Our Buddy the Elf

Our Elf on the Shelf, Buddy, has been visiting us this month!  He sure has had a fun time at the Steiner house! Every morning, W and J have raced downstairs to see where Buddy was and what he was up to!  And Mommy and Daddy have sure had fun with Buddy too! ;-)

 Welcome Buddy!

He brought the boys a DVD, a book, and Christmas jammies!

Reading the book with Daddy and showing off their skills!

Repelling down the fan cord!

W&J thought he was amazing!

Curtain top sitting!

Thanks to the help of their ladder truck, Buddy found a high perch for the day!
Guess he's not afraid of heights!

A Mirror Message!

Buddy got ahold of our dry erase markers and left W&J a little note!

DJ Buddy

Buddy snuck into their room and took control of W&J's ipod!

Potty Break!

W&J got a kick out of seeing how elves use the potty...
Sweet Buddy was sure trying to help in #2 potty training!

Gone Fishing!

He caught some big ones!!

Stocking Switch-a-roo!

Uh-oh!  Buddy hid the stockings and brought out the big boy underwear!

 Letters to Santa--Special Delivery by Buddy

Written by both boys and delivered to the North Pole by Buddy...

They were so excited to have a letter from Santa!

Marshmallow Bubble Bath

Buddy needed a relaxing day!

Choo-Choo Rides!

Buddy loves riding the train around our Christmas tree!

Curtain Sliding

This little elf loves be crazy!

Family Room Zip Line!

The Real Reason of Christmas

Buddy brought the boys a special book...the boys love talking about Baby Jesus!

Santa Picture Day!

Even though Will was looking down, the smile was just too cute!
They love Santa!

Buddy Love Trains Too!

The train in the dining room made Jack beyond happy!  And they both loved their
Thomas jammies and cups!

Christmas Cookies--YUM!

Buddy was hungry!!

Sick Day! =(

Both boys and Buddy were a bit under the weather today!

Buddy Misses Santa!

Buddy seemed to be homesick...he just hung out on Santa all day!

Happy Birthday Daddy!

Buddy helped us decorate and celebrate Daddy's birthday!

Tire Swing!

Silly Buddy! He borrowed a wheel and made a tire swing!

Waiting for Santa!

Buddy had such a great month at our house, but was ready to head home to the North Pole. He watched for Santa all day!

Goodbye Buddy!

The boys usually don't get to touch Buddy (or he'll lose his magic/ability to fly back to the North Pole), but they each gave him a hug goodbye! And they had to try some of the snacks we left for Santa and the reindeer too!  Silly boys!

 

What a great month with our special elf! Can't wait to see you again next December, Buddy!

Our Super Halloween!

What a fun Halloween we had with our little guys this year!  I honestly can't believe that this was the 4th one we have gotten to celebrate with them!  And this was the first year that they truly "got it"...the saying "trick or treat" and "thank you",  hunting through their bag of candy for just the right piece, and being in awe of all of the costumes we saw!  Such fun to see our big boys taking in their world!

This year they were both Superman!  Well, we were all superman! We tend to like family themes...not sure how long we'll be able to do it, but it sure was fun! For those of you who know Justin, I'm sure you know his love for Superman!  We actually bought these costumes on clearance the year the boys were born.  They were seriously 5 pounds when we bought these 3T/4T costumes (we were clueless at how the sizes worked then!) and we had no idea it would be 4 years later that they'd actually be wearing them! Ha!  But it was worth the wait, because they love superman and were thrilled to tell everyone what they were going to be for Halloween!

Here is a collage of the 4 years of costumes!

  

1st year: almost 2 months old--still in the NICU, they were the "Steiner Globetrotters" (in Build a bear costumes, taken in so they fit their tiny bodies!)

2nd year: 1 year old--A monkey (Will) and a lion (Jack)--we were the Steiner Zoo (Mommy and Daddy were the zookeepers!)

3rd year: 2 years old--Crayons--Green (Jack) and Blue (Will)

4th year: 3 years old--SUPERMAN!

We started the day with a silly toast breakfast...a huge hit!

 We practiced how to trick or treat over and over today!!  ;-)

This doesn't have anything to do with Halloween, but it was just too stinking cute not to include! Betsy and Jack were taking a little rest together on the floor!  Melt my heart! =)

 My friend Tara (Shop at Reesey Roo's!) made these adorable candy bags for the boys!

We attempted a little photo shoot of the costumes this year, but the boys were a bit too busy watching other kids in costumes out and about! =)

Our Super Family!!

 We all had our capes on!

Heading to Gigi and Boppa's for the first trick or treat of the night!

 "Trick or Treat!!!"

 And we were off for the fun!

 "A spider Mommy!!!"

 My favorite Supermen!! =)

 And later in the night...look what we came across on our corner! It's a bird, it's a plane...it's MY Superman! =)

 And for our yearly after trick or treating tradition...a golf cart ride around the neighborhood to look at all the fun decorations!

And the last thing... a special dig through their loot to pic the one piece that they got to eat that night...

Jack

Will

And we regretted it because we had boys bouncing off the walls of their room until 10:30pm!!  Oh well, we had a great super Halloween!!

First Movie!

Today was another first for the Steiner Boys... their first time to go to a movie in the theater! =)

After church, we headed over to the mall for an early matinee...a good time since there weren't too many people in the theater! We saw the movie Planes, and it was really cute!

I don't think that movies as a family will be a regular event yet...especially one that requires buying lunch at the theater!  Seriously...we spent $75 for tickets and food!  We will definitely have to rethink the food next time! Mommy will just bring a big purse packed with goodies! =)

But for their first one, we went all out and get the kids movie packs...which they LOVED!  I think they seriously ate almost all of their popcorn!

Too many different choices! 

Got the food... and on their way!

A little blurry, but a nice "cheese" face from Jack!

Blurry again, but I think they stopped to look at every single poster! Ha!

Of course, we were at the far end of the hallway....quite a trek for 2 very interested boys! 

We made it!

Getting settled in...

My boys!

So cute! Before too long, these feet will reach down to the floor!

Into the movie!

Overall, they did a really good job!  We made it through the whole movie!  They did chatter quite a bit, but most everyone else had kids with them and didn't mind too much...thank goodness!  Justin was quite busy running the boys back and forth to the bathroom (a potty training post coming soon), so he was pretty tired after the movie! Ha!  But all in all, it was a great family outing! We just can't believe how grown up they are getting!  The last of the "baby" is really gone!  Makes me a bit sad, but we are just thrilled with the big boys that they are, and having so much fun every single day!