witty Elf for a Witty Boy

I can only imagine how red his face will be when he sees what that naughty elf did this time...

He's Back!

Lovin This!

His new Beats by Dre headphones that his aunts and cousins got him!

Infinity

This is one of my gifts from Jeff.  I picked this out on Etsy and made sure one of the girls at work made the "suggestion" of what he should get.  The little tags are "J" and "W" for Jeff and Wendy.  

He also got me one of each product they make in my favorite scent at Bath and Body Works.  This Christmas was much better than last!

The Best Present

Is a new pair of Jordan's apparently...since he is all cuddled up sleeping with them!

New and Improved...Merry Christmas!

Jayke got a new bedroom for Christmas and these fish were the first to see it!  We got rid of the bunk beds and got him a nice new big bed that he doesn't have to climb up into.  After staying in a hotel and having a whole queen size bed to himself that was all he could talk about...that and a heated, padded, toilet seat.  I opted for the new room and passed on that funky toilet seat.

We went with a super hero theme.  It looks nice and clean and un-cluttered, we shall see how long it stays that way.

His buddy, Nemo is loving the new room too!  I don't know what he likes better, the nice big bed or the fish entertainment!

Mason was the first friend to stay with Jayke in his new room, as you can see they even through on some matching pjs to make things look extra spiffy.

The Elf...Just Hanging Around...And Then!!

Frisbee has been pretty good this year.  Just hanging around and hiding here and there...

He did fool Jayke by hiding in the door of the fridge one day...

Jayke asked me the other day if I remembered all of the messes Frisbee made last year.  I told him I remembered and maybe he would end up doing some of that stuff this year too.  So far the elf has been rather dull.  I think he has gotten lazy...or maybe he has another full time job somewhere that causes him to not be as creative as he was last year.  I seem to recall him telling me that he was unemployed last Christmas so he had plenty of time on his hands to make mischief all night.  I'm sure he has heard that he hasn't been near as fun as he was last year.

Well, I think he must have decided to step it up a notch...

This year he has taken naughty to a whole new level!!  Poor unsuspecting Bobby sound asleep and that rotten little elf shaved a stripe right across his head!  I sent Jayke in to wake Bobby up and the look of horror on his face was priceless.  He was hesitant to wake him.  He probably thought Bobby was going to dismember his sweet little elf.  He shook him gently and said, "Wake up, my elf shaved your head."  Then he took a step back and just looked at him.  Bobby was in disbelief at first.  He felt the top of his head and there was still hair there so he didn't believe him.  Jayke assured him that there was in fact a stripe shaved on his head.  Bobby finally looked in the mirror and absolutely couldn't believe how rotten that elf had been.  Jayke laughed hysterically!

Rotten elf...just look at that face!

The Boy is Trying to Take My Job

Some of our ornaments...some we bought...some we made.  Jayke was not feeling well the night we put the tree up but it didn't stop him from participating...

When we were all finished decorating Bobby helped Jayke take some pictures and edit them.  The picture below is the final product..all done by Jayke.

We added two new ornaments to the tree this year.  Bobby's first Christmas ornaments in over 10 years!  This will be the first Christmas he has celebrated in that long.  I have tried to make sure we are doing all of our Christmas traditions so that he can share in them.  Christmas is a hard time for him because of past occurrences which have made Christmas just a bad memory.  We intend to change that this year!

I gave Bobby this ornament.  Jayke gets a new one every year so I got him one too.  The one below we got on our Gatlinburg trip.

....and here is his gift!  lol

He's Back!

Climbing out of our advent Chalet!

Perfect Timing

After Basketball the other night we decided to head to Noblesville to eat at Red Robin.  One of the few restaurants Jayke will eat at and one Bobby had never been to.  We ended up getting there and finding they were having a festival in the streets.  The weather was really warm so it was kind of weird to be walking around in warm weather clothes amongst Christmas decorations.  It was nice to be able to enjoy the outside and Christmas decorations without freezing to death.

The onion ring tower is a big hit with Jayke.  Maybe that is the key to getting him to eat.  I just need to create a tower out of all of his food!

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Jayke has figured out that Bobby is a sucker for things like the crane game.  I won't waste money on it but as soon as those two get out of my sight they are cramming money in the machine, while worriedly looking over their shoulders to see if MOM is coming to crush their fun.

Hard to believe it's almost Christmas and warm enough to be dressed like this!

This picture speaks volumes.  Jayke finally has something he never has had before.  And, Bobby does too...we all do.

Wish

Elf Catch Up

Frisbee is taking a bath in marshmallows...


Hanging out in the stockings...


and apparently he got stuck trying to get into the cabinets...probably trying to get the marshmallows for his bath!

Still At It

Good thing that was an old box of cereal I was about to throw out or I may have been upset with Frisbee for wasting food!!

The Elves Rock picture was today's mischief...yesterday he was found trying to squeeze between the shelf and the top of the turtle acquarium. He didn't quite make it and was just hanging there. (no pic) This morning when Jayke got up he came in to tell me that Frisbee MUST be stuck because he didn't leave last night! Oops. Frisbee must have been so busy he forgot himself last night! Good thing Jayke went to his friend's house this morning and gave him a chance to leave and get back to play in the cereal!

The picture below was from a couple of nights ago. Apparently the Lego Star Wars guys got fed up with the elf's antics and decided to take matters into their own hands...

So Rotten!

Our ornery elf decided to get a little creative with Jayke's picture last night! I think this may be the one Jayke has liked the most. He looked a little indignant at first then yelled at the elf a little. After that he began to laugh. After a few minutes to contemplate Frisbee's mischief, he then was mostly concerned with whether or not he would "Clean that up!"? I told him that I have to clean up after his elf every night and that seemed to relieve him somewhat. He doesn't mind that his mother has more work to do as long as I remove that marker from his face!

The night before the elf was busy in the cabinets. He made snowmen out of marshmallows. Jayke just wanted to know if he could eat them. I didn't allow it but there were plenty left in the bag for him to snack on when he got home from school which made him happy.

This elf business is becoming quite the chore! Now that he has gotten so creative it is a challenge for him to come up with new and better ideas every night. Thank goodness he saved all this creativity for the days closer to Christmas! If he had started out this way I don't think he would have had enough ideas to make it 25+ days!

Silent Night