My name is Rachael and I am a bad blogger.

I may have skipped blogging the last, oh, 1 month and 2 days. Life got in the way and once I get a little behind I just give up until I am in the mood again. I don't even know at this point what I haven't shared so I'll do my best here. I also haven't processed my photos from our Christmas day or trip to Utah between that time either. I'll post here what I do have and go from there later.

The only non-phone pics I have to share now are two from a bath at the hotel in Utah. I love both though.

Our most awesomely bad Santa photo. I love everything about it down to Santa getting bad at Carson for holding his hands up and Max's belly poking out even after my try to pull it down.

Some Elf catch up: Santa sent a personal message with Shawn for Carson to let him know he was currently on the naughty list. Lets just say Carson hit a rough patch leading up to Christmas day.

Shawn put on a cast like Carson.

Max had a fight with the toy box and the toy box won. (He loves brushing his teeth too.)

It was a little too quiet....

Carson was a big help when we painted our guest room/Dustin's room. Once we started painting the trim I told him he could paint whatever on the walls before we got to that part. Apparently it didn't totally sink in to him that we were going to paint over it because he was devastated when he came back and it was all gone. Oops.

"Mommy, I think Max loves me."

Max got his own day at the museum.

And this moment took me back to this day during one of Carson's first visits on the exact same bear in the exact same place:

On our way to Utah we stopped to let the kids run at McDonald's and I instagramed this pic. The best part of all was when McDonald's retweeted it! I've arrived! LOL

Grandpa Rick and his boys.

Carson and Uncle Jordan - It was great timing that Jordan had leave from the Marines while we were going to be out there so we got to see him for a few days. He brought Carson that Marine hat and he loved it.

Max's belly

This one is titled "Future Blackmail". Those are tampons. :)

Another trip to the Children's Museum.

Playing with cloud dough.

Gave Max a whole box of crackers when I needed a few moments of silence. Bad idea.

Elf on the Shelf: Day 15

Shawn snuck in Carson's bookbag and tried to stowaway to preschool.

Elf on the Shelf: Day 14

Shawn was trying his hand at Christmas photography with Carson's camera.

Elf on the Shelf: Day 12

Carson was still I being unreasonably argumentative (to put it nicely) so Shawn went on strike for day 12. His little elf bum didn't move and Carson was pretty disappointed. It seemed to sink in a little at least. 

Elf on the Shelf: Day 11

As a continuation of Carson's bad attitude, he got a stern letter from Shawn. Will it sink in? Time will tell. I'm going with a big probably not. 

Elf on the Shelf: Day 10

Carson had such a good week when he was off school during thanksgiving week. This last week he has been a sassy terror though. Sunday morning he found Shawn acting like a baby in Max's swing. Again, we told him his elf reflects the way he acts so Shawn was being a baby. He didn't think it was funny. 

Elf on the Shelf: Day 9

I think Shawn got together with Daddy for this one. This was a big dirt track made from our basket and pillows and blankets. Lets just say it was a hit for the whole weekend. 

Elf on the Shelf: Day 7

Shawn the Elf did a little wrenching last night. He likes to pretend to be Daddy too. :)

Elf on the Shelf: Day 5

Carson has an obsession with plain glazed donuts. He asks for them every single time we go to the store so they have to only come at special times now.

His elf must have listened because he brought Carson donuts for breakfast and made his own little elf-sized ones. :)

Elf on the Shelf: Day 4

Carson's favorite game to play when he's with me in the office is Connect 4. Like most little kids, he doesn't really play the game, just puts the coins in and then leaves them lying all over for me to step on. We're working on that last part.

Shawn the Elf thought he'd try playing last night with Stuffy the Dog.

Elf on the Shelf: Day 3

This morning we woke up to find that Shawn the Elf had gotten into my jewelry. Carson kept telling him that my jewelry is for girls. LOL