Well....

So as you see I didn't post over the weekend.  The girls have struggled this weekend.  They fought and didn't listen and about drove me crazy! (we are also house hunting and church and birthday parties and feeling sick...its just been rough)  So Bell was actually going to "go away" on Saturday but I was so worn out that I forgot to put him away.  So he wrote a letter that basically said "if you girls fight and not listen to your mommy and daddy, I'm going back to the north pole until you start behaving."  Well that didn't do that Saturday, so Bell went bye bye.  The girls were upset, so I though surely they will behave Sunday....oh how wrong I was.  So once again this morning Bell was not here.  I think they were just frustrated today.
But thankfully they were much better today and Bell will make his debut again tomorrow.  So I will have a new challenge and verse to post.

For those of you who having been following the advent calendar with our elf, I'm going to post Saturday through Sunday for you:
Day 7: Luke 1:51-56:  And Mary said:

“My soul glorifies the Lord  and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, 

 for he has been mindful
    of the humble state of his servant.
From now on all generations will call me blessed, 

     for the Mighty One has done great things for me—
    holy is his name. 

 His mercy extends to those who fear him,
    from generation to generation. 

 He has performed mighty deeds with his arm;
    he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts. 

 He has brought down rulers from their thrones
    but has lifted up the humble. 

 He has filled the hungry with good things
    but has sent the rich away empty. 

 He has helped his servant Israel,
    remembering to be merciful 

 to Abraham and his descendants forever,
    just as he promised our ancestors.”

 Mary stayed with Elizabeth for about three months and then returned home.

Day 8: Matthew 1:18-22: 

 This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.

 But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.  She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”
 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet:

Day 9: Matthew 1:23-25:
 “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”).
When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. But he did not consummate their marriage until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.

Clean up Clean up!

Its Friday!  Woohoo!  Hello weekend.  Though our weekend is a little busy.  Birthday party Saturday and Olivia gets to sing with the choir in "big" church for the first time.  She's very excited.

So Bell decided that our tree in the office/third bedroom needed a little sprucing up. 

It took the girls awhile to find him this morning.  They get so confused if he's not in the living room.

Here's the letter he left for them today

"Good morning ladies!  I decided to add a little bit of decorations to the tree.  What do you think?

So, how was it smiling at people?  Did it make you happy as well?
Today's challenge is something you can do around the house.  There have been a couple of times this week I have heard your mommy and daddy ask you to pick up stuff, sometimes multiple times.  So today I want you to obey your parents when they tell you to pick up, and also to pick up even if they don't tell you too.  Us elves have to clean up our workshop and our bedrooms too; its important to do those things.  The bible tells us in Ephesians 6:1 "Children, obey your parents because you belong to the Lord, for this is the right thing to do."  We are told to obey because we are God's. 

Day five of our Advent calendar comes from Luke 1: 46-50
And Mary said,
“My soul magnifies the Lord,
   and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
 for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant.
    For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed;
 for he who is mighty has done great things for me,
    and holy is his name.
 And his mercy is for those who fear him
    from generation to generation."

Have a great day at school Sophee.  Olivia, have fun hanging out with your mommy today!"

So the girls didn't really have to worry about this challenge until this afternoon.  Unfortunately...they decided that fighting was better than cleaning. It was a very looooooonnnnnnnnggggggg hour before Kyle got home.  I think the girls might be surprised about what Bell will say tomorrow.

How's your elf on the shelf going?  How are your kiddos doing?  What silly things does he/she do?

Minty Smiles

Can I have a honest mommy moment here: Today was a struggle.  Not so much with doing the elf deal, but encouraging one of my girls to behave.  I'm not sure where the disobedience is coming from or why there is acting out, but its getting frustrating.  It makes me want to just stop doing the acts of kindness challenges all together because it just doesn't seem to take hold.
Now that that is out...I'm not going to stop.  I'm not going to throw in the towel.  I'm going to push on because even if it doesn't sink in now, I know down the road it might.  And I'm doing my best to teach my children what this season is all about.  SO thank you for letting me rant for a minute; I promise the rest of this will be fun.

So today, the elf did something special for this momma.  He got my mug and coffee ready this morning.  The girls thought it was so cool that he was able to be into our cabinets.  Sophee was cute when she told her daddy what all he got.  For some reason, she thought the K-cup was butter :-)

 Wasn't Bell so sweet :-).  It took the girls awhile to find his letter because it blended right in with the counter.  Though I almost pulled a Becky Burns and said "Open the eyes God gave you."  LOL love you mom!

