Cowboy Day

Madeline looked forward all week to Cowboy (cowgirl in our case) day in Kindergarten. They were celebrating the 10th day of school. I think I can officially say that Madeline can count to 100, actually that probably happened a long time ago, but now it's official.

Is this Normal?

I just couldn't help but take a picture and then be reminded of how Deacon looks when he first holds his own children.

Updates on the House

Unfortunately, I do not have a before picture. Just think: ugly, dirty, dungeon. These are pictures of the upstairs which we have been working on for a couple of weeks. Deacon yanked up the smelly shag carpet and threw it out the window.

I am not finished with the decorating or carpeting, or accessorizing (don't look to close, I think the bed got moved and the pictures jostled with some kid bed jumping, hmm, things look crooked). At least it is fun to see progress!

This is the hallway/stairwell upstairs. Deacon took our retro orange hanging ball lamp out yesterday and installed this in its place. I just finished painting by standing about 20 ft. up on a ladder that was stationed on one of the spiral stairs. I think I may have conquered my fear of heights, but I did not look down.

Fitting In

Jovie, our little puppy is fitting in quite nicely. She has a purple pet squirrel and enjoys giving kisses to her new kids.

Hugs and kisses for Madeline

Lounging with Ivan.

A wee little cuddle.

Despite the lack of pictures with Deacon and the dog, he is really the funniest with her. He has never had a pet before and he is just like a big kid with playfulness and excitement over his first dog.

The dog got caught with her head around this large Old Navy bag filled with trash and ran around the kitchen frantically trying to get it off.

Getting Creative

Long winter days call for some extra creativity. My parents gave me a super fun book on activities to do with your preschooler.

This is just a tweaked allrecipes.com recipe for bread machine dough hot pretzels. We loved them and even made a second batch that night.

This was super easy and a big hit. The kids had their eyes covered and were each given a bite of whatever surprise I put in the bowls. They had to give a descriptive word before guessing what it was.

This just looked colorful enough for a picture. It was last Sabbath's dinner.

2 other ideas
1. Put a variety of animals (stuffed or plastic) in a pillow case. Take turns reaching in and grabbing an animal (no peeking) and the person reaching then acts out the animal and the others guess. We included dinosaurs and My Little Pony, the hungry caterpillar and Curious George. My favorites for each person: Madeline-snail; Ivan-antelope; Deacon-gorilla. The kids acting gets more creative each time we play.
2.Take all your old broken crayons and peel off the paper. Grease muffin tins and put the crayons pieces in the muffin tins. Melt for 3-5 minutes at 400. Cool in the freezer or at room temp. Color with all the new creatively colored crayons.

Big Crawler

Little Gracie started crawling a week before Christmas. She has been doing a little army crawl, but started the real deal last Saturday night. It's only a matter of hour now before she is moving faster than I can keep up with.

Of course there are a few obstacles, like avoiding getting stepped on.

Epiphany

On Jan. 6th we celebrated Epiphany. Madeline started back to school this morning as well.

Big Smiles

Christmas Breakfast

We always have homemade cinnamon rolls, quiche, fruit and yummy drinks. It all cooks while we are opening presents and the timing is always perfecto! Deacon and I do manage to get the coffee going in between stockings and gifts...who could wait that long?

Riddles

I have been really into making Riddles this year for Deacon to figure out when finding a gift of his. He got a 17 foot ladder that breaks down into smaller segments. I had Skyler hide it in the snow on the side of our house. Skyler was super sneaky with his cool sniper actions and Deacon never had a clue until he opened the box with the riddle of where to find his last gift. I just went out to take a picture and then let Deacon do the digging.

Christmas Morn

Of course, it was a blast!

And of course we had to get the kids all together waiting at the end of the hall in great anticipation. They are wearing the jammers that their Grandma made them and gave as a Christmas Eve gift.

Gracie enjoyed Christmas morning with some extra cuddles from her mama.

The only gift the kids have consistently wanted since last January, when they started making requests, was a cash register. And here it is, finally!

The kids picked out a glow worm to get for their little sis. They were really careful to hide it from her until Christmas day!

