The End of January You Say

Ummm, how could it already be the end of the month?  Whew, time flies. Busy as usual with school and church and family and friends.  Not so much with the Handy Man as he is still working an opposite shift that was supposed to have lasted two months. Here we are at the end of month three and we're looking at many more.
I have never been great at entertaining myself. Well, that isn't entirely true. I have lots of things I'm interested in, but it is just a comfort for me to have someone else around. Even if the someone is watching TV or working in the yard or garage.  I blame it on being the sixth of seven children.
I'm trying to stay busy. I'm doing a book study at church and still working on building community in this new church.
In a happy God- incident, a friend who moved  has been in town to work on a house she's getting ready to sell. She's stayed over a few nights this month. Such fun.
I somehow hurt my leg over Christmas and while I have a much greater range of motion than in the first days, I just can't handle being on it long. I walked an easy trail for Holy Hikes two weeks ago-flat, half  mile, and paid for it.  I hate so much not being able to do my walk after school, so Ms. Glitzy and I have been doing some yoga.  I had it evaluated yesterday and the doc says he thinks it will heal, but I need some physical therapy.
My wee playdaters have  missed being out and feeding the chickens, but without my helpmate, with a bum leg and a hateful rooster with "chicken dumpling" written on his back side, ahem, I can't chase them.  Still, we've managed to have some fun these last weeks.
I realized I had not had a tea party in some time.   There is much to be learned during a tea party.  How to stop when you get to the top.

 How to grasp sugar cubes and get them to your cup.

 Ahh, how to drink from a regular cup.  So many children now have never learned to drink from a cup because every cup they've ever touched has a lid.  We practiced sipping on this evening, and they are getting it.

 We took our paper white bulbs out of the marbles and questioned why one was so big and tall, while the other two were so short.  We discovered that the big plant had a great root system, while the other two had almost no roots.

 One night we made edible snow flakes.  We cut tortillas into snowflakes, rubbed them with butter, then sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar to bake.  Yum.

 Another night a store bought donut was the treat. Still puts a sparkle in this boy's eye.

 During our geometry unit in fifth grade, we created some faux stained glass. I thought with some help, my littles could handle it.  They did a great job.  We discussed  "tri" and "qua".

 Seldom do I use the computer or tv with my poopies, but they weren't sure about stained glass, so we made a trip to the computer to look at some lovely stained glass art.
Mr. Smiley trotted out of the playroom with this basket on him arm informing us that, " I'm going to the Farmer's Market to get some "begables."  So cute.

I don't wonder that when my Wayside Posey Sassy Pants gets where she's going that her caregiver might be curious about her vocabulary.  I was pouring store bought milk over her cereal and she looked at it and said, "Aw you out of cow's milk?"  Then while pushing her grocery cart she said, " I'm going to the buying club."  She loves kefir and will ask if something is a supplement.

Giddy-Up and I worked on this new project, which is too hard for me.

 I can't remember what this string was for, but my little man decided it was ear phones.

 Sassy Pants is making a table .

 Very serious about coloring.

 I love little games like this this moon balance game. It is fairly easy, but to ever get all the pieces on requires some strategy .

This is a work weekend.  Last night was Family Fun Night at school with Steve the Scientist.  Missy Bugg and Giddy-up were the only takers.  I tell you, those two are a joy to take anywhere. They get along good together and love anything going.  Bugg came back home with me for awhile and we enjoyed looking at new book Gardener E. gifted her with.
I always ask about school and my heart always breaks anew at the conversation.  No, not reading any good chapter books, no, not doing much science or social studies, no, can't go out if the temp is under fifty degrees.  I'm reminded how grateful I am to be able to offer them so many experiences.
Thank you Lord for this old farm house, a creek, some chickens.
Sunday will find me in the classroom for Open House.  On Tuesday, I'll take my group to knit with the group where Mom lives.  And poof, it will be February.
Like sands through the hour glass, so are the days of my life.

The New Year Experience-

According to Missy Bugg and Bean to some Degree

At home today, being our first snow day.  I know Bean and Bugg are home too and they like to see past experiences as they appear here, so I'll get these million pictures up.
It was warm enough for a bonfire, so that is where we spent most of our evening. Nothing delights Bean more than hearing old family ghost tales and talk of terrifying things. Missy Bugg is not a fan. Alas, my camera battery was dead.  Later, when the recharging was done, Bugg said we needed to make up for no fire pictures and proceeded to take a picture of nearly everything in the house that would hold still and some that wouldn't.
I had a party bag of stuff and Oma sent more, so she decked herself out early on.

