Farmer In Training...

Well, even though its snowing like crazy and there's 2 feet of the stuff on the ground, our barns are a balmy 92 degrees. We recently had a flock change at our farm and we brought in 13,000 baby chicks, only hours old, where we'll raise them for 4 months until they're ready to lay....then they're off to our layer barn. But, for now, they need lots of TLC. My hubby is a great farmer (insert tooting of my hubby's horn here) and he is especially great at raising these little gals. His dad always told him he raises great birds! Well, we thought we'd introduce our new little man Isaac to 'the chicks'. We only get chicks once per year so this was a first for him....and obviously not his favorite activity. We thought he'd love the chicks and the warmth of the barn but apparently not. No worries...we think he'll come around...in the meantime it was the perfect chance for some photos....

Christmas Happenings....

It's a wonderful time of year! So often the routines of Christmas become exactly that...routines. This year I was determined to be refreshed in my thinking about each and every tradition and enjoy each one, knowing it is a gift from God to help our family remember why we celebrate Christmas in the first place. Here's just a few random shots of different things we've been doing to enjoy the season....I trust you're all enjoying your special traditions and maybe even creating new ones! Blessings to you this Christmas Season....Jesus Is, and always has been, the Reason for the Season!

It's been a while......

Hello All...well, I've been entirely lazy in my posting...but it is that time of year when time itself is scarce.My daughter's been begging me to post her latest creative outlet...blocks! I bought this box of Kapla blocks years ago when I used to work in preschool/daycare. The kids love them and find them so theraputic. My girls love them....they're always thinking of something creative to construct. It doesn't matter who's visiting...Uncle Ken, friends, Grampa and Gramma...everyone loves the blocks! If Uncle Ken is here then the blocks are building airports and towers and hangers....if friends are here then it's animals and names being built, if it's Grampa and Gramma then it's going to be cars and roads.

On this particular day Olivia chose to build Madagascar characters...she had just seen Madagascar the 2nd with friends the previous day and was 'in the mood' to create. She kept telling me to come check out her blocks and I kept putting it off because I was busy with something...but when I finally took the time to go and look I was totally impressed with what she had done...the characters were easy to make out....so this post is for you Livi!

Christmas Open House 2008

Well, one down, one to go....we had a wonderful, successful open house here this past weekend. I am so greatful to my friends and family for all their support in so many ways. Here's a few pics to show in the a slideshow above so you get just a little taste of what went on here...enjoy!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas....

Music has been playing, little lights are twinkling, stockings are hanging....its that time of year! I've been crazy busy preparing for the open house this weekend at my home. I'm on the home stretch now and will be pulling a few late nights to get it all done....but, it'll get done! There's lists of grandiose plans of things I wanted to get done, but my time is limited, family is a priority so what I have will have to do! Kim and I have been preparing for months now and hope to provide a warm, welcoming Christmas experience for all those coming. Last year we had visitors in the hundreds and this year we are anticipating nothing less! The open house begins at my house this Friday from 12-9pm and Saturday 9-5pm....and continues the following weekend at Kims place with the same hours. You'd think we'd be a little sparse for visitors being a little out of town but we get a lot of traffic heading this way to visit a few other attractions out here like Glenda's Christmas Cottage and Tanglebank Farms. I've posted just a few things for a sneak peak of what we'll be offering, many you've seen already in the making on older posts....you can head on over to Kim's blog for a better idea as she's the 'bee behind busy bee':) Kim and I have done this for a 'few' years now and appreciate the support of so many regulars! Everyone has been inquiring about the aprons.....yikes, apparently I should have made dozens...but alas there are only 5. Try not to notice the jam on my 3 yr olds face...i was desperate for a model other than myself...very desperate!!! I will be happy to take orders on them after the open houses, and in the new year I plan on starting childrens aprons. The ones I've made here are size large and fit an average size 12 -14. Well, time is of the essence so away I go...looking forward to seeing many of you and thanking you for your interest in 'what we do'. Blessings to you today!

Mama's Got Mail!

Woo hoo... I got 'fun' mail today....no bills, no junk mail, just a yellow padded envelope that I'd been waiting for! A couple of months ago I joined an online Christmas Ornnament swap that was hosted by JoAnne. We each committed to making a handmade Christmas ornament that we would then send to a certain someone...everything had to be a secret..... The ornaments had to be in the mail by Nov 1. We each emailed a picture to JoAnne so she could post them on her blog and we could guess which one might be coming our way....well, funny enough the very one I had my eye on arrived in my mailbox today!!! So, a big thank you to Kris for her lovely handmade ornaments, and a big thanks to JoAnne for all her work in coordinating the swap! I LOVE them, and they suit my house perfectly! I love that she took the time to check out my blog and picked up on the fact that I am a plaid junkie! Thanks Kris for your thoughtfulness and hard work.....I am so excited to have these new ornaments for my tree this year...well, ok, one of my trees this year! This weekend I'll be putting up some of the Christmas decor in preparation for my Christmas open house the following weekend (see sidebar).....stop in if you're in the area! Bye for now! Sorry for the bad quality pics...my flash won't work...time for new batteries I guess:)

new quilt and table topper....

These two projects are finally heading towards the home stretch! The pink/brown combo is a cute quilt that just needs some borders and binding....not sure what to do with it yet but it'll make a great baby quilt or a couch quilt if you like those colors! The other is a table topper I did using log cabins made from the infamous Shangri-La fabric collection. They were way too much work and I don't think I'd do this particular pattern again, but hey, live and learn! I've got so many ideas in my head of things I'd like to make that I've been making a list so that if I don't get them done this year I can always do them next year! i just got back from the post office after mailing a few handmade ornaments off for an ornament swap...I can't wait to see what I get! I can't post pics of them yet, but once I get mine then I'll post the ones I made for my swap partner...for now it has to stay a secret!!! Have a great day...here it's raining and the leaves are covering the ground.....I love fall!