Meet Scottie the Elf & Oodles too!

Scottie is the newest member of our family.  He was sent to us special delivery from the North Pole.  He also comes with this special book: The ELF on the SHELF A Christmas Tradition. The story goes like this:

Have you ever wondered how Santa could know if you're naughty or nice each year as you grow?  For hundreds of years it's been a big secret.  It now can be shared if you promise to keep it.

At holiday time Santa sends me to you.  I watch and report on all that you do.  My job's an assignment from Santa himself.  I am his helper, a friendly scout elf.

The first time I come to the place you call home you quickly must give me a name of my own.  Once you are finished my mission can start.  What will you call me - Markle or Zart?  Will it be Foddle, Criddle, or Clyde?  Fisbee's cute, too, but you must decide.

Each night while you're sleeping to Santa I'll fly to the North Pole right through the dark sky.  Of course Christmas magic helps me to be quick.  I laugh with my friends and report to Saint Nick.

I tell him if you have been good or been bad.  The news of the day makes him happy or sad.  A push or a shove I'll report to "the Boss," but small acts of kindness will not be a loss.  In the car, at the park, or even at school the word will get out if you broke a rule.

I'll be back at your home before you awake, and then you must find the new spot I will take.  You'll jump out of bed and come running to see:  who'll be the first to spy little old me?

Maybe the kitchen, the bathroom, or den is where you will find me, your special elf friend.  I can hide on a plant, a shelf, or a frame.  Where will I be?  Let's make it a game.

There's only one rule that you have to follow so I will come back and be here tomorrow:  Please do not touch me.  My magic might go, and Santa won't hear all I've seen or I know.

I won't get to tell him that you've said your prayers, or helped to bake cookies, or cleaned off the stairs.  How will he know how good you have been?  He might start to think you forgot about him.

I can't speak to you, so says Santa Claus.  All of us elves have to follow his laws.  I'll listen to you.  Tell me your wishes.  Would you like a game or some tiny toy dishes?  The gleam in my eye and my bright little smile shows you I'm listening and noting your file.

The final decision with Santa now rests.  What do you think?  Will you get your request?  The night before Christmas my job's at an end.  The rest of the year with Santa I'll spend.

So blow me a kiss and bid me farewell.  I'll fly away when I hear Santa's bell.  Of course I will miss you, but wait 'til next year.  When the holidays come I'll again reappear.

Until then I wish every girl and each boy a Christmas of peace and a year full of joy.

This tradition began for The Brammer Family on November 29, 2010.  We welcomed our elf by naming him Scottie.

The kids were so excited that an elf would be staying in our house until Christmas.  Brooke and I wanted to name the elf Oodles but Jace insisted that his name be Scott.  We compromised with Scottie.  Each morning they wake up and and run around the house until they find where Scottie is going to be watching them from that day.  The second day, Jace even wrote a letter to Santa.   He cut a picture of the Iron man robot that he wants for Christmas out of a target ad, pasted it to a piece of paper and wrote I want this for Christmas  From, Jace. He put the letter next to Scottie and the next morning he noticed that his letter was gone.  It had been delivered to Santa for him.

Although, most of the time Scottie the elf has been a pleasure to be around ... last week Jace had a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day and it was reported back to me that he was officially on the 'naughty list'.  I informed him of this after all of his misdeeds that day and he looked at me and said "Dang it!  I do NOT like having that elf in this house!"  I had to catch myself from laughing.  He continued with "Sometimes I just like being naughty and when he wasn't here you would see me sometimes but not ALL the time."  I told him he would just have to learn to be nice if he wants to be on the 'nice' list and get a present from Santa.

We went to the mall a few days after this and Jace would hardly even look at Santa because he thought he was still on the naughty list.  He's been trying so hard.  It's just so darn exciting this time of the year! :)

Don't worry .... I'm 50% positive that he'll make the 'nice' list this year.