The challenge today was for the girls to smile at everyone they see.  I know this may seem like something small and not a major deal, but one, there are still kind of young, and two, during the week they are sometimes limited to what they can do due to school.  A smile though can truly be a big thing though.  I can recall times when I've been having a bad day, and someone just simply gives me a smile and it makes me smile and changes my day!  Proverbs 15:13a says "A joyful heart makes the face cheerful."  I explained to the girls (though it resenates more with Sophee since she has accepted Christ) that when we have Jesus in our hearts, we have joy in our hearts and we should share that with others.  I decided to even take up this challenge and tried to smile more at people.

Day four of Advent comes from Luke 1:41-45 "When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. In a loud voice she exclaimed: “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear!  But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?  As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill his promises to her!"

Go Last?! Are you (Banana)Nuts

Day three...we woke up a little happier this morning, which was shocking to me since we had choir practice last night and the girls didn't get to bed till 9.  This morning, the girls found Bell at the piano. 

It seems he needed an audience last night so he pulled some toys from the girls room.  But shhhh don't tell the girls he came in there...Sophee cried the other night that she was scared he would come in, so I told them he never came into children's bedrooms.  

Since two Anna's and an Elsa were in the room, of course he played "Let It Go."

The letter to the girls was sitting on the piano.  Sophee is the official reader and she read it out loud to use.  Here is the insert on the challenge and verse from the letter:

"Both of you girls have school today, so your challenge involves your classmates.  I want to encourage you girls to allow your classmates to go before you.  Whether its being ahead of you in line, or allowing them to go first in an activity.  The bible says in Galatians 5:13-14 "It is absolutely clear that God has called you to a free life. Just make sure that you don’t use this freedom as an excuse to do whatever you want to do and destroy your freedom. Rather, use your freedom to serve one another in love; that’s how freedom grows. For everything we know about God’s Word is summed up in a single sentence: Love others as you love yourself."  The world says "its all about me, I'm first."  The bible says "its not about me, it's about others."  This may seems like a small thing, but allowing others to go before you can show the love of Christ.  Being last in this situation is a good thing, not a bad thing. "
Sophee seem to get it...Olivia was confused on why anyone would want to be last.  I had to explain it to her a few times, but she did finally get it.  Sophee had more opportunities to do this challenge, but Olivia did an awesome job as well.  I know Sophee is really enjoying these acts of kindness (and her conscious is working over time...every day its like we have confession hour.) Olivia is doing well at understanding what it means to put others first.

Day three of the Advent Calendar was Luke 1:36-40
 And behold, even your relative Elizabeth has also conceived a son in her old age; and she who was called barren is now in her sixth month.  For nothing will be impossible with God.”  And Mary said, “Behold, the bondslave of the Lord; may it be done to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.

I love hearing parts of the Christmas story each morning.  I'm doing a little devotion over Christmas by Greg Laurie on my Bible app.  Yes I love the decorations and smells of Christmas and it puts me in the mood...but nothing more so than the story of my Savior's birth.
I hope you and your family are finding true joy during this season!

Good Morning and Honeycombs

Happy Tuesday everyone and I hope your morning started off a little better than ours.  The girls fought last night before bed...so Bell addressed that in his letter this morning.  Sophee understood and accepted what he said...not so much Olivia.  In her words "it was stupid."

So for the letter the girls received this morning, it had to be altered from its original format.  Here is a little snippet:

"Now, I want you girls to know that I heard you fighting before bed and not listening to your parents.  That's not how we are suppose to behave towards our parents and siblings.  Acts of kindness isn't just for strangers; we should do these within our family as well.  So today this is a two part challenge.  In Proverbs 16:24 it says: Pleasant words are a honeycomb,Sweet to the soul and healing to the bones.  I want you girls to tell everyone you see in the morning "Good morning" and smile at them.  I know you can do it.  I also want you girls to say kind words to one another.  Encourage your sister, say nice things to her.  I know you can do this as well"
So the random act of kindness today was for the girls to tell everyone good morning.  Then as an added challenge, they had to speak kindly to one another.  Sophee was very much on board with this...Olivia not so much.  But thankfully they spoke kindly to one another once we left for school, so I will consider that a win!  
I have to admit...I was exhausted last night.  So our Elf was only sitting in the tree this morning...nothing exciting.  

For the 2nd day of the Advent calendar, the verse came from Luke 1: 31-35 "and behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name Him Jesus.  He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David;  and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end.”  Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?”  The angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy Child shall be called the Son of God."

