December 31

 

Leaves in Frozen Pond

December 30

 

Evening Walk

December 29

 

Empties

December 28

 

Snake painting!

December 27

No photo for December 27. You'll just have to conjure up your own images of our 12-hour drive.

December 26

 

Legos!

December 25

 

Waiting

December 24

 

Matching PJs

December 23

 

Joy

December 22

 

Cousin Duet

December 21

 

Backpacks ready!

Playing Catch Up

As I anticipated, daily photo posting didn't happen while we traveled- nor while we recovered from traveling...

But I am still going to post a photo for each day- just late!

Dec 21st coming up...

December 20

 

Packing!

December 19

 

Eli in a Cousin Trap (one of only two photos I took yesterday... gotta get with it...)

December 18

 

What came down the chimney...

(from yesterday, somehow no pictures today!)

December 17

 

Early morning view from the front porch

December 16

 

Rag curls!

December 15

 

December 14

 

Apparently, it's Christmastime in Legoland, too!

December 13

 

Bringing home the tree!

December 12

 

Morning Muffins (yes, those are chocolate chips!)

December 11

 

Pillow fort for Eli and Hank

December 10

 

Secrets

December 9

 

Sleepover flashlight fun!

December 8

 

December 7

 

Hank

December 6

 

I am really not good at the posting everyday gig. Still trying to have something posted for each day, though belatedly!

December 5

 

Creek Reflection

First Snow of the Season

 

Just getting started


 

Hot chocolate and popcorn...


 

...with marshmallows...


 

by the campfire!

December 4

 

Echinacea in snow

December 3, sort of

 

Why, yes, I did forget to take any photos yesterday, just 1 day into my commitment to the December Photo Project. So this is one of the first ones from today, starring Odin.

December 2

 

Spontaneous paper chain making happened at our house last night and this morning. And yes, that is dirt on the windows, not on the camera lens.

DPP: December 1

 

OK- so not exactly an award winning photo, but I didn't know I was going to need one for this photo challenge and I only had a couple to choose from that I just happened to take on Dec 1...

December Blogging

So, I'm a day late, but I just discovered this and want to join in! To catch up, I'll post a photo for yesterday and one for today and then try to stay on track for the rest of the month. We'll see how I do when it comes to holiday travel time...

Farm Decisions

Well, we finally made some decisions about how to balance the arrival of a new baby in May and what we have going on with the farm. After much deliberation, we are selling our Jersey heifer.



I knew early on that we didn't need to have a lactating bovine along with a lactating me. It took a little longer to decide to not keep our unbred heifer at all.

We have had some responses to an ad we posted to sell her, so I am hoping to have everything taken care of before winter sets in. As much fun as it was hauling 5 gallon buckets of water from inside the house out to the barn in two feet of snow and freezing temperatures last year, I thought it might not be *quite* as much fun while 6 months pregnant. But who knows, maybe I'm wrong...

Regardless, it was still a difficult decision and we'll all feel some sadness when Ellie finds a new home. We all know it is for the best, though. Just having her for the past 19 months has taught us so much about cows, farm life and ourselves. And honestly, one of the best lessons was learning that I think I may be more suited to having goats!

Next challenge will be to restrain myself on my garden seed order...

Our New Neighbors

We're all excited about the new abode on the farm!

 

It started out looking like this:

 

But with a lot of this:

 

It turned into this:
 


There's more finishing work to be done, but Ben (my brother) and Stacey moved in yesterday. And so the adventure begins- Ben & Stacey embark on their tent-living adventure and we all embark on our pseudo-communal-living adventure. Fun and challenges to come for all. I'll post more detailed pictures of the building process soon. They should be adding a working door today!

New Plan

So, what if I just write a new blog post every four months or so? Hmmm... might be too much to expect.

Just One Bite...

 

But boy are we looking forward to more now!

Family Adventures Week 2

For the second week of our Sunday afternoon outdoor family adventures, we headed up to the Blue Ridge Parkway and made our way to the Indian Gap parking area. Just a short walk down a wooded path and we arrived at Indian Rocks. And the kids didn't stop climbing and exclaiming for at least the next 30 minutes. (You can click on the photo collage for a bigger image.)

 

A flat-topped rock served as a perfect picnic table and PB&H sandwiches were enjoyed by all. Then back to the climbing and a bit of hide and seek. Curt managed to take a nap. Yes, lying on a rock. I tell you, the man has crazy sleeping skills.

We only had to have one "serious talk"-- I won't name names, but it involved a lengthy discussion with a certain 4yo about the consequences of pushing his siblings whilst they stood near the edge of a rock with a 20-foot drop to the ground. Ahem.

Stay tuned! I'll try to get the week 3 adventure post up soon so we can be caught up and ready for current updates.

Strawberry Countdown

My coastal North Carolina friends and family are already enjoying red, ripe strawberries. It's true, I saw it on Facebook. And I salivated.

We're still waiting for the first hints of rosiness to appear here in our little patch. We have strawberries in all stages-- except ripe.

Just leaves
 


Dainty flower
 


Fruiting flower
 


Greenies!
 


I can hardly wait...
 

First Iris