Roger

Roger. That's his name. He's the elf that Santa sent to Granny's house to come home with us for the holiday season. He was our pranking, silly, Santa reporting, present giving, elf that ended up making it seem like Christmas everyday for Caleigh. This elf sat on no shelf and did things just a little bit differently than most other elves. He was more like "Buddy" the elf from the movie "Elf" than he was the "Elf on the Shelf". He just wasn't quite right. But then again, Chad and I aren't quite right either, so he fit right in. I should have taken a picture every day of the things that Roger did, however since this was our first year with Roger I didn't get everything but I did get a few great moments. Roger went to report to Santa every night and then returned the next morning. Sometimes he would "land funny" or act crazy or during the 12 days directly before Christmas, he would bring a small present for Caleigh. She was so excited every morning to wake up and see what Roger had done! It got to be so exciting for her that she would get out of bed way earlier than she had to (even during school break!) just to see what he had done. Caleigh actually slept in Christmas morning later than she did on any given Roger morning. She fell in love with her new friend. Below are examples of his antics!

"Landing funny"




Cleaning up after Roger raided the pantry!


He found the family Christmas cookie favorite-white chocolate covered Oreos!


No scooters in the house Roger!!


Uh-oh! Roger caught what Caleigh had!!! OH NO!


Going for a "spin"!


Using mommy's bathroom to get ready!


Camping out in Caleigh's tent in the living room!


Playing checkers with friends!


Using Caleigh's fishing pole to fish for Swedish fish in the potty! OH MY!


Zip-lining back into the house!


It was a sad event on Christmas Eve when we told Caleigh that Roger would be returing to the North Pole until next Christmas season. There was lots of hugging and even tears were shed. She was so brokenhearted to have tell her friend good-bye. She even drew a few tears from some others who shall remain nameless.



Roger didn't just leave her though. He left her a sweet note and a speacial treat to have for breakfast on Christmas morning!


That Roger is one great elf! I can't wait for him to spend the next holiday season at our house. I sure hope he wants to come back as much as we want him to! See you soon Roger!!!!

Bad Blogger

So, I haven't blogged in months. Literally, months. The holidays came and went and I blogged not once. Shame shame. So now I sit here with a season full of experiences and pictures and have done nothing about putting them all together to be shared with everyone. So, hopefully, over the next few days (weeks-whatever) I will be able to put the memories with the photos before any of the "good" parts are lost to my (very short-term- "Thanks" mommy mush brain!) memory.

4th Birthday Party

It just so happened that Caleigh's birthday fell on a Saturday this year, so we planned her party for that exact day. I was super excited about her party this year because she gave me a theme that I could do lots of stuff with. She said she wanted an "Under the Sea" party. I asked her if this meant that she wanted an "Ariel" party and she told me "No, Under the Sea, but Ariel can come too." So, I set out to plan an under the sea party. I got ideas from blogs and Pinterest and came up with so many that I had to pick and choose what to use.

First and foremost- her party dress. She told me she wanted to dress like a mermaid princess so I hunted at every clothing store I went to for something I thought she would deem appropriate. I finally found this dress and Caleigh fell in love with it. It hung in her room next to her window for over a month and she called it "My Beautiful Party Dress." She was ecstatic to get to wear it on party day! I also picked up the tights at Party City on clearance right before Halloween. They had Ariel written in glitter on the leg. She loved the glitter flats we got her to go with it, however they didn't stay on very long.

Decorations- Blue and teals were the colors of choice. We donned tables with blue coverings and added foam shells and sea life to them.
The food table contained a treasure chest that had beads, coins, jewels, and rings spilling out of it.
A string of Christmas lights draped the table area.
Centerpieces were made from glass vases holding water with blue food coloring wearing a pair of goggles. The vases were surrounded by chocolate gold coins and beads.



A net was hung over the fireplace and pearlized balloons were stuffed behind it. Over the top of the net was a sea creature banner with her name on it that was created by my mom. I absolutely loved this banner.

