*Minute to Win It!*

I started writing my own post for this festive evening, but my cute  sister did it too much justice so here is her post:

Getting together with my darling aunt and uncle and cousins and their families does not happen often enough. Every time we hang out, which is usually our annual Christmas party and the random baby blessing, we always say we need to see each other more. But we just can't get it together enough to make it happen so I cherish the time we get to spend together at Christmas.

There was discussion last year about whether or not the kids--meaning first cousins once removed--would continue to exchange gifts since because the kids were getting older, the presents were getting more expensive and pocketbooks were tight. We decided against gifts and my aunt was worried that because there weren't any gifts, no one would want to come. Unanimously, we told her that absolutely wasn't true. The party would still continue because we don't come for the presents, we gather because of the good company and the fun and love we share together. And just as if to put a great big exclamation point on that statement, the kids never even noticed there wasn't anything to open. 

We ate dinner and visited for a while.

Then to the entertainment. My sister and I were in charge of coming up with Minute to Win it games for the party. I had never watched the game show but the internet is innundated with different ideas and we planned eight different ones. 

We didn't really have teams or a set amount of people who could play each game. Basically, whoever wanted to play, could. There were some adults who needed to be gently coerced into participating, but had fun once they got going. 

We didn't even get around to all eight games. A minute is a long time! And after playing at least two or three rounds of each game time really flew by. 

We first started with who could blow the most bubble gum bubbles in a minute. I don't have any pictures of this one. It was fun but not everyone could play because not everyone knows how to blow bubbles with bubblegum. 

So we moved onto a more versatile activity. Moving a cookie from your forehead to your mouth without using your hands. This was a huge hit. All the facial expressions and different techniques people used to move the cookie were hilarious.

This just make me belly laugh!

Then we tested how many marshmellows could be thrown into a bucket in a minute. Sarah won this game by a landslide. And then all the marshmellows were used as ammunition and thrown all over the place. We literally just found one last week in my mom's couch.

The next game was how many nuts can you stack in a tower in a minute. We had the bigger nuts and put them on the end of a candy cane so they could slide off and be stacked that way. No hands allowed.

Stacking cups also was a favorite. 

Once all the games were over, people got creative and stacked the cups in different ways. This occupied the "older kids" meaning Matt, Zach, and Nick for quite a while. 

Then the final game of the night. Have you ever tried to knock over water bottles with orange filled pantyhose that are attached to your head? No? It is harder than it looks. But at least we looked super fashionable while we tried.

Seriously some of the most fun I have ever had. 

There was more visiting and laughing and love after the games were over and we settled in and ate dessert. 

{7 months}

Our little "woo" as we call sweet Jane just pulls on our heart strings all throughout the day.

She is still a calm little spirit among the fray and she is so content to just go with the flow.

She is loving eating her solids, mostly green beans, peas, carrots, and sweet potatoes.

She does not like squash so much and still gags when she tries it.

She has this new grin where she just can't seem to grin wide enough and so she

scrunches her little nose and wiggles her head a little.

She loves to suck on her binky upsidedown which makes us chuckle because it

looks so funny and she turns it around herself.

She has started giving wet slobber kisses on our cheeks and it makes her giggle.

Sitting up and staying up is getting easier for her.

She has two tiny and sharp teeth.

She is super smiley baby, unless you take her to get pictures done :)

When you arrive home after being away from her, she is one of the best welcoming committees I

have ever seen!

Thanks for brightening our day EVERY DAY little woo!

What a Merry Christmas!

The rush of the holidays is over and I loved running across all of our pictures this week.  It was a jam packed season filled with The Christmas Carol Musical (that was fantastic!), Zoo Lights, Adam's company party and a stay in Park City, 

family parties, a handmade gift exchange with neighborhood friends, old roomate party, Madrigal party....we welcomed a relaxing January after all of that fun!

The girls, minus Jane here, enjoyed talking to Santa at our ward breakfast.  Caroline sat for what seemed like 15 minutes on his lap, deep in thought because she wanted to tell him just the right thing to bring.

Our Elder's Quorum put on quite the bash!  We had a progressive dinner with small groups which was fun to get to know a few families better.  Then we had a white elephant exchange and dessert back at the ward.  I was thrilled that we had the perfect gift for this party.  We have toted around this gift from New Hampshire, to D.C. and back to Utah, waiting for just the right crowd.  Well, why not bring it to our first ward Christmas party?

