Labrador Sweet: Elf on the Shelf

So my girls are 6 and 4. They are busy little girls. They play hard. They fight hard. They cry hard. Did I mention they fight? I'm sure they are typically little girls, I remember fighting with my older sister, and I see other siblings fight. They can be so loving with each other, it's like their best friends one minute, then worst enemies the next, then back to best friends!

The months of October and November were difficult. It felt like things we said as parents went in one ear and out the other. I never wanted to be one of those parents that yelled at their children, but man, I could turn blue in the face and it wouldn't matter.

Then a friend of mine introduced us to the idea of Elf on the Shelf. I was sold. What harm could it do? Sure it might even help the girls listen, and if nothing else, it would be something fun to do with them.

So, December 1 I strategically placed the Elf package in the living room and let them find it. They were pretty excited as we had been telling them that we would get an elf the beginning of the month and had already explained the concept to them. The other reason they were excited was because they were hoping they would have good reports sent back to the North Pole each night as they had already been told they were on Santa's Naughty List ( thank you Magic Santa video! We were hoping this would entice their listening! And believe it or not it did work.......for a few days!)

Introducing Buddy

Buddy first found hanging from the kitchen cabinets

Buddy propelling down the family room blinds

Buddy stayed hanging around the blinds while we went were away for our Diabetes clinic day . The girls were told that Buddy didn't move because he had nothing to report back to the North Pole.