Lloydminster at Christmastime

Sawyer had two different Christmas concerts within a couple days of each other! One she was that kid that everyone laughs at because she was a grouch! The other she was a superstar and sang like a champ! 

Coop waiting for Sawyer to sing! Yes this is almost the best picture of him. He is my I don't sit still for more than two seconds child. 

Church Christmas Concert

Just a grouch! (She slept for 3.5 hours that afternoon)

Her preschool concert was amazing and beautifully done. Her teacher, Ms. Nina, knows kids too well. They sang the main line out of each song and each song was just long enough to keep the kids attention. They sang about 5 songs. The whole performance was only 10 minutes! Then they received a cute gift from Ms Nina and her helpers. We were given a cute ornament with Sawyers handprint on it!

Our little star

Sawyer and Ms. Nina

She's growing up too fast! 

Yes, best picture of the night! Love these two goofs! 

Sibling love!

Piano time!

 On Friday we headed out to the country to the Nunebor Christmas Party out by the farm! It was a fun time of singing carols, watching a few kids perform and then the Jolly Man himself came to visit! The kids did great, well 3 out of the 5 did anyways! Cooper and Mckenzie wanted nothing to do with Santa. I don't have any pictures of Coop because I was videoing him and ended up sitting on Santa with Coop. What a monkey! Next year I'm sure he'll be a rockstar!

Everyone excited for Santa! 

Ryder

Mckenzie! Not loving Santa! 

Ezra 

Sawyer

Most of the crew! 

 We headed back to the farm after we visited with Santa! Morgan was the best jungle gym! Coop loves to jump off of anything, so Dad was the best thing in the room at the time!

 Last night we had a super impromptu Jones get-together! These are just a few of the kids from Sawyer and Coopers late Great Grandma and Grandpa Jones. Most of these kids are 4 and under (8 out of 10)!

After supper, games and appetizers we settled in for our Oliver family Christmas! By this time it was probably 10:30 or so! The kids were troopers and super excited for their presents. Getting them all to sit was a bit rough. Well everyone sat great, except for my 2-second boy! I think we got about 5 seconds out of him!

Opening the first present of the night! 

Once the presents were opened Ryder and Sawyer decided to dress up in her super cool princess dresses.

What a cute bunch!! 

Merry Christmas!

Love the Olivers! 

A new adventure

I seem to have jumped head first into a new adventure, that is, selling Peekaboo Beans Clothing! They are an amazing clothing line for children, with their whole emphasis on play! Peekaboo Beans (PB) clothing is beyond super functional for active kids and helps kids want to play as it is incredibly comfortable. Sawyer recently received her first PB sweater. She saw it come out of the package and was immediately drawn to it! As she felt it she said, "Oh Mommy, I love it. It's SOO soft!" I was then told that I had to put it on her immediately! She wore it all day and kept saying, "It's so soft!"

All this to say that even kids notice the difference in PB after wearing the common brands of clothing. Isn't that saying something. I believe that PB clothing is going to revolutionize play in our family. I would love to see it help revolutionize yours! (Yes, this is a ploy to get you to come check out their clothing).

One of the main reasons that I love Peekaboo Beans so much is how to produce their clothing. I recently found an article that talked about why Peekaboo Beans is that little more expensive. PB is a company out of Richmond, BC but in 2010 they moved their manufacturing to Dongguan, Southern China as most of their materials were being imported from China as were a few of their sewers. Peekaboo Beans felt it best to move production across the ocean to help with jobs in Dongguan as they knew how they would be treating and paying their employees. Peekaboo Bean clothing is, therefore, fair labour clothing. Morgan and myself feel that if we can help our world it is to help support those in third world living environments. Knowing that they are being treated fairly only gives more reason to support the companies.

Peekaboo beans is here  to spread the message for beans across the land "let me play". Stats show that if given the chance children would choose 9 times out of ten to play outside with their parents and friends, yet the staggering statistics show that children are spending on average 8 hours a day in front of media devices.