We brought The Sperm Bank that I received at a friend party years ago.  It was a hit and had everyone rolling, I would highly recommend this if you want a good gag gift!

We were relieved that it went over well and that our dear friend Brooke found the humor in it!

At one point during the game we were thrilled to get a plunger, sombrero, and various treats from Mexico.  Turns out that was another hot gift that was stollen from us.

Attempts to get a calm picture before church went probably as expected.  We have a few cute pics with 2 out of three girls smiling, and then lots of stressed out ones.  I just had to share some real life :)  Look how stressed Caroline is as Jane is slipping a little bit.

Another real life moment that was very sad for Olive was when her gingerbread man fell off of her plate and was decapitated.  I felt bad for her, but I was also fighting back the laughter because she was hysterical!

It's so hard for these little ones when it seems their life crumbles to pieces...no pun intended.

Our family Christmas parties were cozy, relaxing, and delicious.  We had one with my dad's side of the family that I will post later because there are too many funny pictures!  My cute parents getting the feast ready.

 My mom knit these Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty dolls for Caroline and Olive.  You flip them over and under their skirt is the more casual Ella and Briar Rose.  The girls now sleep with them every night.

My sister gave the girls these darling personalized plates.  

I just died at how adorable they are! 

Sweet Grandpa B with baby Jane.  He just loves our girls so much and has such a tender heart.  We lovethe Beckstrom party where we play Don't Eat Pete and Righty Lefty. The kids had a blast!

We were so happy to be with everyone during the most wonderful time of the year!!

{Rainbow Party}

Happy Happy Birthday to our sweet 3 year old Olive!

She is such a silly, happy, intense little ball of delight.

People walk away from talking to Olive and they are usually chuckling because of a funny expression she made with her eyes, or something nonsense she said.

We LOVE you little O!

If you know Olive, you know that her favorite color is purple.  She is obsessed.

As I started planning a purple party for her, it became a little boring just focusing on one color, so we involved all of the colors of the rainbow!

Olive was super excited about the idea, so we went with it.

It was fun looking for all sorts of rainbow things to spice up the party.  We kept it pretty simple with fruit, veggies, rainbow jello and the cake.  The circle garlands came together super fast with just a continuous line sewn with the sewing machine.  On the clouds I just wrote,

 You are my sunshine Olive

You make us happy

everyday!

What sealed the deal for having a rainbow party were these darling favor bags from Papernook.  I instantly fell in love to have these for her little friends.  

We filled them with a few little things like a rainbow crayon, a sparkly mini notepad, gold coins, and a few other goodies.  

The cake was a trial and error process.  I filled the 6" cake pans waaay to full on the first go around.  Once we figured out to only fill them about 1/3 full, they turned out great!  To even out the top of the cake I used the dental floss method where you wrap floss around the top of the cake and overlap it.  Then gently pull it and it slices the slightly rounded tops right off to make a nice flat layer!  I used this Almond Sour Cream cake recipe  but I halved it because it makes a ton.  And for the icing I used this recipe which was the perfect consistency.  

My favorite part about the cake was that Olive helped make it all.  She helped add the food coloring and mix it in.  She sat on my lap the entire time while I frosted it and it was definitely a treasured moment for me.

At her little friend party with all of the bouncing 2-3 year olds, we had milk in these mini mason jars.

The kids didn't need any more sugar in their drink!!

On the invitation we invited everyone to wear their favorite color.  Our cute sister Kate wore her cozy rainbow socks which were a hit!

Here is an example of one of her many hilarious expressions.  She was mesmerized by this light up wand.

Olive makes everyone smile and is such a blessing in our home.  She has a tender heart and has such a contagious excitement for so many little things.

She has some sweet dance moves, pretends to read books out loud in a jibberish fashion, and is really loud like her mama.

Right now one of our favorite things she does is her bedtime routine.  She MUST give us a regular kiss on the cheek, a butterfly kiss, an eskimo kiss, and then a huge bear hug.

Melts my heart every night!

Happy Birthday sweetheart!

best.weekend.ever

it snowed for three days straight.

2 snowmen were built, one with chalk for buttons named Frosty,

the other with eyelashes.

Hot chocolate was constantly brewing and we enjoyed sipping it with mini marshmallows.  

The power went out and we had a sleepover at Grandma and Grandpa Winegars where

we slept by the fire.

I knew I enjoyed the snow while skiing, but building a snowman with my little girls

may have just trumped the ski slopes!