Adventures in Frisco

The Wood's just got back from a super fun little mountain getaway yesterday! I am telling you, there is just something about the hills that make me calm. Even with traffic and crowds looking at those snow covered mountains is plain peaceful!

A few months ago one of my girls friends said we should get our families together and go to this snow sculpture festival that they have every year in Breckenridge. I thought this was a fabulous idea, as January is such a dreary month, it would be nice to have something to look forward to! 

On Friday, our three little families took off and headed to the mountains for a little fun! I am not gonna lie, it was crazy and chaotic with 6 kids under 10  and 7 more adults in one tiny little house, but there was never a dull moment!

This is the view right out the windows, SO crazy, pretty right?!?

We got in on Friday in the late afternoon, just in time to watch the temperature drop from 35 to 1. 1 degree!!! BRRR! So after a quick trip to the store we made dinner and settled in for the night. I had grand plans to hit the Outlet shops that are at the bottom of the mountain, but I just couldn't bring myself to brave the 1 degree weather for sweet bargains. 

After all of our friends and there kiddos showed up, the crazy began! I am glad our offspring are sweet and funny, but whoa, are they noisy! Plus, at the condo, it is all open and lofted so you can hear literally every thing that happens!

After a night of playing and jumping on beds and throwing toys over the railing, they finally settled down for the night. Morning came way too quick and it was a mad dash to get everyone ready and out the door for tubing! 

I had never been tubing before, so I got to check that off the bucket list. I was just thankful that no one wanted to ski. I may have died a little inside after the skiing debacle of 2011.

We got all bundled up and headed to Frisco Adventure Park. This super awesome little place tucked away in the mountains, that has so much cool stuff to do! We had been here once before to go on a Christmas sleigh ride. I had NO idea they had tubing too!

After we signed our lives away it was time to go careening down the mountain!

This boy and his snow eating...His little face was red and raw before we went down one run!

Callie, the old pro showed us all about it!

After we watched the safety video, I was a little bit nervous because they said that you couldn't have a child in your lap for fear of them flying off. I was wondering how this was going to play out with Mr. in his own tube...

Turns out it was pretty easy and magical! Kellen could sit snug down in the actual tube and you could tie all of the tubes together to go down. With all four of us, we flew down the mountain! It's like sledding times a thousand! It was totally worth it to hear my loves squeal with delight as we whipped down the mountain!

I sure am thankful that I can drag my fella all over and he just goes with it!

At the end of our session these critters were tired!

annd these mamas were tired too! PS. why do I look like a ghost? I need a tan stat!

After our tubing adventure we had the super bright idea that we would drive into Breck and eat lunch and then head to the snow sculptures. Sadly after an hour and a half of driving all over the town, we COULD NOT find one single parking space, let alone three for all of the families. Bummer. It was so crazy crowded, thanks skiers and out of staters taking up all the parking spots...

So we abandoned our whole reason for coming to the mountains, but everyone was pretty whipped and not funny enough not really disappointed in just grabbing some lunch and heading back to our warm and cozy condo. 

The rest of the trip, we did just that, hang out! It was oh so nice to get away and relax with friends in a super pretty place! I mean lets be real, cozy fire? Check! Fun friends? Check! I love a good mountain adventure!

What I Wore Wednesday

What a week it has been, y'all! You know that pretty awesome feeling like you have gotten your life together... yeah, it's been like that! I have finally worked out a schedule for grading and planning at school, so that's cool! Callie and I have started running again after work, when the weather is above 30, yay for getting fit! We are almost done re-doing Callie and Kellen's rooms more about that later.

It's getting to be that time of year when I am sick of my winter clothes, so almost time for a thrifty trip! Look at me planning ahead...

On to the outfits...

I retired my old sad aztec sweater from Amazon when I found this awesomeness at Target, on clearance and in my size! Score! I  also got these super cute dark wash jeans on sale at the Targ. I love it when a plan comes together!

Cardigan: Target

Tee: Old Navy

Jeans: Target

Boots: Target

Brrrr! A super cold Saturday outfit!

Sweater: #whoawhatwalmart

Leggings: Norstroms

Boots: Target

Necklace: 11th Ave

I love this dress, but when you wash it, it gets SO wrinkly and there is no way to iron it out! That sure did not stop from wearing it 3 times in the past 2 weeks though...

Dress: 11th ave.

Necklace: Homemade

Leggings: Nordstroms

Booties: Target

I love this little tunic top! It was perfecto for teaching in last week!

Top: Christmas gift!

Leggings: Christmas gift!

Boots: Kohls

Necklace: 11th ave

Last week Brien and I had the WHOLE weekend to ourselves! Brien's parents took the kiddos and we had not one, but two days to sleep in and hang out with each other. I love our kiddos, but it is just so nice to focus on my husband and get stuff done without some melting down, whining or falling asleep at the most inconvenient time!

