Christmas Fun

 We had our ward Christmas party. Dallin was so excited to tell Santa he wanted a Mack truck and new Lightning McQueen for Christmas. And then it was our turn and he got scared, so Mom got to sit on Santa's lap instead. I hope I didn't crush his leg too badly. :) I think Dallin might get what he wanted even though he was too shy to tell Santa.

 Got to love dessert! I was nervous he was going to get that green frosting al over the while fabric table clothes, but we made it through without a problem.

 A friend of mine invited me to a Cookie Party. We played all sorts of cookie games and at the end we decorated cookies. The kids had a blast, and I think the moms did too. It was great to get to visit. Jill was awesome to plan this!

Dallin ate three cookies, but he sure had fun. Dallin loves playing at Jill's house.

Thanksgiving Part II

Some of these pictures are repeat activities, but Aly (The awesome photographer) got more/better pictures. (Except the first one. I don't know why I forgot to post it last time) 

Dallin and Adam did great at the grocery store. I'm sure getting to drive a car and get a free cookie had nothing to do with that. :)

More Bounce U. Russ spent more his time reading. I don't blame him too much. It was chaos with a ton of toddlers and their parents.

I spent half the time "playing" with Dallin. It was really all about helping him. It was way harder than it looks. And there was no graceful way for me to get over that wall. I just had to jump and throw myself over. Not a pretty sight.

Some cute Thanksgiving pictures. It was a fun day.

Now for the fun part. We went to Lazy 5 Ranch on Saturday. We went on a wagon ride. It stopped periodically and we got to feed all sort of animals, from ostriches and water buffalo to llamas and giraffes.  It was so fun, but a bit chilly. Dallin was a little unsure about feeling the animals at first, but once he realized they wouldn't bit him, he warmed up.

Some of the larger animals (cattle/buffalo/etc.) you dropped it into their mouths.

Most of the rest you held out your hand to let them eat out of it.

So Dallin was really excited about the giraffes. They ate right out of the buckets.

The largest one I am feeding was a pig. He wanted more and more and would push anything out of his way.

He sees that Russ has more and decided he wanted it.

These pictures don't do it justice. That giraffe tried over and over to knock Dallin and me down. Dallin kept getting flicked by his ear and he kept rubbing his neck on my head. I'm sure we both stunk like giraffe when it was all done. I couldn't help but laugh. It was definitely a unique experience.

It was a fun trip. I would do it again for sure. Hopefully next time it wouldn't be so cold.

Thanksgiving Part I and Recycling

Most of you know we went to North Carolina for Thanksgiving to visit my cousin and her family. It's about an 11 hour drive. The drive there wasn't too bad other than Dallin asking "are we almost there?" a million times. And the West Virgina Turnpike. I knew we were going through toll roads, I just didn't know it would be so many. We left early Wednesday morning and got there by 5.

 It was rainy most of the time we were there, but that didn't stop us from going to the park.  Aly thought it was so cold, but I think the North Carolina weather is making her soft. It was a little chilly when the wind blew, but not like what we had left in Michigan.

 

Adam and Dallin got along most of the time. The longer we were there, the better they got along.

 Aly and I made these shirts for Thanksgiving. I have been wanting to since I saw them last year. The boys loved them.

As you can tell, they Dallin wouldn't cooperate with the while picture taking thing. Nothing new. We had dinner at the Shulz' neighbors house. It was so nice of them to invite us. Dinner was awesome and Dallin loved their boys.

 On Friday we went to Bounce U, a place will tons of blowup equipment (I'm not sure what you would call it.) Dallin really liked it. Adam was a lot braver than Dallin. Dallin went down the slide once alone and did OK and then Wanted me to go with him. After that he cried and refused to go on anything alone. I spent the rest of the time climbing after him. Harder than it sounds.

 Dallin wanted to boxing gloves so bad. Too bad they weighed like 15 lbs a piece. I could barely use them.

 

 Dallin and Adam playing play dough.  Aly has some pictures from Lazy 5 Ranch. I'll post them when I get them. It was the most fun. It was a neat place and Dallin loved it.

So now on the the "Recycle" part. For awhile I have been saving old jeans.I always wanted to use them to make things, but have never had time. I even made Russ pack them up and bring them to Michigan. I finally pulled them out and used them.

I made some hand warmer/ bean bags, a rice heat/cold pack, and some number mats. They where all really easy to make and Dallin loves playing with the bean bags (which were original only hand warmers) and number mats. I have learned I need to really practice my applique technique before I even attempt anything on clothing. The bad part is I only use like 1 1/2 pairs of jeans. I have like 12 more to use. Any ideas?