Merry Christmas from Elle

December 25th 2013 is officially upon us! This year we as the coolest parents ever, decided it would be an Xbox and airsoft kind of Christmas around here. While the kids got other things as well those were there two big presents, an xbox 360, some games, and a couple of controllers and of course airsoft rifle and pistols all around :) I will say having a family of all boys is very interesting to say the least.  And of course you can not give every little boy in the house a new gun and not give the big boy one too, he would feel left out. So I surprised Mr. Wonderful with an airsoft gun too and now all 6 of them are out running through the woods having a real life game of Call of Duty Ghost or which ever game they think they are playing this time. Now I was so shocked when they all decided they were going outside to play and not the first one asked about hooking up the new Xbox, but I think I am going to hook it up and try it out before they get back :) naughty mommy is going to play with the kids toys while they are gone! So all in all I think we had a pretty great Christmas morning.

I'm pretty sure this is what my kids are doing right now, or at least it's what they think they are doing anyways.

Yesterday, Christmas Eve to most, was my son Zachary's birthday. My big guy turned 12 and it makes me a little sad to think this is his last year before becoming a teenager. I didn't think it would be a real big deal, but just knowing that he is growing up so fast already and that time seems to be slipping by faster and faster. It also makes me remember that Jason is right behind him, because in 4 months my little man will be 11. Guess I am finally having that feeling of panic that my babies are growing up and what then??? LOL I know most mom's get that when the youngest is like 2 or 3. It just took me longer.

anyone who's kids are growing up will understand.

 

Zachary will be heading to his dads house this afternoon and he will be gone until the 31st. He had asked me to talk to his dad about letting him stay here a couple of days, but I told him he had to have that conversation with his dad because I was not getting in the middle of that one. We will say that he didn't want to hurt his dads feelings so he never asked, that and I am sure he wants his Christmas presents from over there too. His dad and I talked probably 4 times about what are you getting him so we didn't both get him the same things and luckily his dad is being very cool about if Zach wants to bring something from his house back with him to play with it's fine with him which is nice for Zach so he doesn't feel like he has to just leave everything.

and I miss you when you are gone.

So for Christmas this year I got a bath set :) (what girl doesn't like the idea of getting to relax in a bath) and a cute mug from Jason that says "my mom, my friend" which is an adorable idea because I have about a million mugs in the kitchen, but he knows I like coffee and thought I needed one more, I love the way little minds think, and Chad got me a pair of footed pajamas!!!! Duck Dynasty footed pajamas to be exact which is something I have wanted for awhile. And best of all I got what I REALLY wanted, my children are getting along and having a good day which is honestly what I told them I wanted. When they fight it drives me crazy and just bothers me so much that it is so nice to see them getting along and being happy together.

These are EXACTLY the p.j's that I got :)

I hope everyone has had an awesome day so far and that they enjoy seeing friends and family for the rest of the day as well. I know that as for myself and Mr. Wonderful most of our family lives in different states and while we wont be seeing them we will be thinking of them. And as for my sister Desiree, we will be getting together before long so I can steal her children lol.

Yesterday Abby tried to stay with me instead of going to see Santa. You know you are an awesome Aunt when they pick you over Santa!!!

A gift from Elle's little guy...

Today Jason and I made his teachers a Christmas present, and since it was pretty simple and really, really cute I figured I would share it with everyone. I think in all (including all of Jason's help) it took probably about an hour to make it all.

So this was our finished project. Two "pencils" for each teacher and we added a small angel ornament that I had made prior to this craft.

 



So to start with we had to collect all the pieces to make this. Since we decided that each of the teachers should have two pencils each (and you can do as many as you think you want) this is what we needed:

8 packs of Rolos
2 pieces of yellow construction paper
1 piece of  pink construction paper
8 Hershey's kisses
regular scissors and a pair of neat shaped scissors
some aluminum foil
some ribbon
my glue gun
and the little angels that I had made before for something else.