Ivan's favorite present on Christmas morning was his first set of Playmobil, the castle set. Deacon and him spent some good time that morning setting up and playing together.

Christmas at the Jacksons

My mom made this awesome Knight attire for Ivan. River had a matching one in blue. It is a big hit. Look at the serious face.

Felicity is one sweet little thing with sweet chocolate on her face. Everytime she opened a gift with clothes in it, she put them on right away. She had several layers of various cat themed clothes on by the time she was done...and a robe.

I think by now, I may have been all pictured out. I only have a couple. We had a great time with wrapping paper all over, cousins all over, and a lot of yummy food. Unfortunately, I had to go to bed early because the baby within protested over too much fun. Over the next week I caught up on sleep from a really fun Christmas. Thankfully, there were plenty of new things to help keep everyone busy while I was tired. I think next holiday season I will aim for the scenario where I am eating whatever I want because it looks good and not forcing myself to eat what I have to so that I will stay feeling good. I think this wraps up our Christmas, so now onto the new year and present times!

Christmas Eve

After celebrating with Deacon's side of the family, we came home late and still squeezed in The Night Before Christmas and setting out some cookies and milk for Santa. Then after the kids fell asleep, Deacon and I did all the last minute finishing touches.



And this is the Christmas tree from the yard in our new home with all its blessing below.

Christmas with the Hoefts

Gracie and Grandma Green exchanging sweetness.

This year we went to the Hoefts on Christmas Eve. We had a lot of fun having appetizers (including Deacon's fried shrimp and stuffed mushrooms), wine, presents, and fellowship with all our wonderful family. We went home late after watching part of Elf and continued with the festivities there.

Mini Dachshund

I just want to say "Dachshund" is very hard for me to spell, being an awful speller. Isn't she sweet? The kids are calling her Jovie (from Elf), so hopefully Madeline will stop asking Deacon and I to call herself this and maybe even stop writing "Jovie" as her name on school papers. This is the dogs little rest after a long afternoon of playing with her new companions.

A Tiny Choir

Madeline is in the front row on the very right. They all did a great job!

Who Needs a Bjorn?

Hot Dog James

This is a post actually for today. In a few moments of insanity (on my part), we bought a dog today. I have been really excited all day about it, until we got her home and my obsessive compulsive temptations started to kick in. Really, I think it will be good for me. I had a dog growing up and loved it, so I know I will adjust. I think it would have been fine had the kids not gone completely wild. I'm sure that is temporary, and really, who can blame them? I called my husband at work and he assured me that, yes, I could let the dog walk around the house. I guess its like learning what to do with a baby when you bring one home for the first time. Well, here it goes!

Never Enough

What little boy ever has enough weapons?

Yo Ho Ho and a Barrell of Monkies

Ivan had his first kid birthday party this year. His birthday is December 21st and we try really hard not to let it get lost in the shuffle of all the Christmas activities. Surprisingly, all 9 of his invited friends were able to make it!

Ivan wanted a pirate birthday. All the little guys sang Happy Birthday well!

This is most of the guys waited for their turn to swing at our homemade pirate pinata. That ended up being a fun and easy craft for Ivan and I to do. The boys each got about 6 swings each and never noticed that Deacon was slowly making holes in the pinata so that it would open a little faster. In the end, it was Ivan's swing that dumped the candy everywhere. How fitting for the Birthday boy!

All the boys (Will, Jed, Eliot, Ivan, Bat-River, Theo, Zach, Jackson, Gus, Eliot)

I had to post this picture of Eliot because he was really scared for the first 20 minutes and this is from after we loaded him up with sugar. He said, "Hey take a picture of me!" The nervousness had subsided, completely.

A Bad Idea of Readiness

I asked the kids to get their snow clothes on so they could go play outside. Ivan came to me a few minutes later and said, "I'm all ready to go mom!" The only thing he had on was a snow suit and boots, not quite the right idea for parading in a semi-blizzard!

Ivan in His Glory

This is what Ivan looks like on any normal morning. Half Captain Hook, Half "Dark Vader."

Christmas Cuties

What can I say, the pictures say it all. I just love them. I do wish I had captured a better picture of Fiona Grace, but she just wanted to eat her dress!