2014 Year in Review (Part 1)

 Happy New Year!! Wow, another 365 days gone by way too fast. For my friends and family who don't live close by and might be interested in what's going on around here, here's a little year-in-review post for you. I will split it up into 2 posts as I have too many photos to share in one. ;o)

January was cold...REALLY cold. We had a lot of ice in the house on windows and walls. This year we made sure we got the plastic up on the windows, but we will probably need to replace them in the future. I also got to take some fun engagement photos for my son and his bride.

Aren't they cute?

February came in with snow...LOTS of snow. This was the most we've seen in the 5 or so years we've been here.

Gotta make sure the gas man can get to the tank.

Yes, that's a Christmas tree and wreath still up. There's a horse and sleigh  decoration somewhere under the snow on the left. We lost it till April.

If you gotta shovel snow off the roof, you might as well make it fun.

We also had a lot of these around the house. When it's too cold to go out, you find something to keep yourself busy, and these kept her busy quite a bit. 

While March brings spring to most of the country, not for us, so our church makes the most of it and plans our annual snow soccer game then. Yep, we're that crazy. Well, I'm not exactly. I stood in the warm building and took these shots through the window. 

He came up to the window to show me his icicles. The fogginess of the photo is due to the steam coming off his body. :o)

April was Resurrection Sunday, and snowman building. Doesn't everyone build a snowman in the spring? 

 May was super busy. It started with a trip to Colorado to celebrate a wedding for my nephew. This picture of the bride getting ready should tell you how much fun this wedding was.

I will post more photos of this cake on my cake blog later this month.

 The following week we were back home and preparing for our own son's wedding. Here's a picture of the cake. The topper was the bride's grandmother's.

There was a little surprise on the back for the groom. 

They are such an awesome couple. It's so much fun having a daughter-in-love who likes to craft with me. ;o)

And just so you don't think we are in snow all year, here's a shot of my garden in June. See, we did finally get those Christmas decorations put away. :o) 

I will close this post here and finish up the year for you tomorrow. 

Till next time...

God's love and blessings!

The Birthday Shirt

It's me again. How are you doing on this lovely fall day? We are doing well. Playing catch up on some home and school work after being away for a week.

Some of our summer fun included our youngest's 11th birthday. She had a MineCraft party that I pulled ideas from lots of other people on the internet for. I spent a bit of time looking through those photos trying to decide which ones to blog about, and as I did, I came across her birthday shirt photo and thought I would share the idea with you. (I will post the party photos later). I bought a large sweatshirt and painted a present on the front with fabric paint. Each year we take photos of the kids in it on (or sometimes, around) their birthday to see how much they've grown. As a military family, this has worked great since we moved so often and didn't have a permanent place for a growth chart. The only thing I would change is to buy an extra large, or make sure you get one from the men's department. Our son outgrew the shirt in his early teens.

 I went through my files and found her past birthday shirt photos. Sigh. Time moves way too fast for this mama.

Ignore the date on this photo. I didn't have my camera set up properly.

1st Birthday--trying to climb out of the shirt.

This was her 2nd birthday.

 We had some issues a couple of years. A couple of them we forgot to take the birthday shirt photo, one year we were moving, and then there was a computer failure. :o(

Apparently I had good intentions. That's the shirt behind her, but I can't find a photo of her in it.

Wow, has she changed over the 2 last years! She's looking less and less like a little girl, and more and more like a young lady. I am so blessed to be able to home school her and spend most of my day with her, teaching and training, and just having fun together. And, while I'm looking forward to watching her continue to grow, right now I think I need to go snuggle with her while she's still wanting to snuggle with me.

Till next time...
God's love and blessings

Summer Fun Part 2--A Little Late

So, yes, I realize summer is long over. In fact, we've already had our first snow fall here, but I thought I would catch up on some of the fun things we did this summer before I move on to October's happenings.

We were able to meet up with one of our friends as she was flying through our area one afternoon. We decided a trip to the zoo would be perfect that day. I took quite a few photos, but I thought I'd just show you some of our favorites.

 Our zoo also has a conservatory with lots of different plants.

 These are the most unusual flowers I think I've ever seen.

We also spent an afternoon at one of the local county fairs. Actually, Mike and I were asked to be judge and technician for the talent show at the fair, otherwise, we might not have gone. Michelle was able to enjoy a couple of the rides and snacks, of course. 

And here's a couple of random fun photos for the summer. Michelle was making her favorite dinner (kielbasa with mac-n-cheese) while I worked on a cake. She got the awesome hat at a birthday party earlier in the year and loves to wear it whenever she can. 

One afternoon, Michelle and her friend spent several hours playing outside with their new "pets". Looks like quite a feast they were having there.

I did pick berries again this year, but there weren't very many. Not sure why since we had a LOT of rainfall. I think Layla picked more burrs on each trip out than I got berries.

Whew! That's it. I finished up our summer adventures. Maybe I'll have some time tomorrow to catch y'all up on October's.

September Recap

Hello there. Did you know it is now October? Seriously?!? What happened to September? It was just here, I know it was, I even have photos to prove it. Maybe I should share a couple of my favorite ones with you today and I can finish Part 2 of Our Summer Fun later.

Last week I was sitting across the table from my ever-so-diligent student as we worked on her language arts work. I was reading aloud and she was supposed to be following along. In my peripheral vision, I noticed a lot more movement than was required for silent reading and looked up to see what she was doing. I was totally ready to quiz her on what "we" were just reading when I saw this.
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I have to say I never got the "quiz" questions asked. I was too busy giggling. :o) This one definitely keeps things interesting.

One of our first days of school was quite chilly, so we had to have some hot cocoa. Of course, hot cocoa is always better with marshmallows, sprinkles, and doodles. Do you notice the notebook on the table? She has one of these in every color we could find. She's named our home school, HGU--Henderson Glitter University.

Most of the other pictures I took last month were of scenery, because, honestly, I can't help myself. It's just too beautiful this time of year not to.

Do you remember the trees from my Garden Love post? This is what they looked like about a week ago. It's been raining the last few days so I think a lot of the leaves from the yellow tree are gone now.

 Sunrise:

 Sunset:

I can't finish the September post without introducing you to our newest family member. Meet Smokey. Michelle's friend's cat had 4 kittens and we decided this one needed to come live with us.

We're still having some issues between him and his canine siblings, oh, and the fact that he's a MAJOR distraction to school work, but all in all, he seems to be settling in with us just fine.

Yep, I think they're going to be the best of friends.

I'm going to close this here. Michelle is almost done with her school work for the day and we've got an apple pie to go make. Yum!

Till next time...

God's love and blessings!