Grab Bag!

 Time for the family grab bag!  This game is always a lot of fun...there are great gifts, silly gifts, and obnoxious gifts....and you can steal any of them when its your turn.  Tanner is modeling a lovely pair of clip-ons, in hopes of someone wanting to steal them from him!  :)

 Some of the hot items this year:  a reindeer stuffed animal, headphones, garlic stuffed olives, several games, and a rubber band bracelet set, which the kids all shared after the grab bag was over.  Jordyn was excited to score the reindeer, and i scored the garlic stuffed olives along with a not so popular baseball cap with a stuffed trout on top  :)

 Here they all are, making several stylish bracelets out of that rubber band set.  Looks like all the kids made out like bandits!

 Then it was time for family photos before everyone went on their merry way...

 Naturally i had to take a 4 generations photo...and then a shot of the whole gang...

Merry Christmas everyone...and safe travels to you all!

Let the Christmas Festivities Begin ~

We started our Christmas Festivities early this year, going to Grandma and Grandpa Bruens house for a get together on the 21st. 

We enjoyed lots of wonderful music, delicious food, and lots of laughs!  Heres a shot of Todd making his delicious jalapeno wraps...see the end of the post for the recipe!

After dinner we enjoyed a talent show performed by all the cousins!  It was rather hilarious, (and unrehearsed), and we all enjoyed the show!

Jarrods talent show consisted of his snowmobile videos taken last winter...they were great!  Then Uncle Troy did a little storytelling with his double bass, which included a shark, some seagulls and a frog :)

Naturally there was wrestling among the cousins...Justin and Uncle Todd decided to get in on the action while they are still young enough to take the kids!  :)

Then it was time for charades...and that had us all laughing!!!

The kids were put on kitchen duty, while the adults enjoyed more conversation and fun...and then it was time for presents...

We had a great time, but it was getting late, so the infamous grab bag was scheduled for the next morning.  Jordyn spent the night with her cousins and Justin and i headed home.  It was a relaxing evening, and everyone had a great time!  More on the grab bag in the next post!

Todd's Jalapeno Wraps

2 blocks of cream cheese

1 pound of cooked sage sausage

seasoning salt, to taste

16 jalapenos, halved with seeds removed

32 strips of uncooked bacon

Mix first three ingredients, then stuff jalapenos.  Wrap 1 bacon slice around each jalapeno and fix with toothpicks.  Cook at 375 for about 40 minutes, and enjoy!  So simple and so tasty!

Time For Ice Skating!

 Hooray...we finally had a chance to break in our new skates!!!  When we got home on Wednesday we decided to give the pond a try, and it was great...pretty glassy in most spots but a little rough in others.

 Those rough spots you had to watch out for though, as they caused you to stop and go flying :)  (well, me anyways :)

 The last two years we have been unable to do much or any skating, so we really enjoyed it!  I have to say, new skates made all the difference for me...much better ankle support and sharp blades, and i was good to go! 

 Thankfully i purchased the adjusting size skates for Jordyn so she could wear them at least one more year...but ill definitely have to get her new skates next year.

 The river is still up pretty high, so there is more skating space, which is fun...but it also took the river a lot longer to freeze too, which is why we were only just able to skate this week. 

 It gets dark so early right now, that we only had about an hour on the ice...but i look forward to some more fun skating this weekend!

Happy Holidays!!!

Christmas Concert at School ~

 The school concert was on Monday night and the kids did great!  It was my first time attending as a teacher, and i have to admit, i was a little nervous at first about being up there to lead my kiddos, but naturally, all eyes were on the preschoolers, so they rocked the house! (and hopefully no one noticed my bad singing :)

 Jordyn wore this lovely red outfit, complete with her very first pair of heels (which she was very excited about).  She was in charge of "Five golden rings..." and did a great job!  Then, of course, there was a visit from Santa, to which Jordyn let me know, "thats not the real Santa, he's wearing a fake beard...that must be one of his elves."  Lets hope the magic continues just a little bit longer...

