Happy Birthday Gideon...

 My two 9-year olds.  They are 9 together for 2 days!

 Kevin just won't cooperate with getting his picture taken.

 Kevin and I took Gideon out to eat at a restaurant of his choice.  He chose China King buffet.  Mmmm.  I know I loved and ate way too much.  While we were gone the girls were busy constructing his birthday cake.  I had Gideon convinced we were only having ice cream and that there were no presents because it was going out to eat or getting a gift.  I asked him what would he have chosen: gift or out to eat?  He said out to eat.  Well, I was not serious about no presents or the cake so he was happy! 

 See Lena's mouth puckered to blow. Gideon had a little troubled getting them all out.

 Gideon and his dragon!

 Familyfun.com

 For a birthday activity we colored masks and I have a few Zorros in the house.

 Center of the show!

 Measuring the birthday boy to see how much he grew!

The birthday kid writes their name under the line and dates it.  Gideon is a little shorter than Rebekah and Caleb at the age of nine. 

Working outside...

 The boys are filling the wheelbarrow today so we can mulch the asparagus tomorrow.  

Hard to believe we are doing this in December in North Dakota.

 We just finished raking the straw back onto the garlic we planted this Fall when the chickens 

smelled it or something.  It's a ways away from the chicken coop so 

I don't know how they sensed we just put a new bale down?!?

 While I was walking around Lizzie kept looking at me.  

She may have wanted to try my camera out for a taste.

 Jane looked so nice standing there.  We are hoping they are all pregnant.  We took the buck out today because for some strange reason he keeps drinking the milk out of the goats.

Chickens scratching in the yard in December.  It would be nice if this lasted another month, save chicken feed and it would help the kids who have to milk everyday! 

Hot cocoa fun...

 Drinking hot cocoa with a chocolate covered "snowman" spoon.  Lena's snowman fell off in her hot cocoa and she says "He died."  I think she knows a whole lot of death from the boys and their guns and swords! :)

 She doesn't usually drink the cocoa, just eats the chocolate off the spoon!

 Chocolate face Moriah with a huge cup of cocoa.

 Gid-John enjoying his cup!

 Caleb!

 We dipped the spoon in melted chocolate, added the marshmallows and peanut butter or butterscotch chip had and mini-chips for eyes (held on by dabbing in melted chocolate on side of spoon.  Then cool!  Then dip in hot cocoa and watch your snowman melt away.  We dipped some in butterscotch chips and decorated with chocolate drizzles, added mini-chips sometimes and did some different variations.  We had them at a friend's house so copied them for our Christmas craft at the party we went to.  Very easy for any age child to make.

"I'm melting!!!!!"

Merry Christmas...

My sweet nephew Zaners (His name is Lane). Isn't he a sweetie pie.

Nephew Hunter with Caleb!

Emily! She doesn't particularly like her pictures taken!

Jordan!

My niece Levi!

Gid-John

Lena got a pink trike!

Mom who hosted all of us!  Great meal of prime rib, baked potatoes and salad!  Mmmm!

Kevin, another family member who doesn't cooperate with picture taking!

Brayden with the snowfling we got him.  Unfortunately for all of us that night there is a built in whistle! 

My bro Chris, his wife Chris and little Lane!

 

 Grandpa is feeding the baby. 

Here is how Kevin usually poses for a picture!

Here is an unposed picture but too good not to include!

Great night with Grandma and Grandpa...

 Kevin's parents came for supper and present opening tonight.  I was gone in Fargo with a couple kids so Jordan and Emily had to make supper.  They made meatloaf, baked potatoes, green beans, beets and salad.  It was so good. 

 Rebekah got pajamas!!!!  She loves them!

 The girls got some neat guitar hooks for hanging in their room.

 Caleb's new shirt!

 Isaac and his!

 Grandma's opening a gift Caleb bought her himself.

Grandpa likes the mixed nuts that Rebekah got him!  We had a really good time.  I love when they come.  Thanks Don and Rose for taking the time to make our night so special.  

Grandma Gretchen...

