Barbie Quicksand

Barbie Hot Tub Time Machine?
Barbie Bath?
Barbie-Q?

Grumpy Cat Photobomb

Swimming in tree decorations!

NOT Tonto

Rudolph + CoCo = Pals for life

The High Life

Worth the climb!

Bows, Flowers, Clips or Funky Rubber Bands?

Not quite sure what hair accessory to choose, but is sure is fun!

"Greensleeves" on the Ukulele

The guitar is a little.too.big.

The ukulele is more fitting.

I Have Big Eyes Too!

This morning, CoCo tried to trick MLO by hiding in a Moses basket filled with about 40 big-eyed creatures. MLO could not have been more taken with this act!

MLO also noted that CoCo must've used her magic to pick up the almost-40 big-eyed creatures and put them in the basket since they were scattered all over her bedroom floor! CoCo is also endearing her self to Mommy because she picked up some of MLO's laundry and put them in the laundry hamper. I told MLO that I'm going to have to call Santa and negotiate CoCo moving to Texas!

Merry Christmas, y'all!

Barbie's Shoes Don't Fit

Last night, MLO said a prayer, joined by myself and Boa, that CoCo would actually come to life. She's was quite worried that, this morning, CoCo would still be in the box in which she arrived yesterday.

Looks like CoCo made herself rrrrriiiiiiight at home in the Barbie Mansion - shoes scattered about, lounging in the bed. Seems she favored MLO's shoe over Barbie's.

Merry Christmas!

Meet CoCo Glitterfluff

The Elf named herself CoCo Silverfluff

We are now a bigger family. Welcome to CoCo Silverfluff, the Elf on the Shelf we adopted.

I caved.

I have a very persistent and persuasive eight-year-old. 

My Little One asked me, "Why aren't we allowed to have an Elf on the Shelf again, Mommy?".

I explain to her my theory.  

She rebuts with a list of friends whom are nice, sweet friends, that have an Elf. So I told her, "Because after three years, you are still asking for one, and you have made a strong case for taking care of one, I'll do some reading and re-consider my stance. I'm not saying 'yes', but I'm not saying 'no' either."

About once a week since, she would check in and ask if I had made a decision yet. I hadn't, but I was doing some research. I found blogs and Pinterest pages of "nice" elves, or "kindness" ideas. I don't like the elves that make messes or cause mischief, because I think that re-enforces bad behavior (I know, it's crazy extreme. I KNOW!). Anyway, I decided to green light the elf adoption.

Fast forward to the week of Thanksgiving, and MLO asked me if I had made a decision. I told her I had indeed decided to move forward with an adoption. She was DELIGHTED! Then it became a daily discussion of arrival status. 

This morning, a package was on the dining room table with MLO's name on it. MLO opened it and I was surprised to see her so patient about it. She carefully untaped the paper from all the sides, peeled back the tape from the box opening. She smiled and said, "A box! I got a box! I hope there's a smaller box inside!" 

I replied, "You want smaller and smaller boxes like those Russian nesting dolls???".

"Yeah!" she exclaimed.

She opened the flaps of the cardboard box, saw a letter, pulled out the letter ONLY, closed the flaps and started reading the letter - TO HERSELF, QUIETLY. I'm in suspense! What does it say?! What's inside the box?! TELL ME!!!

"What are you reading?"

"It's a letter."

"Well read it to me!"

"I'm going to read it myself, quietly, first."

This chick is PAY-SHINT!

So she read the letter, and slowly opened the box. She pulled a piece of tissue paper that revealed *Angels in Heaven Chorale song* THE Elf!

MLO was careful not to touch the elf, lest the elf loses her magic. The accompanying book is under the elf, so she carefully pulled it out and I reached for the letter.

There are a short moments of shy smiles and sweet faces. I can see MLO's eyes are happy. She was pretty low-key considering the three year build-up to this moment. 

I left the table and started to wash dishes while MLO ate breakfast. She was quiet, contemplative. Then she turned around to face me and said, "mommy, I know it doesn't show, but I have lots of excited screaming going on in my mind right now".  Adorable. :)

The letter tasked MLO with naming the elf, which turned out to be quite a topic of discussion. MLO decided she wanted the elf to name herself and made a sign for her to fill in her name while MLO was at school. We got home from school, and the line for the name was still blank.  While we were waiting for Boa to be dismissed from school, we found an elf name generator app; "CoCo Silverfluff" was a result returned when MLO typed in her own name. And thus, CoCo was named, and shall be forever so. 

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Merry Christmas, everyone!

Simon, Pam & Keanu

Raise your hand if you thought you'd see Simon LeBon, Pamela Anderson and Keanu Reeves all in the same picture  -- at a car event -- in Texas.

Yeah. No raised hands. That's what I thought.

*laughing*

Post by Duran Duran.

~Whoosh!