The Year in Review

early Winter 2012

 


We got our snow after Christmas, but we're not complaining! We wanted to share our favorite pictures of the year with you all. Happy New Year! 

walking from downtown Asheville to aunt Lisa's house

Ball play at homeschool co-op (C got distracted by the garbage truck)



Pond digging

C playing playing toes in the water with baby cousin

We gave fertile eggs to Grandma's hen to set and she hatched out these little ones
(we were chicken-sitting while Grandma was on vacation)






C using the old-fashioned water pump

J and the corn sheller



ring toss

C holding a rifle taller than him

 

tic-tac-toe fun with cousin D (at Daddy's hotel)

C's first time at the beach!





Giant checkers at the campground

On the battleship USS North Carolina



Rafting

goofing around in the leaves





The hawk who tried to get one of our chickens

Today, Winter late 2012

Winter Nature Scavenger Hunt

 

 Today we had fun playing in the snow, with sledding and snowball fun. After sledding, we went on a winter scavenger hunt. We used the notebooking page by Barb at the Handbook of Nature Study blog.

moss on a tree

leafless trees

evergreen tree

plant with thorns (our blackberry bushes)

feather (ok, we cheated since this is one of our chickens' feathers)

animal tracks in the snow

Merry Christmas!

Snowflakes for Newtown




J hard at work drawing

Our snowflakes

We finished our snowflakes for Newtown schoolchildren and will be sending them out the day after Christmas. We read our Snowflake water cycle book after our crafting. Now on to cleaning and making our traditional Christmas cookies. We make gingerbread families and star sugar cookies every year. And as is tradition, before bed tonight we will read Twas The Night Before Christmas and have cookies and cocoa.

Peace, love and light to you all. May you be blessed this holiday and through the coming year.



C embarrassed and getting the giggles at getting his picture taken





J posing in front of tree (next year, he'll probably be as tall as the tree)

Merry Christmas from us to you

 

Gifting and Thrifting

Monkey for baby cousin

wool sweater ball for friend in trade

 We have been busy with crafting and other merry-making. Sorry I've neglected this space, but I took a break to get all the gifting finished. I made a monkey out of a recycled sweater for my nephew. I'm excited to see what he thinks on Christmas Day! And I made the sweater ball for my friend Saam in trade for one of her beautiful playsilks. Hope her little guy loves it. We also passed out food gifts to friends at church and we're making snowflakes for the children of Sandy Hook Elementary. A bit of peace, love and light from us for their transtion back to school.

 We had a snowstorm a couple of days ago and man, was it cold. Frigid cold. We only got a couple inches of snow, but the boys had fun finding cool ice sculptures. We're expecting snow Christmas night and into the next day, so maybe we will get a white Christmas!

J wearing his shirt from Grandma & Grandpa in Colorado



 

 We've have been enjoying some of our favorite winter and Christmas books. A few of our favorites:
       A Wreath of Christmas Legends
       Robin Finds Christmas
       The Polar Express
       Letters From Father Christmas
       The Year of the Perfect Christmas Tree
       Poles Apart: Why Penguins and Polar Bears Will Never Be Neighbors
       Snowflake Bentley
       The Secret Staircase (a Brambly Hedge book)
      



While Dad had a work meeting in downtown Asheville, we did some final Christmas shopping and had lunch. We stopped at the general store and the boys picked out candy from the barrels. I thought it might be a hectic day out with all the other Christmas shoppers, but I was wrong. Everyone was in good spirits! I found my mom a chicken egg platter at our favorite antique mall and look what I found (yes, for me) at the used bookstore: 

I adore Holly Hobbie (and her Toot & Puddle books are wonderful, too)!

Happy Holidays to you all! XO