a HILL of a good time.........: And we will call him Pingle...

By this point I am sure you have heard about Elf on the Shelf. I heard about it last year but didn't purchase on in time, so this year I wasn't going to forget. I had told Ryan all about it and even sought out "cool elf ideas" on Pinterest. I had talked about it so much that while we were shopping with my parents at Target, Ryan and I both placed an Elf on the Shelf in the cart! We were rolling two carts because of the kids so it took us a bit to realize we actually had two. HA!

One went back but one came home and that night we broke it out. We had recently been struggling with Chaz's listening skills so we thought this would be a great ~~scare tactic~~ discipline technique. It worked some of the time but wasn't as "magical" as some moms have told me. Oh well, it was really fun to do and every morning Chaz would wake up and say "let's look for that elf!"

Oh and his name? Yep, Pingle. If you read the book you know you have to name your elf and since it was Chaz's elf he named him. Pingle. I love the imaginations of little ones. Fletcher's elf is named Christmas tree. How cute are they?!?!

Now before I take you through the "Month of Pingle" please know that I have a few excuses for our less than creative days 1) we are living on little sleep with a newborn 2) we are forgetful (I feel I have a more legit pass than Ryan) 3) did I mention we are t.i.r.e.d?? Anyways, we tried our best but sometimes we were not as creative as others. Or we would just totally forget until I was up feeding Dane and Ryan would abruptly be woken up by a bump and a "Hey, did you move Pingle???" Ugh. You will notice our creativity levels go up and down. God love the elf!!

Day 1: Pingle reveals himself to the family by hiding in my village. Chaz found him within seconds.

He hid in what we call the Graveyard. Yes, I am that mom that has resorted to taking toys away. Not the crappy toys that he offered up but the supper cool, very loved toys. Yep, I'm that mom and I have no shame about it because it works. He gets a toy taken for bad behavior and he has to earn it back. This day he said "Oh no, Pingle must have told Santa about the Graveyard" We had an angle for a child for several days. Score one for Pingle!!

If we traveled somewhere, Pingle came along. This was super cool for Chaz. He thought it was a hoot that Pingle magically appeared in Gaga and Papa's Christmas tree.

Next to the TV in our room. (Yes, we need new furniture and a new TV from this century.. I'm working on it)

In our tree. Yes, this was one of those 3am "OH CRAP! We forgot to move Pingle!!"

And then I learned that the Elf was supposed to be naughty.. WHAT?? Ok now this is going to be fun!. Snow angel!

This is a cabinet at Gaga and Papa's house. We have a silly thing we do where Chaz will stick his finger in the hole and pretend a squirrel is biting it. So, what better place for Pingle.

In our clock.

Hanging from the lanterns in Dane's room. Chaz thought it was hilarious that Pingle got into Dane's room.

Kitchen light.

And then we got our creativity back.. Did you know elfs pee green??

We probably should have done the milk before the potty.. I'm pretty sure Chaz thought Pingle peed in the milk. Oops! Notice there isn't much milk in the jug because we knew Chaz would never drink green milk.

Dining room light

Dining room chair

Mom and Dad's coffee maker.

The oven

Silly elf got into Chaz's favorite cookies and poured himself a little glass of milk.

Gotta check out the Toys-R-Us toy book.

I had to move him while Chaz was at school as we were having the fam over for dinner. He was so pumped to see his cousins, he never even noticed. HA!

Kickin' it on the advent calendar. Besides finding his elf this was Chaz's other favorite thing to do in the morning-- "Get my number" as he would call it.

In his wreath. This was surprisingly one of Chaz's favorite spots. I think it was because it was in his room. :)

Not only did my parents keep the kids overnight, they also took on the Pingle responsibility. They are simply awesome!

back home in the entryway light. This one didn't take him long either. He was very good at the game of finding the elf.

This may have been one of our most creative. I decided to have the little green army men capture Pingle and place him on the railroad tracks.

Chaz didn't like this AT ALL!! He was very mad at the Army men and asked me "why would they do that to pingle" Note to self: do not cause any harm to Pingle next year. Not well received. Chaz picked Pingle up by the ribbon being careful not to touch him, carried him into my closet and safely placed him on the bench. He was sure the Army men would leave Pingle alone if he was hidden in the closet.

But I decided to mess with Chaz while he was at school. Yeah, that mom.. I know.Pingle or he will lose his magical powers. I walked into my room to see Pingle on the floor in front of the entertainment center.

Ryan and Chaz did an emergency rescue with some kitchen tongs and a towel. (Ryan convinced Chaz that he read this is how you "deal with this kind of situation") and they placed him in the fireplace. Every night Chaz opens the fireplace in order for Pingle to get out the chimney and off to the North Pole. But the next morning we discovered we forgot to open the screen. Pingle was stuck.

Ryan decided to put Pingle on Chaz's bike. When he went to get Chaz from his room the next morning he opened the door going out to the garage. Chaz thought it was hilarious when he walked by to see the crazy antics of Pingle.

After a rough, rough day we decided to have Pingle send Chaz a little message.. And considering it was just a few days before the Christmas frenzy began we needed our sweet little boy back

We do "Santa" on Christmas eve morning at our house. When Chaz woke up this is what he saw.. Silly Pingle. The tape was the evidence.

And Christmas morning we hid him under Gaga and Papa's Christmas tree. You are able to touch the elf on Christmas morning because he had used all his magical powers for the year. Then he will return to the North Pole to regain his magical powers for next year. Once Chaz noticed him he just started screaming "THERE IS PINGLE!!!" It took us a while to convince him that he could touch him now. Once he agreed he was so excited. He hugged on him for a long time. And of course he told him "thank you and I love you"