Photo shoot gone bad

I'm sorry, but is this not the creepiest picture of oa doll you've ever seen?  I was looking on etsy for some dress ideas to make something for Ruby and this is a dress you can buy for a child and this is how someone chose to display it!  What the???  It seriously just looks so creepy to me!  I wonder if the person has sold any of their dresses?  It would suprise me.

Here's another one.  At first I didn't notice, then I did a double take.  Weird.

A Haunting We did go....

It has been a BUSY week around our house.  (Well at least for me, not necessarily for the kids.)  This month has been my month to teach sharing time in Primary so I had that.  Plus I was helping plan the Halloween Activity for church and made the poster for that.  Then I also needed to make Oliver's skeleton costume for Halloween which I then realized that he needed for the Church party as well, so that was a week sooner than I had been planning on.  And THEN- I was planning on just buying a witch costume for Ruby, but in the end the one I liked was $30 instead of $10 like I thought it would be on sale, so at the last minute I had to make her something as well!  WHEW!!  Mix all that with setting up and preparing for the activity and that makes a double WHEW! for me, and some late nights for kids and Mom alike.

(Yes, August looks ridiculous in this clown costume that is too small for him, but who can resist?)

But in the end, it all got done in time, and the kids looked cute and had fun so I guess that's what's important.  But when I crawled in bed Wednesday night I was exhausted!!  

Oliver chose a skeleton this year which I was excited that he wanted to be something classic Halloween instead of a superhero or something.  I figured I could put something together easy enough.  I found a skeleton bones pattern online I printed off and then used white felt and cut it out.  Of course I thought it would look cute with hand stitching all around it which is why it took me so long to hand stitch around all the pieces.  Hmmm.....Good idea?  Maybe not, but once you start you have to finish......so....

But I think it turned out cute. 

Now Ruby, of course I was in crunch time, I had 2 days, but once I got the creative juices flowing, I decided if I was going to make a dress I wanted it to be one she could wear after and not just for 2 nights, so I made a  "witch" dress with a ghost pocket that I can just unstitch after Halloween and maybe do something Christmas on it to extend it's life.  Yep, that's the frugal in me!  ha, ha.  But I think it turned out cute, and Ruby LOVED it.  

Here's a detail of the pocket with some fabric flowers and spooky buttons.

But for some reason I just couldn't stop at the dress, (believe me, after I was half way into it, I kept wondering why I thought I should do it?) so I made a cape as well.  I mean witches need a cape right?  And Ruby picked out the witch hat at the store with bright green hair!  I love it!  I added a few little fabric flowers to doll it up a little.  Oh yeah, and don't forget the purple broomstick she picked out as well, what a diva!  I think it turned out pretty cute seeing as it all came together in 2 days with no patterns and just flying by the seat of my pants!  ha, ha, ha  

As for August, he sort of got ignored this round.  I had some old Halloween costumes that someone gave me when Oliver was born, but I'd never used because they weren't the right size so I tried the only one that wasn't roasty toasty since it was like 80 degrees the other night, I just couldn't put him in some fleecey  type thing.  I don't think I have every experienced such a warm Halloween!  I mean, I was wearing shorts and flip flops!  Crazy!  So ill fitted clown costume it was.  So ridiculous!  The legs went up to his knees and he looked like he was going to burst out of it all night!  ha, ha.  He's sort of a ginorma-baby!

To make up for it, I dressed him in his pumpkin outfit and took some pictures of him the next day.  What a face, I love that boy!

I mean seriously, don't you just want to kiss that face?

There's the 2 teeth smile!

Ruby needed in on the action!

"What do you mean I can't eat all that candy?"

I didn't get many pictures at the party since I was holding a really tired baby most of the time since Zack was helping the YM with the spook alley.

but, games were played, cupcakes were eaten, truck or treating was had, and a haunting we did go!

Oliver's first sport!!

