Once again when Ballerina woke up she put tried to clean Penelope up before I could see! I think she thinks that she is going to get in trouble. Hey, I'll take the cleaning up! 

Are you doing Elf on Shelf this year? I would love to hear what you are doing!

I first saw this recipe on Pinterest, then tweaked it a little and made it my own. I served it at my Scentsy party last night and was a huge hit! So I thought I'd share the recipe with all of you!

4 Diced Roma Tomatoes
1/2 Red Pepper
1/2 Yellow Pepper
1/2 Orange Pepper
1 Jalapeno Pepper
2 Cloves of garlic
1/2 Onion
Handful of Cilantro
Drizzle of Olive Oil
Salt and Pepper
Splash of Lime Juice
1 Can of corn

Mix ingredients together and serve with chips/pitas. Be sure to dice the Jalapeno and garlic up small, You can ad

Ballerina is still quite skeptical but I suspect she will grow more and more excited as the days go on! Lady Petunia has no clue really, she loves to hug Penelope though! 
                             Penelope learned on day two that it is not nice to take things from other people. 

Thankfully for day three Penelope decided to take a "naughty" break and play a game. Joseph and Leslie the Dog were thrilled to join her. 

We have a new family member! She arrived in the mail this morning and the little people have already argued several times over her.

Let me start by saying, when I first saw the whole "Elf On Shelf" thing I thought it was kind of strange. Actually, I thought it was pretty creepy. Over the year though, that stupid little elf has been popping up on Pinterest every.time.I'm.on. (Which lets face it, is twice a day.)

Last year, Ballerina's friend gave her a plush elf. We used it as a toy and packed it away with the Christmas stuff. Today, while Mr.Daddy and The Guncle brought Ballerina black Friday shopping, I wrapped Penelope up all pretty. Wrote this beautiful note from Santa Claus, and placed it thoughtfully near the newly set up nativity. They arrived home and I made it this huge ordeal about how Santa sent Ballerina and Lady Petunia a present. I set my camera to right settings (I am forcing myself to actually learn my dslr, by shooting only on raw), then I snapped all of these beautiful pictures. Only later to discover that I had forgotten to put my memory card back into my camera. That is what we call a fail!

Also, we have decided to take a different spin on the elf on shelf. Instead of using the "naughty or nice" list, we have decided to use it as a tool to teach the girls about forgiveness. In the letter from Santa I talked about how even though we sometimes do naughty things that Jesus always forgives us. Santa asked the little people to "keep an eye" on Penelope and to help her learn how to stay out of trouble, and that even when she does mess up to forgive her.

After the little people went to bed I began to research tons of ideas. After three hours and some pie, I am SO excited to do this with them. I hope it becomes a family tradition that lasts, and a memory that they always keep. I will be documented our experience here, and on the facebook page. Make sure you "like" the page to get even more pictures and ideas! www.facebook.com/jubileebabyco Also, be sure to check out the store! We have a ton of sales right now. STORE

Here are the pictures from day one (I remembered the memory card this time!)

We are so excited to announce our 500th like on facebook! In honor of this we are having a GIVEAWAY! Enter below to win a free jar of Shiny Heiny Bum Butter and may the odds ever be in your favor!

This conversation took place in the car today. (B is Ballerina, M is me)

B- Mama, are all doggies nice?
M- Not all doggies some are grumpy.
B- Oh Mimi's cat has an attitude... she is naughty and doesn't listen to Mimi.
M- Yes, sometimes she is a cranky.
B- That is disrespectful to Mimi. We should pray for her.
M- For Mimi or the cat?
B- The cat silly. She needs to know Jesus, then she wont be such an attitude Kitty.

Wisdom from a three year old.

Today I will be starting a new series here on the blog. No, you won’t be getting parenting tips; instead I will be giving you a picture of what raising the little people looks like.

Ballerina is three; she will be four in January. Since she started talking at about nine months, she has come out with the most hilarious comments that Hollywood wishes they could write. Let me give you an example...

The other day I found the living room toy basket in the little people’s room. Ballerina had just changed her clothes for the 13th time that day and had adorned herself with hair bows and necklaces.

Me: Ballerina will you please bring the basket back into the living room.

