The Return of Cupcake!

I don't know if any of you are familiar with the book Elf on the Shelf, but if you want a fun, "you better behave or else" type tradition in your house, I HIGHLY recommend it. We received this book from our second family.....Mr. Britton and Mrs. Michelle (really - the greatest God-send in the world! They are our family away from family and love our children as if they were their own grandchildren!) The story is about a little elf that comes from the North Pole to watch over the family and keep tabs on what is happening in the house. Each night, the elf "goes back" to the North Pole to report back to Santa what he has seen. The next morning, he has placed himself somewhere in the house (a different spot each time!) and the kids race to see who can find him. The book actually comes with a vintage looking elf and your kids name him and everything. He does come with rules.....1) you cannot touch him or he looses his flying powers to get back to Santa 2) if you have a rough day, he WILL tell Santa all about it 3) you can talk all you want to the elf, but he won't talk back to you (imagine that!). Landon and Reagan named our elf Cupcake. Because today is Dec. 1st, he made his first appearance this morning! You can only imagine how excited the kids were to wake up and see that their little buddy had come back to visit for the month. I am not kidding when I say that this is the best discipline tool ever! I remember vividly last year when Reagan would cry and cry and BEG us not to tell Cupcake that she has been disrespectful! (and for those that are reading this thinking we are horrible parents - we do tell our kids that we should obey and be respectful because that pleases God......NOT just Santa! I don't want any comments about the fact that we should not use an elf to teach our kids about discipline! It's all about Santa Claus fun, people! Get a grip! :-) Anyway - Cupcake will hang around here until the 24th and then head back to the North Pole and won't come back until next Dec. 1st. It is such a fun tradition! Here is a picture of where Cupcake chose to sit his first day back at the Brown's.