Just Another Day In Paradise

I need to have a talk with Santa about this elf.

 

This morning, I awoke to this sight.....

 

 

The kids were thrilled, let me tell ya.

 

Me? I think that this may be one of the biggest messes the little elf has ever made. Well, possibly ranking right under the "Great Yarn Wrap of 2009".

 

 

 

I must give him credit though....he's been pretty tame for the past few days.

 

Dining with Pinkalicious....who looks like she quite possibly just rolled out of bed.

 

Breakfast for the girls...Little Debbie Christmas Trees with grapes and chocolate milk. He brought Santa plates and napkins and a table cloth, and hung snowflakes from the light fixture.

 

Climbing Mount Cereal Box

 

But yes, I believe the "Post It Note Blizzard of 2011" will go down in history.

 

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And this little girl scared the daylights out of me yesterday.....

 

 

The bigger one, not the smaller one.

 

I had all three kids at the Starbucks check out yesterday in Target. My mom and sister were with me but had left to go to the bathroom. All of the kids stayed with me. As I reached for my frappuccino that the lady handed to me (a tall caramel cream blend with no whipped cream, if you are curious), I glanced around to make sure the kids were staying close. Thumper was in  my arms, Stitch was on the side of the buggy, and Boo was.....was......WHERE WAS BOO???!!!!! I spun in a complete circle looking for her. She has a habit of standing behind me. Nope, no Boo. I looked further out, in the checkout lines, towards the front door. THE FRONT DOOR! Starbucks is right next to the front door....anyone could have quietly grabbed a little four year old and waltzed out the front door in two seconds flat. Boo is not a wanderer so I knew that she wouldn't have just wandered away on her own.

 

I turned to the customer beside me, who had just commented on how Boo resembled Cindy Lou Who with her hair done up like that. "Did you see where my little girl went?" I asked frantically. She hadn't. The cashier heard my question and saw me looking around, beginning to panic. "Code Yellow!" she called to the Customer Service Desk. I'm assuming that Code Yellow refers to a lost child.

 

I hurriedly dragged my buggy over to the bathroom, attempting to clutch Thumper, the frappiccino, and be sure that Stitch was still with me as well. I threw open the bathroom door to find Boo, standing there with my mom and sister, unaware that her mother is on the verge of a panic attack.

 

She said she was staying with me. She said she wasn't going to the bathroom with my mom and sister. But she must have run off when I turned my back! I quickly shouted to the Customer Service Desk to cancel the Code Yellow....she had been found. Then I made sure to inform Boo that she is *never* to leave my side unless she tells me first. I seriously felt sick to my stomach....I'm a worrier who jumps to the worst possible conclusion and I had already concluded that someone took my baby, right here a few days before Christmas, and I'd never see her again. Yeah, I'm crazy like that!

 

So glad my little Cindy Lou Who look alike was safe and sound.....and that her mommy didn't pass out from a heart attack.

 

Christmas Crafting Extravaganza

 

Yesterday the kids woke bright and early in excitement to begin our day. They knew that the Christmas spirit would be bursting at the seams today and they couldn't wait to get it started.

 

My two oldest kids *love* Christmas. I mean, seriously love it. Did you see the two little girls skipping through the aisles of Wal-Mart, holding hands, twirling, and belting out "Fa la la la la, la la la la"? Yeah, those were mine. They were met with lots of sweet, knowing smiles and were even offered a job by the Salvation Army bell ringer. They are totally and completely wrapped up in Christmas this year. And I love that.

 

I love that they dash out of bed each morning wondering what Hermie did the night before. I love how they wear reindeer antlers like nobody's business. And I love how they speak of baby Jesus like he was born yesterday. I seriously love it. I don't know what I'll do as they grow older and the magic fades away. I love being the mother of small children. I'm good at it. I enjoy it. I wonder if I'll be as good of a mother to teenagers. But for now, I'm reveling in the joy of mothering little ones. These are the days I'll remember for a lifetime.

 

 

And so, as the girls snuggled around me in bed yesterday morning, they asked again for me to tell them our plans for the day. Once again, I told two eager little girls about opening a stocking gift, searching out Hermie to see what he'd done, putting a new sticker onto our nativity advent calendar, discovering the new book that Hermie had left us, decorating (and eating) Christmas cookies, and making crafts until their hearts were content. Two smiling faces beamed back at me as they jumped out of bed, searching out one mischievous little elf. Little did they know, on top of all the current Christmas fun, we'd have another little Christmas adventure that evening, thanks to Aunt Kim and (soon to be uncle) David.

