Elf Happenings

Day one of Christopher's nightly Romps, he colored each of them a picture of Jesus' birth

Day 2: Christopher staid up all  night cutting snow flakes for us

We decorated our living room with the snowflakes to help Christopher feel more at home

Day 3: Christopher decided to be silly and decorate our tree with Tavin and Katie's underwear:) Then he spent the rest of the night riding our christmas train-he is just the right size!

Day 4: Christopher decided to take a swing on our light fixture and left us some marshmallows to have a "snow fight" He also left a marshmallow gun that he made himself in the toy making factory

Day 5: Christopher demonstrated his cooking skills by making these peanut butter kiss cookies for us! He made enough to deliver some to Daddy's home teaching families...what a thoughtful elf:)

We ate these yummy cookies for breakfast!

Day 6: Christopher was busy making a house for himself to live in with Katie and Tavin's lego bloks! He is pretty handy that Christmas Elf


What will Christopher do next?.....

Christopher Popinkins...Santa's Very Own Elf

This is pretty funny:)

Our special delivery!

Katie took to him right away~they were friends at first sight!

Where we decided to put him for his first night 

Finally deciding the Elf was an OK guy:)



On November 30th we got a knock on the door and when we opened it, there was a package wrapped in red and white with a letter addressed to Katie and Tavin Bauman, I opened the letter and read it to eagerly awaiting kids...this is what it said:

Dear Tavin and Katie,

I hope you are getting excited for Christmas this year! You are some of my most favorite children on my nice list. Both of you are very special to me, your parents, and Heavenly Father and Jesus.  That is why I sent you this package-please take very good care of what is inside! It is one of my very own elves right from my workshop at the North Pole. His name is Christopher Popinkins and he is magical.

You see, he only comes alive at night –kind of like the toys on toy story-he only moves around when no one is looking. He was so excited when I told him he was going to visit you at your house for a little while. He is going to keep a good eye on you and make sure that you are choosing the right and listening to your parents. If he reports back to me that you have been good, I have some special surprises for you on Christmas day.

 I think you will like having Christopher visit you-he is a very funny and kind elf. He loves to do nice things for other people and play jokes to make others laugh. He hopes that you will try to share and help other people too. There are a lot of boys and girls out there that don’t have as much as you do, They need you to share your things with them and be their friends.  

Maybe you can go through your toys and put some of the ones you don’t play with as much in a bag. Then your mom and dad can help you bring them to a place where the toys can be fixed and cleaned to be given to other children just like you! That would make me and Heavenly Father and Jesus so happy. 

Christopher the elf is also super excited to celebrate Jesus’ birthday with you! Jesus was born on Christmas and is a very good friend of mine! Remember that Christmas is not just about getting gifts but about giving to others and about celebrating Jesus and the love he has for you. It is because of him that we can live in Heave with our families forever.

Have fun with Christopher, I sent a book with him to explain a little bit more about him. Have your mom and dad read it to you before you go to bed tonight. I will be back on Christmas Eve to bring him home with me to the North Pole.

 Oh and by the way, I loved the cookies you made me last year! Will you leave me some more this year on Christmas Eve? I get really hungry with all the houses that I have to visit. My reindeer would love some food and water too if you will put some out for them. Rudolph says hi! Give your mom and dad a big hug for me.

Love always,

Santa Claus

* Tavin was at first excited and giddy with excitment until I read the part about the elf coming alive at night-then he good worried about the thought of a little man roaming around while he was asleep:) It took a while to convince hi it would be ok and that Christopher was nice! I think he finally believed me.

*While putting Tavin to bed, he whispers to me: Why did Santa and Heavenly Father send me an elf mom?

Me:Because they love you and know you are a good boy!

Tavin: Well yesterday I bit Katie....do you think that counts??

Me trying not to laugh: Try reallly hard to be nice to your sister and to make good choices and Santa and Heavenly Father wont count that one.

Tavin: OK MOM! I WILL!

 

Amazing huh!:)  Our little elf has been with us for 5 days now and has done some pretty cool stuff if I do say so myself!

Katie and Tavin wake up anxious to see what the elf did the night before.

Spider Man Meets M&Ms masterpiece

 The infamous Spiderman Cake! Thanks Pinterest for the great idea:)

Eli the Great!

The princess of all Super Heroes:Miss Katie!

Knocking the villians down with tennis balls

Popping the balloons with headband

Words can't express how happy I have been to be living near my sisters, now when our little family has events to celebrate, we can invite them all to join in-and none of them would miss it for the world! Thier children have been my kids' daily play mates and companions. It has been so much easier to handle lifes ups and downs knowing they are only minutes away. I am truely grateful for their support, thier love, their kindness, and most especially their friendship. They are my very best friends!

Let's Get This Party Started!

A sweet birthday card from his cousin Ethan

 Earning his "weapon"-silly string

 At the end of the training camp, when they earned all the pieces to their outfits, they went into the garage and sprayed each other with silly string-taking turns pretending to be bad guys and super heros and hiding behind all the obstacles Daniel set up for them.