 Oh, my nearly teenager, who agreed to hold a celebratory hat.

 And Mr. Scout who was a prancy mess, finally decided to settle as the New Year drew near..

 Happy New Year! She still isn't crazy about that sparkling juice.

 She showed me this picture to inform me of Bean's poor photography skills, but I liked it.

 She has a fascination with taking pictures inside of bags.

 So we all piled up together for a long Winter's nap.  Then it was time for our traditional blessing gems.

 Here we are, inside another bag.

 Loom knitting.

 The New Year's Day chore of taking down the tree.

 And, the must haves to kick 2017 off in the right direction, black-eyed peas and cabbage.  She ate exactly one pea and one tiny piece of cabbage. Bean enjoyed his New Year Dinner.

Bugg's Mama is going to need to school that girl in how to take as flattering as possible pictures of her Gramerly. While she certainly didn't leave me out, ahem, none of them will appear here.

December Picture Marathon

Once I get so far behind, I put off doing this at all.  I do want to get Christmas on here and have a few minutes before Bean and Bugg come to ring in the New Year with their old Gramerly and Pap.  It has been a few years since it's been warm enough for a fire, but I think we can do it this evening.
After the Gingerbread Party, I had some leftovers, so when Rae's wee ones came for Playdate, we decorated another one. After decorating, it was time to get the blender, mixer, coffee pot and see how far we could spread all that flour goodness around.

 Next was the Christmas Program, where I put forth my best effort to get over a hundred kids across that stage in 40 minutes.  I invited Santa to be part of our program and he obliged, adding a sweet touch.

 By next Playdate, our DVD/VCR died and my Mr. Smiley was in heaven wielding a "hoodriver" and removing all those "hoos."  He cracks me up every time a need for a screwdriver comes up.  Anything mechanical and that boy is a happy camper.

Next up was Christmas with my kids, a wild and wooly mess of stuff from stockings.

 They love to stick a peppermint in an orange in the old fashioned way.

 It wasn't long until they slipped into their Christmas jammies and robes, looking so cute.

 As has long been our custom, Bean and Bugg spent the night.  In summer, I found a book about how to amaze your son and Bugg thought all the projects equally worthy of girls.  Finally the one for girls appeared at the library and she marked an equal amount under her "nite-nite" hoodie.

 My five dollar paint spinner has been enjoyed by all the kids.

 Next up was my yearly black bean omelet night with Ol' Mother Hubbard.  Finally, after many years of dreaming and hoping, the building of a new house on the farm seems to be a reality for them. Just in the knick of time as they've outgrown this sweet little cottage, and those little ones are just not so little anymore.  While I'm so thrilled for them, I realized how many times I've been here and every time the houses from the Gingerbread Party are in the window.

 The Advent Calendars I've been filling for thirteen years are in their spot.

 and here we are at the stove, stirring up our omelets, with only one needing the stool this year.

 They too make their  scarves.  I cut the circles smaller and more oval and like the scarves much better.

 Then I had a little soup and salad supper at home.  Our church invited families to swap puppets of Mary and Joseph. Included was a journal to share prayers and activities that Mary and Joseph were involved in.  I began our supper with a sweet prayer in Tasha Tudor's old book, Take Joy. It was a lovely evening with some dear folks.

 And, the fun continues at Mom's place on Christmas Eve.

 I ended up with lots of extra little candy bars after filling calendars.  I spent the evening before entertaining myself my creating lots of little candy vehicles.  I also turned swiss cakes into reindeer and penguins and little donuts in to snowmen. Ahem, they were not cute enough to warrant a picture, though the kids enjoyed eating them just the same.

Mom has had an extraordinarily long run of feeling okay with no infections (talking a few weeks here) and that has been a wonderful gift we haven't experienced in quite sometime.

Wow, no wonder I'm tired.

Tired but grateful for a year of the Lord's blessings. 

I tried to get a decent picture of all my poopies, with the thought of an adorable Christmas card of some sort, but my little Pixie just wasn't having it.  Still, here we all are with a snap and in our wish for you to have a blessed and peaceful New Year entitled, "The Scream, " from the Paris'.