December 2014

Jack took our annual family photos:

Aunt Carol brought us the trees behind us in the spring of 2000 (our first spring).  This batch of trees never got cut for a Christmas tree because they were too big when we started having a tree.

We had good snow and great skiing early in the month.  After our first night of skiing Henry wrote a note to his teacher.

We had good sledding in our field.   Henry would get a running start and get some serious air before hitting the snow!

Nola Mae ran up and down the hill many times.

The best hats!

 

Early in the month I had two more kinds of soaps that were ready for the holiday: 

  

The first photo is Lavender, Vanilla & Patchouli.  The second photo is Lavender & Lemon Grass with ground lemon powder.

Charlie dyed a pair of bamboo socks for his teacher.  We did a test pair last month because I wanted him to have a feel for the syringe and working with the dye.  He was easily frustrated with his own socks and it seemed like he hated the whole process.  So I figured we would have to find a different gift for his teacher.  About a week before the last day of school he asked, “When are we going to dye my teacher’s socks?”  I just assumed he hated it and would never want to do it again.  Charlie promised me he would have extra patience for this project.  And he did while he got help from Nola Mae.

Mrs. Johnson’s socks:

The color in this photo is so off from the actual color.  He used a purple and a teal color called Kingfisher Blue.

Charlie and Nola Mae messing around with a backpack:

We cut our Christmas tree from our property:

I remember planting this tree very well, even what clothes I was wearing, and the pair of gloves I had on. It was one of the first days I accomplished something significant after feeling like crap for months with morning sickness (my pregnancy with Robbie).  I planted a total of 15 trees, only three trees made it this long.  I tried to imagine when we would be cutting this tree down for our Christmas tree.  I didn’t imagine we would have four children around this tree, 11 1/2 years later.

One of my sisters got engaged this month:

Here is some kind of Elemental Warrior equation Robbie made with  some calligraphy pens that I had.

Dyeing and sewing projects (I have a post all for my December dyeing projects, click here to see them):

My friend, Michelle, gave me some curtains she had in her daughter’s room.  I dyed them, because they were white!

Nola Mae and three of her cousins got pretty snow dyed skirts.

My first Maxi skirt for one of my sisters:

Two bags made of dyed fabrics:

Front of bag:

Back of bag:

Robbie and I went Christmas shopping and he had the idea that I dye the kids matching shirts.

 

It was my idea to do a “V” for our last name.  Jack helped me with the colors.

Jack has been busy in his workshop:

A book shelf for Robbie.

A tool box for Henry.

A bench for Nola Mae.

We set up the ping-pong table for Christmas break, this could become a tradition I could get use to.

More of my favorite photos from this month:

  

Fun Projects

 I spent the last week sewing and dyeing till I was sick of both.

I have been planning/designing/working on this “creeper” valance since mid-April. Finally it is complete and ready to mail along with the TNT pillowcase:

After this was done I left the sewing room for a few days.

Then a friend asked me to make a ring sling:

At the same time I got another request from a friend who wanted a dyed ring sling. While I waited for our plans to finalize I went a head and over dyed a flopped dyed project from this winter.

This was muslin 12 x 12 inch squares, dyed using a Shibori technique, with Dylon Dye Dark Green. I have no idea what I did wrong. The patterns hardly showed up and the fabric was a very light shade of green.

Before:

Second attempt:

Once I finalized the shade of blue to shoot for I started my first dye bath method.  The ring sling turned this pretty shade of blue (Dylon Blue Jeans):

 

I got a bonus out of this project, a dyed tank, sort of gradual change in shades of blues:

With both these projects with blue dye and many rinses later, left me swearing I would never dye anything blue again.  I shouldn’t even say that because it was kind of fun and the blue is so pretty in real person!

I am taking a break from sewing and dyeing for now. I am doing some serious spring cleaning this week! Spring has finally arrived.

The next sewing projects on the table will be some fun skirts.

UFO’s (Unfinished Objects) Part 1

UFO = Unfinished Objects that I have lying around. I need this list organized to prioritize my “UFO to finish”.   It will help me  to  be prepared to grab a small project when I have a long car ride ahead of me or when I am looking for something to do (that doesn’t involve cleaning) while Nola Mae is napping.

Part 1 = I know I will start more projects and not finish them.  Or I may find more UFOs as I do more organizing in my sewing room.

#1

Finish hand quilting Nola Mae’s bear quilt by her birthday.

 

The rest of this list doesn’t need to happen in any special order:

Jack wants a different kind of strap for his workshop apron.

