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! 

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!! 

Our Weekend

I need to get better about posting here.  I need to get better at taking more photos. 

I just thought I’d share our weekend.  We got winter weather and lots of snow. 

It was cold and it was dark, but the kids went out to do a little playing in the snow. 

Before mom made them shovel the deck, they made snow angels on it. 

We stuck close to home for the most part.  Saturday, the high school team playing a in the Semi Finals football game.  In the blizzard. In the bitter temps.  And won.  I listened on the radio.  BRRRRR 

Yesterday, we celebrated my Grandpa’s 90th birthday.  He just keeps on going too.  No stopping him and I  love that!! 

This is my Grandpa, my aunt and McKinley – who had to follow him, because he just might cut into that cake!!  lol…. 

We also got our pellet stove hooked up this weekend.  Good thing – it’s COLD people!!  McKinley loves to sit by it to warm up.  Last night she was sitting there with a fake rat and fake crow (left over from Halloween) singing a song about them.

 

We made homemade pizza last night.  It’s the first time I’ve made my own dough and it worked out well.  It was yummy actually.  I made two pizzas and McK decorated one along side me. 

I also did a little sewing.  I whipped out this blanket for my cousin’s son’s birthday.  It’s a football shaped blanket I found on Pinterest.  I shared the photo on Facebook and got an order!  LOL… yikes!!  I also sewed a new tank top for McKinley’s dolls, and now she has an order in for some jeans. 

We got a Pup.

We are animal people.

My dream pet would be a pot bellied pig.
One that I could train to live in the house.

And then I wake up and see that I have three kids, and remember I like a clean house.

And a pig would be just that.  A pig. 

So we got a dog.
We already had a cat.  And we enjoy the cat. 

Some of friends told us they wanted to get rid of their dog.  They live in town and didn’t have time for her anymore.  They knew she would love country life.  So they brought her to us on Wednesday.

And they were right, Ellie loves the country life.  She loves to go out and just run. 

 

September

David got his tonsils out Thursday and we are just chilling out for the rest of the weekend.

Hoping that at least some of us get to go see the Diary of A Wimpy Kid movie this weekend. 

Lots of football for this month. Missing some of it. Homecoming next week.  I love the parade.

Wednesday night church starts this month.  New classes for everyone.

Mom gets to go on a field trip and work at the school a couple days this month. 

A big wedding at the end of the month, that we can not wait for!!  ♥

Cooler weather, sweatshirts and hot cocoa.

The Long Weekend

I love long weekends.  Especially during the school year.  The extra day or so is wonderful.  However, we are all on school schedule, so there wasn’t too much sleeping in.  Oh well. 

We took in David’s first Middle School games, which was a Jamboree so it’s all about learning.  I enjoyed watching and understanding it all.  Anxious for the season. 

We went camping with some girlfriends and their kids. An annual event, but we waited too long to plan this trip.  So we planned one for next summer already.  I  love that my friend was totally rocking her vintage bus.  We. Are. Awesome. 

It was a weird weekend, but a fun weekend.  Now, I’m making my To Do list for the week. 

An Art Table

I thought I had pre-posted this for Monday, but I forgot. Sorry!

I haven’t posted it yet, but I have an entire room in our home dedicated to being creative. I have always loved being creative. My family is full of creative people… my mom has always been sewing something, my dad is always building something, my Grandma was a great seamstress and she loved to paint. My aunts are knitters and quilters. So I think it’s hereditary. Or at least I want it to be.



I do let the kids in the craft room and let them make a mess with me in there. We have been kitting kits from Kiwi Crate and they often like to make cards to send to their cousins.

However, I’ve been inspired but Meg Duerksen and I’ve seen peeks of her kids at their art table. I wanted there to be a place dedicated to where the kids could get crafty. I’ve thought about placing it in my room, but I wanted it to be more out in the open, so if we are watching TV, they can be coloring or if I’m making dinner, they can be painting.

So I decided I wanted a small rectangle coffee table, that would fit without being in the way, and the kids could sit on the floor to work. I posted an ad on the local online garage sale, and guess who answered? My mom! lol… so I went across the road and picked up this table.

I hauled it over, and washed it up. The glass had been siliconed into the table, so I couldn’t take it out.

I just taped some newspaper on it, and then sprayed it black. Amazing what some black spray paint can do.

And then I set it up in the dining area, under the kids clipboards.

Eventually, I’d like to find some larger baskets to put underneath, but for now, this plastic tote is working. There is paper, markers, and crayons underneath. I’ve got some paint brushes and scissors and tape. The should be set to go now.

I’m not worried about how the table will end of looking. If I can’t wash it off, I can always haul it out and spray another layer of paint on.

Above the table I have the clipboards and picture frames. We had this in our old house as well. I bought some 12x12 frames and cheap longer clipboards – and guess what – spray painted them black!    Initially, I wanted to change out the scrapbook pages monthly, but I love these photos and pages, so they will stay up for longer!

I also wanted clipboards to store papers and such that the kids need or bring home from school. It keep the clutter off the fridge. Or on the floor in front of the fridge like usually happens.

David has his Wrestling pictures hung up.

RC needs to get crafty and show off some art work. (He does currently have spelling words on there!)

McKinley has a lion colored on the first day of school, and a turkey she colored after tracing her hand.

Around the corner, in the living room cabinet, we have more coloring pages, and paper and crayons. I’ve also got a cabinet in the craft room for more supplies.

Linking to: Savvy Southern Style

Mud Fun

If you are a friend on Facebook, you saw that last night the kids made themselves a fun mud pit.  It started out as a simple evening of making mudpies on the deck, but slowly it morphed into making lakes in the dirt piles.

What would playing in the mud be if you couldn’t wrestle your brother down in it. 

“MOM! I want a hug.”

“RC! STAY AWAY FROM ME!!”

You can’t even tell McKinley took her shirt off.

 

Then before we knew it, it was time to hose off and get ready for the shower.

And then clean the bathtub out.