More Cutesy

Cutesy was ready to watch a holiday favorite.

Cutesy brought Boogs a few puzzles to figure out.

Cutesy almost finished a cup pyramid.

 Boogs finished putting the rest of the cups on top when he woke up.

 Cutesy was hiding on the stairs with a yo-yo.

 Cutesy used Cling Wrap to block Boogs' door.

 Cutesy and Elfy decided to try out our stair slide.

 Boogs raced up the stairs and joined them for the trip down.

 Cutesy was working on an I Spy page.

 Cutesy brought the second book in the mystery series Boogs is reading.

We are still having fun finding out what Cutesy does while we sleep.

Trail Of Lights

This year is the 50th Anniversary of the Trail of Lights. I remember going with my parents when I was growing up. It was so much fun spinning around under the lights of the tree. Last night, Boogs went for the first time. D and the J-boys went with us. The pictures are not great. We had a really good time.

 There was a giant ferris wheel in the field beside the tree of lights. It was $6 per rider, we skipped it.

D and I showed the boys how to grab hands, lean back, look up, and pull each other around in a circle under the tree of lights. It makes you dizzy in about three seconds.

Boogs and J3 got so dizzy they fell down. It took them a while to get back up.

 The lights were beautiful.

 

 There were three different tunnels of light. It was really neat walking underneath them.

 

Our group selfie

  I could not decide if I liked the trees covered in all blue lights or

  the multi-colored lights the best.

There were different scenes spread throughout the trail. I liked Snoopy on his house.

Boogs liked the Jackalope.

 

The Where the Wild Things Are scene was pretty neat, too.

After we walked the trail, we had to go back to the tree and spin underneath it one more time. When we got home, Boogs said, "I liked seeing the lights and the tree but I wish we had gone on a Friday so I wouldn't have to wake up early for school."

This post is linked to:

Eat, Drink, & Be Merry Holiday Hop

Bento Bloggers and Friends are feeling the holiday spirit in our lunchboxes. You can enjoy the holiday lunch inspiration by clicking through our blog hop.

I like to use children's books for inspiration for the lunches I make for my son. Here are a few holiday lunches I have made this year:

The Animal's Santa by Jan Brett

The Animal's Santa is Jan Brett's latest holiday book. Little Snow is not sure whether or not he should believe in the animal's Santa. All of the forest animals believe in him. They have mysteriously received gifts from him every year. Each animal has a different idea about what kind of animal is the animal's Santa. Little Snow's brother hung ice chimes to help him catch a glimpse of the animal Santa. The chimes woke the brothers up in time to see a snowy white owl dropping gifts for the animals. Little Snow finally believed in the animal's Santa.

In the Laptop Lunchbox: Little Snow bread, Babybel Snowy Owl Santa, cauliflower snow, tuna & avocado salad Christmas tree with celery greenery, red apple slices, yogurt, and veggies.

 A Charlie Brown Christmas by Charles M. Schulz

I grew up watching the Chalie Brown Christmas special every year. Now, my son watches it with me every year. This book is a written version of the cartoon special. Boogs and I enjoyed reading through it and seeing the great illustrations. Merry Christmas, Charlie Brown!

In the ELB lunchbox: cheese drawing of Charlie Brown holding an ornament for his tree on top of ham, cashew & raisin ornaments, pb&j Christmas tree sandwich, okra chips, tomato ornament, kiwi, and salad.

Who's That Knocking On Christmas Eve? by Jan Brett

Every year, Kyri and her father are bothered by trolls who come and steal their Christmas dinner. This year is different. A boy and his ice bear stop by Kyri's hut and are invited in to join her. Pretty soon, the trolls come and break into the hut to steal the food. Fortunately, the ice bear was there to chase them away.

In the Laptop Lunchbox: salami & cheese troll, salami & cheese ice bear, cheese Northern Lights, salad with snowflakes, and fruit.


Our Christmas elf brought Boogs the Pez Santa and then Boogs asked me to make a Santa lunch.

 

The green & red lunch in the ELB lunchbox includes:  broccoli, strawberries, sweet pickles, tomatoes, yogurt, Zbar, and garlic bologna. (Boogs did not take the Pez to school.)

This year's festive holiday veggie platter.

Now that you have seen my Eat, Drink, & Be Merry lunches, you should click the button below to take you on the next step of the hop to see what fun holiday food Becoming A Bentoholic has made.

                      

Be sure to check out all of the wonderful sites I link to on my side bar. To see more themed lunches click the "lunches" label at the end of this post or go to My Story Themed Lunches board on Pinterest.

More Fun With Cutesy the Elf

Cutesy and Elfy have been busy the past couple of days. Boogs was not sure he liked some of Elfy's mischief.