Hopefully I will be more creative tonight with what Bell does.  We shall see

Open Doors and Cookies Galore

Hello everyone!  Hope you and your family have had a wonderful Monday!  Well....as wonderful as Mondays can go.  It got cold really quick here in Southeast Texas...but have no fear...it warms back up on Wednesday :-P 

So today was the official start of our elf Bell having fun at night and giving the girls a challenge in the morning.  I know it was only the first morning, but I'm hoping this is an incentive for the girls to get up on time during the week.  They hopped right out of bed this morning...so we shall see.

This morning, we found that Bell watched TV last night with some friends (the girls said he was on a date since it was two barbies but it wasn't intended for that.  I just wasn't able to sneak in their room to get some other toys so we had to go with the barbies that had been left in the living room.)

The girls found their letter from him on the chair as well and Sophee read it out loud while I heated up the pancakes leftover from yesterday (That's the great thing about the recipe I posted yesterday.  I usually get about 20 pancakes from that batter so we use the leftovers through out the week.)  In the note he told the girls what he watched last night (Doctor Who of course!) and then what challenge he had for them today.  Today, they had to open the doors for others and let them go through first.  The girls were super excited about this.  The verse that went along with that was from 1 John 3:18~ "Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth."
I learned after Sophee got out of school maybe I should have done this on another day; Olivia was with me all day and hadn't had a chance to do this, and at Sophee's school the teachers have to open the doors.  Thankfully though, I had to go to Lifeway before gymnastics to return a cd I got for a certain someone on Black Friday, only to have them go later that day and get the same cd *cough cough Kylie* :-)  And wouldn't you know, God had placed someone to walk in at the same time we were, so the girls held the door open together to let the lady through.  The lady had a huge smile on her face, but it sure didn't beat the smile on the girls' faces to know they did something good.  They also had another chance at gymnastics.  All in all, this was a good challenge in not just doing the act, but also being aware of those around you and looking for ways to serve.

At the end of the letter from Bell, he talked about the advent calendar and what it was.  Today, the verse came from Luke 1:26-30~" Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the descendants of David; and the virgin’s name ^was Mary. ²⁸ And coming in, he said to her, “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.”  But she was very perplexed at this statement, and kept pondering what kind of salutation this was.  The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; for you have found favor with God."

The girls love the story of Jesus' birth, and Sophee gets so excited when she's the one who gets to read it to us.

So day one was a success! I'm working on tomorrow's letter and challenge.  Going to do one the girls can do often!

Time Travel, Elf Ears, and Pancakes

So since we were in Texarkana with my family over Thanksgiving, we prepared for Bell to arrive there, since a helper elf  also had a gift for Bell to give to the girls.  Unfortunately I have no pictures of how Bell arrived (my sister videoed it so maybe sometime I will post the vid.) but I will tell you.  Bell arrived tapped to the front door of the grandparents house, with TARDIS Christmas lights strung up around him.  For those who don't know my little (its bigger on the inside) obsession with Doctor Who (my children LOVE it as well) the TARDIS is the Doctor's time machine and "Bell" just happened to find Christmas lights of it for their Christmas tree.  Bell also found Elf ears and hat for my car (Thanks BeBe).  Bell showed up with a letter as well.  I got the letter from Only Little Once and tweaked it a little.  Here is a picture of it

 The girls were so excited about Bell coming back this year.  They have been trying to guess what he is going to do each morning.  This morning they came to wake us up and let us know Bell was drinking the maple syrup (part of the elves four main food groups)  He didn't have a kindness challenge today since we got in last night and mommy didn't print anything out.  But starting tomorrow there will be a challenge.  I'll post about that tomorrow afternoon.

Since Bell was drinking syrup this morning we had pancakes for breakfast this morning.  I found a recipe that I really like to use.  I've tweaked it just a bit, to add holiday flavors to it.

2 cups flour
⅓ cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 ½ Tablespoons. baking powder
1 egg
2 cups milk
2 Tablespoons butter (room temp, soft)
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/2 tsp to 1 tsp cinnamon (this varies depending on how much your family loves cinnamon)
1/4 tsp nutmeg

First take all your dry ingredients and whisk together.  In a separate bowl mix all your wet ingredients together.  Slowly pour in wet ingredients to dry ingredients, whisking until completely mixed.  Heat your griddle or pan to medium heat.  Use a tablespoon to spoon out your batter.  Spoon out 2 tablespoons of batter.  Watch your pancakes, and after about 15 to 20 seconds flip it and cook on the other side for the same amount of time (If 20 seconds has passed and little "bubbles" aren't popping on the pancakes leave for another 30 seconds.)  And last, enjoy your pancakes with as much (or little)  syrup as you want.

Now go put on some Christmas music, start decorating if you haven't already, and get ready for the best time of year!