Christmas Projects

At the beginning of November I planned out all the projects I needed to get done for Christmas, including some homemade presents.  When I planned everything out it seemed like I had so much time, and then Thanksgiving came and everything seemed really rushed.  And then the kids helped me find another project.  As we were decorating the tree and hanging up stockings they informed me that we didn't have enough stockings for everyone.  I offered to not have one this year, but they told me that no one could be left out.  So one night, after the kids were asleep and I had finished the other projects I had for the night, I went through the small stash of fabric I have and sewed a new stocking.  Of course the fabric had pink on it so I figured Caitlyn would claim it.  The kids were excited that I had sewn a stocking but Caitlyn told me that she wanted a yellow one.  So I had to tell her that it might not get done this year.  I went out and got fabric for another project for the kids and go extra so I could make new stockings, this year if I had time but at least next year.  Luckily I managed to find the time this year, it's a good thing my kids go to bed early, and there was even enough material to piece together a stocking for Brandon.

 Brandon's, William's, Caitlyn's, Britton's, Bradley's, and mine.

The kids' stockings match their new pillowcases.  Pillowcases you ask?  Well let me show you.

The kids got special new pillowcases to help them fall asleep super fast on Christmas Eve.  And it went perfectly with the new pajamas from Grandma.  The stockings ended up being the last project before Christmas, but the kids were very happy and that's part of the magic of Christmas right?

2nd Birthday and Other Happenings

I figured that since it is almost Christmas, I would post about some of the things that occurred in our house.  The biggest thing would probably be Britton turning two.

She was very excited about the baby doll, she carried it around Walmart a couple of weeks before her birthday and didn't want to put it back.  So here are a few facts about Britton.  She loves to talk, and occasionally what she is saying is understandable to the rest of us, she is tall for her age and gets into everything she can reach, she is very determined (stubborn), copies her siblings, and has the sweetest smile that she breaks out whenever she needs it.  She brings a lot of joy to our lives and if any of you want to borrow her for a couple of hours or the day just let us know.

Other happenings, we spent Thanksgiving in Las Vegas.  The weather there was great, but we unfortunately had to drive through the snow to get there.  We did wait for the blizzard warning to expire before we left and the drive was a little longer than normal, and the drive back was longer.  But we had fun and Brandon ran a turkey trot 5k, he said it was nice running in weather in the 30s.

We said goodbye to another of Brandon's reporters, and had fun taking pictures with her and the boys.

That pretty much catches us up with life as we know it, I'm sure there were few other things that happened but these are just the highlights.  There were also some Christmas projects here and there but we will get to those later.

Pumpkin Pie

Because of Brandon's desire to try pumpkin recipes that only called for a portion of the can of pumpkin I thought I would try a pumpkin pie recipe.  First I have to say that I don't like pumpkin pie.  I never have.  I remember in kindergarten we made individual pies for Thanksgiving and everyone had pumpkin except me and one other girl, we got lemon meringue, so the dislike of pumpkin pie goes back pretty far.  But I happened upon a recipe through PBS.  I get bored at night and I tend to flip through channels, thanks to local TV broadcasting digitally we have 11 channels and four of those are PBS.  So I watched a cooking/crafting show and they made a pie that sounded really good.  So I found the recipe at Katie Brown Workshop.  When I made it I didn't put any nuts in, Brandon doesn't really like nuts in things, kinda weird but there you have it.

Nutty Caramel Pumpkin Pie 

Ingredients

¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons caramel ice cream topping, divided
One 6-ounce HONEY MAID Graham Pie Crust
½ cup plus 2 tablespoons PLANTERS Pecan Pieces, divided
1 cup cold milk
2 packages (4-serving size each) JELL-O Vanilla Flavor Instant Pudding & Pie Filling
1 cup canned pumpkin
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
One 8-ounce COOL WHIP Whipped Topping, thawed, divided 

Get Cookin'

1. Pour ¼ cup caramel topping into crust and sprinkle with ½ cup pecans.
2. Beat milk, dry pudding mixes, pumpkin, and spices with whisk until blended. Fold in 1 ½ cups whipped topping. Spread into crust.
3. Refrigerate 1 hour, and then top with remaining whipped topping, caramel topping, and pecans just before serving. Store leftovers in refrigerator. 

