Merry Christmas 2010

We had a very nice Christmas with the grandparents.

My favorite picture of the day and my favorite present that I gave to the boys.

Happy children with Legos. After it was all over, my dh pointed out that we wouldn't have many presents this year if all things Legos and all things Star Wars had been forbidden.

Aaron got a Boba Fett helmet that he can really put on his head.

Nathan got a Cardinals shirt to replace the one that was getting a bit too short!

And Deborah got her camera at last!

Redneck Curling, part II

Some still pictures of the Curling Event yesterday.

Clearing the pond

Spraying the course

A thing of beauty!

Trying out the course

Stephen knocks Nathan out of the center to win the point

After spending a couple of hours outside, it is time for hot chocolate inside! And not just hot chocolate - orange hot chocolate!

Redneck Curling

My dh had a great idea yesterday. He had the children out shoveling the snow off of the pond. Then he made half of a curling court. The children were reluctant at first but soon had a great time.

Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow!

Now that we have the power back on, we are enjoying the snow.

I loved these snowmen holding hands.

This was the same pumpkin that Deborah was sitting on this fall. It is almost completely empty now. We've seen squirrels inside and chickens sticking their heads in.

And what is a Christmas without Star Wars snowflakes?

Edible Cells

We are studying Biology this year in school. And what better way to study cells than to make edible ones!

Tree Trimming (Fall version!)

Now that the Christmas cards are out and all the presents are wrapped and the cookies baked, I can catch up on the Blog. We had a big dead limb on our oak out back. So my dh took care of it this fall.

First he cut off the two ends of the branch.

Then he worked on the main branch.

And no one got hurt or knocked off the ladder. Success all around!

Flowers

This year we are studying biology. For the two youngest, we did the experiment where you put the white carnations in colored water and watch them turn colors. As soon as we started to put in the food coloring, Aaron cried out, "Quick Mom, go get the camera and take some pictures for Uncle Mike!"

So Uncle Mike, these are for you...

For the rest of us, this is what the flowers looked like after a couple of hours.

I took two of the flowers and split their stems and put them in two different glasses.

The Last of the Fall Pictures

These are the last of the fall pictures... I promise. We had so many good ones this year.

We went on a walk with my mother and made nature art. Art made out of things found in nature and left there. So we gathered lots of red leaves and arranged them.

First we arranged them by size in a line...

... and then in a wavy line...

... then we finally left them in a circle for some other person in the park to find. Very Andy Goldsworthy of us.

Official End of the Garden season

Yesterday was the official end of the gardening season. Last Saturday, we moved the giant pumpkin from the front porch before it could rot and put it in the garden. We're watching to see how long it takes for the animals to eat it.

Yesterday I finished up the dehydrating (the last of the hot peppers) and the canning (blackberry jelly, cherry jelly and the jelly below). Can you guess what it is?

It is rosemary jelly. Rosemary is one of my favorite herbs. Rosemary jelly is supposed to be wonderful on lamb. We'll let you know. By the way, the color is due to a couple of drops of green food coloring. The rosemary water was kind of a sickly looking pale yellow. This definitely looks much nicer.

With all the work of the garden finished up, the children have a lot more time to play. So while I was canning, they were getting out the board games and having a great day.

Fun Garden pics

Nathan picked this a little while ago. He calls it the 'snake' carrot. I have to agree with him.

My mother was photographing birds on the pumpkin underneath the bird feeder. After she left, another critter took interest in the pumpkin.

What a greedy pig!