 

After a quick morning routine, Craft Day Extravaganza was in full swing. Pinterest was my best friend when searching out interesting crafts for the girls to do.

 

Among other things, we made waterless snow globes....

 

 

Made paper snow globes.....

 

 

Created crowns to represent Jesus, the King of Kings.....

 

 

 

Decorated a reindeer.....

 

 

Made a mosaic, created the star of Bethlehem, complete with baby Jesus in swaddling clothes, put together a "Merry Grinchmas" banner.....

 

And decorated delicious sugar cookies.

 

 

 

The clean up was....well.....rather involved.

 

 

 

 

But it was SO worth it.

 

 

Just before our crafting began, I received a call from Aunt Kim, informing me of a Christmas event at her fiance's work that evening. I figured it would be a perfect way to wrap up our Christmas Crafting Day. And so, as our creative juices began to run dry, I packed up the kids and we drove out to the Christmas event at the community center. There was a hayride (no photos since I stayed back and fed Thumper while Aunt Kim and David took the kids on the hayride....let's just say there was a LOT of cedar in that trailer and quite a bit came home with us), more crafts, a visit from Santa, and cookies with hot chocolate. The kids had a lot of fun. The perfect ending to the day.

 

 

 

And thank goodness we didn't have to brave the mall for the annual Santa Claus photo. I have a framed photo of each of my girls with Santa Claus on their very first Christmas. I pull them out each December. Thumper is no exception....this is her year.

 

 

 

I love that photo of my three girls with the big man himself. Santa was pretty authentic looking! Much better than some of the scary looking Santa's that I've witnessed over the years.

 

And of course, I can't forget to post about Hermie's most recent mischief.

 

Making some sort of nasty looking concoction. All I know is that it involved apple slices, Doritos, Skittles, ranch dressing, bread, chocolate chips, and cheese. ::::gag::::

From what we gather, Hermie must have fallen off the step ladder while trying to climb the Christmas tree. The girls were *very* concerned that there was real blood soaking through the towel.

 

I was very unhappy with Hermie on this particular day. He got into Stitch's school books and did some of her work. Stitch, on the other hand, was very pleased with him.

 

Stitch drew Hermie a picture and wrapped it up. She left it on the table and wondered whether he would open it. This morning she found him holding her drawing and he'd left the girls a few drawings of his own.

 

Merry Christmas everyone! Make the most of the next week before Christmas! We sure will!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Celebrate.

 

I'm all about holidays. I believe that they are meant to be celebrated. Big holidays, little holidays, special events....they are all meant to be celebrated with great abandon. I want my kids to have fond memories of holidays, both big and small. We celebrate anything from learning to use the potty to learning the gender of our unborn child and everything in between.

 

Christmas is definitely one of our big celebration times. It's not just a little celebration...it's a month long, holly jolly, smile-till-your-cheeks-hurt celebration. And it's only just begun. We spread our Christmas cheer over the whole month of December.

 

First, there's the decorating.....

 

 

 

 

We spent the Saturday before Thanksgiving pulling out the decorations from the attic and setting up Christmas in our home, complete with Christmas music playing on the radio. We ended the evening with the Polar Express, one of the best Christmas movies ever.

 

There's also the parade. Driving to the nation's oldest town, catching the Christmas parade, and sight seeing in the city has become a tradition of sorts....something to kick off the Christmas season and put that warm fuzzy of joy in your heart.

 

 

 

 

He's alive!!

 

Thumper didn't have a care in the world and slept through the parade.

 

 

Is it just me or is this photo a glimpse of her teenage years?

 

 

And we can't forget the crafts. The kids were into those as soon as Thanksgiving came to a close. As of late, Boo has finally gotten into crafting. She used to dislike them, but now she's a regular crafting machine and spends as much time creating as what Stitch does.

 

 

 

 

Towards the end of this week we're having a all-out craft extravaganza....big enough to cancel school, packed full of all the crafts we can handle. There will be cardstock, paint, cookies, music, glitter, baby Jesus, and plenty of Christmas cheer. All the makings of a perfect Christmas celebration.