 Here are a few pictures that Brandon took of our pie, because I made him.  The top isn't the prettiest, we don't drizzle well.  I think it would turn out prettier if we had gotten the caramel topping in the squeeze bottle.

It was so yummy, and remember I don't like pumpkin pie.  I made it when we had friends over for dinner and there was only a little piece left over.  Even William ate it and liked it, he is the pickiest of the kids.  So I thought I would share a pumpkin pie that even I like.

Leg/Arm Warmers

I was really bummed that I couldn't find the pictures that I saw showing how to put the cuff on homemade baby legs so I thought I would show you my process.

These socks are longer than the socks I used to make the baby legs for the kids, the socks for the kids were knee socks and these were labeled over the knee sock, because these socks were for arm warmers for Haley and Yuri.  Cut the socks at the ankle, make sure you cut the two socks at the same length, leaving the foot part left over.

Take the foot part and cut of the ends. You should be able to cut a four inch long section, this will make your cuff two inches.  Just through away the little odd pieces.

 Fold the four inch section in half, this makes the cuff.

 Slip the cuff over the cut off end of the sock and pin the heck out of it.

I didn't get a picture of the sewing process.  I used a zig zag stitch, the one meant for knit or stretchy material, and yeah arm warmers.  I unfortunately didn't get a picture of the finished project or Haler or Yuri wearing them, cause we totally celebrated Christmas a month early at Brandon's parents house, but I did try one on and so did Brandon and the over the knee socks from Target went all the way up to my shoulder.  They were really cute as leggings too but once again no pictures.  Enjoy.

Random Ramblings

I had a really odd thought this week.  I have a really big family.  Now I'm not just talking about the fact that I have a few brothers and a couple of sisters, and they are all pretty awesome (I'm not just saying that because some of them look at this blog), I have a lot of cousins too.  I have realized this before but I thought about it this week because Brandon was looking at Facebook, something he rarely does, and he thought he would look at the friend recommendations.  As he was looking at the names that came up he asked me a couple times if I knew who someone was.  When I told him they were a cousin he asked if he had met them.  This just made me think.  I have met most of Brandon's cousins, and the few that I haven't I do know their names and how they are related.  Now Brandon has fewer cousins than I do, and admittedly I am closer in age to some of my cousins kids than I am to my cousins.  I had to laugh when Brandon asked, "Have I ever met them?"  And then I had to remember that the last time I saw some of my cousins Brandon was working a weird shift and wasn't able to make it to the family get together.  So to my big family, or those who see this, I know who you are and I love that my family is so big.

Something else random, check this out:

These are Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls.  I found the recipe at The Idea Room and they were delicious.  My kids loved them too.  I do have to warn you that they only use a cup of the canned pumpkin puree so you will have leftover pumpkin.  You could find a recipe for pumpkin waffles, and if your waffle iron dies in the middle of making them you can turn it into pumpkin pancakes, I am going to try a recipe for pumpkin pie to use some of my leftovers.  Some of you may be shocked by this, I don't like pumpkin pie, but this recipe really sounds good so I will let you know how it turns out.

Lagoon and Halloween

What with Halloween being on a Sunday this year, and the fact that Brandon got free tickets to Lagoon from work, Brandon thought it would be a great idea to take the kids down to Frightmares this year.  So we invited Crystal and Zach and Daniel and Cami to go with us.  Don't ask me for a picture of everyone who was there because of course I didn't think to take a picture of everyone until after we had left.  But the kids had a lot of fun.  We were reminded of the fact that Caitlyn is our daredevil, but Britton might catch up one of these days.  Caitlyn enjoyed every single ride and William had to be talked into most of them.  We constantly reminded him that we would never put him on a ride that he would get hurt on.  But they all had fun.  I wish I had gotten a few more pictures, but there was the whole chasing Britton around part to contend with.  So here are a few for your enjoyment.

 Britton rode on Bulgy three times, and she would have been happy to ride more.

 So happy to be on a ride.

 William had a great time and has asked when we are returning.

 Austin is in the green boat behind William and Britton.  Caitlyn jumped into a pink boat with another little girl leaving Austin to ride by himself.  But he did seem to enjoy it when Crystal wasn't in view.

My cute little bugs.  What you can't see is me holding Caitlyn up so she could be in the highest spot.  Thank you Crystal for taking this picture.

