Smurf Elf 2017

Our Elf named SMURF ELF arrived on December 1 with some new shenanigans!  Here is a recap of what she was up to this year....

December 1

Arrived with a cookie tree to build (sort of like a gingerbread house) and wrote
"I'm Back" in fruit loops!

December 2

Rearranged our "PEACE" sign to be "CAPE"

December 3

December 4

Smurf Elf was wearing a bandaid because she fell down with the carolers on December 3rd when Ella was dancing in the living room!! Ella wrote Smurf Elf a note back asking if she liked to watch TV at the North Pole....

December 5

Smurf Elf left a note to tell Ella that she loved TV and included a picture of her favorite TV

- an ETCH A SKETCH!  LOL!

December 6

Working on some math facts with Ella's flash cards

December 7

December 8

December 9

Our stockings were replaced with Christmas undies!

December 10

Whoopsie!  Stuck in the toy chest!

December 11

December 12

Eating "Jay's" snack mix!

December 13

Cruisin' with her Shopkins purse!

December 14

Uh oh!  Smurf Elf went on strike because "someone" was being sassy.  On this morning, Ella found Smurf Elf then came upstairs to tell me about it.  She then said, well I wonder who the note was for her or me (seriously....)

December 15

Sled racing with some snowmen!

December 16

Being silly with a bunch of friends on the stairs

December 17

Game Day!  Smurf Elf was making SKOL Vikings signs and even had a Vikings jersey for Santa

December 18

Smurf Elf and Santa were hanging around

December 19

December 20

Slumber Party in the toy room!

December 21

Lounging in a sweet bowl of marshmallows and candy canes!

December 22

Left a fun Elf craft!

December 23

Smurf Elf joined us at Grandma Deb's house! 

December 24 (good bye)

Until next year!

Updates to round out November

December is flying by and I wanted to get some updates done before the end of the year!  We left off just after Black Friday.  Since then, we've finished decorating....

We had a visit to BBY to see Santa Claus and Mrs. Claus!  It was a hectic but fun night!  Ella was able to chat for a few minutes with Santa and wrote him a note with her list of wishes

In typical Abbas fashion, we attempted to get a selfie with the reindeer but ended up with his butt instead of his face!  LOL!!!

We each decorated a sugar cookie to enjoy while we waited to visit with Santa.  I think we all know mine is the traditional white with red candy cane sprinkles....The other two were pretty creatively decorated!

It was a great way to start getting into the Holiday Spirit!

Some Pre and Post Thanksgiving Madness

Happy Thanksgiving! We had a great time celebrating this year, but it was busy!  We stayed in the Cities and celebrated with the Abbas side of the family this year.  I made a delicious orange vanilla monkey bread courtesy of a recipe from The Pioneer Woman (you can find the recipe on a simple google search).  Here's mine:

YUM!

I also made delicious sweet potatoes and a yummy pumpkin dessert.

Thankful for these turkeys!

And some other updates on events....

Birthday Wrap-up:

I spent some of the afternoon working on a Christmas craft project and I also made a delicious no-bake dessert to enjoy!  I hope to finish the project today (need to add the lights!) and then we'll put it out front.  Here it is in the current state.  And yes, I realize that I can not follow a simple red-green-red-green pattern!  LOL!

We went to dinner at Chili's to celebrate!

 Too bad I didn't do my hair! Oh well - it's my birthday so I can do what I want, right?!

Ella and her besties participated in the Tiger Dance Team clinic last weekend. 

They had a great time!

Black Friday tradition continues!  Ella and I headed out to Ulta, but it was so quiet in the lots that we also went to Kohls and Target!  It was crazy how non-busy all the stores were - but, I'll take it!  We snagged a few great deals.

And then we fueled up with some deliciousness from Starbucks!

 And, lastly....

 Stay tuned for some epic Abbas selfies.  LOL!

Birthday Weekend

Hello!  It was my birthday weekend!  We didn't celebrate in the usual manner of Shakopee girls weekend with craft shows and shopping galore.  This year, I was here, they were there, and we just did our own things. I wasn't feeling awesome, so it was a bummer but so it goes! 

So to recap our weekend, there was a dance dress rehearsal on Saturday night for Ella's kick class.  Winter show is coming up!!

Ella and I got our crafting on Saturday afternoon.  We worked on some friendship bracelets and a cross stich.  Time out for a minute.  Do you remember how to make a friendship bracelet?  If you do, I applaud you.  I had to Google how to make one.  I couldn't figure it out.  Sad.  And then I wonder, what the heck did my mom do back in the day?  Did she remember all that stuff to teach us?  Jeez....

But, it came back quickly and it was so fun!

Sunday, Ella and I attended the high school musical Beauty and the Beast.  It was fantastic! 

The costumes were on point and the singing was amazing.

Obviously, we attempted a selfie. 

We are not looking at the correct spot....sigh

Our babysitter Sophie was a Fork in the musical!  She did awesome!  

The Be Our Guest scene was my favorite!!

This morning I woke to this on our bedroom door...

Ella was so excited to wish me happy birthday.  I love it!

Taking the day off (sort of) from work and hoping to bake something delicious!

So much for November....

Well, let's talk for a minute about the hastiness with which the retail industry has jumped into the Holiday season this year.  Here's what I drove by today:

So, I took this picture from my car, but do you see those white things on display in front of the Cub Foods store?  Snowmen.  LOADS of snowmen.  On November 3.  This is not okay people. Let's squeeze out a few more days of Fall and be thankful and eat turkey and stuffing.  Then, after that, say about 25 days from now, it's okay to put out the snowmen.  

To add to the insanity of the early Holiday sightings, I was looking for some music OnDemand today.  I really wanted to jam out to the new Taylor Swift song!  But, I found that there was a newly added channel called Holiday Hits. There are NINE Yule Log channels within the Holiday Hits.  I turned one on and sure enough, Jingle Bells in full swing on those channels.  I just think we should hold off a bit!!  

P.S. About 30 minutes after I tried out that Yule Log Holiday Hits channel, it started snowing in my backyard.  This was not Disney Magic.  This was real life.  I'm not ready for winter yet.  

Halloween Happenings!

Some memories of Halloween 2017....the year of the Emoji pumpkins!!

 Sara's pumpkin!

 Jay's pumpkin!

 And Ella's pumpkin!

 Hanging out on the front porch

Ella and I also carved a pumpkin this year.  This is the first time she's ever really done this activity since we usually just paint them.  She thought it was pretty cool :)

Ella's costume this year was a Shopkin - Poppy Popcorn to be exact!

Trick-or-treating was FREEZING this year.  I should have worn more layers and warmer mittens.  But, Ella wasn't cold at all and had a great time.  Hopefully next year we'll meet up with some friends so we can all hang out together!