A Chilly Hitch-Hiker

Meet Jethro:


And please don't ask me why they decided to name him Jethro...


After a few hours sculpting time with prime snow for the job, his creators kissed him goodbye...


...and went inside, rather proud of their creation.


Poor guy..


Nobody's picked him up so far...


And he looks kinda chilly...


His biggest threats are tied between the brightly shining overhead sun today, and the threat of a snowplow with tomorrow's forecast for snow.  Thanks for your concern and we'll keep you posted on Jethro's plight...  ;)

A few Pics from my Camera...

Last week we had a warm snap where inside our unheated and uninsluted greenhouse it reached 80'.


The kids took the opportunity to give all the horses their mid winter hoof trim.


Nice job, Steve!


(Handmade hat and gloves, Stephen has.)


 Then, this week, it got cold again...

...but this is sort of an exaggeration. ;)


Here's my most recent creation that I mentioned in my last post...

I really enjoyed how freestyle I allowed myself to go with this project. No patterns, tracing or nothing, just snipping and sewing. I told Donna I was going to put a bear in the tree and she said, "oh, but not a scary one." So I agreed, and then she came back later to say "Mary, that's not a scary bear." :)

Annie working on a big coaster order...


A lot of spare time in these long winter days goes to practicing music. We have the main room of our mobile equipped with a fireplace so we can warm it up to use as a rec/play/music room. We have our Foosball table out there, as well as all our musical instruments. Lizzy is joining the band this year on keyboard and adding great sound! So fun to make a fun noise together, everyone contributing something. :) We were also gifted with a mixing board/sound system over Christmas which enables us all to plug into the same amplifier units and has greatly improved our sound (that big box on the table).

 

Winter is our creative/crafting time, and also the best opportunity to restock the shops. I've been adding new items daily, if you want to see what we've been up to there.

 

We've also had a guest here this week, which makes for extra rowdy outdoor play and staying up extra late playing games. ...It's been a fun week. :) 

Until next time! :)

A Closet Find...

The other day, I was digging through the top shelves of the linen closet in search of a backdrop for yet another photo shoot to show off some newly crafted items for the shops. Needless to say, I didn't find anything for the photo shoot, but I did come across this blanket that we made several years ago with Mrs. M. If my young memory isn't failing me, we made it for Mom as a Mothers day gift... (or was it her birthday?? Oh dear. Perhaps we should have dated it!)

Anyway, it was fun to study after not having seen it in awhile. This is a really special quilt, so we  aren't sacrificing it to everyday use, but I wish we had a wall big enough to display it on! I do remember that little nine year old, perfectionist Theresa stitched Dad's hair and beard, as well as many of the boy's hair in her fine little stitches, which will eternally surpass mine.

This was such a fun project. I remember trying to capture each siblings personality. Micheal's character, for example, has big ears in a playful jibe towards his then big ears (his head must have grown some, because they don't seem big anymore).


My favorite part of all our quilting projects together, is when we would carry the nearly finished blanket into the living room and sit on the floor in front of the fire place and stitch the binding while we chatted and visited with Mrs. M. :) My only regret was that, with each stitcher on a side of the quilt, the job was always finished way to quickly. :) We have a picture of little Theresa wearing an outfit just like this one and she happened to be wearing braids in the picture, so she was given them in her stitched character as well.

 With the new addition of Donna to the family, I'm thinking this would be a good time to haul this quilt over to Mrs. M's and visit while doing a little revising. ;) Unfortunately, we live too far away for that to be an easy option, but it's a lovely thought on a snowy afternoon anyway! :)


This afternoon, I spent some time holed up in my room working on a colorful little quilted wall hanging inspired by Mrs. M. :o)


Until next time...

Snow Days

Things are pretty quiet around here lately. The warm days have kept our snow levels low and our roads icy. The kids have been ridding their ponies out the back way anyway. The blizzards come and melt down, come and melt down. Overall, it's been a very unusual winter for us.

Today, we had a snow day after a recent blizzard. Projects were dropped and sleds were gathered. Happy Friday! It's so nice to take time to have fun and celebrate family life for no reason at all. :) Here's a few pictures Dad snapped before the camera battery died:

Walking out to the hill...


How to find the hill? Just follow the joyful screams...


The hill: What? Don't you see it? ;)


You just follow the path down. See? Perfectly safe!


...until you get to that jump that the boys made at the bottom. *rolling eyes*


Or you plow right through it like Andrew...


Or fly right over it like Michael and snowboard...


Or look terrified and scream like a girl (I won't mention any names here! ;)...


Or just smile pretty and leave the girlish screaming for the boys. ;)


A problem:If sled equals left and person goes over right then we have pain, true or false?


Donna and the cute bear hat that Theresa knit her...


Babysitter: the one who pulls you back up the hill in the sled. :)


Practicing to stay ahead of competitive sisters? No, of course not! ;)

...So, which one looks like the competitive one?? ;)


This is Donna's tough, "don't mess with me," side.

I don't know, maybe it's the ears, but all her brothers just go ahead and pick on her anyway. ;)

Sledding: an easy cure for cabin fever. :) 

Until next time--we are all wonderful and well here! :) 

Oh the Taste of Sweet Success!

Finally, Annie enjoyed some great success in her quest for making a natural ginger bread house...

However, whether or not she will actually ever let us taste the success is highly debatable... ;)

Anyway, it makes for a lovely (albeit tempting) decoration! ;)

Happy 2012!! :)