We asked Oliver which sport he wanted to try out this fall and he chose Soccer!  This is his first time doing any kind of city sport and he was SO excited!  

He was especially excited about the UNIFORMS!!  I think we can all remember being a kid and thinking how cool it was to have some kind of team uniform, it's like instantly being a part of something.  (The fact that they are orange, I personally love since it's my favorite color.)  His team's name is the DYNAMOS!  DYNO-MITE!!!  ha, ha

The first game they had it was BLAZING hot.  I mean roasting!  Poor kids, I think it was about 95 degrees. You can see from the picture Oliver's red face from running.  The rest of the fam took shelter in the baseball dugout to at least be in the shade.

I guess Oliver didn't get the Danklef sweat genes because he was sweating up a storm!  But overall despite the heat, he LOVED it!  He just couldn't get over the awesomeness of it all.  After the game he kept talking about his uniform and how silky it was.  He kept saying, "Mom, I think this is made of silk, it's so soft, they only make really fancy expensive clothes out of silk!"  So cute!  I mean who can burst that bubble and tell him it's just plain old polyester (so not as cool!)  He wanted to wear his uniform all day and even wanted to sleep in it!  (Gross I know considering all the sweat, but what can you do?  Break a little boy's dreams?  No, I think not.)

Here is little man having fun at the game.  Not sure why we didn't get any of Ruby. 

(Practice)

Soccer has been SO good for Oliver.  We were kind of worried when we signed him up not knowing if he would be shy and hold back or get discouraged easily since he has a tendency toward both.  But he has really blossomed.  He has totally surprised us.  He has had a blast and talks to all the kids and the coach.  He even gets talking and playing around a little too much, we have to tell him to focus on the game sometimes!  ha, ha.  It's so cute to watch them all at practice jumping around, doing cartwheels, joking, and goofing off and being silly together and Oliver right in the mix of it all.  I have just felt so happy for him.  This is an area he struggles with normally.  Not that kids don't like him, but he is shy and has a hard time just letting go sometimes.

The second game he had it was pouring rain.  (No pictures of that.)  And the 3rd it was freezing cold.  Hence the bundling up.

But the kids were troopers and played on through it all, smiles beaming!  

Here's August all bundled up enjoying the match!  ha, ha

Over the course of the month Oliver has really improved in his soccer skills.  He's getting better at kicking and shooting and aiming the ball.  If there is ever a kid out there that has biffed, we assume it's Oliver!  ha, ha.  Not because he is clumsy, but because he loves to pretend fall and roll and wipe out.  Such a funny kid.  I'm sure his coach sometimes rolls his eyes at all his "wipe outs."  But all in all it has been such a fun thing for us to enjoy as a family together as our first sports experience with kids in what I'm sure will be many years to come!

I can't wait for him to get a trophy at the end of the season.....for years he has been wishing he had a trophy of some kind.  I don't know why, he has just had this thing about it.  Now he is finally going to get one......Pchewwwwww......(the sound of Oliver's mind blowing!)  ha, ha , ha

Update from Hayseed County

First of all, this little girl turned 3!!

What did she want for her b-day dinner?  "Noodles!"  

So although not very festive or exciting, noodles it was!

She loved all the gifts she received especially her ballerina outfit and her fairy wings!

Ruby, Ruby, Ruby, what can you say about her?  She is a delight.  She is funny and crazy and wild and mischievous and crazy, did I mention crazy?  Since we moved to OK, her little world has been sort of rocked, she started sleeping in a bed, she ditched a very beloved friend "binks" the binky, she has a new home and new people to meet and she still has that pesky little brother that takes up Mom's time.  But she is so fun and we love her booty shakin' self!  

Oliver and August are the best of friends, they are super cute together.  If anyone can get a giggle out of August, it's Oliver.

August continues to LOVE his walker.  I think he may not even crawl, he might just wake up one morning and WALK!  :)  (the kids call it his wheelchair.)