 

This past Saturday I attended a cookie party, planned by my mom and hosted by my grandmother. It was ladies only, sans kids. Well, two-thirds of the kids anyways. Everyone made cookies and brought a certain amount to share. We all went home with a plethora of different cookies. I brought scrumptious chocolate chip cookies. Dying to know my secret recipe? Here it is.....drive to Super Target. Walk into the bakery. Pick up container of Nestle Toll House cookies. Pay at register. Leave store. Best. Cookies. Ever.

 

 

 

The cookie party went over well. We did lunch and also had an ornament exchange while we were there. We had a good group of about 15 people.

 

 

 

 Of course, Hermie has been busy with his usual antics this month....wreaking some havoc in the Incredible household. Let's see, he arrived nice and calm on the morning of December 1st, but since then, he's had some defining moments. Those moments usually end with a nice big mess that I have to clean up.

 

So far, up until this 12th day of December, Hermie has managed to.....

 

Use crepe paper to block the playroom.....

 

fall under the weather.....

 

show off his sledding skills....

 

drag toilet paper throughout the house.....

 

get into Thumpers diapers....

 

leave an ornament of himself on the Christmas tree....

 

try to disguise himself as one of the girls.....

 

set up a zoo for the kids animals (Stitch informed me that this was his best yet)....

 

play Rudolph and Angry Bird at Dogopoly....

 

leave the girls a gift.....

 

 

and make it look like the sock basket exploded in the living room (there were socks on the TV, the Christmas tree, photos, and even the ceiling fan).

 

 

Hermie sure has been busy! And the girls have been faithfully opening one of the books that he left each and every morning.

 

Hermie seems to be a little puzzled about this new kid he discovered in the house....

 

 

The girls also finished decorating their own little Christmas tree with miniature ornaments.

 

 

And what's Thumper been doing during these Christmas celebrations? Well, she's been working on her neck mucles.....

 

 

And just being her regular, cute little self.

 

 

Happy December everyone. I hope that you celebrate Christmas with great abandon!

 

Hermie in the House.

 

Today is December 1st....and if you've read my blog for any legnth of time, you should know what that means. December 1st means that Hermie the Elf has arrived in the Incredible household! The kids have been asking for months whether I think he will return this year. I always tell them I'm not sure....that's up to Santa.

 

But sure enough, we awoke this morning to find Hermie sitting in front of our Christmas tree.....and bearing a surprise. He arrived with a note and a basket full of wrapped items. The note was from the Big Guy himself, stating that Hermie has been asking to return to our home this year and he wanted to bring something special along. He chose 24 books that he thought the kids would enjoy, wrapped them all up individually, and wants the girls to take turns opening one book per day, all the way up until Christmas Eve. Today, Stitch chose a book, unwrapped it, and found herself the proud owner of Commotion in the Ocean. We already own two other books by this author (Rumble in the Jungle, and the ABC Animal Jamboree) and really enjoy them.

 

 

The kids love Hermie. They even sat him on the couch to watch Curious George with them today. Boo informed me that she wouldn't touch his eyes because she "didn't want to poke them out." Thank you Boo, I'm sure that Hermie's eyes will appreciate that. Stitch happened to wonder if they sold stuffed animals that looked like Hermie. Then, on Christmas Eve night, what would happen if Santa accidently took the wrong one? Where does she come up with this stuff???

 

I'm so glad that December is here. We light up the tree all day long, have already done two Christmas crafts, and rock out to Christmas tunes every time we get into the van. Yes, Christmas time is here....nothing else compares to the magic and wonder of Christmas time.

 

And just because no post is complete without some newborn goodness.....

 

 

 

And Baby C has finally been given a blog name, thanks to the suggestion from a friend. Our 5 week old will now officially be referred to as "Thumper." I figure that this is fitting since she would always thump on the right side of my stomach throughout the end of my pregnancy. So little Thumper she is.

A casserole blog post of sorts.

 

You know, you dump a bunch of ingredients in a dish, stir it around, and voila! You have a casserole! That's sort of how my blog post is probably going to turn out. We have been SO busy here for the past few days, and I have so many thoughts going through my head, so I'm just going to toss them into one post and hope that it turns out to be edible. Errr, readable.