 

 Crawling under and through lasers

Finally earning their capes

 Learning to fly

Showing off their wrist cuffs

Details on the super hero party of the  century:)

*We had a super hero training camp set up with stations. At each station they would perform a task and recieve part of their super hero out fit which included: mask, cape, wrist cuffs, belt, weapon!

Games included:
*learning to fly (this was the most popular and they spent quite a long time jumping off platform made out of chiars and clothing tubs from our storage room-onto a huge constructed out of EVERY pillow and couch cushion in the house)

*Crawling under and around lasers "crape paper in our hall way)

*Knocking down the bad guys-a sheet we cut different shapes into and put pictures of super hero villians in-had to throw balls at them to knock them out.

*Poping the balloons with a pin head band on
*Pass the kryptonite- a green ball representing Kryptonite-when the music stopped-if you were holding the kryptonite-you were out (like hot potato-super man style)


Ending battle: Dan set up the grarage with abunch of obstacles and things that they could hide behind-they took their silly string and went to town spraying each other:)

All in all-with a few costume glitches that duct tape solved-the party was a sucess!

FivE yEAR oLD sUPER hEREO

Where does time go? One minute you are holding him in your arms at the hospital wondering what you are going to do with a baby...trying to concieve the fact that you are now his  mother, and the next thing you know, he is five years old.

I promised Tavin a super hero party and nothing could have suited him better. It was more planning and preparing than I had anticipated and thankfully my sister Krisha and my Sister-in-law Deedra were there to help in the 2 day long marathon to get everything done. We were especially proud of the spiderman cake! It took all three of us to get it right believe it or not.

All the planning and work it took was worth it when he belted out: "THIS IS THE BEST BIRTHDAY PARTY EVER!"

His facial expressions of surprise, excitement, wonderment, and joy were true to the core and my heart couldn't have been happier. As a parent, you get to live life over again through your children-and life the second time is just as good/if not better than the first. His happiness is my happiness.

What can I say about my precious Tavin....he is hope, sunlight, joy, spunk, wisdom, sensitivity, yet all boy- stuffed inside a handsome blue eyed, red haired- tiny little body. At times, I think he might burst with all that personality.

He lights up a room and people just can't help but love him when they meet him-they are drawn to him. The grumpiest person in the world doesn't stand a chance against Tavin. He is a friend to all. And I know his future holds big and amazing things.

Facts about Tavin:

He is the youngest one in his karate class-and is now a white belt with a yellow stripe
"I can't help but smile when I look at that kid.....he is so young, yet so bright!"-His Karate Master

He has a huge heart -and seems to know just when i need to hear an "I love u" or a " u look pretty mommy!"  He isnt ashamed to blow a kiss or give a hug and likes to write others thoughtful notes with a little help from mom or dad.

He is very intuitive and understands things that not many his age do-one night for family home evening, Daniel taught a lesson about the miracles Jesus performed in his life-he showed the kids a movie about Jesus healing the sick and helping the blinde to see, etc. The next day my sister told me about a conversation her and Tavin had while she was folding the Laundry: "Auntie.....I am excited for Jesus to come so that he will make your body perfect-you will be able to smell again!" (My sister does not have a sense of smell).

*Like his sister, he loves M&Ms and just recently decided apples are pretty good
*He can write all of his letters and we hope to have him reading by kindergarten
*He is a morning person like his dad-he cant wait for a new day with new adventures to begin
*A recent occurance:
he asks while brushing his hair and looking in the mirror: mom do i look handsome?
me: oh yes tavin very handsome
Tavin: well i hope not too handsome, then all the girls might chase me and want to kiss me! The older ones can run faster than me and will catch me! :)

He is going to be a charmer that is for sure....he has already charmed me!

Happy Birthday My Boy!

Dora's in the House!

I am big on family traditions and one that I have started in our home is that of birthday parties/celebrations including a cake that I make of their choice. It is my way of celebrating their births-and expressing my extreme joy being chosen as their mother. I want them to know how important and special they are to me. This year-Katie wanted to have a Dora fiesta:) Here is how it turned out:P

Our party included:
Pin the tail on boots
A dance party with glow stick balloons
And the finale -a great big pink llama pinata!-took quite a beating to crack that sucker-we bought it at a garage sale for 2 bucks:)
Her cake was Dora-wasnt the best cake I've ever done but she thought it was great. Icouldnt get the face right.

Not Monkey.....Princess!

This beautiful princess entered our family three years ago this October-and our lives have never been the same-completely and fully her own person with her own way of doing things. Unlike her older brother, she is all about being independent-yet she still cuddles up to her mom. Her energy is invigorating and her spirit infectious! At three years old, she can out dance anyone in our family-and shakes what her mama gave her:) She as she plays around the house-making up songs telling of her joys in life. I love this little girl and can't wait to see what a wonderful person she grows into. I only hope that I can show her the way.