Since we were in Utah we got to go trick or treating with Crystal's family.  So the kids got all dressed up and went to the Trunk or Treat that Crystal's ward put together.  Luckily the rain that started right as we were leaving Lagoon slowed down to a drizzle during the trunk or treat, it did start up again afterwards so I was glad that we decided the big bags full were enough and we didn't go anywhere else.  So here are the kids in their costumes.

 Here we have The Cat in the Hat and Thing One and Thing Two.  William and Caitlyn were very excited to have their faces painted, Britton tolerated it.  Britton's hair wasn't too blue just because Caitlyn's hair took so much of the spray.

 That Thing Two just doesn't hold still for long.

 I love that after getting a big bag of candy she is eating licorice that we brought with us for the drive.

 So excited about her candy.  And notice her bag, how nicely it matches?  I found that I had a lot of red and white felt left after making William's costume, I knew I was getting too much material but figured too much was better than not enough, so I made the kids some trick or treating bags.  And the great thing is we now have bags for Caitlyn to carry her stuff in, she loves new bags.

 Handsome cat.  Their bags were so full of candy.  I love trunk or treating, one stop, during the day, much safer for me and my kids.

 You didn't know there was a Thing 3 did you.  Well now you know.  And look how light his hair is, especially when you look at the others.

Here they are together with the dads. Austin was a frog and Zach was a great sport letting us invade his house.  Thank you Crystal and Zach.  One other thing.  You make have noticed the girls' arms.  If we had the Halloween we had a couple of years ago they would have been plenty warm in their t-shirts.  So I thought about getting some Baby Legs, but lets face it they are 12 dollars or more a piece.  So I made some.  That's right, we got some knee socks at Target for 2 dollars, five pairs of socks for less than one pair of Baby Legs. I can't remember where I found the exact tutorial for how I did it but you can find one version here.  I put a cuff on the end and we know have five new pairs of leg/arm warmers.

Costume

I am really finishing this at the wire but William's costume is done.  He modeled it for me this afternoon when I finalized his tail.  His tail you ask?  Well let me show you.

That's right, William is the Cat in the Hat.  The inspiration for this is the fact that we have Thing 1, Thing 2, and Thing 3 shirts that fit the three younger kids and then I found a tutorial for the hat here.  So I made the hat out of felt, we got a black sweatshirt and sweatpants, I sewed some white felt on the tummy and Brandon drew a tie for me on red felt, and then I made the tail.  I had the tail done for a while but wasn't sure how to attach it.  I finally made a stretchy belt, sewed it to it, and added multiple buttonholes.  So the pants can be worn for other things and the tail can be used for more dress up later.  And William can take his tail off at school if he doesn't want to sit with it and I don't have to send other pants with him.  Caitlyn and Britton have red pants to go with their shirts and Brandon is really excited about the blue hairspray he found.  William wanted Bradley to be the fish, but I pretty much said that I needed the simplest thing possible and that is Thing 3.  I don't know that you will be seeing pictures of the Things until after Halloween.

Sisterly Love

Bradley is definitely loved by his sisters.  Don't get me wrong, William loves him too but since he is at school the girls get a lot more time with the baby.  Britton is constantly asking to hold the baby.  Luckily I can usually understand what she is saying, and she get a huge grin on her face when I ask her if that is what she wants.  And she obediently sits down and pats her legs to show that she is ready.  Caitlyn loves to talk to Bradley and he gives her the biggest smiles and giggles.  So we of course managed to get some lovely pictures that I thought I would share with you.

 I needed to do some vacuuming so I asked Caitlyn if she would keep an eye on Bradley.  She told me that he could play on her bed with her.  She covered herself and Bradley, I had to remind her that he shouldn't have his head covered, and then giggled as she asked me to find them.

Then she pretended to sleep.  It is just chance that his eyes are closed in this picture, but I love that it looks like he is asleep while snuggling her blanket.  He was enthralled with the pink blanket, but he is pretty much enthralled with anything that ends up in his hands lately.

 Britton is so excited to hold him, and he is almost the same size.  She was also very excited when I pulled out the camera and kept asking for more pictures.

 Of course you can't really see her in the picture where he is giving a great smile, see the two dimples?  I'm not sure if she is leaning because his weight is pushing her over or she thought it was cute.