Cutesy was reading Boogs' mystery book this morning. He had a magnifying glass to search for clues.

Cutesy and Elfy played with train tracks by the Christmas tree in Boogs' playroom.

Cutesy showed up with two gingerbread houses with a note that said, "I made a gingerbread house, now it is your turn."

 Boogs really liked Cutesy's little house. Boogs took a nibble to see if it was edible. It was!

Boogs blamed Elfy for this mischief. One of Boogs Christmas presents was opened.

Elfy and Cutesy were playing with the contraption set. They made ramps and were trying to knock each other down.

 Boogs was not sure he liked Elfy opening his present.

 He finished taking off the wrapping paper and liked what he saw.

 Boogs immediately started working on his own Contraption.

 We think Cutesy was a little homesick today. We found him with a couple of snowy photos. It looks like he tried to photo shop himself into the snowy scenes.

Cutesy the Elf Day 3 & 4

While Boogs and I were chatting the other day, he mentioned that he missed some of Cutesy's mischief and nonsense. Then Boogs practically quoted the letter from four years ago that first introduced him to Cutesy. Boogs figured Cutesy has grown up into a proper elf over the past four years. Luckily, our new elf, Elfy, is full of mischief and nonsense.

Cutesy & Elfy Day 3: Elfy and the Purple Minion trapped Cutesy in Legos. They were adding blocks to the trap when Boogs found them Tuesday morning.

Poor Cutesy!

 

When Boogs came home from school, Cutesy had escaped the trap. The Purple Minion was defeated and Elfy was in the trap. Boogs said, "I think the Purple Minion was the bad guy who trapped Cutesy. Look, Cutesy turned the trap into a perfect sized chair for Elfy."

Cutesy & Elfy Day 4: Cutesy brought Boogs a multiplication fact crack-the-code sheet to solve. We weren't sure if Elfy was using the flash cards to help Cutesy or if he was using the flash cards to look at the answers and cheat. Boogs said the smile on Elfy's face looked pretty sneaky.

Cutesy must have been a little tired when he wrote the coded message. There was one little mistake on it. Boogs easily fixed it. The message said, "A Santa treat is hidden under the Christmas tree skirt. Enjoy!"

Boogs figured out the message and raced to the tree. He found a Santa Pez dispenser under the tree skirt. Boogs said, "Cutesy probably brought me the Santa Pez because he might be a little homesick for the North Pole."

Since Cutesy seemed a little homesick, I decided to make a Santa lunch today.

In the ELB lunchbox: Christmas colors - green broccoli with Santa pick, red strawberries with candy cane pick, green pickles & red tomatoes with Santa pick, red-ish garlic bologna, yogurt, and Zbar. Boogs did not take the Pez to school.


Be sure to check out the wonderful sites I link to on my sidebar! You can see all of Cutesy's adventures on his Cutesy the Elf Pinterest board. If you want to see more themed lunches, click on the "lunches" label at the end of this post or go to My Story Themed Lunches board on Pinterest. I would love for you to leave a comment to let me know you stopped by.

Cutesy Is Back For More Elf Adventures!

Boogs has been mentioning Cutesy the Elf quite a bit during the past several weeks. I reminded him that Cutesy never visits us before Thanksgiving week is over. The day after Thanksgiving, Boogs was ready to put up Christmas decorations in hopes of hurrying Cutesy to our house. We finished putting up the decorations Saturday afternoon. Boogs put his D.J. monkey ornament on first and put a little bell ornament he made when he was three on last. Daddy helped him reach the top of the tree to put on the Santa topper.

 I guess decorating worked, Cutesy was waiting for Boogs on Sunday morning.

 Cutesy had a letter and some special polar ice cap (rock candy) candy with him.

 Boogs was sooooo happy to see him again.

On Monday morning, Boogs found Cutesy with a new friend. Cutesy had turned Boogs into an elf. I think Cutesy used photo shop to put a hat on a picture of Boogs.

 

Boogs thought it was pretty weird to see himself as an elf. There was a  name on the bottom of the new elf's shoe - "ELFY".

Cutesy and Elfy were playing Christmas Tic-Tac-Toe. Boogs and I made that game when Boogs was in Kindergarten. It looked like Cutesy was about to win.

Boogs checked on them after school and it looked like Elfy was trying to cheat. He had stacked all of Cutesy's pieces on top of each other while he covered the board with a double win. Boogs said, "Elfy still did not win. See, Cutesy's pieces still have three in a row. The pieces are stacked up on top of each other for a win."

Be sure to check out the wonderful sites I link to on my sidebar! You can see all of Cutesy's adventures on his Cutesy the Elf Pinterest board.