 

On Saturday we went to the annual Christmas parade in a nearby town. It was a nice little day trip with the family. Joining the girls and I were my parents, youngest sister, her boyfriend, and the girls little friend. After the parade we managed to do a little sight seeing, despite the crazy crowds. We visited an old Fort, as well as a wax museum. Dinner at a seafood restaurant followed. It was a fun day complete with wonderful weather.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 There was one quite frightening moment during the day when I thought I would be forced to become a Death Eater. Thankfully, I got away.

 

 

 

 

 Boo went to the eye doctor last week for a check-up. They like to keep tabs on her eyes to be sure the patching is still helping her bad eye. Sure enough, it is working, surgery is pretty much guaranteed to be avoided, and Boo cooperated like a champ. We still need to continue patching for a while so that the vision in her bad eye will continue to improve. But, as of now, the eye doctor cannot even detect any "wandering" in Boo's eye, which is great news!

 

This evening, I am neck-high in photographs to edit. I photographed the wedding of a family friend and took over 700 photos! I think I'll be editing till I'm 40! It was a beautiful wedding consisting of a wonderful young couple. Just one sneak peek for the family since I haven't been able to dive too deep into the editing process yet. The kiddos are snug in bed and I'm using the opportunity to continue on with my editing.

 

 

And speaking of editing, today I photographed my girls little friends. The babe is turning one, the older is just 7 weeks older than Boo. Here's a sneak peek for mom and dad....

 

 

 Today I managed to slice my finger open while setting up my photography equipment. That was fun. Or not. I was wondering if a visit to the urgent care may be necessary. It wasn't bleeding a lot but it wouldn't....::::disclaimer to the squeamish (like me), don't say I didn't warn you::::... stay together. It kept gaping open.  Eww. Gag. I know. Finally, it did end up staying together. Urgent care visit avoided. But now I can't really use that finger for fear of breaking it open again, so it's not really a whole lot of fun attempting to do things thumbless.

 

Herme's mischief this year is in full swing with all his elving antics. The last few days have consisted of this....

 

And even a little of this....

 

That elf causes some sort of mess that I have to clean up every single day. I really don't quite know what to do about him anymore. The girls love him to bits so maybe I'll just let him stay.

 

Paisley began therapy for her auditory and visual processing disorders. More on that in a later post. All I know is that it is taking up lots of time, energy, and money and I just pray that it helps aid her speech and reading issues. Traditional speech therapy was just not working.

 

This week is another jam packed, full to the brim week....there is packing for trips, dentist appointments, Whole Foods visits, finishing up of Christmas shopping, homeschool group, church, therapy, schooling, photo editing....and oh yeah, I guess I'll breathe in there somewhere. Possibly even sleep too. And continue fighing off this cold that's attacking my sinuses. Whew!

 

And that's my blog post casserole! Tired just from reading it? I am. Goodnight!

 

 

 

 

He's baaaaack!

 

It's that time of the year, that first day of December, that moment when the cool snap has finally arrived and my kids wander into the living room first thing in the morning, hair all messed up and still snuggly....and then they see it. Something is different. Something has gone awry. SomeONE has gotten into some mischief.

 

Hermie the Elf is hanging upside down, tangled up in yarn that he used to hang 24 stockings all in a row. Yes, folks, 24 stockings. In a row. From a piece of yarn. Above the ground. Near midnight. I am Hermie is no slacker elf.

 

For the next 24 days we will enjoy the company of our small, mischevious little friend. He's spent the last 11 months in the North Pole creating toys....but now he's traveled down south in order to spend this Christmas season with his favorite family. Santa himself dropped him off just last night accompanied by a note to the girls. Hermie wasted no time with his antics after the Big Man left.

 

The girls happily awoke to 24 stockings draped across the kitchen table, a very frazzled Christmas elf, and stocking number one buldging with special goodies. Smiled abound. They've already wondered what Hermie will be into tomorrow morning. And Sailor exclaimed "And I thought he was just a stuffed animal!" You just can't judge a book by it's cover.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Is it almost Christmas Eve yet?

Because when Christmas Eve gets there, then small mischevious elves cannot commit acts such as this because they will be back at the North Pole, where small mischevious elves belong.

No, your eyes are not deceiving you. Yes, that is purple yarn ALL AROUND THE HOMESCHOOL ROOM. Yes, that is an elf hanging upside down.