First step after getting everything together was to cut the two yellow pieces of construction paper in half both ways

See simple already.

 

Then I took the kiss and put a very small drop of hot glue onto the rolo and attached the kiss to it. This is the part that makes it look like pencil tip.

This is what it looked like when they were all done.

 

Next I took my funny shaped scissors and cut one of the long edges of the yellow square's of paper to make that sharpened look for a pencil.

Still very simple.

 

 

Ok I set those aside and took half of the piece of pink paper and traced 8 circles from a quarter and cut them out. Then I put another small dot of glue on the other end of the Rolo and stuck the small pink circle to the Rolo.

 

I have to give credit to Jason he wanted to help with every step and cut out my circles for me.

 

 

Ok then I just took the rest of that same half of pink paper and cut 8 long strips to finish off the eraser part of the pencil. I used my glue gun to put a dot of glue on the edge of the Rolo roll and just wrapped the strip of paper around the tube and used a second dot of glue to hold the other end together.

This is what they looked like when we got finished with all the pink strips of paper.

 

 

Ok remember those yellow squares with the pretty shaped edges? Now it's time to grab those again. I used two small drops of glue one at the top and one at the bottom to hold them into place. After I secured the corners I did see that it was a little slack in the center so I added a third drop of glue to hold that down too. Then just like the pink papers I wrapped the yellow papers ( remember to put the edge that is cut with the cool shaped scissors down) around the tube and then I put a couple of glue dots to hold it all together. Also a note: The pink strip and yellow paper were longer than the actual shape so I did cut them off to fit the size.

I tried to line the cut line up with the yellow and pink tips.

 

 

What it looked like when all 8 were done.

 

To finish up the pencil look we took a small strip of aluminum foil and like the pink and yellow paper just added a glue dot and wrapped it around the whole thing on top of the paper. I tried to put the foil half in the pink and half in the yellow to make it look more like a real pencil. I'm sure you have all seen the little metal part that holds the eraser to the wood and are getting the idea anyways.

 

I forgot to take a picture at this step :( but take a look at the finished project picture at the top of the page and I'm sure you will be able to see what I am talking about.

 

After we got done making the pencils we just took them two at a time and tied a piece of ribbon around them and before tying the loop part of the bow we just slid the angels loop string over one side of the ribbon and finished off the tying of the bow.

 

Last step we took a marker and wrote the teachers name on one of the pencils.

 

DONE!! See I told you it was super simple. One hour and about 10 dollars worth of candy and some other things that I already had here at the house and I have 4 teachers presents done and ready to go.

 

Thank you Jason for helping mom make these and taking a whole hour out of your busy day to spend the time with me that it took to put these together. I love you very much my dear son. Hopefully when you grow up you will think back and remember this kind of  thing.

 

 



In~laws for Elle

So Mr. Wonderful and I have been together for almost 2 years now and we haven't really done a lot when it come to meeting the family so to speak. He of course knows my sister and brother in law since they introduced us :) and he did meet my dad over the summer when he came for an over night stay, but I have not met anyone in his family.... yet..... That's right folks I am meeting the soon to be in laws. Mr. Wonderful's mother and husband will be coming to town this weekend. I feel almost silly for being so excited to meet them, I haven't had to "meet the parents" so to speak in YEARS.

This should be fun.......

Which means that now I am feeling the pressure of running around and getting the whole house spotless and perfect. Only problem is that I have no motivation to get off my butt and do it! I had Sunday off, but I have to work every day until they get here other than that. Luckily the kids were back in school today so I could get some cleaning done today. Seems like a great reason to do some spring cleaning just in the winter.I do love the look on his face when he comes home and sees the living room really clean one day and then the next day the bedroom looks really good. It makes him very happy and I like when he is happy.

LOL oh my.... I couldn't help it babe. I love you so much, but my mom should

 have warned me about the maintenance man for sure.