I wore this for a day of running errands and hanging with my fella'!

Top: 11th ave

Leggings: Gift from my mama

Tennis shoes: Gift from Brien

Scarf: 11th ave

I got so many compliments on these crazy leggings and they are practically pajamas. What will we ever do if leggings go out of style??!!??

Sweater: Target

Tank: Christmas gift

Leggings: 11th ave.

Boots: Target

That's all for this week! Happy Wednesday!

Bubble Art!

On Monday, we had off from school for MLK and it was so snowy and cold, so that worked out well! It was pretty glorious. I finished a whole book, cleaned the kitchen and we did crafts all in out PJs. Not too shabby, I think.

My sister in law posted this awhile idea awhile back and we finally had some time to sit down and do it! This ones for you Jenny!
                                         

Cute little bubble art!

For this super easy craft you need:

Dish soap

Cups or bowls

Paint

Straws

All that's missing is cardstock!

First squirt the paint in the cup. Next add a squirt of dish soap. Last fill the cup with water. 

Not a lot of measuring happened with this we just poured it in adjusted as necessary. We ended up adding in a lot more pain especially with the lighter coral and turquoise color and titch more dish soap. When the mixture was too watery the bubbles were too small to make an impression on the paper.

Next give it a stir with the straw. Then start blowing bubbles!

We realized our cups were too small to get those oh, so, bubbly bubbles. So we poured our paint mixture into larger bowls and that seemed to do the trick!

Have your paper ready while you are blowing the bubbles and then once they get big and fluffy, press the paper down over the top of the bowl. That's it!

They came out SO super cute! A side note--Dark colors worked much better as they showed up. Another side note--DO NOT suck up with the straw, gross.

Clean up was also crazy easy as the mixture was mostly soap anyway!

Such a fun idea! Thanks Aunt Jenn!

Light colors came out pretty, but were more subtle than the navy blue!

I am not sure what we are going to do with them yet. Callie originally wanted to frame them and put them in her room, but her walls are filling up super fast!

I am thinking hallway art...

Homemade hot cocoa love it or leave it??

This weekend, when I finally had a second to breathe, Callie suggested we make some hot cocoa. That sounded marvelous, cocoa, comfy clothes and watching Netflix with my girl!

Yeah... I could have made that look more appetizing and pretty, in hindsight....

I have had this recipe for homemade hot cocoa on my pinterest forever and one of my girl friends swears by it, so we decided to whip up a batch....
Here is what you need...
powdered milk
coffee creamer
powdered sugar
powdered baking cocoa

That's all! No creepy ingredients just good old easy things...

This is for a huge bulk, batch that I am sure you could measure out into jars or something adorable and give as presents.

So you mix together:

10 cups of powdered milk

1 3/4 cups of coffee creamer

4 cups of powdered sugar

1 3/4 cup of baking cocoa

Everything was going great, I had all my ingredients out and then dun, DUN, DUN...

 I opened the powdered milk and there were weird little packets of the powdered stuff. Hmm?? So I measure it out and it only was 3 cups. What?? What was I supposed to do??

Now I am not the greatest with math, but I thought, "Well I'll just cut the other ingredients down to match." Yeah, that was where everything went wrong!

I decided to go with like 3/4 cup of creamer, 3 cups of powdered sugar and 1 cup of cocoa. That sounds about right, right? Wrong.

So I went ahead and mixed up all the things using my estimated measurements and we gave it a try.

                                            Callie swears it was deliciouso. Me, not so much!

It was not so creamy, a little watery and the chocolate was undetectable....

You need a BIG bowl for this one!

I went back and added another 1/2 cup of cocoa and another cup of powdered sugar and it was manageable, but not amazing.

I think I will try, try again using the correct measurements and be sure to sift everything (it was a little lumpy) The cost for all of the ingredients was about $8 and a container of store bought mix is like 6, but we have waaaaayyy more than the containers, so it would probably be a money saver, if you consume lots of cocoa!

So the jury is still out on this one. For now, I leave it to the experts over at Swiss Miss to make my cocoa!

What I wore Wednesday

This week has been a fun transition getting back into the swing of school after break! Last week we came back, sorta got some work done, had a snow day, had a Friday and then had a weekend. It has been a rough start for me and my kiddos so far! I will be ever so happy if we could fast forward to spring! At least the weather is nice!

I need to clean some pictures off my phone, mostly for data purposes, you know, here goes... It was a grey, red and black kind of December!

Sweater: Old Navy

Vest: 11th ave.

Jeans: Old Navy

Boots: Target

Tunic: 11th ave.

