Pony Pals and Real Pals

During the night, Elf Kendall and Elf Edward decided to go horseback riding. They rounded up a few ponies and positioned everyone on the mantle (to be safe from the dogs' reach). They also picked up two books "Stolen Ponies" and "The Baby Pony", which fit quite nicely with the scene. Kendall was sitting on Kyra's riding pants. Kyra loves horses and she was quite thrilled to find them on this adventure.

This year at school, Kyra has become close friends with Grace. Grace's elf Gretel came to her last year and has returned for her annual visit. If we'd only known Grace last year our holidays would have been more adventurous... Well, Kyra actually did know her last year, just not well enough to know about her elf. We invited Grace and Gretel for a sleep-over tonight. We went to Stone Mountain and got our Elf on the Shelf book signed by the illustrator. We enjoyed dipping candles in colored wax, looking at the holiday lights, drinking hot cocoa, and riding on the train. We should have brought parkas and hats for the train ride; it got very cold!. Kyra doesn't like to pose with Santa, but I convinced her and Grace to stand beside the fake Santa for a quick photo with our new camera.

Elf Edward and the astronaut

Again, I'm not sure what Elf Kendall did during the night with Kyra at her dad's house, but Elf Edward was quite adventurous. I had to leave the hotel early this morning to drive two hours to Orlando for an 8:30 a.m. flight back home. Elf Edward left a note saying he had to help Santa with a few things, and that he would meet me at the airport. I had no idea where to look for him! I started to panic after checking my luggage and still hadn't seen him. I had a bottle of water with me and sat down just before the security screening to finish drinking it. I was admiring the large Christmas tree and worrying about Elf Edward. I continued gazing around the atrium and eventually my eyes landed on him. He was sitting on an astronaut statue! I was so relieved!

Elf Edward watches the sun rise on the beach

I'm not quite sure what Elf Kendall was up to last night, but Elf Edward went with me yesterday on my business trip to Vero Beach. I sprinkled him with snowflakes before bedtime. I woke this morning and didn't see him right away. I put on running clothes and headed to the beach for an early morning jog. When I returned, I saw him sitting on the beach watching the sunrise. He looked so peaceful. I lost my nice camera yesterday, but thankfully I have a camera on my phone to capture this relaxing moment.

Elf Basketball

This morning, Kyra was quite worried when she couldn't find Elf Kendall. She looked and looked and looked. As it was about time to leave for school, I sent her back to the bedroom to get her earrings off the nightstand. She came back into the kitchen quickly, with a note in her hand, saying she knew where they were. The elves left her a note by the alarm clock saying "Wake up Kyra! Come and shoot hoops with us!" We found them outside on the basketball goal. The basketball was stuck in the net, Elf Kendall was hanging over the rim wearing one of Kyra's basketball jerseys. Elf Edward was attached to the net wearing another of Kyra's basketball jerseys. It was quite a scene! I took several pictures, then took Kyra to school and headed to the airport for my business trip to Florida. I had tucked my camera into my backpack, but later this evening I couldn't find it. My only guess is that I pulled it out and set it on a chair at the airport to get to driving directions and then forgot to put it back in my bag. I'm so bummed! It was a great camera! I'm highly disappointed that I lost the photos from today, but am greatful that I had downloaded the rest of them last night. Maybe I'll restage the scene once I get a new camera.

Elf Kendall hijacks the train

This morning Kyra woke at her dad's house to find that Elf Kendall had gathered a few friends and hijacked the train. They got tangled in christmas tree lights along the way.

Barbie makeover + Elf Edward arrives

This morning, Kyra woke at her dad's house to find that Elf Kendall decided to play Barbie makeover during the night. She applied make-up and painted fingernails. How fun!