We just got a second delivery of another elf ... we are naming him Oodles.  I guess we needed two elves to keep up with this crazy busy family. :)

Bulgogi Lettuce Wraps w/ Cilantro & Asian Pear

(Korean Barbecued Beef)
Lettuce Wraps

Ingredients:
2 tablespoons sesame seeds
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup sugar
4 cloves garlic, minced
4 green onions, minced
1piece (1-inch size) fresh ginger, peeled and grated
2 tablespoons sesame oil
2 pounds top sirloin steak, thinly sliced
1 head buttercruch lettuce
(I like to use living lettuce -it's in the plastic container with roots attached)
2 Asian pears, thinly sliced
1 bunch cilantro (optional)
2 cups cooked rice (optional)

Directions:

*Heat nonstick pan at medium-low for about 30 seconds.  Add sesame seeds and toast, shaking or stirring pan occasionally, until seeds are a nice golden brown, 2 to 3 minutes.  Set aside.

* Combine soy sauce, sugar, garlic, green onions, ginger, sesame oil, and toasted sesame seeds. Stir until the sugar has more or less dissolved.

* Add meat, tossing to coat.  Marinate 30 minutes or up to overnight.

* Grill meat on the stove top until beef firms up and slightly charred.  You want the nice glossy brown look, not the sweaty grayish look.

* Drain excess marinade drippings from the cooked meat into a serving bowl for dipping.

* Serve with lettuce leaves, rice, cilantro, pear, and dipping sauce, allowing guests to roll wraps themselves.

* To assemble, layer a lettuce leaf with a slice or two of grilled beef, spoon full of rice, a sprig of cilantro, and pear slices, then roll up, dip in marinade sauce & enjoy.




By the way, an Asian pear looks like this.  Good luck. This is one of my favorite recipes! :)

 

Ladies Night Out Bowling

We did bowling for the latest and greatest Ladies Night Out with the IWFC.  It was lots of fun.  I bowled horribly the first round coming in last but made up for it the second round coming in first with a score of 111.  Pretty pathetic, huh.  We had some good laughs though.  Ashely should have been crowed the bowling queen and Sangmi was certainly the most graceful bowler I have ever seen.

April shared a segment she had watched on the news about places where the most germs reside, one being on the inside of bowling ball holes.  They wash the outside of the balls but not the holes that you stick your fingers in.  Then giggled as she offered us all a cookie.  GROSS!!  Keep that in mind while you're bowling and about to dig into some nachos or fries - who knows what type of germs are lurking on your fingers.   



Sangmi, Emily, Heather, April, Christina, Ashely, & Tiffany.



The best things ...

about the Thanksgiving holiday are...

PIE.

YUM, YUM!

 & Turkey too.

The kids table was LOTS of fun!

Yes, those are olives on Brooke's fingers and a roll on Jace's head.

Family.  Even if they are ornery about taking a picture.

Relaxing ... then playing volleyball and basketball in the school gym - sorry no pics Jewlz.  I tried to get them off of your smilebox but don't know where they got saved to.

 Jumping on the trampoline with cousins.

 Throwing leaves.



Kendall - my mini twin.  She looks more like me as a kid than my own daughter.
Brooke looks more like aunt Jenny.  It's quite funny.

  Taking pictures of cute nieces & nephews .... wait a second - where did the nephews run off to.  Okay, taking cute pictures of nieces only.  I'll catch you next time Grant, Erik, and Ryan even if you are fast.


Bright eyed Olivia.  She was my best friend whenever I had pie.

Snuggling with Grandma & Snuggling with Grandpa.



and snuggling with daddies too.



Olivia cuddling with her daddy, Uncle Josh.



Black Friday Shopping!!

That's right!  We woke up in the wee hours of the morning
(some of you pulled a complete all nighter)

 to get the best deal on ...

... BOOTS!  We waited and raced for the boots

and aren't they just so cute?!

(Justin raced for electronics)

Then we did makeovers and a mini photo shoot.

I LOVE hanging out with my sisters.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Families are Forever

This year I'm Thankful that my Family is Forever!

... and aren't we a cute one.

I'm also very thankful for my husband who let me take a family picture before church yesterday.  Why have someone else take one when you can do it yourself with a tripod and a self timer

I'm thankful for my Jaceroo ...           sweet kisses & nose picking?

I'm thankful for new/old clothes passed down from the Jagers for the kids.  They look so cute and they're new to us!  Thank you Jager Family!!  I'm also thankful that they have great taste.

I'm thankful for smiling, happy kids, a hardworking, graduate student husband... 

...and for having fun with my goofball gang because we do have LOTS of fun!