 And finally, here is a photo of my preschool class about to take the stage and rock the house!  They did a great job, and one of the kids really surprised me with their participation and super jolly performance!  Always nice when a kid does that...way to steal the show little man!  :)

Hope you are all finding some quiet moments of joy during this hectic holiday season...as for me, im prepping myself for our big Girl Scout sleepover...stay tuned!

Goodbye My Quilt Loving Friend ~

 It is with a heavy heart that i must report, they had to put him down today.  He had a spiral leg fracture, an injury that he had had for a while, and there was no blood flow to that leg, so he would not have survived.  He was also half his weight, so he was starved.  For those of you reading this, please do not mention it to the girls....i would rather they not know.
 I am honored to have had the opportunity to meet him, and to make him comfortable in his last hours...it turns out it was a male Rough-legged Hawk, and not very old, and he was one magnificent creature.

Another Hawk Rescue ~

 Jordyn had some friends over for a sleepover on Friday night...and they had lots of goofy fun!  They played games, dressed up in crazy clothes, chased the cats around the house, and then had a light saber battle.

 The high all week has been between 3-6 degrees, and the lowest we had all week was -15...so its been a long chilly week and this get together was just what the girls needed!  We wound down the evening with movies and munchies, and the girls crashed out bundled up under a bunch of blankets in front of the tv.

 The next morning was rather exciting...LeAnn called us to let us know that there was some sort of bird of prey trapped inside our trampoline.  The girls went running outside to check it out, and i had to make them all come back in for coats, after all...it was only -1 outside!  Im such a killjoy!  :)

 Once she got out of the trampoline, it was clear she couldnt fly real well.  We couldnt tell if she was injured, but she was definitely very cold and wasnt going anywhere, so we decided to bring her into the house to get her warm.

 She wasnt totally thrilled about coming in our front door, so we tried the bedroom door, and she immediately landed on the bed and stayed there.  She sat on the bed for quite a bit and then she shivered for while, so she was definitely enjoying the warm room...as well as my red, white and blue quilt.

 The girls got to take turns meeting her and the hawk never moved off of that quilt once...but instead watched everyone with fascination.

After an hour or so, we decided to take her down the mountain to the Rocky Mountain Raptor Program to make sure she was okay.  We've taken another bird down to them before, and its a fabulous recovery and release program for birds. Click here to read about it.  Getting her into the box was a bit of a challenge, and somewhat entertaining, and she kept going back to that quilt...she loves that quilt, so we put the quilt in the box, and she eventually got in there and laid down on it and safely traveled down the canyon with it.  We arent positive, but we believe she is a Rough-legged Hawk.  After 5 days we can contact the RMRP to find out exactly what kind of hawk she is, and if she will be okay. They said it can sometimes take that long to find the wound. When they handed the quilt back to Justin at the raptor center, it had some bits of dry blood on it, so she was injured after all.  She was a magnificent creature and i hope she makes it!

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas ~

 Christmas time is here!  We decorated the house, and then we decided to shoot some photos for our Christmas card.

 We got several great shots, and then Jordyn decided to goof off a bit!  Our pond is freezing over nicely, thanks to Justin working on it, and i cant wait to go ice skating soon.  I got new skates last year, and ive never had a chance to use them.

 We had a surprise visit from cousin Dionisio and his girlfriend Hannah over the holiday break.  They took a road trip from Texas to visit family and friends and came up here on Friday night and Saturday afternoon.  Its been a few years since we saw Dio, so it was good to see him and meet his 5 month old dog, Rosie too. 

 On Sunday we went to town to visit Santa!  Jordyn asked Santa for a computer tablet, and he asked her what else she wanted, and she couldnt think of anything else. "Well, make a list for me when you get home" Santa replied.  She wants a tablet soooo badly, that she thinks of nothing else :) 

 After our visit with Santa, we went to see the new movie, Frozen (in 3D), and all i can say is WOW!  That movie was fabulous, but what was even more wonderful was the opening cartoon with Mickey Mouse and friends.  It starts out in classic black and white and turns into a fantastic adventure!  I dont want to say anything to ruin it for you, but WOW is all i can say!  It was phenomenal!!!  John Lasseter creates the best stories and makes Disney movies magical again!  We loved it!!!  And if you get the chance...see it in 3D...totally worth it!