I don't know who finds this more fun, me or the 5 year old?

 Meet Chip...Chip is our elf on a shelf. If you don't know what this is all about, it is a book and an elf that you purchase at the store.

The elf supposedly watches your kids all day and while your children sleep he magically comes to life, goes back to the North Pole to report to Santa if the kids have been naughty or nice. In the morning the elf has moved to a new place in the house because he moved during the night.These elves are kind of mischievous and silly and you never know what they have been up to in the night. The main rule with the elf is, the kids are not allowed to touch him during the day because he will lose his magic if he is touched. When you receive the elf your kids get to name him or her and register it online where you get a personal response from Santa. On Christmas eve the kids say good bye to their elf because he has to go back to the North Pole, but he will return again the following year...alright, was that a good enough advertisement for Elf on Shelf???

If you have a little ones who think December is the longest month of the year and are dying for Santa to visit their house...this elf is AWESOME...it is a great daily distraction and gives them something every morning to look for and talk about. My twins are past the "believing" Santa stage and they have loved helping stage this elf and have been wonderful to play along for Makenzie. When Makenzie wakes up she is thrilled to see what the elf has been up to and honestly I have loved doing it. This kind of project speaks to my warped mind of teasing, humor, and creativity. I got a lot of my ideas off of pinterest and google...here is pictures of week one with Chip...Seriously, you have no idea how much fun I have had with this..

Night 1: I had not put my nativity set up yet....my attention has been on text books for finals and our family room is lacking in decorations. So we decided that Chip was going to put up the nativity set in the middle of the night and he would be there cradling baby Jesus in the morning, because Chip wanted us to know what Christmas was truly about.

So sweet.

Night 2: We had bought some doughnuts at the store for a treat that day and Chip decided in the night he wanted some doughnuts too, so he made himself some doughnuts and invited some friends to share with him ( doughnuts made from Cheerios and some frosting from our leftover doughnuts and some Christmas sprinkles). I noticed later in the day, two of Chips doughnuts were missing..Makenzie informed me that she was pretty sure Chip wanted her to have a couple of them and that's why he left some out.

"Oh Chip, I think you have some frosting on your face!"

 Night 3: Chip decided we needed a snowman...maybe he was missing all that snow in the North Pole?

Frosty the "Marshmallow" man.

Night 4: It was a chill night for Chip, he cuddled up with a stack of some of our Christmas books.

I believe he was reading, The night before Christmas.

Night 5: I feel that every story needs an archenemy so we introduced the "other" elf. We were given this elf as a gift and we felt this elf had a sinister look about him. He is jealous of Chip and all the attention that children have given him so he decided he was going to send Chip back to the North Pole.

He bound and duct tapped Chip, and skillfully stuffed him in a Fed Ex box addressed for the North Pole.

Seriously, look at the face on this elf...does it not look sinister? This drama had Makenzie stressed for the day, she so badly wanted to rescue Chip from the box and she repeatedly scolded this other elf. She has refused to name the "sinister" elf, she just calls him, EVIL! I told her she would  have to wait till morning to see if Chip would be here or in a box on his way to the North pole..to be continued....

Night 6: ....Good will always triumph in the end...Chip chewed his way through his ropes and freed himself and then proceeded to put our "EVIL" elf in a box, addressed for the South Pole! Makenzie was very relieved at the site of a freed Chip this morning, she also stated that she hopes that the evil elf stays in the South Pole, somehow I think we will see evil elf again before Christmas.

Look at the relief on that kids face!

We have a new week ahead of us with lots of ideas on what to do with Chip. Seriously, it is a fun project to do with your little kids and also a fun project to get the older kids involved in. I will post again next Sunday on this weeks shenanigans of Chip......