We got our Christmas tree in the last couple of days. We actually ended up with two trees thanks to the generosity of a few people who were just looking to get rid of them. I took one to work because the boss man was going to have to go buy one and since we don't really need two I thought it would be a nice thing to do and since Mr. Wonderful agreed that's what we did. I had to go get lights, garland, ornament and a tree skirt for our tree this year. We moved into our house on December 15th last year and just didn't have time to get a tree up and going so we just skipped it since the boys already know the "big Santa secret" and it didn't bother them even a little to get their new DSI's out of their stocking instead of from under a tree. :) Glad to know they just want the presents lol. I was recently called a bad mother for this fact of course my answer to that is fu#k off b!tch. Especially from the person who thought they were so much better of a parent than me, but of course they beat their children (literally) with a cord from a game controller until the poor child is screaming for them to stop and then they still don't. (Yeah with me on the phone so I can hear the whole thing. No wonder we aren't friends any more) And while I'm on the subject who let's their 13 year old daughter spend the night with a boy that she has had a crush on for 4 nights sleeping in the same room????? I'm just sayin'.

This is very true, especially with a 12 year old who wants an iphone 5.

Ok so I love the new Joe Boxer Christmas commercial!! Every time it comes on if I am on the computer or in the other room I have to stop what I am doing so that I can watch it. So here it is for everyone else to enjoy. :) Well the female readers will anyways.

Merry Christmas everyone!! Enjoy......

Elle vs. Elf a.k.a. Jeff!!!

So here is the issue, I like the Elf on the shelf thing, so much in fact that we do have one. His name is Jeff and he has played numerous tricks upon my children for a few years now which this mama has enjoyed immensely. The dilemma is that  Zachary will be 12 this Christmas and Jay will be 11 shortly after. Now Zachary at the rip old age of 3 told me that he knew Santa wasn't real because there was no way a big fat man in a red suit could make it around the whole world in one night and leave all those kids presents. ~ Don't you hate when the smart ones mess up your fun? However because he is a good brother (and I threatened to give him socks and underwear every year for the rest of his life) he promised not to spoil Santa for his brother EVER!!! A promise I am happy to report he actually kept all these years. Sadly just after Christmas 2 years ago Jay looked at me and said mom I know you are Santa and always have been. I knew at Christmas, but I didn't want to hurt your feelings so I just played along. Next year you don't have to sneak around trying to wrap our presents. And by golly I sure didn't sneak around in fact I made him go shopping with me and help me pick out stuff and then he had to wait to open it at Christmas (sucks when you let mom know you know how it works)

Ok back to the Jeff issue. I am the kind of mom that loves the idea of getting to mess with my kids some. Nothing terrible that would hurt them in any way mind you, just a little payback for all the back talk and smart ass~ isum that comes with them nearing the teenage years. Jeff has taken their toy cars and made a parade out of them, he has piled up in a shoe box bed with all of Zach's beanie babies. (and if you know Zach that is a terrible thing for him to wake up to. Don't be touching those beanies) Jeff made a snow angel, out of flour, in the middle of the living room floor one night to surprise the kids, and the best part was the dog walked through it at some point and left tracks to their room lol, he has left them messages on the mirror in their bathroom and even got a girl friend at one point, but the best trick he has pulled in my opinion is the night he painted noses red while the kids were asleep :) I know some people think he looks scary or something, but I really think he is kinda cute.

 

