elf on the shelf 2019

those damn elves came back this year and poor doug and i had to think of another 24 things to make them do for the month of december.

day one - they brought a christmas movie for the kids to watch

day two - riding in on the reindeer grandma bought the kids

day three - they decorated the christmas tree with the kids underwear

day four - they had a game of jenga on our kitchen table

day five - one elf locked the other in a jar

day six - they did some acrobatics hanging from our light

day seven - they joined mary and joseph in our large nativity set

day eight - they pooped in glasses in the kitchen. please note they were pooping chocolate chips

day nine - they had a trip to the pools in the kids mini kitchen. featuring one of alex's toys as a flaotie and mini shop water bottles from coles

day ten - they helped place the ornaments on the kids christmas advent calendar. we had to leave a little note to madeline after a visting child had touched one of them not realising that that's a no-no. we quickly googled how to fix that and sprinkled him with cinnamon and sang a christmas carol. done. haha

day eleven - the elves made themselves little wooden swords the same as the ones our kids had made at the road to bethlehem the night before. 

day twelve - the elves took the fisher price nativity members for a spin in alexanders london bus

day thirteen - they toilet papered the christmas tree

day fourteen - they did a workout with some marshmallow dumbbells

day fifteen - one elf cut the other in half with the kids mini chainsaw 

(this was truly one of my favourites!)

day sixteen - the elves took all the fisher price animals from the nativity and noahs ark for a ride

day seventeen - the elves went for a row in alexanders boat shelf

day eighteen - the elves wrapped the kids tv with christmas paper

day nineteen - the elves painted dads big toenails. thank you internet. this one was solid gold.

day twenty - the shoe shoe train made its way down our kitchen bench

day twenty-one - our kitchen bench was lava

day twenty-two - our elves read some mini books

day twenty-three - the elves brought a bag for the kids to fill with some of their things to give to those who don't have as much as us

day twenty-four - the elves said goodbye and left the kids a christmas scripture to read the next day for christmas! 

guess we will see them again next year. 

last temple day for 2019

with only two days left of this year - let's talk goals here. we are pretty overwhelmed right now with the very real possibility of losing doug's dad in the coming weeks - so what do i want to focus on right now? an eternal family. and what's the best way i can do that? keep my focus on the temple, keeping the covenants i made there and making sure i am worthy to be part of an eternal family.

yesterday i made it to the temple one last time for the year completing my goal of attending monthly for the fourth year in a row. it felt good to achieve it and it feels good to be there each month and to know i am in the right place. 

so what's my goal for next year? same thing. make it there another 12 times. something simple and doable, to keep me going in the right direction.

christmas for the kendalls

christmas was a little different for us this year with dougs dad in hospital. we know that it's unlikely he will come home - and we are preparing ourselves for the worst - but trying to be positive and make things normal for him. oli stayed overnight in the hospital with him so he would be with family, which left doug's sister to come and be with us and the kids.

and we had a great morning! we got up and unwrapped presents with these excited kids... who always know how to make christmas magical. i guess it's just part of being a child!

alex was completely smitten with his singing baby shark toy and cuddly bluey. he was loving all of it. crawling around, getting into everything and nosey-ing into everyones gifts.

maddie and joseph are so much fun. no matter how small or daggy a present is, they just love everything. it's hilarious. doug bought them a pair of wind up poos with racing helmets on called "skid racers"to race up and down the hallway. joseph insisted we needed to take them to the hospital to show steve, as they are forever making poo jokes to each other and he wanted to show him. of course they started poo races on the floor of his hospital room hahha.

maddie loved showing alex all his gifts as they were open and read his bluey books to him the minute they were out of the paper.

joseph was thrilled with his super mario gifts and a new retro sega console!

as well as this super special gift from poppy and grandma which he claims he had wanted for 39 years!! we were dying laughing when he was yelling that as he opened it. "finally!" hahaha

my highlight was some new sunnies - and dougs was bluetooth bose headphones.

it was a happy family morning, even if it was missing a coupe of our favourites :(

❤

we went into the hospital around lunchtime and took some of our cooked breakfast to share with steve and oli. he was thrilled to see us all and enjoyed his cuddles from the kids and a few presents we bought him - including the angus young pop! vinyl we'd managed to find.

these days with him are so precious and i am so glad we have been able to take the time to keep visiting and taking the kids in, even though joseph is "sick of the hospital!" too bad mate. we all are, especially your poppy.

dinner at jared and donnas - with my fave nieces and nephews 

and some more cuddles with this little elf. 

it was a good day! 

christmas eve + tim tam cabins

as per tradition, we spent christmas eve at the pinkers house, enjoying dinner and some after dinner crafts... the last few years we have decorated gingerbread houses together - but this year after i saw the most amazing idea on the internet...

we made tim tam cabins!!!! 

it was an absolute hoot. so many laughs and such weird decorations. but we got them done in the end and would 100% recommend them over making a gingerbread house - these are way easier and much more fun.

dinner was very untraditional - tacos - but was perfect for lots of hungry people. 

then after this trifle i made for dessert by nannaleahs request, on to the presents!

i love that alex is old enough to enjoy christmas this year and is into the wrapping quick smart, smiling away, dying to see what is inside.

our monopoly loving kid got these amazing pjs from nannaleah and he loooooves them. i bet they won't be allowed to go in the wash ever. super cute!

i love that these three love each other - makes my life a whole lot easier.

now off home to wrap our presents...

merry christmas to all and to all a good night!

christmas sunday

i love christmas sunday. i love that the entire meeting is focused on the birth of the saviour - because that is what christmas is all about. we combined with the other ward that meets at our chapel for today and it was full of beautiful words and hymns. 

the best part was being asked to conduct the final hymn, which was a beautifully full arrangement, played as a duet between two pianos of:

Joy to the world

Joy to the world, the Lord is come;

Let earth receive her King!

Let ev’ry heart prepare him room,

And Saints and angels sing,

And Saints and angels sing,

And Saints, and Saints and angels sing.

Rejoice! Rejoice when Jesus reigns,

And Saints their songs employ,

While fields and floods, rocks, hills, and plains

Repeat the sounding joy,

Repeat the sounding joy,

Repeat, repeat the sounding joy.

No more will sin and sorrow grow,

Nor thorns infest the ground;

He’ll come and make the blessings flow

Far as the curse was found,

Far as the curse was found,

Far as, far as the curse was found.

Rejoice! Rejoice in the Most High,

While Israel spreads abroad

Like stars that glitter in the sky,

And ever worship God,

And ever worship God,

And ever, and ever worship God.

it was sung with so much emotion and it was amazing to be a part of it. i am so grateful to know that the saviour came into the world all those years ago. we are so blessed to know of the truth and be able to be here today to celebrate his birth.