(She turns her chin up, place her hand on her popped out hip.)

Ballerina- But I'm gorgeous.

Me- What?

Mr. Daddy- Did she just say that she is gorgeous?

Me- What did you say?

Ballerina- I said that I am gorgeous.

Me- Gorgeous people still need to clean up after themselves.

Did you know that being gorgeous exempts you from picking up after yourself? Apparently I didn't get that memo either. Good thing Ballerina set me straight.

We have an  unwanted house guest. It's small and it scurries, that's right we have a mouse in our house!

The thing you should know is that our cat, Ruben, is a gruesome hunter. In fact, this past summer we often found bodies of small animals massacred throughout our yard. Very often we see Ruben prancing down the road with a bushy tailed squirrel in house mouth.

So naturally we thought this great hunter of ours would finally earn his keep and take care of this pest problem. After years of feeding him, scooping his poop (let’s face it that is Mr. Daddy's job), giving him an excessive amount of attention, and finding dead bodies throughout the yard, that he would finally repay us.

After hearing the mouse in the attic we put Ruben up there. For weeks when he would come inside he would go straight to the attic door. Do you think in all that time of being up in the attic that he caught that mouse? No. No our great mouser slept on a box.

So last night Mr. Daddy and I were all snuggled up on the couch, when we heard the evil creature. We discovered that the mouse has been hanging out behind some of our furniture in the living room. Under Mr. Daddy's direction I scooped the cat off of our bed and brought him to where we heard the mouse. Promptly after putting him on the floor, he turned and gave me an aloof look, and smugly walked back into our room.

Never did I imagine that a little mouse would cause me such anxiety and fear! But this little bugger was really beginning to creep me out! My knight in shining armor told me that he was going to “take care” of the situation himself. He came out of our room with a toddler sized baseball bat... That's right Mr. Daddy decided to "catch" a mouse with TODDLER sized baseball bat.

For a few minutes he banged around the living room, trying to scare the mouse out of hiding. Meanwhile, where was the cat? Oh yes, sleeping on our bed.

Later, we retired to bed. It was one of those nights where I just couldn't sleep (can’t imagine why…). At about 2 am, I felt the cat jump off of the bed (first time he had moved in hours), and then I heard a scurry, then a squeak. Yes! The cat was finally going to take care of the mouse. I laid still and listened, and listened some more. Through the dark I saw Ruben’s tail go under the bed, was the mouse under there? Nope. That dang cat was just taking a short cut to his second favorite sleeping spot, the office chair.

Clearly the cat is not nearly as interested in earning his keep like I am. Today I am off to buy mouse traps, since the baseball bat and cat are just not cutting it.

Oh and where was our vicious dog during all of this? Hiding under the bed, naturally.

I remember the nights clearly. We would wait for my mother to get out of work, being early November, the sun would already be down by the time our family left. We would climb in the car, or on particular warm days we would walk the short distance to our elementary school. People with signs would line the grass, handing out brochures, trying to sway your vote in the very last minute. After waiting in line, each parent would bring one child in with them to vote (this was long before my sister came). I remember being too short to actually see who they were voting for, but I remember the feeling of importance, as if what they were doing really mattered.

After all, it does really matter. Without saying to much about it, I must admit that I was not particularly thrilled about this year’s candidates. I feel as though we have two choices and we are forced to choose the "lesser of the two evils." However, no matter how strongly you dislike the candidates, these are our choices. We need to choose to exercise our right to vote, even if it is just to set the example for our children.

They are watching and they are observing, just like I did with my parents. My parents made voting a priority. They showed us that their voice and opinions mattered. If we don't teach our children how to vote, then who will?

Today I will be wearing Lady Petunia on my back; Mr. Daddy will pop Ballerina on his. As a family we will go to our local middle school and let our voice be heard.

Today's election is extremely important. Educate yourself. Vote where you feel morally led. Bring your kids, or tell them where you are going. Let the younger generation see how important voting really is. Explain to them how the process works, who the candidates are, even tell them who you believe will make a better leader. Get excited about our great country; tell them stories about family members who served our country to give us the right to vote. Raise up this upcoming generation to know that their vote does matter, let them see how important it is.


Most importantly, vote.