Christmas Break Recap

We had a fun Christmas Break in Utah this year!  It was fun to see some snow again, the kids had a blast playing out in all the fluffy goodness!

They also enjoyed wrestling with Grammie. My poor Mom really took a beating!  Ha, ha.  But there was a lot of giggling, squealing, screaming, and smack talking which all equaled a good time had by all!

Awww...brotherly love

And then there was this! ha,ha

We made some gingerbread houses, a yearly tradition.  I think Ruby only managed to get about 3 pieces of candy on hers, the rest went straight to her tummy.

And of course Santa found us all the way in Utah, whew!  

We all got spoiled with lots of new goodies.

Oliver and cousin Gage got matching sweatshirts, don't they look cute!

We took a trip to an indoor bouncy playground which was totally fun.  I was kind of jealous that I couldn't go on the huge slides myself.  

Ruby, Gage, and Oliver (clinging on the back) all came down the really big slide together.  It was  a riot.

We had a lot of fun spending time with grandparents.

All in all it was a great trip.  A much needed break.  Zack and I even managed to sneak in a few dates here and there!  Woohoo.  Oh, and did I mention that we DROVE there and back?  Yep, we did.  19 hour trip.    Whew!  Talk about brave.  But worth it!

Hope you all had as great a Holiday Season as we did!

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?