He's back...

Ollie the Elf has come back for a visit this year during the holiday season.  Last year, Mommy was lazy so Ollie stayed at the North Pole to help Santa prepare for Christmas.  This year, I thought about doing the same but again I was lazy and didn't pack Ollie away properly 2 years ago so the boys found him in my nightstand.  I will be the first to admit that I won't be winning the Mommy of the year award any time soon.
Sometimes I wonder how/why I got sucked into the Elf on the Shelf but I did and the boys love trying to find him each morning.  Izzy... not so much but give her some time and Sister will be sucked in as well.  The boys are starting to question Santa and his existence (thank you nice friends who like to spoil it for my kids and tell them Santa is really your parents...) but for some reason... Ollie- they believe.  We don't follow all the rules for the elf on the shelf but mainly just wake up to find what Ollie might have gotten himself into.
A few years ago, we traded the original Elf in for a new, creepier looking elf.  Did you think that was even possible? 
Ollie arrived at the house on Saturday while the boys were at a sleepover.  He tried to block them out of the house and ate some of the parade candy.  That will teach them to leave on the night that he arrives.  I would have loved to get their reaction but let's be honest... I wasn't getting out of the bed that early.

Next, Ollie wanted to measure himself on their board to see if he might have a growth spurt during the holiday season.  I ended up hanging him from the top of the board for the night for safe keeping.  Milo might get hungry and think Ollie is his snack.  He does like the taste of cotton and everything else for that matter.

Where will Ollie end up next?? 

The last sightings of Ollie for 2011...

Ollie has returned to the North Pole for the year.  He was waiting for Santa under the Christmas tree and caught a ride on his sleigh. 
Before he left, he made sure to keep us on our toes.

Ollie... our time with you this year has been memorable.  Until next year... our little elf friend!

What has Ollie been up to these days?!?

Ollie has slowed down a little bit these past few days mainly because Mommy has been feeling a little overwhelmed lately. But that doesn't stop Ollie from still getting into to everything. 

Hanging out in a stocking

                                    

Coloring to make the time go by at night while waiting for the boys to wake up.

He caught himself a reindeer.

Reminding the boys to be good because Christmas isn't too far away.

Just hanging out

Doing some more hanging.

We definitely have enjoyed having Ollie around this year.  The boys have really gotten into it and can't wait to see where he is each morning.  We had a slight mishap on Sunday morning.  We don't follow the book exactly and the boys do play with Ollie during the day.  They know he doesn't turn into the "elf" until they have gone to bed.  So they had left Ollie on the floor in the dining room and since I went to bed a little earlier than everyone else, guess who was still lying on the floor in the morning.  Sunday morning, I had a little boy in my face a little worried that Ollie might be sick since he was in the same spot.  Oops!!  I won't let that happen again.  Lesson learned!

Ollie's happenings...

Ollie took a little break over the weekend from his naughty behavior.  He just flew to a different spot each morning after his long trip to the North Pole (he was a little under the weather).  But he is back and in rare form the past few mornings. 
First, we woke up to find Ollie watching some cartoons and eating a snack. He eats like the boys... leaving his evidence behind for Mommy to clean up.


                                     
This morning we woke up to this...
                                     
How rude!!  The boys really liked this one until they each were trying to erase each others markings off their face.  Then, a fight started and I had to threaten to send Ollie back to the North Pole for good.  Hopefully Ollie didn't catch the big fight and report it to Santa.

Ollie the Elf

Let me introduce Ollie.  He is our Elf that came for a visit last night.  He was found on our door step with a special letter from Santa explaining his purpose this Christmas season.

Ollie is our new Elf.  Our previous "Elf on the Shelf" took a leave of absence to tend to a personal matter. 

Finding Ollie and the Santa letter. 

Santa's letter

Ethan and Aiden have had a lot of discussions these past few weeks about whether they still believe in Santa.  They are leaning towards the idea that Mommy and Daddy actually buy their gifts and just put Santa's name on the presents.  I would never do such a thing!!  The only reason they haven't fully jumped ship on Santa is because they don't want underwear for Christmas. 
Seeing their faces when we drove up the driveway and they noticed a package was priceless.  Aiden opened the box and pulled Ollie out and screamed "he is real... he is real".  I don't think I am ready for them to stop believing just yet.  This time is just too fun and it seems like they are learning that Santa might not be the real deal earlier these days. 
Well... Ollie wasted no time with his mischievous behavior this year. To our surprise, we woke up to find this:


                                     

Just waking up to find they are stuck in their room.

But not for long!

 Mommy found out during the night what Ollie had been up to because Aiden had one of his coughing fits so I had to get up to give him his inhaler.  Of course, I didn't want to mess up his handy work so I had to crawl through the tight spaces and I am not as small as I used to be.  Thankfully, there wasn't a camera around to capture that sight!
We are anxiously awaiting Ollie's next move tonight but he better watch out because the boys are prepared to let Santa know about his mischievous behavior.