A Christmas Visitor

Each year we have a visitor for Christmas. No, it's not a cousin that's in from another state. No, not my parents, they live just around the corner. This visitor is small. His ears are sort of pointy. He's a bit of a troublemaker as well. However, he is well loved by my kids, so I let him stay despite his crazy antics. His name is Hermie the Elf. Each year Santa makes a special trip in the wee morning hours of December 1st, straight from the North Pole and all the way to our home. He drops Hermie off in the middle of the night, usually bearing a note and a gift. The kids wake up to find our new 24 day houseguest! Hermie comes alive at night and wreaks havoc on the house. On Christmas Eve night, when Santa is making his rounds, he picks Hermie back up and bring him back home to the North Pole where he lives until the next December. We're happy to give Hermie a month-long home.

Hermie arrived in a timely fashion, carrying a note (handwritten by Santa himself, of course) and a video that the girls have been asking for.

Day 2....Hermie got into the roll of stickers. He managed to make himself into one big sticky mess.

Day 3....Hermie tried out his architectural capabilites. Not sure if he's part Egyptian or not. He did manage to put Jesus at the very top of the pyrmaid.

Day 4.....Hermie learned his sleigh riding from the red-suited man himself! He tried hitching up his own sleigh. And he left the kids the Fisher Price reindeer and sleigh set that they've been eyeing in the catalog.

Day 5.....Hermie thought it might be interesting to float Elmo in the bathtub.

Day 6....Hermie loves toilet paper. Did you know that? Every year he must toilet paper something in our house. He decided on the Christmas tree this time.

Day 7.....Hermie played with the Christmas gifts under the tree. He made a tower!

Day 8......Hermie tried to do something good, but it just didn't work out for him. He tried wrapping a little gift for the kids. Instead he managed to wrap himself, as well as the couch. He left $5 for each kid to buy a reindeer stuffed animal from CVS. They wanted to collect all of the reindeer.

 Day 9......Hermie maganged to get himself a wee bit stuck.

Day 10......Giddy up!!! I think Hermie must have mistaken Scooby Doo for a reindeer!

Day 11.......Sugar high anyone? Hermie got into all of the cookies!!

Day 12......Hermie stacked the kids videos so that he could reach the TV. And he left them Mickey's Once Upon A Christmas DVD!

Day 13......I think Hermie has been watching me waaaay too much. He set up his own little photo shoot with some Webkinz! And he swiped Stitch's camera to do it!

Day 14.....Our kitchen was turned into a bowling alley. Hermie set up some bottled water, grabbed the soccer ball, and let the good times "roll." He also left the girls some Christmas stickers.

And since today is December 14th, that's as far as Hermie has gotten this year. We have ten more days of multiplied housework bliss to go! Check back for more installments of A Christmas Visitor! To see some of last year's antics, check out this post.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
 

Traditions.

I'm a traditions kinda girl.  I love continuing traditions, making new ones, and passing them on to my kids. I want them to look back on their childhood with fond memories of happy times. I want them to continue our traditions with their own kids.

Camping is one tradition that I wanted to pass down to my girls.

 

That's our home on wheels right there. We camped as a family when I was a child and I remember it being so much fun. We looked forward to those weekend camping trips. A few times we even packed up and took off on a 2-week trip to the mountains. As a kid, that's an exciting adventure!

As Christmas is quickly approaching, December is a season that is just chock full of family traditions!

One tradition is that we go Christmas light looking one evening in late December, close to Christmas. We discover all the extravagant light displays and ooooh and aaaah over them as we slowly drive by.

Another tradition is my mom's chocolate/peaunt butter squares. These are a small slice of heaven down here on Earth.

What could be better than peanut buttery, chocolatey goodness all mixed into one?

