Glitter

I had planned to post sooner than this, but we've had one sickness after another in our house!  Drew -- and his entire class at school -- came down with hand, foot, and mouth disease a few days after his birthday.  Once he finally got over that, it was Emma's turn.  She managed to avoid the hand, foot, and mouth disease, but she had a high fever for most of last week and had to stay home from school.  Knock on wood, it seems like everyone is healthy now.  Hopefully we can keep it that way through Christmas so we don't have a repeat of last year!

Before Emma got sick, we got a very special package from the North Pole.  Santa sent one of his favorite elves to come hang out with us for a few weeks.  Emma chose the name Glitter for our elf.  (It's a girl.)  Each day, Glitter watches the kids to see what kinds of choices they are making.  Then, at night, she flies back to the North Pole to let Santa know all about their day.  In the morning she comes back, and the kids have to find her somewhere in the house.  We've been taking pictures every day.  

The first morning, she took a spin in the Strawberry Shortcake car, with a parade of cars behind her:

The next day we found her playing with Emma's favorite ornament on the Christmas tree:

Then she hung out in Emma's stocking:

She decided to try one of the cookies we left on the counter:

She had a tea party with Ariel and Cinderella:

The night we made sugar cookies, Glitter was inspired to make her own and decorate it with a special message:

The day after that, she saw Emma and Grandpa K playing games and decided to make a special Christmas design on the chinese checkers board:

Then we found her hanging upside down in the little tree on the mantel.  This seems to have been Emma's favorite one so far:

We seem to have a smart little elf, too.  She likes to read:

Yesterday, she was sitting in the middle of the wreath in the kitchen.  This was one of Drew's favorites.  He laughed every time he looked at her sitting up there!

This morning, she was ready to send Emma off for another great week at school:

We'll keep you posted on her upcoming adventures, until Christmas Eve when she goes back to the North Pole with Santa until next year.

And speaking of the big man himself, Emma and Drew paid him a visit when Grandma and Grandpa K took them to the mall on Saturday.  Much to everyone's surprise, there were no tears.  Emma actually smiled (!) and Drew was just in amazement/confusion the whole time.  It will be interesting to see if that changes for him next year.