RileyJoveeJingleBelle

On December 1st 2013 our family adopted an Elf from Santa's workshop.  Here she is.  Cute Eh!

We named her RileyJoveeJingleBelle

 I've read many posts about the Elf on the Shelf, most negative.  However, I decided that our elf would behave and stay out of mischief.  She did and we were all excited every morning to see where she would be next.  NJ definitely fell in love with her the most.  She even made Riley a skirt and belt.   She so badly wanted to touch her, but the book said she might loose her magic, so no touching.   On Christmas Eve we found a letter to Santa, from NJ, that begged Santa to let Riley stay for a while longer, but to NJ's dismay Riley wasn't able to.  

I found Elf on the Shelf sweet and fun and it's all up to you how she/he acts....just remember to move her/him!!!!! lol

I turned 36 last week, I have found that having a birthday so close to New Years I look back at the last year and see all that I did or didn't do.
 I don't know maybe everyone does this on their birthday?   
 This birthday was no exception and really there were only 2 things that I thought of as great accomplishments, giving birth to WL and reading the whole Book of Mormon.  Not that there weren't other great happenings like going to Hawaii or sending PL to Moroni's Quest, or LL growing taller than me, or NJ showing interest in basketball or ASH's improvement in speech or selling our first home....it's just that these 2 accomplishments were MINE and mine alone!!!  

Kirk didn't have to work on my birthday so he took me to lunch, with ASH and WL.The Asian Lettuce wraps were delish!!! The next day we invited some friends over to play some cards.  

Upon looking for games to play, NJ made a startling discovery under my bed 

(where some game are stored)

......RileyJoveeJingleBelle!......

CRAP? 

 She came to me and asked if she could talk to me in my room.  There she told me, with tears in her eyes, she found Riley under the bed.  OH NJ!!!!  She was so upset that our elf wasn't real.  With lots of hugs and "it will be ok"s I talked to her about how our elf will be a part of our Christmas every year and that we can all still have fun finding her.  Then she says, "so I could have touched her the whole time?"  Bless her heart!  I let her stay in my room and hold and play with her, while I went and continued playing cards with everyone.    

The next day all she could talk about was Riley and if Riley wasn't real then Santa must not be real. CRAP again!

It took me a minute to come up with a reply and then it came.  I explained that we believe in a "Santa Clause" which states, 'when we choose the right all year through we receive blessings and at the end of the year, Christmas, the gifts we receive are some of the blessings given to us because we tried our best to be good.' She didn't say much about it after that. 

Yes I made that up but when you think about it, it is true.  We do receive blessings, some tangible and some not, when we do what is right.

So my 8, almost 9, year old is now a little wiser and hopefully able to still trust me.  I find these traditions of Santa Claus, Elf on the Shelf, Leprechauns and the Easter Bunny alike, make for trusting issues.  Even though I still trusted my parents when I became "wiser" to these traditions, there are personalities out there that might take them as lies and therefore won't trust you about other things.  Even very important people, people that we have not seen but believe are there.  Namely our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, even the Holy Ghost.  It worries me a little but I do believe that we can be guided by the Holy Ghost how to handle those situations, like I did with NJ.

In this moment of life:

PL is planning to learn "Count your many blessings" on the piano to play on seminary this month.

LL is into making all sorts of things with NJ's rainbow loom. She might need to buy her own.

NJ wants to get her hair cut, guess I'd better make an appointment.
ASH started not wearing pull-ups to bed, he's woken up dry for weeks. yay
WL now has 2 teeth and loves to eat her rice cereal. & when she woke up from her nap, this morning, she was in a different position.  She's growing so fast.
I'm resisting the donuts sitting on the counter.  lol
Kirk is working in Lethbridge on a 6plex & probably excited to play basket ball tonight.
He plays every Tuesday and Thursday.