Wanted: Diddle the Elf (Wanted for stealing Sheriff Woody's Cowboy Hat)

Well, Day 9 proved to be a real doozie for Diddle. According to his note to Mary Chandler and Jackson, he came back from the North Pole and decided to dig through Jackson's closet to find something fun to play with for a little while. He said that he found a very cool cowboy hat sitting on the floor and decided to put it on to see how it looked on him. Then, out of nowhere, Sheriff Woody and the Round-Up Gang and friends began chasing him and accusing him of stealing Woody's cowboy hat! Then they arrested him and put him in Woody's jail. His note to the kids asked them to please explain to Woody that he just wanted to be their friend and that he would NEVER steal anything because everyone knows that stealing is wrong! Hopefully by the day's end Diddle will be free!

Won't you guide my sleigh tonight??

On day 8, Diddle decided to play a trick on the kids while they were sleeping! I had been painting earlier in the evening and "accidentally left" my paint on the coffee table. Diddle took the red paint and snuck upstairs and painted the kids noses while they were sleeping. Then, he perched himself against the red paint bottle with the paint brush and waited for the kids to wake up. He left a very funny note telling the kids to go look in the mirror and referencing that Santa may need them to "guide his sleigh tonight". They laughed so much when they saw their red noses!!

(Needless to say, this picture was taken IMMEDIATELY after they woke up. Please ignore the bed head! Also, Jackson apparently rubbed some of his red nose off during his sleep. Oh well . . . he got the point!)

Diddle wuz Here

Day 7 was the day that Diddle became a graffiti artist on my REFRIGERATOR!! Diddle's note said that he loved watching my kids draw and he wanted to be an artist as well. So . . . he found a cup of dry erase markers and in his opinion, " a REALLY HUGE" dry erase board. Next, Diddle went to work creating a big display of elf graffiti in which he expressed his new found love for Barbie, his self portrait, a quote from Buddy the Elf (that Diddle decided to take credit for by scratching out Buddy's name and writing his own), and other scribbles and squiggles as well. Diddle was busted on the handle of the fridge with a dry erase marker in hand. Sure hope it cleans off easily! :-)

Diddle + Barbie = 2gether 4ever

"I'm Cute!! I'm Cute!! She thinks I'm cute!!!" is how Diddle began his day 6 note. (Stealing the quote from his best friend, Rudolph)! Apparently, when Diddle was returning the bed and pillows that Barbie let him borrow yesterday, he asked her out on a date. She said "Yes" and so a budding romance begins. Diddle said that he wrote Barbie a song and sang it to her with his acoustic guitar. He also borrowed some spiffy clothes for his date from Ken. (And by borrowed, he meant stole). He also decided to keep his "Do Not Disturb" sign from yesterday because he said that he didn't want anyone messing with the "Best. Day. Ever." Diddle and Barbie stayed up all night talking and getting to know each other and they ended their date by watching "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer" on repeat. It is very obvious that Diddle is smitten.

** Do NOT Disturb **

On day 5, Diddle, the Elf on the Shelf was POOPED! He left the kids a note saying that he was exhausted from staying up all night at the North Pole Party the night before. He said that flying to the North Pole and staying up all night playing Reindeer games was just too much to handle and he needed to get some much needed rest. So . . . he borrowed a bed and some blankets from Barbie and snuggled up by the cozy fire to get some rest! He also made a "sleeping mask" from a rubber band and construction paper. Lastly, he borrowed a night table from Barbie as well as a lamp and a tea cup (in case he needed a little sip of warm tea to soothe him). He also made a sign that said "Do Not Disturb" so that the kids would not be loud when they found him this morning. Mary Chandler and Jack LOVED it! Their favorite part of the letter was the P.S. at the bottom that said, "Your friend Barbie was so nice to let me borrow a bed and some blankets and pillows so that I could rest all comfy! (She's cute too! :-) )" Who knows . . . maybe Diddle and Barbie will go on a date soon?!?!?!?!!?!

I'm BACK!!!!!!!!!!

So many things have been happening these last few months and I have been very slack with this blog. However, I'm back and I plan on being much more faithful to posting. I decided that this is a great time to come back, because one of my favorite things is back! "Diddle", our elf on the shelf has returned! In the past, Diddle just did the regular old gig of moving from place to place in our house each day. However, this year Diddle wrote a note informing my kids that Santa Claus had been working him too hard and that he was looking forward to having a little fun at our house. He arrived on day one on the front porch of our house on Jack's spiderman motorcycle.

Day two, he left a note saying that he was afraid that he was going to miss the snow in the North Pole, but was so glad that he found a whole bag of it in our cabinet. We found him on the counter making snow angels in powdered sugar!

Day three, Diddle wrote a note saying that he witnessed us decorating the upstairs of our house and he wanted to help, so he "decorated" the stairs by toilet papering our staircase like garland.

Day four, Diddle had a North Pole Party to celebrate his best friend Rudolph's TV movie. Diddle's note said that he saw us all watching the Rudolph movie so he wanted to invite all of his North Pole friends (all of the kids Christmas stuffed animals) to have a party to celebrate Rudolph being on TV. They seemed to have gotten into the candy bowl and feasted on Hershey Bars and York Peppermint Patties (especially Frosty).

I am so enjoying the faces of my children each morning when they wake up to find Diddle! I will keep posting Diddle's antics . . . they are sure to get more and more crazy!

End of the year party cupcakes

I really can't believe that this school year is almost over! My sweet 2nd grade daughter has flown through this year with flying colors! She is such a smart and dedicated student. She LOVES to learn! She even does random reports (unassigned) because she enjoys doing research. (Insert confused face here???) Anyway, I can only hope that will continue through the rest of her school years. My baby boy is about to complete kindergarten. I must admit that at the beginning of the year I thought that we were going to have trouble with him. He DID NOT want to go to school. The whole week before classes began, he begged me to "home school" him. LOL! (I can promise you that was not happening!) Anyway, once he started school, he LOVED IT!! He loved his teacher and his "mates" (his way of referring to his classmates) and he did wonderfully! I can honestly say that both of them had a terrific year with much less drama than I had anticipated. Whew! (I know, I know . . . middle school awaits one day and the drama will be a plenty)!

So today, Mary Chandler had her end of the year party at school and she wanted me to make some cupcakes for the class. I was sort of stumped. Do you do something with a school theme? No, that wouldn't work. I had to think of something to celebrate the end of school and the beginning of summer. What fits that description better than a bright Mr. Sunshine?? I decided on these super cute Mr. Summer Sun cupcakes and then created a cupcake topper that stated "Welcome, Summer!" Now that just screams, "good-bye school" and "hello sun and fun"! Welcome, Summer! The Keels family has been missing you! :-)