I have made 2 delicious bread recipes lately.  Now I am not a bread maker, I tend to sort of botch bread that has to rise, but both of these worked out.  There was a french bread (above) recipe found here and a roll recipe found here.  They were both super tasty and they both freeze well!  Give them a go!

Oliver started Soccer, so cute.  He's loving it!

We became a little more adult and got a lawn mower.  That's it, we are adults- mini van? Check.  Lawn Mower?  Check.

Just chillin' a bit.

A rare moment when no one is fighting or crying or whining!  Hooray!!

We have been trying to make our house more of a home with a few projects here and there.  Ruby helped me pot a few house plants that she loved doing!

Well I guess that's about all that's going on here.  Just plugging along, waiting for visitors to come.  Any takers?

Zack 1, Thief 0

                                                     

If Hayseed County had a newspaper (which they don't) and if they had a police beat (which sadly they don't) it would have run something like this today:

Yesterday a bike was stolen from victims front yard.  Later that evening the perp. was seen riding the victims bike around the streets near his home.  The victim got in his car and followed the perp on the bike and apprehended the perp. for stealing his bike and asked for it back.  The perp. (a teenager) claimed "an old man" gave it to him.  The victim took the perp. and bike to the old man's house and in fact the old man had given the perp. the bike after finding 2 bikes sitting against his fence that morning and not knowing what to do with them he saw the perp. who old man said "was a nice young man" and gave the perp. the bike and took the other bike to the police station.  The victim then told the perp. sorry, but he was taking his bike home.  To which the perp. relied, "awwww mannnnnn."  It is unknown why the old man didn't take both bikes to the police station.


Yep, that's how it all went down!  Way to go Zack!  He took matters into his own hands and got his bike back.  Boo Yeah.  He said he felt bad taking the bike back since the kid was so disappointed and had been fixing it up all afternoon and was going to use it to ride to work.  But in the end, it was our bike, so- sorry kid.  Of course his story sounded fishy, but in the end it was true.  He was just an innocent victim as well.  Luckily that explains why he was riding it around on streets near our house which wouldn't have been too smart if he had stolen it from our house himself.

Why do strange things always happen to us?  Remember our stolen car that was returned twice?

Changes

I feel like lately in life I am frequently saying to myself (and Zack), "This is hard, life is hard right now."  It's hard to change, to leave the familiar, to forge a new life, to find your place in the new world you are living in.  

We are missing our old life.  Our friends, our routine, our house, the familiar, the interesting places we had at our fingertips.  

It's funny, I never thought of myself as an "ocean" kind of person, I could take it or leave it.  But after living by one and actually getting a chance to visit it quiet a few times, I came to love it, just in time to realize I was really going to miss it.

Right now our whole household is sort of in a funk.  We are all dealing with our own adjustments of living in a new place, going to new schools, taking on new roles, being left behind, getting older and not wanting to, discovering.

It's hard to raise 3 little kids, it takes a lot of patience and energy amongst other things and I usually feel like we are completely failing as parents because there is an ever growing list of "what are we going to do about this? or how should we handle that?"  And truthfully, we have NO clue what we are doing.

Mix in a dose of the world as we know it completely changing after moving and you get a lot of frustrated, whiny, woe is us people.

But, we will survive, we always do.  There have been tears. ( Lots of them, not just from the kids.)  And eventually our kids will grow up and which is both sad (when they are being cute) and encouraging (when you think you can't take one more tantrum).  

So I guess we will just have to start looking at the silver lining.  

(Anyone seen a happy cloud around here?)  

7 Months

This boy turned 7 months a few days ago!  In some ways the time has flown by, in others as most parents can understand it has felt like every minute of that 7 months.  (I'm talking sleep people, when will we get more sleep???  Sigh.)  Overall August is a really good baby, mellow and funny.  He loves to smile and he got his 2 bottom teeth when he turned 6 months.  To the day, they literally popped out on his 6 month mark.  And now he is working on the top 2.  I'm excited to see his little pumpkin grin when he gets his top front teeth!

