Year in Review

Lots of people have started to do a year in review and I thought hey, I can do that too! Its a great way to look back and see what we accomplished! So here it goes:

January! Lots of time spent in the kitchen trying new recipes!

February! I celebrated Valentines Day with the cutest dates EVER!

March! We tried many more new foods and desserts in March! 

Sawyer helped Daddy with the chores in Daddys old coveralls!

Sawyers first tea party with Daddy!

We had a huge snow storm hit around March 20! Morgan was stranded at the farm for 3 days!

April! More new recipes (I am noticing a theme throughout the blog), a first haircut, homemade paint and Spring showed up! 

May! Chicks, horse rides, dance recital, end of seeding and a cousin trip to Calgary! 

A great visit with great friends during our trip to Calgary!

 June! A 3rd birthday and a trip to Manitoba!

July! Trip to Alaska sans kids! 

August! Another trip to Manitoba!

September! Sawyer's first day of Preschool, Vermilion Fair, Dora, another Zoo!

October! Another trip back to Manitoba! Wren's first birthday and Thanksgiving! Dramatic haircuts! 

November! Cooper turns 2! Celebrated Morgan turning 30! Family trip, Grandparents come for a visit, bringing new flooring! 

December! Christmas concerts, Christmas parties, trip to Manitoba and of course Santa! 

This year we had lots of fun with many exciting trips for both the kids and Morgan and I. I drove out to Manitoba 4 times without Morgan totaling more than 9000 km driven by myself! I think I might be nuts when I look at it in kilometers! 4 times seems way more sane! Morgan and I were able to have 14 days to rejuvenate and strengthen our love for each other! 

What a great year! Blessings for all of you this next year may you be richly blessed in all of your endeavors! 

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!