Miscellany Flix
2010 Mish Mash
Posted on December 31, 2011
We did our traditional trip to Sunriver for Christmas this year. Here are some of the highlights from the week …
Christmas morning in our jammies … check out Miss Eliza’s bed head!
The day before Christmas Eve our Elf on the Shelf, Matilda, got into my make-up bag … she left a note that explained her and Adeline’s baby were having a beauty day and encouraged me and Addie to do the same.
Then, on the morning of Christmas Eve we woke to find Matilda played a little trick on us all as we slept. Again she got into my make-up, but this time managed to draw kitty cat faces on all of us as we were sleeping soundly in bed (or was that Rudolph faces with the little red nose??). I’m just amazed that she was able to do it to both girls without waking them … I have a feeling it was very tricky and that she had to reapply the baby’s make-up at least 20 times due to rolling over and rubbing faces with chubby hands (just guessing, you know – and my apologies on behalf of Matilda to the housekeepers at the lodge who had to wash the make-up covered sheets!). Keeping a straight face as Addie opened her eyes to see us all sleeping next to her with kitty cat faces was quite difficult. 
For those who wanted to know how our goodbyes to Matilda went … disastrously, leaving me feeling like a horrible mommy … you can read about it here.
This one was super out of focus due to my crawling on the ground at a low shutter speed with entirely too little sleep – but it was so cute I had to post anyway. 
Now, on Christmas Eve my little Adeline explained that Christmas and all the happiness and love of the day doesn’t last long enough and we should do a two day holiday instead. She told us on Christmas Eve that not only did she want to keep celebrating for two days, but she wanted to save half of her gifts for the second day. What?! Who stole my sweet, but impatient child who usually cannot contain herself when their is a surprise waiting?? We all agreed it was a lovely idea – and officially started our new annual Second Christmas in the Manning family this year (and, yes, I know all of you who celebrate Boxing Day are lucky enough to already enjoy this tradition).
Now the remarkable part of this story is that on Christmas night as we snuggled to sleep she whispered to me that “Second Christmas Day” is a gift from her to me … she overheard me saying to my husband on Christmas Eve how I was kind of sad it was almost over. In an effort to make it last longer for me she decided it would be her “Christmas Eve” gift to me since mommy seems to get the fewest presents in the family and I didn’t pick a gift to open on Christmas Eve (I actually like it this way and don’t really dig getting lots of “things” … I’d rather just enjoy my little clan and our time together than worry about material gifts). It’s amazing that these little precious people in our lives teach us so much about love and what is really important in life.
Now this next one is not a technically perfect photo, but a perfect capture of the girls’ personalities at that moment. LOL!! Let me narrate …
Adeline, “Sit still. Grrrrrrr!!! I don’t want to do this!!”
Eliza, “Let.Me.Go!! Heeelllpp!! I don’t want to do this!!”
3 seconds flat before my little models were set free. 
And I have lots more Christmas and holiday photos and stories to share … as well as some amazingly fun rock star birthday photos, but it’s going to have to wait until next week because I’m tuckered out and am ready to join Miss Addie and Eliza here next to me in sweet slumber.
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Posted on December 30, 2011
So, how did it go when our beloved Matilda said goodbye? This may be a bit jumbled and rambling because it’s 4am and I’m exhausted – my apologies. Well, on Christmas morning she was still with us … in the tree with a simple note to Have Fun! Things went downhill from there much, much worse than I ever imagined. A little history about our family and the way we do things with the girls – we don’t do Santa, Easter Bunny, yada, yada. I just don’t believe in telling my kids stories that are not the truth and my biggest thing about Santa is that I want my girls to know that mommy and daddy choose to give them gifts because we love them. I don’t want to have them thinking some make believe character is leaving presents for them … and I never want to use the “be nice or you won’t get any gifts” line with them. I believe my girls are “nice” ALL the time and we don’t use the word “naughty” (or any other labels for that matter) around here. So, this whole elf thing is totally new territory for us … and we went into it like we have with everything else – with the truth. I explained at the beginning that it’s all pretend and a game, just like Santa. Which Addie totally understood and grasped. But then we all got so caught up with the fun that was Matilda that it became something much more to Adeline than I had imagined it would.