Windows and doors were adorned with aquatic window clings and bubble machines greeted guests as well as filled the back yard play area. If you look closely, you can see some of the bubbles in this pic.

Streamers were hung from the ceiling fan to the walls to gave a wave effect overhead.

Chad painted a picture of a mermaid and we cut the face out. We made guests (young and old) pose for pictures behind it.


Food- Since it was an under the sea party, seafood was served. Captain D's fish, shrimp and chicken tenders were on the menu. There were hush puppies galore! "Seaweed dip"-aka spinach dip was a big hit as well. There was a cake made to look like underwater and cupcakes to match it. Of course there were Swedish Fish candies and lots of Goldfish crackers, Goldfish cookies, and Whale Snack Crackers. Cheese balls and applesauce for our littler guests was also served. I always end up having way too much food and this party was no exception. However, I would rather have to much than not have enough any day!



Games- We picked up a stick the crown on Ariel game at Party City the day we got the tights, so this game was essentially the very first thing we planned for her party. She had lots of fun getting dizzy and trying to stick her sticker on Ariel's head.
Even her Granny got in on the action.

Our inflatable jumpy was put up outside and we filled it with sea animal pool toys.

I also bought some AquaSand and set up a table so kids could play with it in small tubs of water.
Another table contained "Edible Sand Art". Baby food jars are filled with colored Pixie Stix candy and then decorated. Kids could take them home and later eat their art.
The swing set also proved to be a big hit that day since the weather turned out to be so beautiful.
Inside, a small baby swimming pool was inflated and ball pit balls were added so that even the littlest guests could have some fun.

Favors- Buckets with the children's names on them were filled with bath toys or outdoor water toys, goggles, Goldfish, and Swedish fish candies.



Presents- Caleigh ened up with so many presents. All I can say is that she is one loved little girl!




I hope she had an amazing birthday! I can't say enough how much I love this precious girl!

Party Planning!

Here it comes! Caleigh is turning 4! I can't believe it. I just found some old home movie tapes and watched one of them that went through random times in Caleigh's life from the time she was eight months old until she was just over a year. In the beginning of the tape she was a drooling little baby who would roll around on the floor or get up on her hands and knees and rock. This progressed into an army crawl a few scenes later and and then into a full out, chase her around the house, crawl. Then it was scenes of her holding on the furniture and walls and walking around. By the end of this tape, she was walking and even running! As I watched that tape, I thought about how fast all of that really happened. From rolling to running in less than five months! Amazing! Sadly, I feel like that it what is happening now. She has gone from infant to a little girl in far too short of time. But I realize in her mind that time is endless. She lives each day with excitement and enjoyment and always anticipates tomorrow. This is why I am so excited to throw her her fourth birthday party. She brings me such happiness and in doing things just for her, whether it is making her lunch or throwing her a party, she shows her appreciation in a way that my heart can never get over.

Where did October go?

Well, as you can tell from my previous post, we tend to be a pretty busy family in the fall. So busy in fact, that it is now November and I am just now writing the post that finishes out all of our October events and I am wondering where October went! Aunt Mish's birthday fell smack in the middle of the month and Caleigh and I got to take her our for lunch that day! Mish and Caleigh seem to have a really close bond and she loves to hang out with her.

In the midst of all of our partying hard through the month, Caleigh manages to start feeling badly. This comes as no surprise to me since the 70/80+ days give way to 40/30- nights and drastic temperature changes wreak havoc on Caleigh. After a fever off and on for several days in a row, she took a trip to the doctor who told us it was nothing more than her usual asthma related problems and possibly a virus that had run its course. Back to breathing treatments daily we went and will have to continue to do so a minimum of once a day through the rest of the fall and winter. Thank goodness for Charlie Brown. She will gladly take a treatment if I put an episode of that on for her to watch while she does it. I don't know why she does, but I distinctly remember her doing the exact same thing last year as well!

