[Elfie's been busy]

Elfie has been having fun in our house again. 

One day he left special metallic markers and a cute drawing for Sienna.

Here he is taking Sienna's dolls to see the Christmas tree.

Playing marshmallow tic-tac-toe with one of Sienna's dolls.

Elfie sure can't wrap a gift very nicely, but he does know what we like. He gave us "Christmas Cello" album by Steven Sharp Nelson. We have been listening to it over and over again in the van. Love it!! Beautiful music!! 

You can purchase the cd by clicking here.

On this day, Elfie was reading and highlighting scriptures. He put a new bookmark to mark one of his favorite scriptures of the Savior.

He's no Grumpy Cat, but Mr. Happy is one lovely pet too!

(Looooove Grumpy Cat, by the way. Wish she was mine! She'd cheer me up every single day with that grumpy frown.)

Having a nap in Sienna's slippers.

Digging into M&M's.

Peek-a-boo!

Hanging from the dining room lamp (which eventually will be exchanged to a nice modern one).

Sometimes he just likes to sit in funny places.

Fun!

[advent wall calendar update]

Here's an update on our advent wall calendar. Things are progressing. Elfie joined the fun and made some paper snowflakes for the calendar. He left a little snowflake rubber stamp gift for Sienna. Nice guy!

This photo is from today. 

The animals so far: Elephant, hedgehog, owl, bear, duck, squirrel, lion, koalas, polar bear, bird, penguin family, Boo the dog, dove, butterflies.

I found the wooden stars at Michaels.

I think next year's wall calendar is going to be a silly one. I wanted to add Grumpy Cat and goofy animals, but feel that with the manger and baby Jesus, I have to keep things reverent. 

[advent calendar update, etc.]

Here’s an update on our wall calendar. So far I've added an owl, an elephant, a hedgehog, a moose Sienna drew at school, a squirrel, a polar bear and a penguin family. Not every day, but some mornings, there's been a small treat among the animals too. A chocolate Lindt teddy bear, for example. 

I had hoped to bring Elfie back for 12 days of Christmas only this year (it is a lot of work to plan and set up) but Sienna kept asking about him so one day he showed up having had rolled down the stairs in a toilet paper tube. Forgot I had done that last year already. Oops! :)

This is one of my favorites! Elfie took a copy of himself. I had a white towel over him when I took the copy but removed it for the reveal so Sienna could easily see Elfie.

This year, Elfie has bendable arms and legs, which helps. I just stretched the stitches along a seam with a pin and then inserted wire inside. No sewing required.

Sienna caught the Christmas bug early this year and drew Christmas things first thing in the mornings. She made this Santa ornament for our tree but I thought it was a perfect center piece for the wreath. Love how he's carrying Rudolph. :)

Had fun wrapping couple of gifts.

[almost 100!]

Happy 96^th Finland! Love you forever! ♥

Juhlin Itsenäisyyspäivää tekemällä vanhanajan lippuviirin. Kuvassa vain osa siitä.

Rakas Suomi aina ajatuksissa ja sydämessä vaikka asun täällä kaukana. ♥