A Day in the Life ...

... of ME. 

I know your excited because I have such and exciting life, right?  Lately I feel like my kids have swapped places.  Jace is no longer my 'harder' child.  Brooke, my sweet little angel,  has recently grown horns.  She is constantly saying naughty words, getting into my makeup, draining the tub water onto the bathroom floor with a cup, peeing her pants and then hiding her smelly underoos all over the house, lying about the smelly underoos, stealing food out of the pantry or fridge and smashing it into my carpet, and screeching so LOUD that I feel like I'm going bonkers sometimes. She literally has this horrific high pitched scream that she uses all the time.  I think I'm losing hearing in my left ear and the sad thing is that I'm debating if it's such a bad thing. .. then maybe I won't have to hear her anymore. Okay I'm exaggerating a little.  I don't want to lose my hearing.  Back to Brooke. She also has decided that she doesn't need to sleep.  2 nights ago she was up until midnight.  I put her back in her room about 12 times after which she would just change into a new dress, make a mad dash for the fridge and use it as a large pouch to fill with cherry tomatoes or mini carrots (at least she's choosing healthy foods?).  Finally after about 6 dress changes and trips to the toy room, pantry, or bathroom I just locked her in her room.  She then continued to pound on the door screaming.  Poor Jace has to share a room with her.  I unlocked the door to stop the screaming so Jace could get some rest.  I woke her up early the next day to try and get her off of her crazy sleep routine.  She got up and was happy to be awake then didn't take a nap all day and again stayed up until 10:00pm that night.  Doesn't this girl need sleep?  I know I do. AHHHH pure exhaustion here.  Also the other night (this is a different night) I got out of bed to find Brooke on my kitchen counter taking fruit from the fruit bowl and throwing it on the kitchen floor.  I asked her what she was doing  - "I'm feeding the ants, mom" completely nonchalant like it was to be expected.  And bright and early this morning I found this:



I cropped the horns out of this picture - it makes her look angelic.

That's right - caught with her hands in the cookie jar. 
Okay no jar (I WISH I had a cute cookie jar ... hint hint).  I also discovered this:

Messy rice all over the kids table/chairs in toy room.

Which means that sometime in the wee hours of the morning she got into the fridge again and obviously was eating rice.  She left a huge mess on my carpet and her little play table/chair set.  I think I may need a straight jacket to put this little 'angel' in at night.  She could probably just get out of it though.  Remember her Houdini days when she liked to take her diaper off all the time and play with ... well, you know ... what gets left in diapers.  I tried EVERYTHING from safety pinning her clothes onto her with 'kid'-proof safety pins, to duck taping her diaper on - nothing worked - she could always get out.  Thankfully she grew out of that stage.

Don't worry she does have a sweet side too.  I just wish it would make an appearance more often as of late.  She does say the funniest things, though.  Wherever we go she tells random strangers "I have two grandpas!" with the biggest smile on her face thinking that it's the most important news in the world.  Also, while helping her onto the toilet in the park's restroom she looked up at me and told me "You're the bestest mommy.  I love you a million.  I like it when you play with me at the park."  Times like those melt my heart.  I can't ever stay mad at her too long.  She's just SO happy to be alive and I have to admit... sometimes it is quite hilarious to watch her dash to the fridge,trying not to be spotted, and sneak off with a pouch full of cherry tomatoes, running back to bed.  I love my sassy little snow white.  She brings lots of laughter into this house.

On the other hand,  Jace has turned into such a big boy lately and such a sweetheart too.  Today when he got home from school he ran into the back yard and brought me this:


For you, Mom.  I love you.  It smells really good just like you.

 You're right it does smell really good.  Thanks sweetie! 

I'm on a make-up strike today.  Don't judge me.

Today I'm tired.  I'm sure you can guess why.  That's why I look like that (look up) and that's why my house looks like this:

Yep, my house is a wreck, Brooke is running around in underwear, I'm letting my kids eat their lunch in front of the t.v. watching cartoons (they get mickey mouse chicken nuggets, carrots sticks, and grapes today), and I'm blogging about it instead of cleaning it up.  Sometimes you just need to vent.  I am looking forward to lunch though.  This is what I get:

What is that?? you ask...  a green smoothie I say.  A pear, a tangerine, a banana, orange juice, water, and a BUNCH of spinach all blended up in my magic bullet.  I hope it gives me the energy to get through the rest of today and help curb my cravings for these:


Chocolatey Chip Cookies - YUM YUM!

