pretty day.....

.....to shew the kids outside so I can be creative in the kitchen!  actually they did help a little.  aren't these the cutest?   they are upside down gingerbread men.  whoever came up w/ this brilliant idea is a genius!   I saw it online and knew I wanted to give it a try.  We'll take them to our Christmas dinner tomorrow.

Merry Christmas

2 funny videos from Christmas, mom posted the first one from her camera. thank you.  I didn't know Ben knew how to hula hoop.  He has his own style! 

 

interesting things of late...

when we left the house this morning our hill was still snow covered.  came home tonight and it's bare, snow is gone!  we sure did a lot of sledding the past couple weeks.  Rod got the toboggan from his old home growing up and we all fit on it and went rather fast!  We found bigger hills nearby to toboggan on.

we are excited to see our greenhouse finally being put together!  It was a long and complicated mess but rod found a source to install it.  it's not done yet, but coming together nicely so far.

never too cold for weeds to grow

Me and Clay visited my grandparents earlier this week.  Clay behaved himself pretty good!  I felt like that was noteworthy.  Grandma and Grandpa are both 92.  (and mom, wasn't it about 92 degrees in there?!)

We had our 2nd annual Christmas carol sing/campfire last night.  The weather was so mild.  The kids went sledding on the hill for hours afterwards.  We had significantly less people this year, think we'll make it earlier in the season next year. 

Today was our first family Christmas gathering, it was a great time.  But the boys are exhausted due to lack of sleep from all the activities.  Add excess sugar and playing outside without enough clothing on, and it'll be a Christmas miracle if they don't get sick!  I do pray that they don't, but I love the memories being made.  Have a blessed Christmas everyone. 

white stuff

I'm thankful I was only sick for one day last Thurs.  I was on the couch the entire day.  and Clay napped for 2.5 hours!  which he hasn't done in over 2 years so I thank God for that unexpected blessing!  In the evening we watched Carrie Underwood Sound of Music.  Friday morning I felt much better.

Our backyard has been sledding city the past few days.  It's not long or real steep but it works for them, and they customize it with jumps and ramps to keep themselves entertained.  Now that it turned icy it moves pretty fast. 

 

 

My way of holding onto summer.  Spinach, lettuce, and onions still thriving under the cold frame. 

sick day

Today, and hopefully only today, is a sick day for mommy.  I cancelled plans and sent myself to the couch.  if not for Clay's clever antics, I might almost enjoy this time of pausing and giving myself a break amongst the busy-ness. 
I won't give details, but it's the stomach kind of sick!  So glad it's something I don't deal with too often. 

Trail Cam & hunting

Rod and the boys have been fox hunting in the evenings, he downloaded chicken squawks on his phone to lure them in and everything.  no luck yet though. 

He decided to put up a trail cam on our property, it's pretty fun to see what all is out there at night when we are sleeping!  We only had this out for a few days and already have some action.  No fox sightings, but some other critters came out. 
Possum:

showing off the tail:

Skunk:

A big guy, i'd like to stay out of his way:

And during the day we have blue jays:

Also tons and tons of cats!  We set food out, so of course they make their appearance quite often. 

It even captured Ben riding bike!

I'm impressed by the quality of pictures it takes.  And you can see at the bottom the date and time the picture was taken.  It's some good entertainment for us who are easily amused. 

Tonight Clay tells me to come to the door out back.  Here's what he saw!

Well we can't have him eating all our cat food, so the whole family goes out and hunts the critter.  It's tough to get him to move away from the house when he's playing dead!  I've never been so up close and personal with a possum before.  What a circus that was, but we got him. 

Brad:

dead possum:

The boys loved this, I think I know what they will be writing about in their journals at school tomorrow.