Rustand Family Christmas

12-17

We celebrated our family Christmas a week early due to our Minnesota travel plans. The kids were so very excited! We went to church and Sunday school, had lunch, and then opened gifts in the afternoon. Charlie played a song on the piano, too. It was super cute! 

 LOVE love LOOOVVVEE these kids!!

 Hattie was being so funny, acting like she was shy and cozy-ing up to her siblings but giving a sly little smile. It was pretty adorable. 

 Charlie played the best rendition of Jingle Bells I have ever heard! :) 

 This year, Matt and I took Charlie and Alanna out each by themselves to pick out something for their siblings at Dollar Tree. They spent their own money and really thought about what they wanted to buy each sibling. I shopped with Alanna and I was stunned at how thoughtful she was when she picked out her items! She got Molly a chapstick (fitting, since Molly has eaten every.single.one of Alanna's chapsticks), Hattie a board book since she loves to read, and a Rubik's cube for Charlie (which he loves still in February!). Nice shopping, Alanna! Charlie bought Hattie a stuffed star that plays Twinkle Twinkle Little Star (which she sleeps with every night now and calls it her "Twinkle Star" and sings the song), a hula-hoop for Molly, and a reader book for Alanna (that he actually spent his Awana shares on at the Awana store - great idea, Mom! wink wink!). I think this was a MUCH better option for addressing the sibling gifts than sending money for the kids to spend at the Santa's workshop village fundraiser thing at school. I want to be the one to see my child think through and pick out gifts for someone! Plus they had some buy in because they spent their own money. It's a hard thing to teach - giving gifts because we want to not because we want something in return. Not that the kids need more trinkets, but the point of it all is to practice being generous and thoughtful!

 A whole chapstick all to herself earned Alanna a big hug! *Let it be known that said chapstick was totally and completely eaten within two days after opening it. 

 Charlie was so busy in his class making crafty gifts for parents! He made three things and wrapped them himself. Part of the gift was the fun wrapping paper he decorated! I opened a snowman made out of a tube sock, Matt opened an ornament or fridge magnet, and together we opened a reindeer made out of a wire hanger and pantyhose. I'm loving the made-in-school Christmas crafts! So cute!

 A deck of cards with his picture on them - great for playing Garbage!

 Blue leg sleeves for our basketball-loving boy. 

 Alanna got her own deck of cards, too, with a cute pic of her and Daddy on the front. 

 A fold-out sofa bed for Molly to go with her new Walmart brand American Girl doll!

 Hattie got new undies and tried them on. Your day will come, undies! 

 A new game for the tablet

 A mega-pack of reader books

 I sewed Hattie a new blanket and she flopped right down on it after she opened it. Fleece owls with a pink flannel back. So cozy!

 Hattie was tearing off tiny pieces of wrapping paper on this gift (an bouncy ride-on toy called Mr. Hankypants!). 

 Mr. Hankypants!!!

 A rainbow set of mini Barbie dolls

 New Under Armour shoes

 Matt got some sweet Colorado socks and a new Jewish bread book. Babka! Challah! Oh my!

 Charlie got a new game called Kanoodle that involves creating different configurations of different shaped pieces. He was addicted as soon as he opened it. It's like his marble maze puzzle ball from a few years ago - so crazy addicting!

 Molly and her new doll. The $15 clearance doll even has red hair like Molly! And loves to bake! It's a fabulous match!

 A Lego kit for Alanna

Kinder Gingerbread Houses

12-13

Matt went into Alanna's kindergarten class to help with their gingerbread houses (I had a hair appointment and couldn't go!). He spent an hour at school helping Alanna and two other kiddos build these beautiful houses! Mrs. Jarvis adds raw eggs to the frosting to give it a hardening effect - and she was very adamant that the kids know NOT to eat the frosting! Alanna talked about that part for two days prior to the actual gingerbread house making. Doesn't it look so great? It's a fancy Chinet paper plate turned upside down with a graham cracker house, a sugar cone tree, and two gingerbread cookies as the people. I love her pretzel pattern around the whole thing. It was so much fun to see all of the houses that the kids made as they came out of school the next day (after letting the frosting set overnight)! So creative! I know there were 13-15 parents who came to help out so I'm positive that everyone had adequate parent/student attention. 

Matt snapped these pictures while he was there. I think the boy's name is Connor, and then it's Macy and Alanna. It was a small little group - ideal for such a hands-on activity. 

A few pictures of Alanna and her gingerbread house when she brought it home. It is adorable!

Matt's First Elk!!

12-15

Matt shot his first elk!! WAHOO!!! He actually shot it on the night of the 14th but he couldn't take any pictures because his phone battery died. Shucks! No documentation of how large the cow actually was! I'll have him share his story of the hunt. He tells a great hunting story! 

Yep, it turns out an elk will in fact fit in the back of a Ford Explorer if you gut it, cut it, and hoist it in. Done! 

I jumped out to help Matt the night after we celebrated our family Christmas. Many hands make light work so we cut meat together. A marriage that processes elk together, STAYS together!! :) 

Matt spent most of Friday (12/15) cutting meat off the bones and packing it into two coolers. A huge elk and all the meat fit into two coolers! So strange! What was probably a 600 pound animal now sits wrapped up in 75ish pounds of ground burger, a dozen packages of backstrap, a dozen roasts, and a package of steaks. All in total was probably 115 pounds of meat off the elk. It was a lot but yet not a lot, if that makes sense. Anyway, it's tucked in our freezer and we will be happily eating elk for a good long while!! Congrats, Babe, on your first elk!