Necklace: Jane

Leggings: Nordstrom's

Boots: Target

Why is there a Christmas tree?? Oh yeah, I just took it down... I am slacking this New Year!

Tunic: Old Navy

Leggings: Jane

Boots: Target

There is that darn tree again....

Top: Target

Lacy tank: 11th Ave.

Jeans: Old Navy

Scarf: gifted

Last time with the tree, I promise, it's gone!

Top: ??, thirfted

Vest: Target

Jeans: Old Navy

Boots: Target

My Christmas #2 look!

Top: Gifted from Callie's grandma

leggings: Nordstrom's

Boots: Target

Necklace: Walmarto

My Church on Christmas day look!
Dress: Old Navy

Boots: Target

Whew the phone is all cleaned up and caught up! That feels better, now I can fill it back up with pictures of important things, like me kids being silly! Happy Wednesday!

Christmas X3

This year the Wood's were able to partake in not one, not two, but three super fun Christmas celebrations with each of our families! It was a blast, like always, just times 3!

Christmas #1 happened in the far away land of east Texas! The festivities began the day before Christmas eve, we had to get everything together for the big party, of course. After all that hard work we all went to the nearest town, Marshall.
Marshall is one of those sweet, little towns that gets all decked out and does the whole shebang for the Holidays!I would liken it to Stars Hallow from the Gilmore Girls, just a little more country!

Kellen loved Santa SO much! Which was quite the transformation from last year, when he wouldn't touch him with a 10 foot pole. But now that he knows where the presents come from, he was all about making friends!

After Santa, it was on to face painting!

Penguin for the boy!

Snowflakes to match her shirt!

The Christmas train was a blast, super cheesy, but the littles loved it!

Then it was on to pictures at the courthouse, the carousel and shopping.

You really get the whole Christmas experience in
Every other year the Sharp family used to gather at the family house that was built in 1912, but a few years ago it was sold and the house on the River was built, so now everyone squeezes into it to share Christmas together!

There was over fifty people crammed inside and out for a great time! We feasted, we white elephanted, we played in the woods (shocking I know)

That night Brien and I carried out our frantic last minute wrapping ritual and Christmas morning was here! Santa and Meme and Daddy Ty were very good to us!

Callie got her coveted Ipod. Kellen cleaned up with his request of a dinosaur, play dough and a Lion Guard Blanket. Brien finally got his fancy Traeger smoker and the mister did good and I got some super cute new running shoes!

After presents, it was a mad dash to get ready and head to church. Like I am talking we fed the kids fudge for breakfast, threw them in some church clothes and ran out the door.

After church we had the whole day to play with our new toys, hike in the woods and finally feel like we were on vacation. Hurray for relaxing!

We had to break in all of our new board games! Googley Eyes was a hoot, where you have to draw crazy pictures with terrible glasses! And if you have not played "Speak Out", run, do not walk to the store and get it! You will not think twice about looking ridiculous and drooling all over yourself while trying to say absurd phrases!

Texas Christmas, you did not disappoint!

Christmas #2--Wood Christmas!

On New Years Eve, we headed north to Brien's parents to celebrate with our Wood family! We had a blast playing and eating!

Love this boy and his sweet smile, and then there's my kid. Pouting.

Then it was outside for some topless play time....

These cuties are getting too big!

Brien's mom always puts together a super creative and fun scavenger hunt with riddles to help them get from one present to the next. They always have a blast...

Meanwhile, the adults tried all day unsuccessfully to complete a minnie mouse puzzle. I know what you are thinking...but puzzles are cool. Not if it takes a bunch of well educated grown ups all day and it's still not done!

Grandma got in some snuggle time!

Then it was back to more presents! 

Kellen and Christian were so stinkin cute in their lion feet slippers!

After presents and another amazing feast, we started the long wait until New Year's eve and the ball dropping! 4 of the 5 children made it and 5 of the 7 adults made it to ringing in the new year! Not to shabby.

The kiddos had a blast banging pots and pans and making a raucous!

The next morning the children were SO hard to get going. I mean, it was hard for me to get going! I can't imagine how their little bodies even made it!

So New Years = Super Fun!

After a quick a breakfast it was back on the road home for Christmas #3!

Since we were not home at Christmas we decided to have Wathen Christmas at our house on New Year's day!
It was another super fun day eating, playing and of course more presents! At one point Kellen said, "I am tried of presents." Say what, little boy?? He sure was not tired when he tore into those super awesome gifts!

Playing guns never gets old!

She loooovvvveeeddd her furry bean bag chair!

These two parents of mine!I sure do love them!

It was another amazing Christmas with the Fam! It's tough to be away from your people during the holidays, but it's nice to know we can always throw something together and everyone will make time to be there, ready to have fun! We are so blessed to have not one, not two, but three amazing families to share our lives with and that is pretty darn great!