Great Grandma Gretchen passed away last week.  Her funeral was on Thursday.  She was a lovely person to visit with.  We enjoyed her stories from childhood and youth.  She was 94 years old, married to her first husband 50 years before he passed away and then married Kevin's Grandpa Louie 19 years ago. We miss her!

The latest clean-up project...

 Here is part of the project I did before the girls came home.    I had already gotten a good amount put away before I thought to take a picture.  The rubbermaid tubs are filled with clothes that I cleaned out of the storage room.  I also threw away 4 large garbage bags full.  All the stuff at the end of the room went to the garage for the thrift store or for a possible rummage sale.  Stuff seems to control my life sometimes.

 Here is the finished wood stove project.  We have had this sitting upstairs doing nothing for 10 years.  It feels good to have it in and to be using it.  We set our thermostat at 71 and the furnace rarely kicks in.  It hasn't been very cold yet either so we'll see how well it helps with  heating once it is 20 below. 

The light downstairs was causing the pictures to have these spots.  Here is our usable basement space again.  The kids have enjoyed playing foos ball again.  Every few months we have to uncover the table and clear the clutter. 

We moved some bookshelves downstairs and it seems homey and cozier than before.  There are a lot of books on the shelves that weren't getting read because they were upstairs in a room rarely walked into.  The kids have discovered some great reading. 

Home again, home again, jiggity jig...

They aren't coming home from market but my two girls are home!!!  We welcomed Jordan and Emily home again by going to get them at the Jorgenson's farm.   The Cutler's hosted the girls but the Jorgenson's invited everyone over for the day.  What a day!!!  There were a few families there when we got there for lunch.  The kids went ice skating (they had enough skates in all the sizes for a lot of people, maybe 30 or so), they went horseback riding (again they had enough horses and a whole lot of saddles for a lot of people), got tours of their great farm with turkeys, milk cows, goats and a lot of other animals!  It was fun.  We ended up being the last ones to leave at 10 p.m getting home after 11:30 p.m. (they live in SD).  It was worth the tired day today! 

I know the girls had a great week at Josh and Annie's because they never have stopped talking about all they did or how Annie makes this or how Annie does that!  It is a really great thing if you can find someone like this family to mentor your young girls.  I am so encouraged by the things they told me.  Annie kept telling me what a blessing it was to have them but the blessing was returned 10fold in her example to my girls.  Praise the Lord for His goodness to them this week. 

Not the way I planned...

 Here is Lena with tea bags on her eyes.  One of many home remedies used for the eye.

The two oldest are gone this week and it's not going as I planned.  We ended up not feeling great.  Some kids have colds that make them have a headache and are too tired to do much of anything.  I had hoped we would have some cookie baking, bread making, game playing days.  We do get our school done each day and the laundry and dishes stay caught up but not feeling good has me down.  I've got it in my head, throat, ears and sinuses.  I'm gargling with cayenne pepper and taking other stuff so maybe it's helping not to get worse.  Trying to keep Lena from touching her eyes and anything else is the worst of it!  She's got goopy eyes.  She's taking drops now so it should clear up soon. 

Jordan called tonight to tell me what they are doing.  They've painted a floor, played with the kids, played violin (Annie is a violinist too), put up and decorated their tree, written up Annie's Christmas cards (Jordan says she knows their address now :) ), washed a ton of laundry, and other things.  Tomorrow Jordan's friend Shauna is coming over and they going to a Hutterite colony to play and sing.   It's going way too fast.  I hope to get the house in shape Saturday to welcome them home so we can put up our own tree.   Rebekah and Moriah have been enjoying the girls' big bed though and now would like me to get them a double or queen in their room.  I've looked for one before on Craig's list so I'll keep that in mind again.  It would make their room half the size it is now with bunkbeds though.  I'm not sure they are ready not to have a place to play dollhouse and other things.

Have a Happy Friday!   We may take the day off so I can get the house in order.  We didn't take Thanksgiving Day off just so we could take it off another day!  :)   We'll see how the morning goes!