One of my favorite traditions that I have started with my own little family is a birthday party for Jesus. We kick this event off on Christmas night, after we've come home from all the festivities. We go all out - decorations, balloons, a birthday banner, and a birthday cake. We all gather 'round the kitchen table, read two versions of the Christmas story, and pray. First, we read from the gospel of Luke in the Bible. Second, we pull out the children's version of the story and read from there. I try to incorporate the kids and ask them questions. After we read the Christmas story, we break out the gifts. Each child gets one "Jesus gift." It is usually either a Christian book, DVD, or shirt. Whatever it is, it is Jesus-themed. Next up, we break out the cake! After a hearty round of singing Happy Birthday to our King, we dig into the yummy-ness. Next up comes a bit of symbolism. The day before, I go out and purchase a helium mylar balloon for each of us from the Dollar Tree. After eating cake, we each take a small piece of paper and write down something that we want to do for Jesus in the coming year. It can be a change we want to make in our lives, a vow to do daily devotions, a promise to begin service in the church, or anything that we want to do for Jesus during the next year. We tape those papers to our helium balloons and take them outside. On the count of three, we each let go of our balloons and "send them up to Jesus."

 
That's one tradition that I really look forward to.

One thing that my kids really enjoy during the Christmas season is Hermie the Elf. Santa drops him off in the wee morning hours of December 1st, usually bearing a note from Santa as well as some sort of gift.

Hermie spends his days being "frozen" and comes alive only at night. He usually gets into mischief and occasionally leaves the kids a small gift.

On Christmas Eve, when Santa visits our house, he picks Hermie up and brings him back home to the North Pole until next December. The kids love looking for Hermie each morning to see what sort of antics he's been performing.

Of course, we have the usual traditions of writing a letter to Santa Claus, making Christmas crafts, and visiting with family.

We also take part in doing "What God Wants for Christmas." Beginning seven days before Christmas, each night we open a box containing a piece of the nativity scene and read the portion of the story that goes along with that figure. On the last night, Christmas Eve, we open the final box and find out just what God really wants for Christmas. It's a really neat little story and the kids enjoy opening the boxes each night. The link to Amazon to purchase it or check it out at the top of this paragraph.

Something old, something new, something borrowed....oh wait, that's for a wedding. But I guess the same sentiment could apply to Christmas traditions as well. We could use an old tradition, passed down from generation to generation. We could begin a new tradition that you come up with yourself. You could borrow a tradition from a friend and incorporate it into your family. And as for blue? I have no idea about that one.

Our "old" tradition has not been passed down for very many generations as of yet, but my Pop-Pop (aka my grandfather) created it for my sisters and I when we were children. He hand-made this beautiful wooden Christmas tree, complete with hooks for miniature wooden ornaments. It comes complete with a storage area below the tree to place the currently unused ornaments.

Each day, from December 1st until Christmas, the kids take turns choosing an ornament to place onto the Christmas tree. I remember the excitment of doing this when I was a small child. I'd try to choose the perfect ornament to hang on the tree that day. And when it was not our day to hang one, we'd just pray that our sibling didn't choose the one we were hoping to hang the next day! I'm hoping that my kids love this tradition as much as I did. My Pop-Pop is no longer with us, and my children never got the opportunity to meet him, but I'm hoping that they can learn a little about him through this special tradition.

These are just a few of the many traditions, both Christmas and non, that I hope to pass down to my children. I hope that their childhood will be filled with as many fond memories as what mine is.

 
 
 

Hermie.

Hermie's at it again.

On the 3rd of December, he raided the kids underwear drawer. I guess he thought that undies and diapers would make great tree decorations.....as well as a unique fashion statement.

On December 4th, he got hungry. He got into the kids play food and dishes. He set himself up a quite nice little spread at the table in the playroom.


On December 5th, Hermie needed to feel pretty. We awoke to Hermie all glamored up with the girls hair accessories, complete with bows.


By December 6th, Hermie needed a creative outlet. He got into the crayons. They were strewn all over the school room floor. He found some paper and drew everything from Santa, to snowflakes, to his Elf Mommy, to writing "I Love Stitch and Boo" and "I Love Jesus."



Yesterday night, Hermie was tired. I guess that getting into mischief will do that to an elf. He managed to get into the girl's doll carrier. He grabbed Boo's blanket and Stitch's stuffed dog. And he got himself a pacifier. And went to sleep.


Today we found him completely occupied with Littlest Pet Shop toys. He had them lined up on the train table. He even had a surprise for the girls. Exclusive Toys R Us Littlest Pet Shop giraffes. Both girls like giraffes so they were happy with this treat!
 

 

So, that's our adventures with Hermie so far. He's a good little elf with a good heart....he just has a bit of a mischevious streak in him. When Paisley gets out of bed in the mornings, the first thing she says is "Let's go see what the elf did last night." Hermie is loved!