However, in the middle of December she started telling me that she wanted to pretend like Matilda was truly real and I told her that’s fine and fun if that was her choice to believe, but again reinforced that she’s a story for. Well, by the time Christmas had arrived she was terrified of Matilda leaving us. I bought one of the plush Elf on the Shelf dolls, the ones that are “supposed” to be able to stick around all year (and I put quotes on that because I’m in charge of how I choose to do our traditions and how I parent my kiddos, I could really care less how some story goes and what they say is “supposed” to be done). I had it wrapped very special with no tag … and inside was a letter from Matilda to both the girls saying she would miss them until next year, and this little doll would keep them company until she returned. Addie insisted the doll was for Eliza because Matilda wouldn’t leave her – when I explained she would be back next year and this doll was for both of them she actually threw the doll, started *sobbing* her little heart out and ran up the stairs saying that doll wasn’t special like Matilda and she didn’t want Matilda to leave. Wow. Was not expecting that. But all my mommy alarms are going off now and screaming at me, “SEE! This is exactly why we don’t do Santa and why we don’t lie to our kids, no matter how fun the game is … these precious little beings depend on us for the truth, for comfort and security. And now you’ve gone and created this huge story, that Adeline ended up believing along the way and you’ve confused the hell out of her precious little heart!! Now what are you going to do, you idiot??”
And, well, that is where I am still … Matilda is still with us, but not doing much except sitting in one spot and leaving a note here and there or hugging a little toy figurine on most mornings. I told Addie that Matilda, mommy and daddy all love her very much and will do whatever makes her heart happy and that she doesn’t need to worry. I don’t think she believes me. This is heart wrenching because this little one has never doubted a word I’ve said and has certainly never been this distraught over something that is totally unnecessary – and something *I* created in her world. But I’m certainly not going to break her heart to pieces for the sake of a Christmas story. And my heart is torn over whether I tell her again that it’s just pretend when she is so adamant that Matilda really is magic … will that be just as painful? We told her when we first got Matilda that it was a game and pretend … but then with each day and new “game” she believed it more and by doing all of these things with the elf every day we enforced that belief. She did just turn six after all – with all this “proof” why wouldn’t she believe it’s real? Especially since we’ve never ever lied to her before in her life and she knows from us that Santa isn’t real, etc, etc. and why we don’t do Santa except as a fun story to tell. I know how important magic and make believe is in a child’s world … and when I saw her absolutely light up with each day we had with Matilda I just got caught up in that joy she was showing. When she asked about what we thought Matilda was capable of we simply asked her what she believed instead of answer one way or another – careful to never lie to her, but at a certain point we stopped outright explaining again that it was all a pretend game for fun. Did I betray her by doing so?? It just seemed so important to her to believe, and we had nothing but fun, love and laughter with this little new ritual … but I’m left questioning whether it was the best thing to introduce to my innocent little hearted Addie. Even Eliza knows who Matilda is now and will point at her and giggle when she hears someone mention her name. So, I’m in a state of, “Yikes! What the hell did I do here??” Is there a way to keep the magic and fantasy without the lie? Our kids need us to give them truth, security and a solid foundation of trust … did I endanger that and for something so silly?
You can see our fun loving Matilda with her “Have Fun!” note pre-Christmas morning … and after Addie got the plush “replacement” doll and had a heartbreaking meltdown over the thought of Matilda leaving (and she’s known since day one that the elves are around for Christmas time only, but it didn’t lessen the blow) you’ll see the note that was hastily written saying, “Don’t Worry. I love you.” Because my promises that nobody was going to take Matilda away until she was ready, and that mommy and daddy would make sure her heart wasn’t broken, were met with uncertainty … which was probably my fault for starting the whole thing to begin with. 
Anyone else out there dealt with anything similar??
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Posted on December 29, 2011
If you enjoy my little, rambling blog, and have a second (literally), I would so appreciate it if you could pretty please click the banner below to vote for me (and thank you so much if you do!) … each click you make is your vote – heck, you can even vote every day, LOL!
Posted on December 22, 2011
Catching up with Matilda’s latest antics. This gal is amazing … we’ve gone on two out of town trips this mont and each time she manages to get there before us (she can fly pretty fast you know)!
