Your Favorite Passion

Hello everyone! Hope you all had a fabulous Christmas. I have quite a few photos to share so let's get started, shall we?

So, a couple of weeks ago we set out to get a couple of rabbits for the kids' 4-H club. We contacted a  couple through Craigslist who were selling a couple of rabbits and went one evening to look at and possibly buy them. It was dark and the female rabbit (the black one) was in a multilevel hutch where the bottom level was completely enclosed with wood. We decided to get the rabbits so the female was retrieved from her hutch and we took the male cage and all and went home. MoMo named her bunny Butterfinger and Big R named his Quasar. Here they are with their new bunnies.

So then the next evening after the kids were in bed I received an email saying that the couple we got the rabbits from found baby bunnies hidden down in the bottom level of the hutch and did we want to take the babies, too, or else sell the mama bunny back to them. We decided to take the babies and I went to pick them up and bring them to their mama. There were 8 baby bunnies, so we went from 2 bunnies to 10in a bit over 24 hours! The next morning the kids were surprised and excited to learn we had 8 additional baby bunnies.

We're not exactly sure how old the babies are. We think they were about a week old when we got them. Their eyes were still closed but they did have fur. So we think they're about 4 weeks old now and they have gotten so big! Their eyes are open and they are hopping all about and driving their poor mama bunny crazy. LOL MoMo has fallen in love with them but her favorite is this one which I named Inky.

It's just an overwhelming amount of cuteness! Here's a handful of baby bunny for you!

MoMo's dance team got back together earlier this month for one last gig this season. They had a couple of rehearsals and then traveled around to all the schools and performed their Thriller routine.

The beginning of January are tryouts for next year's team. And I've already been approached about sewing costumes!

Speaking of sewing, I'm pretty proud of myself and I have to share. I went shopping in the Big City for a dress to wear to Hubby's company Christmas Party but wasn't able to find anything. Seems like most everything was sleeveless and I really don't want that. I decided to try my hand at sewing one. I do sew quite a bit but it's mostly quilts and things. I've never made myself anything to wear. I saw this on Pinterest and really loved it so I decided to try it.The website finds a dress in a store and tells you what pattern to use to make it.

The only problem was I couldn't find the McCall's dress pattern here and I didn't have time to go look in The Big City. Instead I found a Simplicity pattern with a similar bodice (that's the top part). I was SHOCKED to find the fabric I needed at our local Wal Mart here! I used a scalloped lace overlay with the underdress made of poplin. I sewed the bodice using the pattern then just winged it for the rest by adding a wide waistband and a simple skirt. And I did want sleeves so I drafted sleeves to fit which was the most difficult part, I think. Not sewing them on but making up the pattern from scratch. So...I was really happy with how it turned out. I got a lot of compliments on it and people were amazed that I made it! I tried to get a good photo but it was hard as the lighting was bad. I tried to lighten up the photo a bit with Photoshop and got something somewhat better but not great. Anyway, here's me wearing the finished dress.

And then a photo of me and Hubby at the party. It was fun and the food was super yummy. First party we've actually attended.

As usual, we (the kids and I) made sugar cookies.

I was surprised and happy that even Big R joined in. He's a 12-year-old boy and his main passion in life right now is video games. It's hard to interest him in much else.

Our Christmas Eve was quite memorable. I was in the middle of making dinner (Pioneer Woman's Salisbury Steak Meatballs-so yummy!) when the power went out. We hoped it would come back on within a few minutes but it didn't so we settled in with our lanterns, candles, flashlights, and glow sticks.

Fortunately we have a gas stove here so I was able to finish dinner by candlelight.

Then we had a forced romantic dinner by candlelight.

After dinner the kids moaned about there being nothing to do with no power. No power = no tv, no internet, no xbox, and tablets only as long as the battery held out! We were about to just call it a night and go to bed early when the power came back on after about 2 1/2 hours.

So, then came the Christmas jammies.

Christmas jammies are a long standing tradition in my family. This year I decided to sew the pj bottoms using some flannel fabric that the kids picked out a long time ago. When I bought it (abut 1 1/2 years ago!) I fully intended to make the pj bottoms then. Only I didn't. So, I figured I could go ahead and finally use it. I used an existing pair of Big R's pj bottoms to make a template for the new ones. Here's a close up of the flannel print. Snakes! I always knew he was Slytherin!

The oopsie came when I did MoMo's. She usually prefers to wear nighties so I didn't have an existing pair to use for a template. And she prefers to wear skinny jeans so when I used those as a template I knew I'd have to add some extra width to make a looser pj bottom. When I got them stitched up, though, I was worried that they were too small. I did want them to be a surprise (well, I think they've finally caught on about the Christmas jammies thing LOL) as far as the flannel prints they had picked out so long ago but I decided to have MoMo try hers on. That was a good thing as they WERE too small! Yikes. Unfortunately, there wasn't any way to enlarge the pj bottoms I'd made and no more of that flannel print to make new ones.:(  But I did have some flannel in my stash that I could use. So I made a second pair that actually fit this time.

As you may know, my kids have never been early risers. Even on Christmas morning. I wasn't eager to be up early on Christmas morning myself but for some reason I was up before 9am and not able to sleep anymore. I went out and fed and watered all our animals and then was sort of sitting around trying to figure out what to do with myself until the kids got up. And the Hubby.

My kids still sleeping at 9:30am Christmas morning. I decided they needed to get up so we could get on with things so I woke them up. I have a couple videos I took. You can watch them here on Flickr: Christmas Morning Video #1   and  Christmas Morning Video #2

And here are a few more Christmas morning photos...

The cat went sort of bonkers and started trying to eat the plastic glittered holly, then the tree and such.

She had some sort of weird obsession with the tree. She liked to sit under it so when we put presents underneath and she could no longer sit under it she was upset. As soon as the presents were cleared out she promptly went to sit under it.

After the gifts were opened we had our traditional ebleskiver breakfast. Big R scarfed down a dozen ebleskiver by himself! Surprisingly I was able to find my ebleskiver pan. Usually I end up looking all over the place for it. So that was kind of a miracle. Later, my darling daughter mixed up her first pumpkin pie! I helped out with the crust but she mixed up the filling by herself and it turned out delicious!

She has been helping out in the kitchen a lot and wanting to learn how to cook. She's always helped out, even when she was little, but now she's more interested in doing more on her own. She wanted to do the 4-H cooking club this year but those meetings are at the same exact time her dance practices are held so she had to choose one or the other. She chose dance, which I think was a good choice since I can teach her to cook but I surely can't teach her to dance!

She also cut up the cheese into cute little cubes!

 I really enjoyed having her in the kitchen with me. I look forward to spending more time with her there.


Well, that's what's been going on here. I can hardly believe today is the very last day of 2014. The year seemed to fly by so quickly! But I hope 2015 will be just as great for us and for you as well! Happy New Year!