(Just surfin' the net chatting with all his baby friends!  ha, ha)

Lately he has been called "Mr. Grabby" since he is constantly trying to reach out and grab anything in his path.  Especially FOOD.  This boy loves food.  Or at least he thinks he does!  He can't really get his hands on much of it yet, but he knows he's going to like it once he can!

His other favorite thing is to wander around in his walker.  (Thank heavens it made it in the moving truck at the last minute, it was almost left behind!)  He is in this thing ALL the time.  He loves it!  (Okay the outfit above it ridiculous, but I had to put it on him at least once, someone gave it to us when Oliver was a baby.)  August can be seen terrorizing the other kids in his walker.  It's hilarious to see him chase them all around.  And the other 2 are really frightened since it does hurt when the walker bumps into you toes or heels.  He's a pretty good navigator in that thing, he can really hustle when he wants too!  

So far August has loved baby food.  I think he has liked it all except green beans.  But honestly they aren't very good pureed so I don't blame him.  I don't think any of our kids liked green beans.  Once he is in the high chair, you better have the food ready because you will hear it until the spoon hits his mouth.  This boy and food are serious.  He will chow down as much as we are willing to give him at one time.  He loves to eat baby food.  

His other feats at this point are rolling over either side and he's getting pretty good with his hands grabbing things.  He is also a chatter box, and one thing is certain, he loves his siblings!

Now if we could only get him to sleep at night without a couple of parental visits that would be great!  Maybe next month!

The BIG 6

 I can't believe our baby turned six last Friday!  It amazes me how time passes, he's getting so big, so crazy.  In an attempt to distract him from the fact that we don't know anyone here yet and we have no family around, Zack and I tried to make this birthday as fun packed as we could for Oliver.  He really had his heart set on a typical "kid" birthday party with games and prizes and goody bags, kids, you know what kids think is awesome at this age.  But unfortunately we moved just before birthday time, so that made it a little difficult.

 So we tried to make it as fun as possible with just the 5 of us.  I think it ended up better than he expected. (Which isn't really saying much because he was very doom and gloom the days leading up to his birthday.  ha, ha)  He asked for a star cake.  So we made this one, Oliver decorated it himself, I thought that was cute.

 As a surprise we took him bowling which was a lot of fun, he had only been once before on a little kids bowling alley.  Thank you whoever invented bumpers for bowling, it saves us parents a lot of sad tears when kids would otherwise be getting gutter balls.

Little Miss Ruby didn't get into the actual bowling too much but she did love to play with all the balls on the rack.  And the camera.

August pretty much chilled in the stroller the whole time.  He recently figured out he can eat his own toes which give him great pleasure, except when he bites them with his new teeth!

What a cute little bowler!

Oliver liked all his gifts he received.  We tried to spice it up by have a treasure hunt to find some of his gifts. He thought that was pretty fun.  He loves a good treasure hunt, espeically when this time there actually was a treasure at the end.  I think his Batman Legos from Uncle Greg and Aunt Kris Tina were the biggest hit!  Thanks guys.  

All in all it was a pretty fun day.  

Here are some things that I think are great about Oliver this past year:

He loves to learn.  Loves it.  He loved Kindergarten and excelled at everything.  He is so excited to learn to read and do math.  I'm glad that he has a love of learning.

Oliver has a tender heart.  Sometimes this is good and sometimes bad, but I think it draws people to him.  He feels things very deeply.  Most the time he's either pure joy or doom and despair.  We are trying to help him find the middle ground.  He doesn't like to be in the spotlight.

He loves holidays, decorations, action figures, legos, sports, his family and of course his panda bear.

It's amazing to see how much he has changed in the last year, it will be fun to see what this next year brings.

We sure do love him and glad he is part of our family.