♪ What I'm Listening To♫

Hey there - I need to get back over here right? 
So how about we start with this...


Carrie Underwood - Blown Away

Cher - Dark Lady

Toby Keith - Hope on the Rocks

Taylor Swift - Begin Again

Eric Church - Creepin'

Mud room Cubbies

Over the break, we were able to tackle one of the bigger projects on my To Do list, although it ended up not being AS big as I thought. 

I shared the MUD ROOM HERE, so check it out if you are interested in more of the room. 

But this is how it started out.  Our winter duds were laid all over when we came in, and I’d hung up a very redneck coat rack to work for the time being.  My mom and dad took the week off and basically did this whole thing for us. 

RC helped Grandma put the wainscoting on the wall. 

I love the look of it on the wall. 

So then, based on my initial idea, Dad got busy building these shelves and racks for coats.  We kept this left hand side lower so Greg can reach it and hook his coats up too. 

I’ve got one coat of clear stain on it, waiting to get another.  However, we jumped right in and started hanging up our stuff. 

This is the final design, with the bench for sitting and eventually, baskets for all of our goods. 

Another Christmas

We got a great surprise last week, when my brother and his family showed up.  They don’t live close, so it’s hard for all of us to get together.  But I’m happy they made the trip over!!

We celebrated with opening gifts from each other on Friday night. 

My SIL totally got the boys.  She wrapped up their iTunes gift cards in DoodleBops DVD cases.  Poor RC tried his best not to look disappointed!!  lol… 


Saturday, the guys went roping and us ladies had a crafting day.  I am all about starting them young in the crafting department and Mesa loves to make projects!! 

Today, we had a dinner with my Grandpa and Aunt and got some family photos.
What a great way to end the year!! 

Christmas

Life here at the Skiff Ranch has been busy all December. 

Programs and Concerts.

Planning and cooking.

Shopping and Wrapping. 

David started us off with the Middle School Band and Choir concert. 

 

We had church programs and then one for Kindergarten and the 4th and 5th grade. 

This is probably my favorite photo of the season. 

On Christmas Eve, we always celebrate with Greg’s family.  We had enough room at the table for everyone, so we used Grandma Mangis’ china and Holly Hobby Christmas glasses. 

As tradition, we all get new Pajama’s for Christmas.  The boys just got new PJ Pants. 

Christmas morning, RC was up at 5:30 AM!!  ah.  But we got going and enjoyed the day anyway!!  We’ve been catching up ever since!!

Even Ellie had gifts under the tree. 

RC really wanted Pickle flavored candy canes and Santa delivered.  Plus some bacon ones.  We found out, they taste nasty! 

David ordered me some Clark Griswold Moose glasses.  Awesome!! 

 

Grandma found the boys footie pajamas.

We also got a bowling alley for the hallway.  It sounded bigger, but it’s perfect, not in the way. 

I got spoiled again – with some fun things.  These are the prettiest – some new soup bowls from Fiesta ware.  We broke them in yesterday!! 

Hope you had a great week.  We are counting down the minutes until my brother, SIL and niece get here for the weekend, plus another celebration with Greg’s family on New Year’s Eve. 

Oh Sam

Our Little Elf on the Shelf arrived over the weekend and has been keeping busy. 

When he arrived, he downloaded some fun Elf on the Shelf apps from the iTunes store. 

McKinley had eaten some marshmallows and left the bowl out – so Sam used it as a Bubble Bath. 

Yesterday, he got into the blue food coloring and colored the milk blue. 

Today, we found him cruising around with Barbie in her red convertible! 

Elf on the Shelf

Do you have an Elf on the Shelf?  If you are curious about this lil guy, check out the website. 
We have had Sam since 2009…. and he’s a fun lil bugger.  He arrives back at our house today from the North Pole, so I wanted to share his adventures at the Skiff House this holiday season.  Most of these ideas I got off of Pinterest or created myself. 
Enjoy - -

Hot Cocoa Bar + our Hot Cocoa recipe

Thanks to the wonder of Pinterest I set up a Hot Cocoa bar in the kitchen.  And it’s been a hit!!

The kids love that they can make their own cups and so does mom!    I decided to set this up right next to our water cooler as they use the hot water function on it for their cocoa.  I also hope to add some candy canes as the season goes on and maybe make some chocolate covered spoons. 

I also wanted to share my recipe for Hot Cocoa mix with you. 

I use a large bag of powdered sugar, a container of powdered creamer, a box of dry milk mix and usually only one large Nestle container.  Our local store only had these smaller ones, so I used two. 

This is where it might get a lil weird for ya.  I dump everything into two garbage bags.  I put one inside the other just for good measure.  Then I dump in all the ingredients. 

Then when it’s all added, I shake it.

♪Country Girl, shake it for me girl ♫

Shake it. Shake it real good.

After your dance party, it’s time to add it to your container. I find it easiest to trim off one corner and add it slowly to your container.  This makes the least amount of mess. 

This is where I set up the Hot Cocoa bar and so far McKinley is enjoying getting her own cocoa. 

Warm and Yummy!!