Snow, snow, GO AWAY!!!

This is our minivan. I haven't driven it all winter. I really don't like driving in the snow. That may or may not have to do with the fact that I almost drove me and my sisters off a seemingly large cliff when the roads were covered in snow up at Woods Lake. I still have nightmares.



This is the view from the girl's bedroom upstairs. This is looking down right where my garden will be. This week we had one good day where the snow started melting. And then it snowed again. And the wind blew really hard. And it's cold. That's all.

A Miracle of Modern Dentistry

We had a little trauma happen here on Monday night. Emery "accidentally" pushed Garrison down a few stairs and he landed on his face. There was a lot of screaming, no blood, but a very freaked out Mom. After making a lot of calls and consulting the internet, we were able to take him to a dentist early the next morning and his teeth are now as good as new.



Look at the "after" picture below- You can't even tell that they were chipped. Even close-up, it's hard to tell. He's a very lucky boy.

It's Coming Along!

You may wonder why Garrison is wearing a foil hat...
go ahead and just keep wondering.



This is a baby carrier that I made for Kara yesterday. I had to test it out...and Aila loved it. Not quite sure what Terra is thinking about it. I loved that it was comfortable to put her on my back as well as on the front.


This the flooring in Garrison's room. I put down Aspen tongue and groove boards and then put a clear finish on top. I love how it turned out and I think we'll eventually get around to putting this in as our floor in the entire upstairs part of the house.
And this is what I am most proud of lately. I think the siding looks so great...so finished. I still need to put the trim around the windows. The greenhouse is almost completely done, just in time to start some early plants for the garden this year.

Happy Anniversary!

Before The month is over...

It's been a wonderful nine years. Life is so good, and I am so happy. I hope to have many more wonderful years full of adventure, craziness and joy with my best friend by my side.

Once upon a time...

Once upon a time a goose drank wine,
a monkey chewed tobacco on a street car line,
the street car line broke,
the monkey choked,
and they all went to heaven on a billy goat.


This morning Joseph said, "Sing me a song." And I started belting out that sing-song riddle thing. Where did it come from, and how do I know it? I have no idea. Guessing from some childhood weird thing. Anybody know?



This is the bathroom floor upstairs that took me months to finish. Don't have a clue why it took me so long. We used all "found" tile...meaning it took me quite a while to collect it from yard sales...thrift stores, etc. This way it was cheaper for me to use nice tile.


This is the beginning of our siding outside. I started on the back of the house so I could mess up without anyone knowing. I love how it's looking. It's Cedar...I think it's very rustic looking...just what I wanted. I almost have the Front of the house covered, and half of the east side...but I can't do much more because the scaffolding is too slippery and it's just too scary.


And this is the best picture of our dearly departed goat. I think we somehow poisoned him with all the weird produce we've been feeding the animals. The pigs and chickens are fine. We had our first large animal butcher with the goat and saved the meat for the cats, since we didn't want to eat an animal that we didn't know the reason for death. We will never raise goats for meat. NEVER.

Kids are so cute.

Before I forget...I wanted to write down a few of the things my kiddos say that are cute...wrong, but cute. For example, when we get to the grocery store and there is an empty parking space close to the entrance, they say..."Look the handy captain space is empty!" And when they want to throw a frisbee...it's really a "crispy". C'mon, let's go play crispy. And Terra always calls an umbrella a "Dinderella". Cute!

So, we did NOT celebrate Halloween. We have every year until now...but I just do not like the holiday. I mean, why go out into the cold, dressed in creepy costumes, just to collect sugar from our neighbors? Then, while everyone is feeling screamy, I have to somehow convince the kids that they really don't want that candy...uhhh...not a good idea. So this year, I never even mentioned it, and no one knew the difference, until we had a trick-or-treater come to our house. That kind of spoiled it...but then I told the kids about the Harvest Festival that we would be attending the next weekend and they were allright with not getting any candy. At the festival we made applesauce, apple cider, some soft pretzels, painted pumpkins, listened to stories being told, and had some homemade butter on cornbread. Yay!! No candy at all this year. I think we'll make that a tradition.


Here's Garrison and Aila after a good night's sleep, just having fun with each other. They really get along well. She turned 2 and he turned 8 this last month. So now all the kids are even...2, 4, 6, and 8.



This was Garrison's Birthday. We went down the road to Sand Creek Ponds. It was really beautiful with the changing leaves.



This is just a picture of some baked oatmeal I was making, but I was amazed at the difference between the 2 store bought eggs and our last 2 eggs from our own chickens. Can you guess which is which?



And this is my 4 year old Terra really concentrating on her painting.



And this is the very last picture I have of when our garden was green this year. Now it is covered in snow.

Finally...sort of.

No pictures...I am having camera problems. Mostly it's that my camera is never where I want it to be when I want to take a picture...and partly because my rechargeable batteries are getting to have a very short lifespan.

But anyway...thought I would just update that we did finally pass our inspections and got to move into our house. We got our official Certificate of Occupancy, which I really thought would be an actual certificate that I could frame and put a back light on or something. But no, nothing... Just a pat on the back...wait, no...didn't get that either. I am feeling pretty proud that we actually pulled it off. Now I plan to spend whatever good weather we have left (by "good" I mean not horrible) to finish up the siding and the attached greenhouse. After that I get to focus on the finish work inside like mudding and texturing drywall, tilework, trim, painting, etc. Hopefully I will have that all done before spring comes and I want to be outside all the time. (Uh, oh...I am already looking forward to that.)

As much as I hate winter, I think I have decided that I DO like the changing of the seasons and that I AM looking forward to a more restful winter. I plan on reading, catching up on schoolwork with the kids, actually getting to play my cello and maybe my guitar...oh, and I guess all the finish work on the house. Maybe it won't be restful after all.