Wordless Wednesday

Not my photo but I love this picture.

Ode to Daisy.

The kids and I played in the snow again today. This time we kept Daisy, our 2 year old dog, with us the entire time. I think she had more fun in the snow than the kids did.

She started out on the hunt, her nose working back and forth like mad.

Then she decided to lick as much snow as possible while on the move. Honestly her tongue was flapping as quickly as her feet were moving.

She moved on to running then, well it was this weird kinda hop, bounce, run thing. The snow was up pretty high on her so she had to push her weight up and out of the snow in order to get any speed up. I think so enjoyed the challenge though.

Tired of runnin she decided to pounce Isaac everytime he laid down to make a snow angel or take a nap as he liked to pretend to do. As soon as she pounced and Isaac squealed she was off of him and on to more snow play.

Then it was back to more running, this time with Isaac, all recovered from him many dog attacks.

She had fun playing, scratching and then eating the snow balls the two little kids decided to pelt her with. She's a good dog, I'm beginning to wonder if maybe she was just thirsty after all the snow licking and eating.

She took time, off and on, while outside to watch the neighboor's dog across the field play in the snow and bark at her. It was only a few seconds at a time, but she did stop to spy on her friend from time to time.

Back to more running. I don't think I've ever seen my round dog run so much. Back in the summer we'd take her outside so she could fetch tennis balls and even then she'd get bored or to tired to run anymore. Not today, I really think she liked being in the snow.

I love this picture, note how her eyes are cut to one side and only one ear has been bounced up high as she bounce-lopes-runs towards me... so very funny.

New Goodies in the Kitchen.

I like to bake. It's no surprise to those that know me and when I come across a recipe that I get excited about cooking then there's little anyone can do to stop me.

I present to you Peanut Butter Pillows. Odd name yes, but wonderful taste and guess what, they are completely Vegan. I have to admit, the idea of being a Vegan really appeals to me, not because I'm against killing animals or anything, but just how healthy it seems to be and how the food choices seem to be better fuel for ones body. Anyway, the kids ate these cookies up like crazy and so did I. They are super rich and aside from a syrup after taste (which I didn't like because I don't like syrup) these were wonderful and will be made again

The next thing I had on my list to bake up was Pumpkin Bread. I cleaned up my kitchen after the Peanut Butter Pillows and went to work on the bread. I must have cleaned the kitchen better than I realized because I cleaned up the bag of sugar and totally left the sugar OUT of the mix. Sadly, I didn't even realize my oversight until I bite into a nice, warm piece of salty pumpkin bread. Ehhh...it's not so good without the sugar.

A pumpkin factory, the one that apparently supplies my local grocery stores, burnt down. Honestly, there was a can pumpkin shortage everywhere. Ever store I stopped had no pumpkin, whatsoever. I really wanted to make this bread for Christmas and my dad was kind enough to stop at a not so frequented market and found an enormous can of pumpkin. I remembered the sugar this time and wow this bread is amazing. So moist and rich. It's almost like a slice of pumpkin pie especially if you dollop a little cool whip on the top of it. The 2nd day of this bread is even better than the first, it seemed as if the bread pulled in more moisture goodness overnight. I'm going to make up another batch of these 5 mini-loaves and give them to family along with their Christmas present.

All the while I was baking my wonderful goodies I was using a new kitchen gadget that I picked up at TJ Maxx. Love that place!!! It's called a Misto. It allows you to use your own oil for spraying pans, pots and the such instead of using the expensive store bought kind. Plus, I put in Extra Light Olive Oil which makes it healthier than the spray kind as well. The only difference in this Misto than Pam is that you have to pump it 10 times before you spray. But once it's been pumped it sprays well for 15 -18 seconds. I'm all for saving money and going green. I think this pump is both so it's perfect for this family.

After all the baking I grilled up a cheddar, feta, turkey sandwich on homemade sour dough bread with an oh so thin slice of tomato. Oh yummm. If you like feta you must must add it to a grilled cheese one day, the subtly tang it gives to the sandwich is divine. :)

Armed Gunman takes Hostages.

I live in a small community. Compared to Huntsville it's very very very small. It's where I grew up, it's small and everyone honestly knows almost everyone and it's caring and nice. (Just think the opposite of Huntsville...lol)

So when I was making a right hand turn on main street today after last minute grocery shopping I was horrified and stunned to find the road blocked off with snipers standing in the street. No kidding.