These are the sweater owls that need to get done before I cut or felt anymore sweaters.

  

I started this start baby for my youngest nephew, shortly after he was born (14 months ago).

I am not sure how old these unfinished dish towels are.

Here is a Shibori dye project in amazon green on muslin fabric that flopped!  I am going to try one more time with an over dye same method but with a different color.  I am waiting some color inspiration and the right day to get this done.  My plan is to make these 12 in squares into a lap quilt.

Two dresses that I want to turn make into summer skirts for myself.

Colorful socks made into baby leggings.

Finish hand quilting this wall hanging to display Jack’s and his Dad’s buttons from the steam show.

I would love to have this scrap quilt finished this year.   Every time I get it out Nola Mae wants to rearrange the squares.  I started this in the winter of 2011-12.

These are leftover squares from a quilt I made a friend over 10 years ago.  I cut and sewed extra to make another one.

I found this simple quilt top at Goodwill and would like to baste it and make this my first machine quilting project.

A dyed project from February that I would like to make into a quilt.

I machine embroidered these flower designs on “bag” fabric.  The design on the left was a test run for my ring slings and the design that I decided to put on the tails of my ring slings, it takes about 15 minutes to do.  The bottom one was another test run for the ring slings.  It didn’t make the cut because it takes about 40 minutes.  The orange poppy was going to be made into a bag, but the stitching pattern got misaligned somehow during the last color and last 5 minutes of the  5 hour project.  I couldn’t throw it away!  Recently, I filled in the lines manually, which took me about 15 minutes and now it is ready to be made into a bag.

These four are aprons cut and ready for sewing.

Robbie and I started this minecraft ice sword design last summer.  I am not sure when we will get this done and what it will made into.

       

These are two older projects that Robbie and I started, maybe in the winter of 2011-12.  Originally, Robbie wanted “Robbie’s Room” to be a sign on his door.  I was trying to think of something more practical, like a pillow for his bed.  I don’t think we ever decided – one reason it never got finished.

‘mk           

This isn’t really a UFO, but it is my mending pile.

I got this blog post idea from my friend Meredith.  She wrote a blog post called UFO Spotting, click here to see her beautiful unfinished objects.

August 2012 – Month 8

August started out awesome with a Tom Pease concert in Iola!  And spending our wedding anniversary with family at my cousin, Annie’s wedding.   This was our 16th  anniversary.

We had a little entertainment with our napkins while waiting for the dinner to start.

The broccoli, green beans and lettuce are ready for eating.

The cherry and grape tomatoes are just starting.  I needed to do a little lesson on colors and ripeness with my helper.

We took photos in all my favorite spots in the yard for my post announcing my new name for my blog.  This is one that didn’t make the cut.

The Waupaca Foundry sponsored an artist who does metal moldings for a community art project that will be put up after South Park’s remodeling.  The two big artists in our family designed our family square.

We visited friends who have a lot of humming birds.  I mean a lot!  At one time there were 10-20 birds around these feeders at one time.  How many can you count?

I took this picture coming into the barn one day.  I like how clear the reflection of the house is on Jack’s new door.

One night we hiked in the field to see how close we could get to the coyote that has been hunting in our field.

Jack took this photo from the top of our hill.

I have recently learned how to hula hoop.  Never in my life could I do it, until now with these homemade ones.  I have been dreaming of making them for years when I first saw them at the Iola Fitness and Aquatic Center.  These were a upcycling project because we used these pipes to get water to our trees that were far from the house.  I only had to pay $0.17 for the connector.  Jack was cleaning them up and going to throw all the pipes away.   Hula hooping  is a good workout!  Have you hula hooped lately?

I had enough to decorate and give some to my nephew for his birthday.  One for him, each of his parents and his aunt that also has a birthday in August.

I guess Nola Mae was thirsty.  In the process she spilled milk inside my fridge and got stuck.  I didn’t realize how filthy it was until the spilled milk, thanks Nola Mae!

Nola Mae got her first taste of the beaters.

I love that Charlie likes to decorate cakes.  Takes all the pressure off me.  He wanted a Minecraft golden apple.  So easy!

For Charlie’s birthday I asked him many questions about his favorite things and blogged about it here.

Nola Mae at 16 months old:

Many people have commented how adorable Nola Mae is when she gets comfortable or sleepy when she puts her hands behind her head.  I started taken photos to really see how often she does it.  I won’t bore you or use up all my space on this blog with her in the exact same pose.   She is adorable.

