Twinkle the Elf check-in

In case you missed my initial Elf on the Shelf blog post, be sure  to look back  a couple days to find out how we first met Twinkle :-)

Twinkle  has been here a few days now, and she has been doing an amazing job of keeping Raya's tantrums in check lol. If Raya is on the verge of tears or tantrum I  just shake  my head and  say "oh, poor Twinkle is going to have to  report this to Santa" and then Raya immediately dries her tears and says "I'm being good Mama!" in her *sweetest* possible voice :-P Brielle on the other hand does not  fear Twinkle in the slightest---she continues to tantrum away!

There are no shortage of ideas online as to difference scenarios you can set up for your Elf on the Shelf...but  I've learned three things so far. First, all  of my ideas must  take place well out of the reach of Brielle's little  hands. This means that pretty much everything takes place above counter height! This limits my options greatly. Two, I  don't think Raya would really "get" and appreciate some of the more elaborate elf  set ups (I  mean, if  she is thrilled by me spending 15 seconds  sticking a random item in Twinkles hand, then why waste any more time doing something more complicated, right? haha. I'll save all  the better  ideas for next year when  she cares!). Three, Raya LOVES it when Twinkle takes  something of hers. Pretty much all  month long all  I have  to do is  move Twinkle to various spots around the house, each time having her  hold a different item of Rayas :-)

So with  all  that in mind, here is what Twinkle has  been up to.

After her first trip to report back  at the North Pole Raya woke  up and discovered Twinkle and  Minnie swinging together from our fruit stand.



Lee told me this was a little  innappropriate haha---they were just swinging and having fun people!

Raya loved that Twinkle took  her toy and told Twinkle to put Minnie back the next time she went to the North Pole.

Then the next morning Minnie  was back  in the toy box, but we found  Twinkle on top of our little Christmas tree---eating one of Raya's suckers!!

Raya's wheels immediately  started turning and she said "Mama, Twinkle will get all  sticky  if she eats that! I think she can just let me eat it"   haha. I told her we'd have to see what  Twinkle decided to do!

So then this morning Raya woke  up and saw this sitting at her spot at the table

Raya  happily ate it with her breakfast this morning haha---hey, who am I to argue with Twinkle's request! :-)

And then after breakfast  Raya found Twinkle....

Hanging around in the laundry room!

She  had washed Raya's panties! Silly  Twinkle :-)    ...Raya thought this was just the most hilarious thing she had ever seen....she laughed and laughed

So Twinkle is now quite  a silly member of the family and Raya  is really  enjoying it! Brielle on the other hand is much too young and doesn't understand any of it, although when she hears you mention Twinkle she always runs to wherever Twinkle is and points her out and squeals excitedly that she  "found" her lol

(On a side note, see the polkadot skirt Twinkle is wearing above? Well through a mistake on Amazon's part I ended up with two of those, and I'm looking to pass my extra on to someone. However I think  the g irl elves are new  and so far everyone I've  asked has boy elves! So if you have a girl elf and would like a skirt for her please message me through my Etsy shop and let  me know your address and I'll  send it to you! First person to message me can  have  it :-)

Can't  wait to see where  Twinkle shows up tomorrow!

In other news, our house is now officially decorated....and seriously, lights are a big rip off! No wonder we never did them before haha. For *3* strands of lights we paid $60 (granted they were the LED ones or whatever for high efficiency, but  still!)  ....so needless to say Lee wasn't spending much more than that! So this is how our HUGE light display turned  out hehe ;-)

Raya is  absolutely thrilled  though and thinks our house  is "beautiful" now

We should try and get some after Christmas sale lights for next year to add to our big display!

Of course poor  Lee had one of the coldest days so far to stand out there and put up lights  haha.  The girls wanted to help too, so I bundled them up!

Ready to go!

They didn't  last out there for  long though---watched from inside!

The last bit of news today is that we brought out the holiday clothing! I like to get everything holiday themed and/or festive colors gathered up so we can make sure to wear it all month long!

I love  this Gap shirt and hoped Raya could wear it one more year, but  it's officially too small lol...we'll  put it away after  today!

Brielle in Gymboree penguins! I  found a big  lot  of used Gymboree  penguin stuff for an awesome price, so she's also got some other penguin stuff this year :-)
 

More of Brielle's  stash---everything is either  hand me down, bought  second hand, or bought ahead at last year's after xmas sales for dirt cheap!

The last of Brielle's  stash---once again, nothing bought new in store this year! Love bargain hunting :-)

Raya's stash is not nearly as great because  she doesn't get hand me downs! But  all of hers is also either  used, handmade by me, or bought dirt cheap at after xmas sales last year. The only "new" thing I bought  her  in store this year was that ballerina outfit from Crazy 8.

I'm stretching---sorry Raya....cherries  are kinda xmas-ish right? lol

So look out for cute  fashion shows  I"m sure of  all these goodies in the coming weeks! :-)


And to  end, speaking of hand-me-downs, I  had to laugh at Raya this morning. This is what I posted on my facebook  page after talking to her today:

"Brielle was wearing Raya's hand-me-downs today and I said something like "you wore these as a baby Raya, but now they are too small so Brielle can wear them" ...too which she replied, "no, I didn't give them to Brielle because they were too small--they just weren't nice anymore and I only wear nice things. She can have them because they aren't even nice anymore" LOL---and so it begins! :-P"