A man, in a wheelchair, rolled into the Post Office with 5lbs of C4 strapped to him, fired a shot and took 3 people hostage for more than 9 hours. Things like this I would expect in a big city like Huntsville, not in a very small country town like Wytheville. Wow.

Follow the link if you want pictures and information. This was crazy!!!

http://www.wdbj7.com/Global/story.asp?S=11723885

Wordless Wednesday.

City kids in country fun.

The kids and I headed out for some fun in the snow Saturday. I took this picture of Evan Grace right before she threw the snow ball at my face! Yes, Isaac is trying to take a bite of the snow. Seems that's his favorite thing to do with it.

Learning to walk in over a foot of snow is no easy task for an adult, let alone a 6 year old city boy. He ended up falling after not being able to pull one of his legs out of the weight of the snow. Somehow I don't think he cared all that much.

Evan Grace wasn't heavy enough to pull into the snow to make her snow angel. She did keep trying however, wherever she could.

We did end up uncovering baby Jesus AGAIN. Jeesh you'd think with his parents right there they would have watched over him a little better. Nonetheless Isaac and I were there to rescue them all.

We made a snowman too. Mackenzie found the dried tree buds for the eyes and the twig for his mouth and arms and I came up with the black thing for his nose. The little kids were major disappointed we were out of carrots. Maybe next snowman will have a carrot nose.

We (meaning I) threw snowballs at the window in the hopes of luring Mackenzie out of the house. (This was before she ventured out to help with the snowman). It worked and I must proudly say I threw 2 snowballs and both of them hit their marks before slowly sliding down the window. :)

Once we were completely frozen, we shed our wet snow clothes and came inside for some hot cocoa, with rench vanilla snowmen marshmellows (have you tried those things yet??? yummy!!!) Props to my mom for having it cooling while we were still out playing.

Mackenzie, though reluctant at first, finally came out and took some pictures and helped with the snowman. She had her cup of hot cocoa BEFORE heading out into the snow. She's such a rebel.

Smiley Faces.

It's so refreshing to see Evan Grace taking her school work so seriously. I thought she was working so hard and trying to trace each letter to the best of her ability. Huh. I think I like the G best but the two faced B is pretty great too.

Couldn't help it.

It started snowing yesterday about noon and when I went to bed at 2 in the morning, (yes, I know that's crazy late) it was still snowing. Last night we had 10 inches of beautiful white snow. Today I wake up and we have 14 inches in places and 16 inches in other places. Here are some pictures to show you how deep and gorgeous it is here.

Baby Jesus never had a chance. I uncovered him throughout the day. It just seemed wrong to let him stay buried in all the snow he created. Sadly though I haven't braved up enough this morning to go out and uncover him yet. I mean, isn't that Mary and Joseph's job after all????

The table on the back deck. I love how the snow formed a bridge between the table and the chairs. It's almost as if tiny snow people were sitting there and got trapped in snow triangles.

This tree is in the front yard. My dad tied 3 swings to it this summer. All of them are at different heights for the 3 kids. Kenzie's is on the far right, the highest one. Then Evan Grace is in the middle, the one almost completely covered in snow and then Isaac's on the left side. I love it.

I'm not sure why, but walk ways and driveways and paths are my favorite pictures of snow. Dad shoveled the walk way yesterday when he got home from work, it was quickly covered again in all the snow. This morning though, the snow has stopped and he was back at it again. See the gold Honda, my red van is sitting behind it with a thick layer or snow on top of it. So funny seeing that next to the ice covered Honda.  I hope it snows more later like that expect!

Kicking things around.

I've been thinking a lot lately. Not that, that's something new for me, just something I feel more thoughtful than others. I'm considering buying a sewing book and working my way through it and of course blogging all my adventures along the way. I've always thought about breathing new life into my virtual cookbook that I started more than a year ago and got completely sidetracked in finishing.  I know we're not even in 2010 yet but I need to start looking at books and stuff for next years homeschool things. I want to change things up but not sure exactly how much to change or for that matter how little to change.

I'm for sure going to get a new tattoo for my birthday, like I try to do every year. A friend drew it up, but I do have a few things I want to add. I just need to take it to Marvin here in town and get him to add it in so that it all works together. I was going to get a surface piercing over the weekend while in Huntsville but didn't go through with it. I don't tend to heal to well with piercings and a surface piercing starts off hard to heal. I don't want a scar as an end result.