In the month of August I finally finished my post about my homemade soaps.

Baby wearing:

Or not.  I went for a run one night and Jack took Nola Mae out to the wood shop.   He should really learn to put her in the Ergo by himself to be able to get things done.

I had some creative thoughts about a new Stash Shot of all my baby carriers and the best one was putting them on the clothes line.

Nola Mae trying to wrap herself.

My favorite wrap right now, a DIY woven wrap.  It cost me $2 at a rummage sale.  I found a box of fabrics and bought three pieces for $6 – this woven fabric, a wool piece for my neighbor and a dark blue woven piece that seems too stiff for baby wearing.

I am stealing Jack’s phrase for this photo, “Beat in the front.  Beets in the back.”

I saw this dog carrier at a local arts festival.  I never knew they had actual carriers for pets, Outward Hounddog is the brand.

Sewing projects:

A skiing friend ordered this one for a friend

and this one for a co-worker.

This is a darker turquoise color in real life.  It is so beautiful I wish I would have seen this color when I was picking out fabric for my ring sling.

I feel very blessed to have friends wanting to share the love of baby wearing and for all my amazing friends supporting my little side jobs that give me a little spending money.

One of my first ring sling sales has come back for a second one for her cousin.

This ring sling doesn’t have a home yet.

Neither does this one. 

This one is more narrow than the ones I have made.  The shoulder is a gathered shoulder, instead of pleats.  It would be great for a newborn baby.

Or maybe not because it seems to fit us.

Winter of Sewing (2013)

Winter of Sewing (2013)

I took this photo on January 7, 2013 with the intention of sewing everything in this pile that week, documenting it and doing a blog post called something like a “Week of Sewing.”  That didn’t happen so it turned into a Winter of Sewing.

Completed projects from this pile:

Black coat on the left – I replaced a zipper on a ski jumper’s coat.

Pink fabric with flower print – a huge pool bag for my sister that fits three kids.

Green fabric with silver rings – a ring sling for my sister-in-law, BJ, and for a friend’s daughter.  Extra fabric was made into bags for me and BJ.

 

Blue fabric with snow flakes – an apron for a young lady who use to live and ski jump here.

Not in the photo:  a patch job on a friend’s coat.

Not completed:

Top middle – old curtain from a thrift store to be made into a bag.

Purple fabric – maybe will become a skirt.

Brown fabric with “ICE” & “RWV” –  a sword holder designed by Robbie to hold his wooden sword that he received at Christmas time.  It has something to do with his Elemental Warrior game that he plays with his cousins.

Green peppers print – will be a fabric box.

Green and gold fabric – will be made into a star baby or a couple of them.

I am not sure exactly what happened that week.  Could it be the many distractions from my four children, the need to cook and feed my family, laundry and very minimal house cleaning?   Or maybe it was the skiing conditions were great that week and I went cross-country skiing.  Priorities, right?  My sewing will still be there but nobody knew how long the snow was going to last.  I recently wrote a post on my cross-country skiing  (Winter skiing 2013) because it was the best winter for cross-country skiing!

When I got into the mode of sewing and not thinking about skiing I was inspired or distracted, depending how you look at it, by other sewing projects that weren’t in this pile.  I hope to publish a “Upcycled Sewing” blog post soon.

While I was making the ring sling for BJ, I thought Kale, my nephew, could use one too.  I had this cool star print in my stash.

My friend, Kristin, saw Kale’s ring sling and asked me to make one for her three kids.

Henry modeling Kristin’s son’s ring sling.

I used BJ’s ring sling for a couple of weeks and fell in love with it.  I never tried one and was never interested in ring slings.  I always thought I needed to have both my hands free to do things and having a baby in a ring sling on my hip or on my front wouldn’t work, even if my hands were free.  Except when you need to run into the store or school quickly while holding a 3 year old’s hand. Or hold your baby while at a family function or event.  Or when you are in a public place and need to nurse the baby to sleep and keep the baby sleeping.  Too many uses to list.

I took these to photos to show that ring sling can be used with a baby and a three-year old, separately of course.  I have a friend who is a babywearing pro and has taught me everything I know.  She has an instructional YouTube video on how to put a newborn into one of these ring slings properly.  It is the best video out there!

   

I went back to the fabric store and bought more of the green fabric and some of this plum color.  I made this one with black rings for myself.

I have been using a ring sling for three months and Nola Mae is slowly getting heavier.  The ring sling has been comfortable for long periods of time, but lately not so much.  I was having trouble with the shoulder riding up towards my neck.  I believe that is because I made the pleats on the shoulder too narrow.