She was out of school most of the week she had the fever but she was determined for feel better for that Friday since it was "Farm Day" at school. They were all told to dress as farmers and they got to go into the gym and pick an egg from a chicken coop, then crack a real egg, and then watch some eggs being cooked then eat them. I was the lucky mom that got to cook the eggs for the 80 3-year olds that morning. They also got to squeeze oranges followed by drinking orange juice, butter and eat toast, dig through dirt for vegetables, and play with farm toys. All the little ones in their overall, straw hats, boots, and bandannas really did make cooking all those eggs worth it!

Picking a costume for Halloween this year was not as easy as in the past. Formerly, I have been able to just pick out what I wanted her to wear and put it on her. This year, SHE wanted to choose. And rightfully so. We took her to Party City where she stared at the giant wall of pictures of costumes and decidedly picked out the Olivia costume. For those of you who are unfamiliar with preschool television, Olivia is a creative, imaginative, pig who lives with her dad, mom, and two younger brothers and her show is a staple show on the NickJr network since 2009. This was the first year that an Olivia costume was made and they only made it in a toddler size and a kids small. Well, neither of those would fit my little piggy so I resolved that if that was the costume she wanted then I would find a way to make it for her. After searching the internet and coming up with a few ideas, I enlisted the help of the sewing talents of my mother and we went about making her an Olivia costume that would fit her. In the end, I was so pleased with the finished product that I liked it much better than the one we could have bought if they made it a little bit bigger. While many older people had no clue who she was, practically every kid that saw her knew exactly who she was. I loved hearing some little kids squeal in delight to their parents, "Look mom/dad! It's Olivia."

We went to our local library's Halloween party and she got to listen to stories, sing songs, check out decorated pumpkins,

have cookies and juice, and create a paper bag scarecrow puppet. She really enjoyed the evening.

That same weekend we joined Mish in attending a craft fair in Conyers. We shopped and enjoyed some ice cream and italian ice before heading to my mom's house for pizza and a movie. Well, pizza and a nap for Caleigh. She was wore out!

The following week was her fall festival at school where she got to wear her Halloween costume to school for the day. She was very excited about this and really had fun playing the games and winning candy. She was even more excited that I got to come and play with her while she was at school!


We never made it to a pumpkin patch as a family this year but Caleigh did get to go to two earlier in the month so I didn't feel like she was missing out on anything. I went to Wal-Mart and purchased a few very large pumpkins and Caleigh chose what she wanted it to be carved like this year. Her fist Halloween we carved Moose (again from NickJr), her second year it was Wow Wow Wubbzy, last year was Tinkerbell, and this year she chose Ariel. I am not a carver, so Chad gets to try to impress us each year with his design of whatever Caleigh has chosen. He didn't fail this year either. Caleigh thought Ariel was awesome.


We participated in Trick or Treat on the Square in our hometown

and attended the first ever Zombie Walk to the Square in the same weekend.


We went to a church fall festival with the daughters of one of Mish's friends.

And this made the fourth time she had worn her costume and it wasn't even Halloween yet!

On the night of Halloween, she donned her costume and trick or treated at my mom's

and my husband's mom's house.

We met up with one of my friends at his mom's house and we headed to a huge fall festival at her church.


She was supposed to be working the event but they had enough volunteers so she got to hang with us for most of the night. Caleigh wanted to slide down a giant slide but because of her age, they would not let her do it alone. So, I trekked up the slide and slid down with her in my lap. I am pretty sure I gave my friend a really good laugh.

So now, October is over and we are a week into November. I am frantically making party arrangements for Caleigh's 4th birthday and trying to figure our birthday presents and planning for Christmas at the same time. I know everything seems to get all mushed together for a lot of people, but for me, it seems to be jumbled just a little bit more because I have a birthday thrown in the mix too. I have told Chad that from now on I might as well say "Happy HallowBirthdayThanksgiveoChristmasYear" because that is exactly what it feels like!