Bieber Creeper (on the shelf)

Let me begin by saying that I think the Elf of the Shelf thing is neat.  I like how creative people can get with what the elf gets into at night.  I love how some kids really get into it.  I even think it's pretty witty how various people have dealt with the situation when their child touched or messed with the elf all the while keeping the "magic" alive and the story going.  I get it.  It really does look like fun family thing to do.  Now, given Jason's and my particular sense of humor, and that our sense of humor has probably rubbed off on my kids, Elf of the Shelf just seems a little creepy to us.  The store-bought elf is cute, but he reminds me of the kind of old doll whose eyes follow you around the room and the head may or may not do a 360 in the corner of your vision.  Couple all that with the fact that Gwyn and Celee were never interested in it and we just never got one.  So this year in one of our nonsensical discussion about the creepy elf, we decided that it would be hilarious if it wasn't the elf, but Justin Bieber.  There in was born Bieber Creeper, our personal version of Elf on the Shelf.

The official story is that so many people are doing Elf on the Shelf that Santa ran out and Justin Bieber had to step in and help.  I'm pretty sure that Gwyn and Celee are just going along for the fun of it, but I think Lyla truly thinks Bieber Creeper is watching her.  She's deathly afraid that he will turn up in her room one morning.  We have promised her that we asked him to stay out of her room, and that he will.  So barring the girls' room, there is no telling where Bieber Creeper will end up.  So far he's drawn silly mustaches on our family picture. He has rolled our Christmas tree.   He's also used a votive candle for a potty, but I'll spare people the picture of that one.  Needless to say that one was all Jason's idea, complete with raisin poop.  I don't know if he'll make the trip with us to Champaign later in the month or not.  Maybe he's just an Apartment Model Bieber Creeper.  We'll have to see.  Did I mention that he also sings?  What better way to be woken up in the morning that finding where the "If I was you boyfriend..." is coming from?

Other than creepy pop-star dolls, the girls have been pleasantly busy this past week.  Celee got to sell Girl Scout cookies with her troop.  Gwyn got to go to a Tween Art Class with some friends here.  That's just weird to me.  10 just doesn't seem old enough to be an official "tween."  But I guess she really is.  I'm sure glad she still enjoys Littlest Pet Shop toys and American Girl Dolls.  She may be "tween" but she's definately not teen yet. (even if she is tall enough to be)  Lyla got to go to a friends' birthday party Saturday.  It was a butterfly party and very fun. They even set up a zipline for the butterflies to "fly" across the yard!   It's really nice too that the girls are making friends and being invited to parties and things.  It helps them (and me) feel like we're getting to be part of a community.

Sunday all three girls got to go to Girl Scout meetings.  Gwyn's wasn't a regular meeting, just her badge group getting together to plan how to do the geocaching badge with the troop.  I didn't realize that the other two girls had never actually geocached so of course we had to go!  They found their first two caches with us that evening.  And they're all three siked to do it with the whole troop so it should be fun!  It was dark and my phone was dying so unfortunately I didn't get any pictures. :(
In other news, Jason and I got to go out Saturday night!  Yippee!  One of Jason's co-workers threw a "formal" party, and a wonderful girl was recommended to us as a babysitter so Walah!  We got to get all prettied up and go out!  With other adults!  With no kids around!  We didn't know very many people there, but we still had fun.  They had a photo session set up, lots of hor'doeuvers, a tree full of recipes for various mixed drinks with a bar to make your own, and lots of people.  I think mixed drinks are kind of neat, but I usually just end up with something ginger-ale-y, or pineapple juice-y, mix those with grenadine and it looks like I'm enjoying a lovely adult beverage.  Just like when I was a teenager at the fair though, my drinks are deceiving.  I really do prefer the non-alcoholic kind.  But it was fun trying to figure out what everything on the bar was.  :)


On another note, attempt #2 at the MVA was not a total loss.  We all got up early again and road through morning beltway traffic to get to the MVA in the city proper where you have to go if you have out-of-state licenses.  We got there when it opened. There was a line all the way down the sidewalk already, but I must say that the lines moved fast.  Contrary to some internet reviews, all the ladies inside were very nice and helpful.  The problem came when my 2nd piece of mail to prove residency only had my name on it and not Jason's.  After our first failed MVA attempt, I was under the impression that if we came in together we were to be considered as a household, not individually, but alas no.  I even tried in vain to find a pdf on my phone of a bank statement that had Jason's name on it.  (We don't actually receive paper bills anymore, so I have none of these in my physical possession).  A pdf didn't count though.  They told me if I went home and printed it that it would count, but they have no printers or copiers on site to do that.  Arg.  So I got my driver's license, but Jason didn't and we didn't get tags either.  So a 3rd attempt will be made.  At least next time we don't have to take all the kiddoes b/c I don't actually have to be there to get the tags.  But Jason will still have to miss work b/c they don't do tags on the weekends.  I will say thank you to the very nice lady who did my license for me.  She tried to help me think of a way to get Jason's license, but we were thwarted.  So I'm the only official Marylander in the house for now.  And that's kinda funny to me.