Things about Katie:
Every time daniel calls her something other than a princess-usually a monkey-she promptly corrects him and states that she is a princess not a monkey daddy!
She can touch her tongue to her nose
She is very-methodic-likes to line things up- her toys, stack blocks, make designs with dominoes
She is very good at putting puzzles together
Ever since she could talk-she has called Daniel by his first name
She has a green elephant blanky that she loves-this is her comfort-she never took a blanky-she called it mam until last year
Her favorite candy is M&Ms and she loves gram crackers and milk
She loves Dora the explorer and boots
She is a girly girl-in every sense-she likes all the bells pulled out for her-painted nails, makeup, hair done up, frilly tutus or dresses, high heeled shoes and as much costume jewlery as she can get on
She loves to play dress up and serve us chocolate milk and fruit from her play kitchen
She is a very good mom to her dolls
She loves nursery and jumps up and down when we tell her she gets to go every sunday
She loves to sleep-in like her mom
She is our dare devil-and tried the zipline this year at my Aunts house-squeeling all the way down with a big smile on her face
She loves to be the center of attention-and has no problem being in front of crowds
And like her brother-she wants to be friends with everyone
I love her prayers-as she thanks Jesus for everything in the room-(while she looks around) :)
She brings laughter into our home often-the other day-we went to get ice cream and at the ice cream parlor-there were pictures on the wall of different ice cream flavors-I glanced over at katie and found her standing on a chair in front of a picture of the chocolate ice cream cone-licking it:)

My Katie Lynn is a gift-a gift wrapped in bright pink paper with purple polka dots-and a great big bow on top. I will eternally grateful for her! Happy Birthday my big three year old-mommy loves you so much.

A True Blessing~

 

 

If every baby was just like Olivia-I would have a million of them...well maybe not a million...but close to it:) She is the sweetest and most loving little person, and I am in love with her. From 2 weeks old, she slept through the night-and has ever since, she eats well and has chub rolls on her legs, she is already a people person-and she smiles at anyone who glances her way.

 

Like her brother and sister, she loves music and especially enjoys her nightly serenade by her daddy. She coos along with him as he sings his heart out. She LOVES her dad and saves her biggest smiles for him. He was the first one to get her to laugh. And I know theirs' will be a close relationship. She will sit for hours just watching her brother and sister play-I am sure she can't wait for the day when she can join them!

 

There is something so special about her- I know every parent thinks that about their children-but really she is special-our happy baby-we call her smiley. A Chinese man I met the other day told me that Olivia was born in the year of the Water Dragon on the Chinese calendar-and that doesn't come around but every 10 years. Maybe that's it.....

 

or maybe it is because

the first thing I wake up to in the morning is her joyous face-her smiles- and it is as if she sees someone in me-a longtime friend, my better self. Her eyes tell a story-they are knowing of things I have long forgotten-truths I yearn to know. She smiles and I say to myself, I can do life again today. She makes me want to be the best I can be-because she sees it in me.

She was blessed by Her Dad in June-on a fitting-beautiful sunny day. She almost squirmed right out of the arms of those who were holding her in the blessing circle-thank goodness I didn't see it! The one thing that really stands out to me was he blessed her with the gift of Virtue...and to be an example of it to those around her.

As tradition-I bore my testimony...I guess I just feel-Daniel gets to celebrate her birth by giving her a blessing-I want to celebrate her by giving her the gift of sharing  the most important things in my life--my testimony of the gospel.....Each of my children have been a witness to me of the reality and true existance of a Heavenly Father who knows me and loves me. They are a gift to me from him-showing me daily how much he loves me. I couldn't ask for anything better. Watching the cousins and Tavin and Katie with her made me realize that every time one of these little souls comes to earth, it is a reunion for them. Their spirits rejoice in having another family member join them here on earth.

They have been waiting.....each of them in their own special and quiet way, have welcomed Livy into life-so lovingly and knowingly. One family member in particular has shown great joy and interest in Livy's arrival-Krisha's little Eli-he is only 1 year old-but he KNOWS her-he loves her-and he has been WAITING for her. He can hardly talk but he knows the word "baby"-he can hardly wait to get his hands on her-to give her loves and kisses. He is very protective of his baby and watches others carefully as they handle her. He celebrates her reunion with our family.

I am grateful for those relatives that have passed on-and are watching over her as she takes on the task of getting used to this new-worldly life-with all of its caios and confusion-there are times that Livy stares into a certain part of the room-laughing, smiling, and cooing-she is being comforted and loved.

I have SO enjoyed every minute of her life thus far-Ive really enjoyed watching her grow and change-she can follow us around the room now-and she has started to hold onto objects , suck on her toes. I know it has a lot to do with the wonderful support of my sisters-having them around to help out has really made a difference in my lack of stress and capability of taking one day at a time. I revel in each moment. Thank you to the 4 best friends a sister could as for.