Before Kyra went off to school on Friday I told her that I would miss her and Elf Kendall's shenanigan's. She said that I should write a letter to Santa and ask for an Elf to keep me entertained. So I did... Yesterday afternoon, after Kyra's basketball game, I stopped by the local park where the high school baseball team was selling Christmas trees as a fund-raiser. I decied that I would rather have a live tree this year instead of the artificial one that we've used for years. I brought it home and then drug out decorations. I spent most of the afternoon/evening decorating the tree. I had several boxes of Christmas decor left to unpack, but was tired and went to bed. I woke this morning to find that Elf Edward had arrived and had decorated the mantle! Thanks Santa and Elf Edward!

Elf Kendall makes snowflakes at Dad's house

Kyra's spending the weekend with her dad and really wanted to take Elf Kendall with her. I told Kyra to call her dad/step-mom yesterday to make sure it was okay. Her step-mom said it was fine, so I packed Elf Kendall into her backpack to take with her to school. It looks like Elf Kendall has adventures wherever she goes! Kyra woke this morning to find Kendall making snowflakes while sitting on her pants that were stretched across the room. She made quite a mess!

Elf Kendall and George Washington's Socks

Last night before bed, Kyra settled Elf Kendall down and sprinkled her with magical snowflakes. At bedtime, I read the latter chapters of George Washington's Socks to Kyra while Elf Kendall listened quietly on the nightstand. In the story, one of the characters (Katie) put George Washington's socks on her hands, and then her feet, to keep warm. Then another character promised to frame the socks if Katie would give them to him. Elf Kendall must have found these chapters amusing. So while Kyra was asleep, Elf Kendall got up, gathered a few horse friends, took all of Kyra's socks out of her sock drawer, grabbed a snack and began reading the rest of the story. We woke to find the microwave filled with socks, socks in a photo frame, socks on Kendalls arms and legs as well as on each of the horses legs, and scattered across the bar! What a scene!

Elf Kendall arrives!

Kyra spent last night with her dad and boy was I surprised when I got in my car to go to work this morning! That second letter that I wrote to Santa clarified the elf issue and he produced! Elf Kendall was in the backseat on top of Kyra's Build-a-bear Rudolph with the seatbelt looped through Rudolph's outfit. She had gathered five of Kyra's stuffed animals, put them on leashes and was talking them for a walk in the back of the car. And thankfully, she picked up their poop (m&m's) and placed it in a poop bag, attached to Rudolph, rather than letting it sit on the carpet. When I arrived at Day Care this afternoon, the first words out of Kyra's worried face was whether or not I wrote a letter to Santa. I smiled and told her that she should be careful in opening the car door. Her face lit up when she saw the elf antics. We sat in the parking lot for a few minutes while I read her the poem that came with Elf Kendall. It was quite long, but in summary said that her mission was to keep an eye out to report back to Santa as to whether Kyra's being naughty or nice, and that she would return to the North Pole when Santa brings presents on Christmas day. If she's sprinkled with the magical snowflakes that she brought with her, then she would play games during the night while Kyra sleeps.

Elves?

Yesterday, Kyra came home from school talking about Santa sending elves to children's homes. I was clueless. She explained that all that kids have to do is write a letter to Santa and ask him to send an elf to them for the holiday season. She said that if you sprinkle the elves with snowflakes at bedtime, they do crazy things around the house or hide in different places during the night while the children sleep. While I went down to the tennis courts behind our house to take some clothes to a friend that was playing, Kyra wrote a letter to Santa asking for a girl elf with brown hair and any color eyes. She put the letter on the mantle and asked Santa to leave her a reply note in the same place. This morning she woke up and went straight to the mantle. She began to cry after reading the letter that Santa wrote back. She said that Santa didn't understand! The elf that Santa said he would send was not the kind that she wanted. I spent quite a while with her on the couch hearing exactly what she wanted and reassuring her that Santa did understand, but maybe she interpretted the letter differently than what Santa intended. She was going to spend tonight at her dad's house, so I told her I would write another letter to Santa explaining it more clearly, and hopefully he would send the correct elf to her by the time she came back to our house.