This week I finished making two more ring slings (another green one and a second plum-colored ring sling) and I ripped out the seams in the shoulder and widened the pleats on mine.  Then I decided to add a pretty design to the tail.

 

I made a seperate post for my upcycled sewing projects that I worked on this winter.

Week 7 – February 13 – 19, 2012

 Week 7 – February 13 – 19, 2012

Monday, February 13:  I sold many bars of my home-made soap today to a friend. I had three different kinds: Patchouli & Orange, Lavender & Lemongrass, and April Flakes (Lavender & Lemongrass essential oils made with snowflakes from last April’s late snow fall and lavender petals).

 

I have been fighting a cold and a cough since November.  My voice hasn’t sounded normal since then.  Over the weekend it seemed to come back, only for Monday to come around giving me a runny nose again.  My voice is still scratchy and I am coughing, but my cold seems to be gone.  One of the reasons I attribute that to is the garlic cloves that I ate for two days. 

I found a few helpful sites on the web about the benefits of garlic (this could be a blog post all by itself):

 Fighting Colds & Flu Naturally with Garlic

Cold Remedies Using Garlic and Honey

Treating a yeast infection with garlic

Tuesday, February 14:  Jump Rope for Heart – Charlie’s gym class.

 One of the cutest home-made Valentines I have seen!

Wednesday, February 15: Jump Rope for Heart – Robbie’s gym class.

 Henry will need absolutely no convincing when it is time for him to go to school.  I think he enjoyed gym as much as Robbie and Charlie!

 Aunt Susie came for a visit and dinner.

 

Thursday, February 16:  Henry and I skied with some friends who were faster than us.  We had to turn around before they were done.  This gave Henry a chance to check out the snow making machine. 

Friday, February 17:  I finished this baby quilt this week.  I am calling it Grandma’s Flowers.  I made this quilt with my new sewing machine that I purchased with the help of the money left to me by my step-grandma after she passed away.  The flowers are a straight stitch done with the embroidery feature on my sewing machine.  There are two irises, three daffodils and two poppies on this quilt.

Saturday, February 18:  Despite the warm weather and lack of snow fall this winter I am thankful we are still able to ski with the youth ski program on Saturday morning. 

We have had some help keeping snow on the trails with the cold temps at night, shade from the trees and most importantly the man-made snow.  Thanks to my friend Phil for making it and my friend Mary (Phil’s wife) for not getting mad at him for staying up all night and being worthless for a couple of days after his all nighter!

This was the first day I allowed the kids to use ski poles.  From what I have read it is easier for young kids to learn to ski without poles.  My main concern with poles is that they can be dangerous with young beginner skiers.  If you have seen the “pile ups” of kids crashing into each other, like I have, you would understand.

Some kids were excited to use them and some choose not to.   These girls were naturals and pretty fast with poles.  Robbie was able to keep up with them without poles.  He tells me poles are too much work.

Sunday, February 19:  My family got together today to visit in Middleton with my sister, Danna, who is currently living in MT (she is home for a week interviewing at UW-Madison).  We also gathered to see Ben off to Afghanistan.  Ben is my sister Becca’s boyfriend.  He will leave on February 23rd to get ready for his trip to Afghanistan.  Please help us pray that he will be safe during his time there!

Project 365 Week 51

Project 365 Week 51

Project 365: Take a photo a day and see your life in a whole new way.

My 100th post!

12/19/11 (Monday) – The boys have been spending time with me in my sewing room while I sew.  I have a hard time concentrating while they are down there with me.  I made many mistakes on a few of my projects which caused some delays and a lot of frustration.

Tonight was when I was able to focus on what they wanted to sew.  We didn’t finish the items for Christmas or for a photo this week.  Henry won’t mind when he opens his gift.

12/20/11 (Tuesday) – I went to the feed mill today and was pleased to find out that they know me by name, and weren’t calling me “the chicken lady.”  Except they had the wrong name and were calling me Patsy.  (Remember my post Small Towns?)  While I was there waiting for my feed to be ground up and bagged I met another customer who was looking to purchase laying hens.  We exchanged numbers and set up a day for him to come look at my chickens.  When I called him to arrange a time his wife said, “It’s the chicken lady.”  I am okay with being called the chicken lady, not Patsy.

I finished this dolphin apron for a friend.

And this cardinal for a bag.