Our mission is to provide the ingredients for a playful life.  Children should be able to run, bounce, and play free from stiff, restricting clothes.  Doesn't your kid deserve to look good without being held back?  Sometimes you just have to ask - would you play in that?

Watch this fun video to get some inspiration about your kids, grandkids, nieces and nephews, or any cute little bean in your life! 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LVekob2Bs8g

I hope that you are all having a great day! Enjoy playing with your cute beans!

Another link to check out:

http://www.peekaboobeans.com/NikkiOliver

This past week!

With Christmas season in full gear our lives just keep getting busier! 

Last night as an Oliver family, we headed to the theatre to watch Frozen 3D. All were their except my youngest niece, but Great Grandpa Oliver came to fill her seat! The kids did amazing! This was Sawyers second ever movie in the theatre and Coopers first. Sawyer sat beside Great Grandpa while Cooper sat on my lap, but had to be touching Daddy at all times! :)

Cooper was being a daredevil and jumped off Sawyers bed and crashed into the crib! He now has a nice shiner! 

Sawyers response from Santa. Guess I should've specified her gender! 

This has been the coldest week of winter yet! -28 outside with a windchill of -46. The next day was -59 with windchill. Yikes!

Yes I know it late...

But here is my Halloween post! Sawyer and Cooper started the day off at music class signing spooky songs and giving and receiving candy. So we started Trick or Treating by 10:30 in the morning. Cooper then went out to the farm with Grandma so I could help out at Sawyers preschool for the afternoon! They had lots of fun singing more spooky songs and even helping their teacher Ms. Nina carve a huge pumpkin! At the end of class they filled their tummy's with more yummy treats and their backpacks full of candy! Sawyer couldn't wait to participate in the trick or treating so I told her that if she wanted people to come trick or treating she'd have to give away her candy. She was elated! She gave away her candy like a champ! Then off to the farm for supper. I think it's becoming tradition that we have supper out there on Halloween. We went trick or treating at Grandma and Grandpas house and then off to Uncle Roy and Auntie Debbie's. We decided that since our buckets were full we'd head back into town for bed!

Sawyers' Spooky Sugar cookies for her classmates! 

I'm dreaming of...

I've been on a smoothie kick for a little bit now and I thought I'd share the one I made this morning with you!  It's super tropical so I'm dreaming of beaches and the sound of waves crashing (yes, jealous of my parents in Puerto Vallarta)! This smoothie is called Tropical Fruit Green Smoothie. It involved learning/ youtubing how to crack open a coconut and get the meat out! Enjoy!

First you need to hollow out one of the 3 indentations. 

Empty out the coconut water. 

Next I whacked the nut on the edge of my counter to start a crack. I rotated the nut to get a large enough crack that I could pull it apart! 

 The next step I didn't take pictures of because it was so frustrating. On youtube the guy must have been a pro or I had the wrong type of knife or something. What is supposed to happen is you cut an inch sliver out. From the center point to the edge. That part was okay. Then the meat is apparently supposed to fall out with a little coaxing of the knife. Mine needed more than slight coaxing. It needed some serious angry love and it still didn't come out that easy. Needless to say I took 3/4 of the meat out and then threw the rest away!

Coconut, coconut water, one mango!

My date for the day!

End result! A super vibrant green that says 'I'm on the beach' in every sort of a way! 

I ended up altering the recipe as we snuck a few mangoes a couple days ago. The kids LOVE mangoes! 

Here is the recipe. (I'll put my changes in brackets!)

Tropical Fruit Green Smoothie

Water of a coconut

Meat of a coconut (3/4)

2 cups of water (1 c.)

2 mangoes (1)
2 pitted dates (1)
4 c. frozen pineapple (2.5 c.)
2 frozen bananas (1)
Pinch of salt
Dash of cinnamon
4 c. fresh spinach

Blend all items together, then taste. If it is to your liking add ice! If not, add more dates to make it sweeter, or more water if it's too thick, for example. For a batch this big I added two trays of ice. ENJOY! It is paradise! This makes 64 ounces or 8 cups!