Rain, Rain, Rain

Okay, enough with the rain dance little man!! We have had 18 days of straight rain. The plants are loving it.

 The white peonies are blooming away.

The pink ones are too, however they are taking a beating.

Our little lemon tree is putting out this years fruit.

Its even popping up new blossoms everywhere. Oh, it does smell dreamy.

But on the serious side - today we had some sunshine but it began raining again tonight. The boys and I grabbed at the chance to get out in the muggy sunshine and went to the library to get study material for the next two weeks, picked up meds at the pharmacy, visited April where we got onion set to put out. Then we came home and watched Prince Caspian, Papa came home, we made tacos for dinner, Collin fixed the tire on his little brother's bike, Kody & Joseph went to spend the night with granny, Collin worked three more pages of math and then it started to rain and thunder again. Another all night down pour.

My Baby Shoes

Above my computer monitor hangs a pair of ratty old leather baby shoes. You know (if your old enough) the white high top stiff leather walking shoes every baby use to wear. The sewn on leather soles show wear where a child once explored the world in wild wonder, as only a child could do.

The left shoe shows that the child probably had a problem lifting its foot properly and dragged it occasionally or was in such a whirlwind of movement that the feet couldn't keep up with the desire of doing it all. The are old with one original lace holding the pair together, like the single thread that binds the family the child may have came from. The precious gift from God that they dreamed of and prized over all things in their lives to love and protect forever. A bond that will never break - a blessed family.

This wonders hang over my work area and from time to time I glance up on them and smile knowing all the untold precious memories that they hold and symbolize for my husband and our children - A family is forever. How could a pair of ratty old leather baby shoes do this you ask. Because they are my ratty old leather baby shoes. My first pair of walking shoes that my mother and father bought though it near broke their bank. And as an only child of two of the most wonderful people - I have been truly blessed. In case you are wondering how old they really are in March I'll be 51 years old.

We Are Still Here!

It's been forever since my last post. Things at our house have been hectic to say the least. Beginning December 28 I found myself flat down on my back for three weeks with the flu! Then dragged around two weeks after that with no energy. Then Collin ran through the house and stepped on a pencil and broke the lead off in his foot. Then if that wasn't enough for him he came down with the flu - the week after and so did Joseph.

Joseph ended up with the flu and infections in both ears - he was one sick puppy! This has us dragging into the first couple of weeks of February. Where did January go? Kody and darling hubby sailed through everything without a sniffle, lucky dogs.

Making Tree Decorations

Hubby and I decided to get a smaller Christmas Tree and retire our old one. Well, Elf # 3 decided she wanted it, however it was one of those huge round eight foot tall trees and she had very few decorations. So Mrs. Claus,Elf #3 and Elf # 2 decided to round up the rest of the little ones and get to business.
 

 

We gathered up every scrap of construction paper, scrapbook paper, yarns & ribbons, stickers, color pencils, markers, crayons, white glue, glue sticks, scissors, pencils & erasers, glitter, and Christmas Craft books.
 

There was hot cocoa to be made, a round or two of Jingle Bells, snipping, clipping and merriment. A nibble of a cookie or two.
 

There were even a few Christmas cards threw in.

 All in all it turned out to be a pretty productive afternoon. We ended with more than enough decorations for that big old tree.

Christmas Tree

Just a quick drop by to let you into our Christmasy world around here. This week well look at the tree. The boys made the paper chain and I'll tell you it took a ton to make the crazy thing long enough to wrap the tree, but they had fun. Yea, we still have the turkey hands hanging up on the windows. They are just too darn cute to take down.

 

Thanks for dropping by.

Granny's Sleigh

Here's a sleigh for you! It was my grandmother's prized Christmas decoration. Every year it sat on the mantel when she was alive and it still sits on my mother's fireplace mantle every year.

 Its porcelain with 24 kart gold trim. It's very heavy and large. It consists of the Santa in a sleigh and two reindeer. It is very beautiful, the pictures don't do it justice. Sorry I'm so late getting this listed. The boys are all down with colds.

 

 

We Are Off And Rolling

Today began with a drag. The long Thanksgiving weekend and colder weather left us a tad bit off kilter. The boys are coming down with colds and laying around. The pump went out on the washing machine. The leg broke off the boys bed frame. What to do, what to do? I whipped out three bags of fresh cranberries, some fishing line and needles.

The boys strung cranberries to drape the fireplace mantle. We read our first Christmas countdown book- Snowie Rollie. I made a pan of Chocolate Chip Pan Cookies - yummy. Then we put a small bag of santas that Joseph was wagging around on the tree to finish it off, we put up our tree on Thanksgiving night every year. Collin is itching to put the lights on the house but since he has a cold and the weather is yucky I told him we'd try to give it a go this coming weekend. Tonight we watched Shriek's Christmas and How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Can't wait until next Monday - A Charlie Brown Christmas will be on - it's my favorite Christmas Cartoon.

Hubby brought in the mail today when he came home from work and we received a couple of seed catalogs. He's in awe over the tremendous variety of tomatoes. We are planning on putting in nice vegetable garden in the spring for freezing and canning next year. Don't you just love the slower pace of the cold season? Just cozy back with a hot cup of tea (or coffee in hubby case) with a magazine or book, a fire in the fire place, kids on the floor in front of it drawing pictures or playing checkers and all's right with the world even when it seems to go wrong.