One last picture.  He looks as if he is just done, doesn't he?  I think at this point he knows what is coming.  When Britton holds Bradley she does really well, until she decides she is done and then she just lets go and pushes him away.  But he is definitely loved.  I don't have as many pictures of William with Bradley, he is gone most of the day (the part where there is another parent so I feel free to pull out a camera and catch cuteness instead of pull out my hair at the craziness), but Bradley likes to be on the floor with William while we stretch his arm.  Bradley likes to grab at William's hand and it is a  nice distraction for William.  A quick note about William's arm, at the doctor's today he had 118 degrees of motion, bending and straightening, which is about double the mobility that he had two weeks ago.  So if he works really hard, and puts up with us working his arm, his next doctor's appointment could be his last. It has been a lot of pain, tears, and screaming but it is coming along.

Things we do

Here are just some pictures of things that we have been doing lately.

Conference Saturday morning.  Nothing says togetherness than a family doggy pile right?  I just have to say that I didn't start it.

 This is how it started.  A simple little hug, although I do love the crazy look in Britton's eyes.  She knows exactly how this is going to end.

 They insisted that Daddy get in on the action also.  Because if it is funny the first time it will be hilarious the second, or tenth, time right?

 William lost his second tooth.  And his first permanent tooth is showing.

 Britton loves to do anything that she sees Caitlyn do.  She copies the rest of us also, but she copies Caitlyn the most.  They are coloring so sweetly together, you just know a fight is going to break out sooner or later.

 Bradley with cousin Paige.  Ian and Becky stopped by and we let the babies hang out on the floor.  They even held hands for a little bit but Paige managed to get her hand away from Bradley before I got the camera out.  But they are checking each other out.

 Paige is about six weeks, or so, older than Bradley is.  So she is a little more aware but I think he could take her.

 We went and picked out our pumpkin.  We got a big one this year.

 There was a puppy nearby distracting the kids.  So hard to focus on Daddy when there are cute animals around.

 The bard where we picked our pumpkin, if you can call it picking when you don't actually pull it off the vine, had a little straw maze.  The kids would purposefully find the dead ends just so we would know not to go that way.

 Great big toothless smile.

Brandon showing off my handiwork.  This is just a little sneak peek for William's Halloween costume.

So there you have it.  A glimpse into the life we call our own.

Birthday Girl

The first half of the year is really quiet for us, birthday wise anyway.  But the last half of the year really packs them in.  This time it was Caitlyn.  She turned four and was very excited about it.  Because her birthday fell on a Sunday this year we had a little party on Friday with family and friends.

 When Brandon and William had their ice cream cakes Caitlyn said she wanted one too, but then she was looking through our cut up cakes book and changed her mind.  So here is her pig cake.  Can you guess why she picked it?  That's right, it's pink.  I haven't convinced her yet that I can make any cake pink, but she was really happy about her pig.

 I told her that this would be her year for a party with a pinata.  She was really excited and kept changing her mind about what she wanted it to look like but finally settled on a unicorn.  In case you are wondering the pinata is a brown grocery bag covered with tissue paper and then Brandon drew the face on for me.

 Here you can see the unicorn's mane.  Catilyn was very happy with it which makes it all worth it.

 A little pinata action for everyone.

 And the cake with candles.  Brandon was very proud of himself, he placed the candles like a tiara.

 Can it be?

 Yes it is, her very own kitten.  Caitlyn has been very sad about the fact that Britton has two stuffed animal cats but she didn't have any.  We won't go into the fact that Caitlyn plays with Britton's cats much more than Britton does or the fact that Caitlyn has a ton of other toys.  But she was really excited to get her own cat, and as she pulled it out of the bag Britton grabbed it, put it under her arm and said "Mine."  This could be interesting.

 This is from her actual birthday.  Don't mind the hair, it was braided on both sides but she lost the elastic with some rough playing that involved blankets being thrown on people's heads.  We gave into the insanity and got her a Barbie movie this year.  Her favorite part?  Barbie has a cat.

My Little Pony, I remember getting My Little Pony toys for my birthday when I was little.  Brandon said that this was the one toy that Caitlyn kept going back to when they were looking for presents for William's birthday and she was so excited when she opened it.

So it was a very good birthday, I just can't believe that she is really four already.  She thinks that she is all grown up, to a point, and she loves to play with her siblings.  And she gets the biggest smiles from Bradley any time she talks to him.  We love you Caitlyn.