12/21/11 (Wednesday) –  I rested a lot today after a few busy days.  I didn’t really want to rest but my body was telling me I needed to.   I felt better by evening and was able to finish sewing a few of my Christmas gifts.

   

12/22/11 (Thursday) –  I tried taking it easy today wrapping gifts, getting ready for Santa’s arrival, and packing for the weekend.  We left for the Owen/Loyal area after the boys got home from school.

We spent the evening with the Eloranta family eating great food, visiting, eating more yummy food and taking the annual group photo.

12/23/11 (Friday) –  We spent the day with the Vaters.

12/24/11 (Saturday) – While we waited for my brother and his family to arrive at my Mom’s house we walked down to the pond to play on the ice.  Grandpa Jerry surprised us with sled rides behind the 4-wheeler.

Four of the seven grandsons in our family were together today.  We missed our other cousins this weekend!

12/25/11 (Sunday) – We were home Christmas morning.  The boys surprised me by sleeping until 6:45am!  After breakfast we opened gifts and both big boys got right to work at putting their new Legos together.  These were the largest pieced sets they have ever done.  Both with minimal help from us.  Charlie used his new container from Granny that has different sections to sort his parts.

Their new Star Wars ships.

Henry’s baby quilt was finished just in time for me to give it to him for Christmas.

Surprise!  Surprise!  My Candy Loving Boy was busy eating all the candy in his stocking and sneaking candy from other people’s stockings.

Project 365 Week 50

Project 365 Week 50

Project 365: Take a photo a day and see your life in a whole new way.

12/12/11 (Monday) –  In last week’s post I mentioned that I lost one of the bags that I made.  I did a little bit of cleaning and rearranging to get the house ready for our Christmas tree and found my rooster bag.

12/13/11 (Tuesday) – Last weekend we had our “sign-up” day for the youth ski program that I do at Iola Winter Sports Club on Saturday mornings for kids that are 10 years old and younger.  I was pleased with the numbers of new families that will join us this winter.  In order to outfit the majority of the kids in more modern cross-country ski equipment (and warmer boots) I figured out that 14 pairs of skis with 3-pin bindings needed to be converted to Salomon bindings.  Phil did all the work!  Now, we are waiting for the snow to arrive!

My friend, Kat, came over after our kids were in bed to make a tool belt for her son for Christmas.  This is the first thing she has ever made!

The tool belt is adorable!

12/14/11 (Wednesday) –  Kat and I stayed up too late last night sewing and then visiting.  My day was shot, nothing was done around here except the bare minimum and no photos were taken!

12/15/11 (Thursday) –   I seemed to have forgotten that I am growing a baby in my belly because I am still tired from my late night on Tuesday night.

I did have a little energy to go to school for the boys’ Christmas program, make dinner and test more embroidery designs that I have on my sewing machine.  So I have been turning the “tests” into bags.

   

12/16/11 (Friday) –  I have shared photos of this quilt in progress.  I have titled this quilt “Grandma’s Garden”.  It is getting closer to completion.  I have filled in the spacer squares with flowers that my sewing machine does, pieced it together and put the boarders on the quilt.  The next steps will be deciding on the backing, basting it together, deciding on what quilting design to use and finally quilting it.

A couple of my favorite flowers on the quilt…

12/17/11 (Saturday) – My sister, Kayla, graduated from UW-Oshkosh and is now a Registered Nurse with a full-time job!  She has decided to work in oncology.  I am very proud of her!

I graduated from college 18 years ago this weekend.  My mom gave me my graduation quilt.  It was worth the wait!  Click here to read the story on this quilt.

 

12/18/11 (Sunday) – Jack spent the afternoon in the garage forging some projects with the older boys.  Charlie and Robbie made fire pokers for themselves.

Robbie’s fire poker is the shorter one and Charlie’s is the longer one.

Project 365 Week 49

Project 365 Week 49

Project 365: Take a photo a day and see your life in a whole new way.

12/5/11(Monday) – I did a test pattern on my embroidery machine of a poppy. I wasn’t sure how it was going to go or even how long it would take. My machine told me that this pattern was for 64,000 stitches and failed to mention that it would take almost five hours. Thankfully, I don’t have to sit there for all of those five hours. My only requirement once the machine is set up and started is to change the color of thread at the designated times.

The threads for the poppy design.

My machine in action.

The flower turned out much prettier than I expected so I decided to make a bag with it.

I also made a small zipper bag with an awesome rooster embroidered on it.  I don’t have a photo because I lost the bag!