So I have started pinning ideas for this years tricks on my pintrest boards. I am wondering if I should even bother honestly however. The kids know about Santa, they know the silly little Elf does not do the tricks and it's just mom having fun with them, they know it's all just a game and I am wondering if they are finally just to old to play with me anymore? The reason this is on my mind is because Jeff makes his grand entrance the night after Thanksgiving around here usually with a pretty good bang! I think that it is possible that I have a personal attachment to that silly little doll and that is part of the reason I want to keep getting him out year after year. For those who don't know my dad's name is also Jeff and when we got the Elf on the shelf he came with a book explaining all about him and how my children had to name him. Zach of course was  in the stage where he wanted to name everything Derf. which just happens to be Fred backwards. Luckily for the rest of us he had just gotten a new toy and named it Derf so the Elf got away without that name being stuck to him forever. The boys went back and forth about what they would name their new friend and suddenly out of the blue one of them (I think maybe Jay) said Hey lets just name him Jeff, to which the other agreed and it stuck. I wanted to cry when they came to an agreement so quickly that our Elf was Jeff. Neither of them had  a clue that is my dad's name they think his name is Pops. So to me it was a special connection to my dad and my children that the Elf, named after my dad, would play tricks on my children the way I am sure he would play with and tease them if he lived anywhere near us and does when we have a visit. I guess I just don't want to put Jeff in the box to leave him there forever so I guess my children will have to deal with our Elf, Jeff playing with them until they move out of the house and go to college. :) and then they might want to warn their own children about Jeff because when I become a Grandma I am going to get Jeff out and let him mess with them too LOL because I think it's good to have family traditions that everyone can look forward to, and look back on later as well.

Speaking of traditions looks like we are going to be starting a new one in our house. Zach and I  were at the store last night and ran across a Christmas ornament that we had to take a better look at. It's a shinny, green, glittered pickle! Now if you are like me you are asking yourself who in the world would hang a pickle on their tree???? But luckily there was a story that went along with it explaining what the pickle deal is. The story goes on Christmas eve after all the kids have gone to bed the parents are supposed to hide the pickle on the tree somewhere, and the next morning when the kids get up they are supposed to look for it and the one who finds it gets a special prize. (Probably money around here) And when we checked out with our new pickle ornament the woman behind the register said that her Grandmother was Jewish and this was a tradition that they had started and passed along.(Just a note the package says it's a German thing so IDK for sure, but it doesn't really matter to me either way.)  So not only are we going to get a new pickle and a prize we are going to be keeping up a tradition from a long time ago as well. I kind of like that idea too.

Mr. Wonderful and the rest of Elle's amazing family

First of all 33 years ago today the most amazing man in this whole world was born. I love him so much and we have been through a ton together and somehow it just keeps making us stronger. So even though he is going to hate me for this (he doesn't do birthdays) Happy Birthday Mr. Wonderful! And thank you Sheila for giving birth to his stubborn, hard headed, grumpy self. I don't know what I would do with out him.

Here is the sexy beast himself :) I love you Mr. Wonderful.

Well today is the day! Zachary is coming home from his first five day stay with his dad and I am not gonna lie I'm a little nervous to be getting him back for my five days because he, like all kids especially almost teenagers, gets that attitude when he stops getting his way. Only reason I am worried about any of it is because his dad has been playing the fun dad all week and let him have company for the entire time he was there. (yeah even the school nights) And that is a total no, no at our house because I want to be sure he is well rested for school (go figure) So he may be less that loving to me when he stops getting to do all play. And don't even ask what kind of parent would let their kid be spending the night for five days at someone else's house even during the week, because you got me on that one. I know if Zach wasn't staying with his dad he sure wouldn't be.

My little stinker getting ready for one of his football games last season. Can't wait to see him play again next season (on the middle school team YAY!!)

Jason has really enjoyed being the only kid in the house these last five days, just like I knew he would lol. Little stinker will gladly not share the computer, PlayStation, T.V., or his mama at all times. I started moving the beds in his room around yesterday before I went to work. I couldn't finish in time though so when I got home the first thing out of his mouth was "Mama! What did you do to my room?" He actually really liked it all except that he wanted the bed by the wall not the door, because according to Jay "sleeping by the door is just creepy." I hope Zach likes it too.

I couldn't have one of them in a football picture and not the other. Jay cool over here with mom's sun glasses looking all good after his game.