On Adeline’s sixth birthday we woke to a very loud sound … Miss Matilda had the song “Kriss Kross Will Make You Jump” playing *very* loudly through the house and as we walked into the family room we discovered the bounce house filling the room from wall to wall! We had a couple days of nothing but bouncing in the house (and, yes, you can bet I was in there with the girls … although Scott almost made the thing collapse on itself, LOL).
Before Adeline’s huge Rock Star birthday bash (which I am just finishing the photo edits for posting very soon – they are awesome if I don’t say so myself!), Miss Matilda decided to have a little rock concert for herself. Again, we woke to very loud music (all of Addie’s favorites – Johnny Cash, some Ramones, etc) and playing her heart out for a huge audience of little creatures forming a little mosh pit. She was dressed in studs and holding a black guitar under the lights of Addie’s punk party tree … she even had a band of ducks playing with her.
Here Matilda is after building a little “castle” for the girls … she spelled out Hi ABM (Adeline Brett Manning) and EJCM (Eliza June Clementine Manning … yes, it’s long, but it’s because Scott wouldn’t agree to Clementine for her first name and Addie and I loved the name so much – so we tacked it onto the end!) … LOVE, MATILDA.
Oh, that Matilda! She got into my purse and was Christmas shopping on Amazon! She did have some nice things on the list for the girls (although, as you’ll find from future letters from Matilda, she doesn’t really know that much about babies – under Eliza’s name she simply wrote, “Baby Stuff?”), however, she also had a number of things just for herself … candy canes, cotton candy, maple syrup you see her adding to the cart. All my credit cards and some cash were laid out and she was in the middle of a purchase when we caught her – and I have a feeling that a certain bottle of maple syrup is going to be showing up on our front doorstep here at Sunriver!
Over last weekend we went on a little trip to Portland and Adeline was terribly worried that Matilda wouldn’t be able to find her way to where we were staying. We woke to find her inside the little playhouse nana gave the girls with the rock party tree decorated for Christmas, a Christmas book propping open the door and a warm cup of hot chocolate with marshmallows waiting for Adeline. Her note reassured Addie that she would find her way to our hotel for the weekend.
When we arrived at our hotel we were amazed to find Matilda waiting for us in our room (she had the window propped open from flying in earlier). The little map Adeline had made her was all crinkled from the flight up and laying next to her along with a crowd of little horses in honor of our weekend seeing the show Cavalia.
It was so cold in the room from the window being left open that we cranked the heat up and went to sleep toasty warm. We woke to find Matilda inside a bucket of ice with a “Too Hot!” note next to her … I guess we forgot that elves are used to the cold weather of the North Pole and might not appreciate the cozy, warm room!
The second day we woke in Portland we found her on my computer writing a little note to Santa. The most enjoyed parts of the letter (according to Adeline’s giggles) were, “Eliza a great kid – she does poop in her pants a lot and pulls her mommy’s hair, but I think that is normal for a baby … this is my first time around a baby – is that normal?? She also eats garbage off the ground – is that normal?? Otherwise, she’s a really cool little kid.”
After returning from our little Portland trip we packed yet again and were off to Sunriver for a week for Christmas. This time we were not as worried that Matilda would make it there okay without us. Here she is all packed with her own suitcase (yes, a candy cane is a necessity!), reassuring us she would see us in Sunriver. She even had made a little felt stocking (again, stuffed with candy) to take with her for the holiday vacation. We, again, left her a little map to let her know where we would be.
And here she is again … sitting in our room waiting for us! She is amazing!! She was in the bedroom with the TV on watching Polar Express and had made a trail of broken, half eaten candy canes all the way across the room. Tsk, tsk.
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Posted on December 19, 2011
Wishing you all a little magic this holiday season! I have more Elf on the Shelf antics to share and Miss Adeline’s very fun, totally amazing Rock Star party photos from her sixth birthday party. But for now I just want to send out a wish for a little holiday magic to touch each and every one of your lives.
If you enjoy my little, rambling blog, and have a second (literally), I would so appreciate it if you could pretty please click the banner below to vote for me (and thank you so much if you do!) … each click you make is your vote – heck, you can even vote every day, LOL!