I'm going to be SO chalk full of healthy stuff that I won't even want one....I hope.  I'm finding it harder and harder to stay thin as I get older.  My jeans have suddenly started to get uncomfortably tight.  I have decided to make some changes to my diet instead of hoping that they just shrunk in the dryer.  I am going to be eating a fiberlicious breakfast and green smoothie everyday for the next week to see if it will help curb those sweet tooth cravings I have from about 9pm on.  Dinner will be dinner because I'm still feeding a non health conscious husband and mac n cheese loving kids.  The other night I made Bulgogi (Korean Lettuce Wraps).  They were both healthy AND good.  Thanks for the idea Jen.  I got the thumbs up from the husband and kids.  If you have any healthy, fun, family approved, delicious recipes - please send them my way.

In the mean time I will be enjoying my green smoothies, and my kids, and my husband ... who lately is non-existent except in the middle of the night when he hops into bed after a day full of studying/ test taking.  He has another one today.  I hope he does well.  He is putting in a LOT of effort.  I miss his witty comments and hugs.  I did get to enjoy watching Jace in his first play last night!  He was SO cute.  He missed 2 days of school this week do to one day of a yucky cold and another day of  FAKING SICK. Yes, he is a kindergartner and is already faking sick so he can stay home and play.  I cured him of that fast.  He had to stay in his room the whole day.  It was very boring and he told me he wouldn't ever fake being sick again.  He was a preacher in the Thanksgiving play and did an awesome job even if he didn't know all the actions or words to the songs.   It was quite hilarious being just the 4 kindergarten classes.  I'm hoping I can find one of the other parents who recorded it to put it on youtube  or something so I can show you all how adorable he is. 

I almost forgot. Check out some of the projects I finished for family night:

Family Night Chart

 so the kids stop fighting over whose turn it is to pick the games or conduct - it took me all of 15min. to make.   &

updated heath food pyramid.

I actually started working on this before we moved.  I just needed to glue the mini magnets to the laminated pictures.  I did a family night lesson on keeping our bodies healthy.  The kids loved it.  They took turns putting each food into it's right box.  I find them moving the pieces around all the time.  I want them to know what is healthy and what is not so they can make better choices.  We also had them make a healthy dinner with their play kitchen set.  It was quite fun.

Oh, I have to tell you about the conversation I had with Jace this morning.  I will put Jace's script in bold so you know who was saying what. - 

Mom, I need to talk to you.  Okay, what's up.  Look at me when I'm talking to you.  Alright, what's so important.  I've been thinking and we have two options here.  We can either set up the Christmas decorations here and stay here for Christmas or we can have Christmas decorations at Nani & Grandpa's house but we can't have both.  Because Santa might get confused as to where we are?  Yeah, THAT'S what I'm worried about. Okay.  We don't have to put up decorations here if you're worried about Santa getting confused. Okay, good.  Thanks, mom.  I love you.

I'm a little sad about not getting to put up my Christmas decor but thought it was hilarious that he was so concerned about it and had really been worrying about it.  I think it's funny when kids pick up things we say too.  Look at me when I'm talking to you - he's such a nut!  Wow.  I've really been rambling.  I better go clean up my house. 

ta ta for now ...



Two Little Turkeys

The Rio Vista Center had the cutest little Thanksgiving party.  It was done by the same lady that does Brooke's messy art class and she is amazing.  She has a gift with handling lots of little ones.  They made turkey hats and turkey hand prints, did a turkey trot game, and made mini pumpkin pie desserts out of graham crackers, canned pumpkin, and whipped topping.  I tasted it and it wasn't too bad.  Afterwards we walked over to the park.  The kids chased the ducks on our way there.  I sure love my two little turkeys!

Turkey Trot ... Brooke had a hard time figuring it out.

Apple juice, pumpkin pie dessert, and applesauce.  YUM!



There is that mischievous grin of his.  He had just chased them all down into the water and was splashing them.





Brookie enjoying her favorite spot in the park.

 

Look at me, Mom!