I'll just chime in as I get the urge, if you don't mind. Because... it's raining outside, dreary and gray, school is done for the day and blogging these ever-growing outdated photographs just seemed right.
As you can see, I have already taken some goals to heart. Curtains hung, check. Beautiful pictures, check. Rainbow, just a bonus.
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| garlic dill cheese. |
The week before hosting our Christmas party I decided I needed to make some applesauce from our stored apple supply. Incidentally, it was the very day that Matt tackled his own big project (further down in the post) making the house very....messy.
Though somehow miraculously these photos make is seem as though applesauce canning can be tidy and clean. Ha. This just proves that pictures LIE.
I need to have another applesauce making day because.... this:
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| feedbags full of apples |
We've been under the weather here a bit...
Ineke's favorite spot is on the grate right above our woodstove. It blows warm air up and she toddles over and plops down- then thinks things through and grabs herself a blanket, a bottle and something to look at and then plops down again.
Poor sick-eyed baby. (She is on the mend now.)
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| venison stew |
The "Papa Project" a few days before company.
Sure, saw the walls out in the dining room! Yeah. Awesome.
This is the doorway. The doorway that broke part of Ineke's jaw and two lower teeth. (It was too wide for a babygate, even the extra long ones.) The doorway that draws all the cold winter air right into our house. We hang a quilt over it in winter (very fashionable, I assure you. Not.) and when the south wind blows, the blanket waves along on the air current, making it not only freezing cold but pretty darn depressing to see a blanket waving like a flag inside a building.
The best solution to both problems was to put in doors. Awesome idea.
Doing it the week of a Christmas shin-dig? Less so.
(never a good sign.)
Matt polyurethaned the molding one evening, but I totally get credit for doing the doors. Every last little grid of it. BOTH sides. All by myself. UGH.
The finished product? LOVE IT.
Naughty!
Brought to you by the letter "B":
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| Broccoli, chicken and cheese bread braid in bad light. |
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| Broccoli, chicken and cheese bread braid baked. In bad light. |
We've been trying to really buckle down on home-learning and we've been succeeding somehow...
I'd be almost proud of myself if I didn't know that we had just as many "little boys putting pencil curlers in his sisters' hair" moments.
Corynn after a very traumatic hair cut.
Thank you, Locks of Love, for making it easier somehow. (For the both of us.)
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| breakfast. WHY do I take these pictures?!?! |
She loves her Papa's shoes.
A baby hat I made for a Christmas Day baby. If you wanna see the hat with baby inside, go here.
Another baby hat made for a friend...
Did I already blog this?
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| a heavy load |
(The boys strategizing, morning of...)
After Christmas, the next big job is thank you notes. The children draw their own and then I print copies for them. This way, they don't get tired of drawing pictures but instead can do a really great job on one. (And then get tired of writing the messages.)
Here are this years', for posterity.
(Corynn drew the one of Matt and I and gave it to me as a Christmas present.) Corynn drew the horse, Andrew~ the bunny, Adele~ the snowpeople and Judah~ the lion. In case you couldn't guess.
If each of these thank-you notes represented ONE present for one child (and indeed, some of them were much more! ), think of all the extra things we now own! No wonder January often seems cluttered to me! I have a bit of purging of old, broken, unloved or just plain excess things to do in order to make room. We are very rich, indeed.
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| Who is that cutie? That, my friends, is a little Mattie. |
I'm reading a gift-wish that Matt granted me this Christmas, Bandersnatch. And I love it.
I was knitting a bright orange hat for Matt to take on a hunting drive that he went on last weekend. I cast on three days before Saturday and that is how far I got. I should have known that finishing something three days after beginning it is WAY over-ambitious for me. I am both slow AND busy- not a good combination for a knitter. Now, with the hunting drive over, I don't feel like finishing it. But I will. And then I will tuck it away for a next hunting season surprise.
And now I leave you with a marshmellow baby. Because I am pretty much in love with rompers and tights. And pointy little heads.
Have you noticed?
~~~~~~
KKCO
YA
8 comments:
Oh you have been busy. Those French doors look beautiful!
Just found your blog recently and tho' I'm waaaay older than you (like maybe your grandma's age), I have to tell you that I love your very normal, comical, busy family. And the way you write? You keep me laughing. I hope you land a book deal soon. Oh, wait. You don't have time to write a book I guess. Bummer.
But in case no one's told you lately, you're amazing!
Mindy
Photo Dumps are the best. The doors are awesome! Especially that stellar polyurethaning job on the doors themselves. And I'm stealing the thank you card idea- your kiddos are great artists!!! Id dint make applesauce this year. It was kind of weird. But we had so much left from '15 I just didn't feel like putting out the effort and money. Glad everyone is on the mend, sick babies are so pitiful!
Oh, and if you want to share your cheese recipe....
did you make marshmallow baby's pointy-headed sweater? precious!
Lisa~ thank you!
Mindy~ so glad you took the time to comment so that I could 'meet' you. Thanks for stopping by- I am glad you are here!
Bonnie~ that is a happy problem- too much applesauce to need to can any! We had been out for many months so I purposely had to buy apples to make applesauce. I usually only make applesauce with free ones- otherwise, why?!? But the apples were cheap so it still saved money. And that first jar we ate- oh, YUM.
The cheese: 1 1/2 gallons milk. (heat to 180) Turn off heat and add 3/4 cup white vinegar. (Stir until curds separate.) Strain/drain in fabric. Add a bit more than 1 T salt. And dill and garlic to taste. I add enough to make lots of specks throughout the cheese. I really should measure it so I get it 'just right' but I am too lazy. Twist it up and press it overnight under something heavy-ish. I use a full glass container of oatmeal or brown sugar (depending upon which one is heavier at the time) It's good stuff.
Beth- no, I didn't. I am such a slow knitter by the time I finish a garment for Ineke she will probably be OUT of it at this point. That sweater is thanks to the fact that people don't like old fashioned things and sell them at yard sales for pennies. ;-)
What better way to while away time when you just left our house a few hours ago than to catch up on comments? And I expect no answer to that question, because there could not possibly be a wiser way to spend my time.
(Sleep is for the birds. I'll wait until my goose returns from Canada for frivolous behavior like that.)
The living room additions are so pretty, and that door is definitely worth the bother. They're absolutely gorgeous! Those hats aren't helping that itch I mentioned today, but seeing that romper/hat combination again is making me groan. I need a knitting robot in my house! (Millie doesn't count, either.)
I love seeing all your photo's! Your blog is one of my favorite to read! Tends to make me kick it into high gear and get stuff done! :)
My family has been bugging me to make cheese again and your photo looks so good I am tempted to jam a cheese making session into my day.
French doors are gorgeous!
Poor Corynn! I remember a few traumatic hair cuts. If you haven't sent her hair in yet, Pantene Beautiful Lengths or Wigs for Kids are both non-profits and give wigs to kids. Locks of Loves charges for their wigs.
Beautiful update, Rebecca. Your French doors are just delightful! :)
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