For the last year we have been having issues with our dishwasher. We have talked to the manager here and even the managers boss and were told they would have someone look at it, which they did (eventually) and he said that we will just have to have a replacement and some pipe work done. Apparently whoever put the dishwasher in put the water pipe in wrong and so anytime we run the garbage disposal it goes into the pipe that is supposed to push water into the dishwasher. Which then means any nasty food or whatever goes into the dishwasher all over the dishes I am trying to get clean. Yuck! So..... I am very happy to report that we have a guy coming out today to fix the problem and install a new dishwasher since our old one has started to make some bad noises and has even leaked on me twice now. Happy! Happy! Happy! This is the best part about renting for sure lol.

I love being able to sit here in the mornings and catch up on my shows and sip my tea in the quiet. I love my family more than anything, but they are very loud :) so when I have a small amount of time to just sit and be still and quiet I enjoy every bit of it. What I need to be doing is vacuuming my living room floor instead of sitting here, but I will get to that soon enough. I have a bad habit of letting the house work slide on days I have to go to work and I need to get over that! Mr. Wonderful says it's not all my responsibility, but I don't like when other people do it for me so I try to get everything done before they get home. Guess that's the price you pay when you get OCD about how things are done. Usually my day off is cleaning day, but last week and this week I have been given one of the weekend days off and no one wants to clean house when the family is home and you could be having fun with them instead?

I found a pretty craft on pintrest for Christmas and I think I will work on it soon. Maybe not today, but if I have time then I will :) It's fairly simple and all I really have to do is slap some paint on a piece of wood I already have and then put a word on it. It's not at all hard, but for some reason I think it is very pretty. I may set it on the porch after I am done with it since I totally flaked on decorating at Halloween :( I was having too much fun making two face come to life and Thanksgiving isn't my favorite holiday..... I don't even make turkey for thanksgiving. It's usually sushi or something equally as different. But this year we are going to have to eat early since my Zach attack is going to be heading to his fathers half way through the day and we are going to have our friend Ryan over too which the boys are all excited about. They call him "the kid" because they think he acts like a big kid and they love having him around. In my opinion you can't have enough people around you that love you and blood doesn't make you family the connection you have with people does. I am not sure what Ryan's official title in our family would be other than "the kid" but I don't care either we are just happy to have him around.

Around the corner from Elle's world

There is a place that overlaps with it called Dee Dee's world LOL. For those of you who don't know I do have a sister who is lovingly called Dee Dee by my children. I know I have posted about my sister before, but today I thought I would take a minute and write a post about her business. It isn't a brand new thing I know she did open her online etsy store My little heart strings last year and only decided to run it for a short few months and then she shut it down for the season. This year she opened it back up for orders earlier than last year and is still going strong!!! I hope she decides  to leave it open all year this year because I  really do think she would have a following even during non winter months. She makes the most beautiful crochet items. I have a hat that she made me and I love it and wear it all the time, and while I have a more traditional hat she makes some of the most freaking awesome character hats you have ever seen!!!!

What little girl doesn't want a pink minion???

 Not to mention the beautiful scarves and boot cuffs that she has created and I just saw online (Yes I follow my sisters store online) she is going to start making full sized leg warmers that look like they would not only keep your legs nice and snug but would be so comfortable you might never take them off!!!!

:) Yay for leg warmers!!!

 Ok so here is the link to her store EVERYONE should go check it out and order some amazing hand made things from her. http://www.etsy.com/shop/MyLittleHeartStrings  best part when you are looking at her creations and you fall in love with one or two (and you will) she will do a rush order if you just got to have it now for a little extra. She also just added a GA bulldog hat with or without a bow : ) My Zach loves it already and I will most likely have to be getting him one. I wonder if I could talk her into making it into a stuffed animal instead of a hat.... ????? hrmmmmm.

Pretty good job for a girl who doesn't even like the bulldogs.

Seriously though just go check her out and don't forget to notice what a beautiful little female model and what handsome little male models she has on there too. (Those would be my sweet little niece and crazy little nephews lol)

Run for your lives it's Zombie Drew!!!!! AAAHHHHH!!!!

