The Best Gift to Give Your Young Kids...

Several Christmases ago, our elf came to live with us. He arrives the day after Thanksgiving and returns to Santa on Christmas Eve. He sits in our home, watching our children throughout the day and each night he flys home to Santa to report if they have been bad or good that day. Each morning when they wake up, they eagerly search through the house trying to find where our elf is hiding.


Sometimes he's hanging on our kitchen chandelier,

other times he's sitting on our Christmas Village. And if you had a particularily bad day, you might find him in one of the kids rooms. (Just so he can watch over you alittle more closely that day to help you be good.)

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Can you guess who's room he gets to sit in today? Oh, and guess who won on Saturday? (that was one cold, cold game).


Our elf was a gift from Grandma. He arrived on our little girls 4th Christmas and has continued to come to our home each year. Our kids act up, and all I have to say is "Fizzy (our elf) is watching." Suddenly behavior changes and the kids are suddenly back to being happy and find a way to work out their solutions.

The kids can talk to Fizzy, but Fizzy can't talk to them. We love hearing what our kids have to say to Fizzy when they think we're not listening and it's just them and the elf. They start out by giving him their Christmas lists and by the end of the weekend they have stopped thinking of themselves and start thinking about their friends and family. "Fizzy, Mason doesn't have a elf at his house and his Mom and Dad don't have a lot of money. Can you make sure that he gets a Transformer? That's all he really wants."

I'm shocked by how unselfish our kids become and how much they start thinking of others during the holidays as they talk to Fizzy. I'm also lovin' all the good behavior that lasts well after Fizzy leaves. Some may knock the ethics behind the elf, but I'm convinced the elf has been one of the neatest Christmas traditions we have started in our home. It just wouldn't be the same without Fizzy!

P.S. Mom's and Dads, the Elf on the Shelf is at your local Hallmark, or by clicking on this: https://elfontheshelf.com/indexnf.php  

Thanksgiving Freebie!

Gotta hurry, need to clean the turkey (procrastinating).

Here is one Thanksgiving deals for you today!!

FREE BETTY CROCKER 2010 CALENDAR

Filled with coupons, cooking tips and more. Head to this link to sign up and get yours!

You will need to fill out a registration form first and subscribe to one of their free email newsletters. Should take you a minute or less to fill out the form. So easy!

http://freecalendar.bettycrocker.com/BC2010Calendar/Default.aspx

 
 

Best Black Friday Sites...

There's BlackFriday.net, BlackFriday.com, BlackFridayAds.com, Black-Friday.org, Black-Friday.com, and many, many, many more Black Friday sites.

But cut to the chase.

Are they really accurate?

Edgar Dworsky of ConsumerWorld.org says not always. Since Black Friday sites typically post deals weeks before the company prints or posts their Black Friday deals, it can be inaccurate. Many companies will continue to slash and post deals up to the finals minutes before going to print. And Dworsky claims that the information should be deemed most reliable when the company has posted it on it's website.

Which sites are the best?

So which Black Friday ads would be considered the most reliable? BFads.net has probably been around the longest and claims to be the most accurate. BlackFriday.info and BlackFriday.net also seem to be good ones. But there's nothing funner than opening the newspaper after a busy morning of preparing meals to sit and look at all the Black Friday deals in the newspaper. It's how I enjoy my Thanksgiving Day.

References: http://www.komonews.com/news/consumer/69377492.html
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/2322058/how_to_find_the_best_deals_on_black.html?cat=46

Thanksgiving with a Side of Swine Flu

Dig into your turkey. Enjoy your mashed potatoes. Our family? Holed up with swine flu.


I've apparently had it for over a week and just thought that the awful headache and stomach trouble I was dealing with was from the cold I had.

When my husband came down with it yesterday, he immediately went in to the doctor.

Diagnosis? Swine flu.

So this Thanksgiving while the family heads down to Arizona to enjoy the warm desert weather we'll be here, alone, eating our turkey and enduring our family's round of swine flu. Nobody seemed to want to visit us this year!

Come on in! Enjoy the turkey!

We'll cross our fingers that it doesn't get any worse. Our daughter was the one to bring it home and introduce us to it. And slowly, slowly each one of us has fallen victim to it. In a few weeks hopefully we'll have all run our course.

In the meantime, my husband is hoping the Tamiflu helps. 

They say that since it was within the first 24 hours that he started it, it should help significantly.

Anyone done the Tamiflu thing? Did it help?

Check this out!

Trampoline Giveaway!

This is perfect. Last summer my husband tried showing the kids how to do a flip and landed right through the middle of the trampoline. Last Christmas Mrs. Clause *aka* me, ordered the wrong mat size. This would be perfect! You can get your own now too! Click the picture below.

Follow Friday: Ecobunga!!!

Eco what?
You heard right. Ecobunga.
One of my favorite "green" sites on the web.

This site is a directory for all of the products, deals, giveaways, and more going on in the all natural and green community. I love the contests, the printable coupons, and the great resource that Ecobunga is for me.

When you get a minute, be sure to follow them on Twitter and Facebook today!

Notes from Other Bloggers....

There are a few blog posts that have caught my attention this week:

SuperMomCentral Lauren is giving away an outfit from DownEast Outfitters. You can find more details on her site here. I love DownEast! Comfortable clothing that is trendy and perfect for wear as a busy Mom.

I loved this one. My niece is into Fancy Nancy, so when I saw this idea I thought it was brilliant! A fun Fancy Nancy Party! Complete with pink tea set, placecards and more! Check out the fun pictures and get some ideas for your little girls Fancy Nancy party.

While you are there, check out her article on Sub For Santa. A great reminder to help others out even when budgets are tight. We participated in Sub For Santa last year, and my kids had a blast shopping for clothing and toys for the two little girls we were able to buy for. It was a great reminder that the most important thing about Christmas is giving and sharing. The Sub For Santa program has a lot of needs this year, and help is desperately needed.

This blog post cracked me up too. The difference between boys and girls. Once again proving that boys and girls are very, very different!
You can click here to view it.

And you can get free photos! I just ordered my holiday photo cards yesterday from http://www.seehere.com/. You get 50 free + free shipping by entering the promo code freebies4mom-1109. Thanks Freebies4Mom! She just made my Christmas much more affordable. Remember it only works for the 4x8 horizontal or vertical photo cards.

It's always fun to share some of the neat things that we find on other websites and blogs. There are so many and it's so fun to read what other people have to share.