I finally cut my last batch of soap.  I hope it will be dry for Christmas gifts.

12/6/11 (Tuesday) –   A friend wanted aprons for her daughters and daughter-in-law.  The daugther aprons match the granddaughter aprons I made in July.

   

This week I had my bible study on Monday night and came home to this on the table.   (This is an Origami Christmas Tree design.  Robbie used that design to make a sign for me to notice the note that he left me.)

Tuesday night I had a board meeting at the ski hill and came home to find this note.

12/7/11 (Wednesday) –  A friend asked me to make tooth pillows for her two girls.

 

12/8/11 (Thursday) –  While walking out to the barn to take care of the chickens, collect eggs and insulate the chicken coop window Henry said, “Wind in my face!  Is winter time?”

 You can see that huge gap where the snow blows in, what you can’t see is all the little holes all around the window.

Before insulation.

  While fixing the chicken coop window Henry told me, “My face needs gloves!”

I stuffed straw in the window and covered it with plastic.  I was almost done and we were both freezing and Henry was crying, “ME DONE!”

He was happier once we got into the house and needed to put the eggs away.

12/9/11 (Friday) –  Jack’s early Christmas present arrived today.  It is a TV with a built in DVD player for his exercise area.  He was using an old laptop for his exercise videos.  We have always used our computers to watch movies since we don’t have a TV in our house, until now, I think we will refer to it as a DVD player.

12/10/11 (Saturday) – Robbie and Charlie had their piano recital today.  Henry thought he should be able to go up on the stage to play piano too.

We took a family photo since everyone was in nice clothes this afternoon.

12/11/11 (Sunday) –  We cut down our Christmas tree from behind the garage.  These were some of the first spruce trees I planted during our first couple years here.  It is amazing how fast they have grown.  This one was slightly bent/damaged from the heavy snow we had in November.

Each boy got a turn to trim the trunk for easy sawing.

This is our smallest Christmas tree. I think it is my favorite mainly because I love Colorado blue spruce trees!

Project 365 Week 47

Project 365 Week 47

Project 365: Take a photo a day and see your life in a whole new way.

11/21/11 (Monday) –  I finally made something for myself.   This bag accidentally became a reversible bag.   I made a pocket for it from one of the embroidery designs on my sewing machine.  I liked the way the Baltic fabric looked and I didn’t want  to disturb that with a pocket on the outside.   I made the bag big enough to carry my quilt hoop and a quilt project.  I believe it is 22″ x  21″.

This bag was inspried by a design I saw in the book Sew Wild by Alisa Burke that I picked up from my library.

My pocket with a variegated purple thread.

While I was trying to figure out what fabric to use for the inside I realized that the pocket looked pretty on the plain cream fabric and together they would make a pretty bag.  That is how I got the idea for the reversible bag.

11/22/11 (Tuesday) –  Henry warming his baby’s fingers because they were cold.

I found a wonderful deal on Honey Crisp apples and had to buy 45 pounds of them ($19)!  This was a wonderful after school surprise for the big boys.

11/23/11 (Wednesday) – The boys’ Thanksgiving weekend started today.  Since Jack had to work we invited Aunt Susie to join us for lunch at the boys’ favorite place in Stevens Point.   There was cotton candy!

   

11/24/11 (Thursday) –  Remember the birthday party Charlie attended last weekend and I didn’t realize that it was a birthday party until he came home?  Charlie picked out this fabric for Mollie’s apron.

11/25/11 (Friday) –  We were fortunate to have three family Thanksgiving meals over the weekend.  The Vater family was our first meal and was the only one we got a group photo.

11/26/11 (Saturday) –  I spent the day at my mom’s house visiting, looking at her quilting projects, and eating leftovers.  Our last Thanksgiving meal was this evening with wonderful food and great company.  We drove one and a half hours home in order to sleep in our own bed.

11/27/11 (Sunday) –  Robbie and Henry helped me unload the straw that I bought last week.  Robbie dropped the bales onto the truck bed for Henry to push them off.  I stacked the bales perfectly, the way I like my bales stacked, without any interference!

My neighbor called to tell me they are going to take the corn to the feed mill on Monday.   So we unloaded some corn to buy from them to feed the chickens.  We figured out how many pounds of corn fit in our bucket, Robbie kept a tally of how many buckets we loaded, then we went into the house to add up our pounds of corn and figured out how much we have to pay.

Jack took photos of the boys this afternoon.

This isn’t a perfect picture of all three boys but it is my favorite one.