The church I use to attend always did a fast of some kind for 28 days starting in January. I'm considering doing it again. Last year the entire family fasted TV and movies. It was a great time, I loved it and the kids really did change.  I'm just not sure if it's feasible to do while here in Virginia since the remote isn't under my control any more. :) I want to pick something that will get the entire family involved and not just myself.

I've been thinking about sending out my novel(s) again.  Wow, why does my heart start to pound like crazy anytime I think of doing it. Why am I so afraid to take the dang envelope to the mailbox??? It makes no sense.

Then there's the ever constant question of church...do I go back? where should I go? can't I just stay out a little longer? it's all an ugly circle do I need to put myself and my kids back into that? Ugh...this train of thought just seems to eat at me all the time.

Lots of thoughts, very little decisions or direction in what to do next. These are just the ones that seem to keep floating in and out of my head at the moment.

Wordless Wednesday.

Advent fun.

I don't think I ever posted the finished advent bags I did for Evan Grace. Her bags are the candy cane ones in the middle. Mackenzie's on the right of the photo, Isaac's on the left. So far they've gotten treats, like sucker rings, skittles, and chocolate angels, and they've gotten small trinkets and toys like card games, princess chap stick, key chains and such. :) There are many goodies to come, like Spiderman action figures, and princess stickers, and lotions and lip balm for Mackenzie. All of the kids are getting a kick out of this and I'm so glad I got my act together to get this finished in time to do it this year. :)

More snow pictures.

I couldn't help myself. When the snow started to slow down Saturday I slipped out of the house in a coat and a warm pair of shoes; camera in hand. I froze myself almost solid but it was worth it. I didn't want to come back into the heat of the house.

Here's a pictures of the Rose of Sharon tree in front of the drive. I love the way the snow settled on top of the dried bud as if it was the flower it's self.

If you stand at the bottom of our drive and look left this is the view you get. So very very gorgeous. Could it be that I love snow and winter so much because everything is coated in my favorite color gray?

Remember the picture I took of the moutain while the snow was falling? How fantastic are the trees now? Wow!

The kids and I had a Christmas party to attend that night as well. I had to take a few shots of the drive as we went. I know, dangerous, but I didn't have to put my eye against the viewfinder thing ya know. I just held it and clicked. :) Try to ignore the Honda in front of us.

Here's a picture of Evan Grace checking out the snowman her friend Ty made with his PawPaw. :)

Ice Halo

Did you see this the other night? I never in my life knew about this perfect ring around the moon that can only be seen during specific conditions. How gorgeous!!!! The moon was so close to the earth that I couldn't get the entire halo in the shot. But I did mange to get a good bit of it. I can't believe I'm 31 and have not only never heard of this before but I had never seen one either.

Snow!!!

I woke up at 8 this morning to let the dog out, only to have her quickly change her mind and try to scamper back into the house after being hit in the little furry face with wet, sticky, super cold snowflakes. I didn't let her back in, instead I forced 'city dog' into the snow for a bit of a 'country dog' life. It was all I could do to keep myself from running back in to wake up the kids. Like a good parent I let them sleep. Here's a picture of the mountain behind the house. It's snowing so fast and thick that it's hard to make out the trees that cover the mountain.

When I told Isaac to look out of the window when he did wake up the first words out of his mouth were, "Mom, it is real!" He was so excited. We moved downstairs, and we all took the dog out this time so the kids could see it for themselves. When we walked out the front door Isaac had more to say. "Mom, it's on this side of the house too." He ran to check another side of the house, "Mom, it's everywhere!" I think he's going to be a big fan of the snow just like his mother.

Here's one of the chairs on the back deck....honestly, I did just want to sit down without brushing it off. But I stopped myself, I was still in my thin, silky pj pants.

Just a gorgeous picture of the bush across the drive. I so hope it snows all day. Isaac hopes so too!

Lunch bags.

So these are intended for lunch bags. Vinyl on the inside, pretty sturdy fabric on the outside. I wanted to work with oilcloth but couldn't find any where I was. I squared the pink and brown lunch sack and the blue/white sack I left circular, I'm not sure if I'm going to square it or not. Right now the pink one is holding my scrap material and the blue/white one is holding some almost finished projects, a crayon roll needing a few hand stitches, a purse needing a button, a drawstring bag needing a drawstring, stuff like that. I've got them on my to-do list to make up more of these, they are really strong and I like that it can be used for lunch things as well.