Hector and Joey's Visit ~ Christmas 2014

I mentioned in an earlier post how Hector brought us another elf on Thanksgiving night, and that the boys named him Joey.  Well ... Joey is apparently a naughty elf whereas Hector has always been very well behaved.  The day after Thanksgiving we found them just hanging out in the boys basketball hoops in the playroom.

That's not too bad, but theeeennn ... one morning we woke up and found poor Hector inside a mason jar and Joey just chillin' right next to him!

Crazy!!  When we traveled to Williamsburg at the beginning of December our elves must have called in reinforcement because as soon as we got to the hotel, we discovered Tito (my parents' elf) had made the journey to come check on the boys.

Joey wasn't ALL bad, though.  He and Hector brought the boys a bag of "magic seeds" and a little note that went with them.  It told them to plant the seeds in sugar and then the next morning they'd have a treat.  They were so excited!

But then we found them doing some shenanigans again later on in the month.

Look, I realize the Elf on the Shelf is a "hokie" thing or some say he's creepy looking.  But guess what? It's a fun family tradition we started for our children that will hopefully be passed along to THEIR children one day.  That's the whole point behind the Elf on the Shelf (at least for us).  Not to make our children behave better (LOL!)  cause guess what?? They don't behave any better with Hector and Joey here as they do any other day of the year.  So to all the haters out there, maybe next year you just keep your Elf on the Shelf hating comments to yourself and keep on scrolling when you see pics of them on FB, mmmmmkay?  And, let the rest of us have a little fun with our children and build memories. :)

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

The week before Thanksgiving, Jacob's school had "Thanksgiving lunches" so the parents could come in, hang out for a bit and then have a turkey lunch with their child.  I love getting to go in to Jacob's school, and this year for the Thanksgiving lunch John was able to come with us, so it was even more special.  When we got there they were working on their "fraction turkeys".  So cute!

When they were done, we headed to the cafeteria for lunch.  And, btw ... two years of this and I finally found out that *I* don't HAVE to eat the turkey lunch.  I can just come in with a packed lunch to eat with him.  DEFINITELY doing this next year!

Thanksgiving Day this year went like it does every year ... we had dinner at our house and I cooked it.  Lol  Pretty boring, but we love it.  We used to go to PA for Thanksgiving, and honestly I'm not sure why we don't anymore, but now we just stay home.  I think we stopped going up after Henry was born.  I know that first Thanksgiving after he was born everyone came to us, but he was only a month old, and it was just easier that way.

Anyway, back to 2014 ... I had the house spotless the day before Thanksgiving so that ON Thanksgiving I could get up and be lazy.  All I really wanted to do was sit on my butt and watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade.  My favorite Thanksgiving tradition!

So, for dinner we had the same thing we always have, lol, and hopefully next year I'll remember to take pictures, so I can share the recipes with you all! I basically only make this meal once a year.  We're not the types of people to have a turkey dinner on just an average day.

Our Thanksgiving Dinner menu:

Turkey (duh! of course)

Mushroom Stuffing

Mashed Potatoes

Sweet Potato Casserole

Dinner Rolls

Cranberry Sauce

And, I just realized we didn't really have a vegetable.  That's terrible!  Oh well, I guess. Lol

Oh, check out our "fine china" I bought at our new, amazing Dollar Tree!

I'm terrible at timing meals for a certain time to eat, so we always end up eating super late. :-/  I have GOT to get better about this!  So, the boys were getting a little restless waiting for dinner.

Henry was mad at my mom for some reason, lol, so hence the really nasty looks he's giving.  Good thing he's cute!

FINALLY dinner was ready, and so we ate.

After dinner the boys put their elf jammies on that Gee got them because Hector was coming that night!  They get so excited when he comes back to visit.  I'm definitely going to have to remember to bring him back over the summer for a mid-year check-up.  I always forget to do that!

After they were dressed we sat down to read "Hector's story" like we do every year.

We were only a few pages in when there was a knock at our door!!  Jacob ran to see who was there while Henry went to the window and started screaming "It's Hector! It's Hector!"  So Jacob opened the door, and lo and behold, there sat Hector with two presents and a card taped to the top!

I don't have the actual note at the moment to write was written inside, but basically it said to open the top present first, then read the card attached to the second box and then open that one too.  They began to open the top box and what did they find?? Another scout elf!!

And thus .. Joey was born!  Now the boys each have an elf of their own, and some day when they leave the nest and start their own families, they can each have one of the elves to take with them.  THAT is how traditions are born, my friends. :)

Now, on to the next letter and box.  This one said for them to both open the box and to share the contents.

They were so happy!  :)  Henry took custody of the stuffed elf because Jacob already has one, Jacob took the activity book and then there was a poster and a puzzle that they're sharing, believe it or not.

Now that all the excitement was over, we put Hector and Joey up on the shelf in the dining room and went back to reading our story.

I think I know how Charlie is going to act the whole way through the Christmas season (and I was right!)

We hope you all had a fantastic Thanksgiving as we certainly did!