 

 

*I love you Desiree and I am so proud of what you are doing*

 



A new chapter in Elle's world.

Well it's been awhile since I posted last. We have had some really crazy busy last few weeks. First of all Halloween went over great! Jay's costume totally ended up being amazing even though I messed up three pairs of pants, had to cut the neck out of a turtle neck, and bleach out a grey vest that used to be a woman's sweater type, but after I got it all dyed (turned out purple not black) and Jason's face painted he was a very happy young man and other kids kept saying "cool look he is two face" Score!!!
The best part of the night to me was when the boys walked up to one of the last houses we went to and the little boy came out to give them candy. He looked at Jay and said hey you are two face, and then he looked at Zach and said I have no idea who you are. LOL that's what happens when you pull half your costume off in the car son.

 Zachary's costume was much easier to take care of. I found him a zip up vest that was already black and painted S.W.A.T on the front of it, he wore a black shirt and I even found him a pair of sweat pants that looked just like cargo pants, but they were much warmer for after dark trick or treating!

 And of course as the mom I had to dress up as well. I found an amazing skirt and top at the good will and all I had to do was get some flowers and hot glue them to a clip for my hair and paint my face and I was good to go. I dressed up like the Dia de los muertos lady (pretty much a very pretty sugar skull face) which is a mexican holiday that honors the memories of dead family and friends. I made sure to look up what it was all about before I decided that was what I wanted to be just in case lol.

(not me but this is the same idea anyways)

Life after Halloween however got a little more complicated. My Alice started getting sick one day last week and she seemed to just have an upset stomach. She kept trying to throw something up, but there was no nasty poop or anything to go along with it. She laid around for most of the day and we all went to bed that night with her sleeping under my bed. Mr. Wonderful woke me up the next morning and said that I had to get up now because she had climbed up into the bed with the boys and died. We were all so sad to have her go so unexpectedly and both boys cried when I sent them to the showers to get clean while Mr. Wonderful and I cleaned up the beds. I know I will miss my girl very much and please no one say would you like to have another dog because I just don't think we want another any time soon.

(R.I.P. my sweet Alice)

So after all that excitement and emotional roller coaster today was also extremely emotional for me. My ex has been seeing Zach for about a year pretty regularly, after being gone mostly for the last 11 years, and today was court day. I have known it was coming for quite some time I just haven't said anything to many people because I just didn't want the extra stress of having a million people telling me what I should be doing when it came to my son. I was totally ready to fight tooth and nail for my son against him, but when I sat Zach down and made him tell me something other than I don't know what I want, it came out that he would really like to have equal time between us. So as the adults and parents the ex and I sat down and came to an agreement we can both live with that would let us have equal time with Zach and still keep him in the same school and with his friends. Right now we are trying it out with a temporary order, but it looks like we are both going to end up with five days of having him and then the other will have him for five days. It makes me very sad to think he will be gone that much, but I have to remember it is what will make Zach happy and is probably best for him right now and of course since his father and I are speaking if something changes and it turns into a situation that doesn't work we have already agreed that we will talk that out too. I know it is much better for Zach to see his parents working together to put his best interest first, instead of seeing us fight it out in court with all the name calling and bashing going on.

(I love you my son and I always will. No matter what! I know this is really what you want and so I did my best to give it to you. I will miss you terribly when you are away from me, but I will never stop loving you.) 

With that said I have to say that some people are just a$$ h*les!!!!! They just are not happy without causing trouble and drama for other people. Wonder why I kicked them out of my life in the first place. Someone who was supposed to be my best friend for years showed up in court today to testify against me even though we had already worked out the issue of what was going to be best for Zach. And then that bi*ch had the nerve to make a comment about how she was so glad she hadn't had to testify because she just wasn't looking forward to that. WTF ever!!!! No one else even bothered to come because everything was settled. I really can't even tell everyone how glad and happy I am that I know what she is all about and that I have no interest in EVER being friends with someone like that again. OK end of rant!