Dave - An Unexpected Elf Journey : Part 3

Day 12 - Dave decided to be reflective today, he started an elf diary of his adventures here with our monkeys. He also brought them new colored pens so they could record their adventures too.

Day 13 - Well an elf can only be good for so long....today he made the biggest elf slide ever. 30ft of green bubble wrap stretched across the living room and down the hall.Sure does look like fun though so I can't blame him. The monkeys had a blast watching him go down and who doesn't love popping bubble wrap. (Giant roll at Walmart $5 comes in red or green)

Day 14 - Dave must be missing the cold of the North Pole while he's visiting here in Texas, he's made himself a snow globe!

• Paper Mache - Snow flake tissue paper, Elmer's glue mixed with water (Modge podge), saran wrap for the window, covering a 12" balloon. Once dry and the balloon is popped and removed, insert elf through the window then reseal with clear packing tape. Fill with fake snow and voila! Now ideally I had envisioned this blowing around so I had a screen on the bottom but a box fan nor hair dryer got them moving so I taped it up and it was a shaker snowglobe, they had a blast with it.

Day 15 - After spending the day in his snow globe he wanted to expand his winter wonderland and made himself a sledding hill in the dining room under our Star Wars snow flakes from Matters of Grey.

Day 16 - Dave was admiring himself, and practiced drawing a self-portrait. He also brought the monkeys new markers. Green monkey took to them with a fierce passion he skecthed all day long and eventually had a picture of all of us and some of his favorite holiday figures.

 Stay tuned for the next 5 days of adventure coming soon! If you missed the Ultimate Elf Party you must stop by and see what the other crazy elves have been up to.

The Chronicles of Dave, Our Minion Elf : 2011

Dave came from humble beginnings, won in a grocery store claw machine for 50 cents. He has turned into a beloved friend and brings a bit of mischief and magic to the holidays around our house. Last year we had so much fun seeing what in the world he would do next. But I wasn't blogging then so I thought it would be fun to take a look back at previous adventures from 2011.

•  Make gingerbread cookies and decorate a house together
• Sneak some of the kids leftover Halloween candy
• Pick a movie for family movie night
• Ride a monster truck
• Webcam with Santa and watch videos from PNP free personal videos
• Chess match
• Snow ball fight with lego forts ans marshmallow snow balls

•  Poker night - Texas hold 'em, candy bets, hot cocoa drinks
• Sugar snow angels
• Playing the kids new Xbox game
• Folding laundry - sometimes he's helpful
• Archery fight using mini bow and arrows that actually work from Slowrobot
• Climbing the Christmas tree
• Ziplining across the living room - I used yarn and a hanger tied from my curtain rod to the coffee table

•  Booby trap the kids bedroom with ribbon
• Roller skating races
• Making breakfast Rudolph pancakes while sipping syrup, and delivering a letter from Santa telling them he got their letters
• Coloring using the kids art stuff
• Taking a ride on the ceiling fan
• Fishing in our fish tank using a pole made from a Popsicle stick and dental floss
• Rudolph noses prank, he crept in and painted their noses red

• Brushing his teeth in their bathroom, Mr. Potato head loaned him the teeth
• Painting a message to remember to be good on their art easel
• The amazing Spider-Dave - painters tape web and kite string
• Packed himself a suitcase sin ce we spent Christmas at my brother's house and he didn't want to get left behind.
• Hid under the Christmas tree with the presents and brought them magic peppermint seeds from the north pole. All day they watched it grow. The free printables are from Living Life Intentionally
• Christmas morning Dave left a good-bye note as he was needed in the North Pole to make gifts for next year and promised to return.

Pinterest is full of wonderful ideas shared by amazing moms and bloggers. Yes these little elves can be a bit of work but they don't have to be. Just use what you have around you and a bit of imagination. Any kind of elf will do if you enjoy The Elf on the Shelf that comes with the book have at it, if he creeps you out any elf dressed doll will do. If you would like a Despicable Me Dave the Minion Elf ...because they're cool, but don't have one in a claw machine they can be ordered too here. My kids wake up every morning asking "Where's Dave?" then play with him as we don't follow the "Can't touch the elf or he'll lose his magic" rule.  The nights where I'm so tired I just want to go to bed I just hide him somewhere and the kids tell me why he is where he is in the morning making up fantastic stories. So where will your elf wind up today?

Dave - An Unexpected Elf Journey : Part 1

Thanksgiving is done and so on we trot to the next holiday...Christmas. I know it's still November and usually I don't even think Christmas until December 1st....I like to give each holiday their fair turn. But as most of our family was together for Thanksgiving and won't be for Christmas we kind of sprinkled it in and began Thankmas. The day after Thanksgiving Dave our minion elf returned from the North Pole to watch over our boys for Santa.

A little elf history. I had seen many many Elf on the Shelf posts on Facebook and Pinterest, and thought they were funny, but kind of expensive for a 6" doll and a book for ~$30. It's a relatively new tradition where a scout elf reports back to the North Pole each night so Santa knows if you've been naughty or nice each day. Then you find him or her in all kinds of crazy situations in the morning. So last year while leaving the grocery store I played one of those claw machines for 50 cents and actually won. But not just any toy, a Despicable Me minion in an elf costume.Now this version I could totally see causing some mischief in our house. We watched the Elf Story on CBS together as a family and then the next morning they met Dave our Minion Elf. We all love Dave, the monkeys can't wait to find him, and between me and pinterest he gets into some funny situations.

Day 1 - Welcome back breakfast
Our thoughtful elf made breakfast, hot cocoa with marshmallows with fun crazy straws, and red and green waffles with trees or swirls, sprinkles, and powdered sugar. He also gave each child a notebook with a little pen so they could write down what they want to ask Santa for this year.

 Dave of course got thirsty and hungry so he drank his cocoa and saved a waffle for himself.

Day 2 - Locked out!
Poor Dave forgot his magical key, and he didn't want to get all dirty going down the chimney because he was carrying a very special package from Santa. So he rang the doorbell like crazy until all 3 kids came running down the stairs to answer the door. Covered in snow from the North Pole he brought a gift, inside were a set of Angry Bird Christmas PJs for each of them.

Day 3 - Graffiti 
It's hard being good all the time, especially for an elf. Looks like he got a hold of the kids markers and had some fun with their pictures.

Day 4 - Cereal Offender
Dave left a little message in their cereal. What a nice gesture to send them back to school after Thanksgiving break.
* Bonus feature, I also themed green monkey's lunch featuring Dave so he could bring him to school and show his friends.

Day 5 - Bending Space and Time
Our little whovians were most pleased to find Dave had his very own TARDIS and it was here! Dave dressed up in a very nice bow tie, because bow ties are cool. He rappelled down a cord as the TARDIS was having trouble landing.

To make the TARDIS I covered a shoe box that conveniently had been sitting next to my couch since ... ok awhile, covered it in blue construction paper. Printed up some police box signs and with some glue and scotch tape a TARDIS was born. The monkeys loved it so much it is still hanging from the ceiling fan and Green monkey has requested to save it for his birthday party. They even equipped it with a hanger so he can get out easier on a zipline.

I wonder what Dave will do next?