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!