It was a typical day.

The morning flew by with math lessons, reading practice, writing prompts and morning chores. A few groans were heard here and there and even more giggles as books were opened, worked on and then put away once again.

We had just finished lunch and the girls and I were stepping out to meet some friends at the library when I found it.
A surprise gift on our doorstep.

This week (and every week, for that matter) was a mix of joy and failure. Tears and high fives. We don’t like to talk about the hard. The ugly. But what I’m realizing is that I am craving authenticity, and it has to start with me.

When I was pregnant with my Ellie I had a dream. In that dream I had a beautiful little girl named Elliot. I woke up excited and with so much joy! I actually woke Chris up to ask him if he liked the name and to my surprise (because we were having a hard time agreeing on names) he just smiled. We both loved her name.

Later that morning I looked up the meaning of her name.

Last year we had our very first visit from an elf. I had been avoiding the whole “Elf on a Shelf” scenario for a few years…. it just looked like soooooo much work- sooooo much pressure, and just ONE.MORE.THING to add to the craziness of the season.

But I finally decided to try it out after a friend raved (and raved) about what fun they had with it the last couple of years. She made it sound so wonderful!

And wonderful it was.