Goldfish!

Reading a book puts a thought into a child's head and they start digging in their banks to see if they can come up with enough money to purchase the desired item. This past week we have been reading Henry Huggins by Beverly Cleary, in the book Henry gets a silver dollar for his birthday from his grandpa. One day as he was at the pet store getting dog food for Ribsy there was a special on guppies with bowl, plant, and food for $ .79! When we finished the chapter my kids decided they certainly needed a fish too! I told them they could have goldfish, but they needed to use their own money, and it would cost more than $.79!!

They put their money together and decided they had enough, especially since we found a couple large vases at Salvation Army that would work just fine for fish bowls. Steve took the kids to Wagon Wheel to make their purchases and came home to put the fish in their new homes. So we now have new center pieces on our table! The kids had fun getting to copy something they read in a book and using thier imaginations!

Winter Fun!

With several more inches of snow the kids have spent hours and hours sledding down our hill and being pulled behind the 4wheeler on a sled! Many trips up and down the hill wears them out sufficiently but they have so much fun in the process.

Snowboarding is also great fun and is more of a challenge than sledding since the object is to see if they can actually stay standing all the way to the bottom of the hill. I usually hear the reports of who made it all the way down at the end of the day!

The kids also spend many hours riding around the yard behind the 4-wheeler on a sled. I remember spending plenty of hours doing the same thing when I was a young girl! Oh, the sore behinds from being pulled over rocks poking through the driveway, but nothing stopped us from zipping around the yard, flying around corners, and leaping over the snow berms behind the 4-wheeler.

The temperatures dipped to 1 degree this morning at our house. We could feel the added chill in the house this morning and put on extra sweaters as we began our school day. No matter how cold it is outside the sun eventually warms the house as it comes up. The clear blue skies on a crispy cold day are amazingly beautiful!

Another year...

...older! Today I celebrated my 35th birthday...goodness when did I get that old?!? I'm not saying I'm old, but I still think of myself as a 20 something, but then I look at my teenage kids and I am quickly reminded that several years have passed since then. Tonight as I was celebrating with family and friends I was remembering when my mom turned 35...I must have thrown a party for her or something because I seem to remember it quite well. Since I can remember when my mom turned 35, how could I be that age now?? Amazing how time flies and it can seem like only yesterday when we were that young.

I enjoyed my rather quiet day of not doing much. The kids spent a better half of the day outside playing in their fort and ice skating. They all look forward to Saturday so much when they can sleep in and after the house gets a thorough cleaning, they can play outside to their hearts content. With so many hands the house work is light and we can manage to get the house cleaned from top to bottom in a couple hours, then everyone has the rest of the day to do as they please. Five of the six kids are most interested in spending the time outdoors...they love the great outdoors and the freedom that comes with that. Steve, Ann Marie, and I usually find something to busy ourselves with inside, whether it be sewing, knitting, catching up on emails or bills, or baking. But no one is in any hurry and we just get to enjoy the day.

I couldn't think of a better day than a not-busy Saturday to celebrate my birthday!

Pumpkin Apple Butter

Our project this week was to make pumpkin apple butter from several fresh pumpkins and fresh apples. It has been several years since I've made pumpkin apple butter, but it was a favorite around here. We don't grow pumpkins in our garden, but take advantage of the cheap ones around fall time. It is alot of work to cook and puree pumpkin, but is so worth the effort as we enjoy various favorite recipes. My mom came over and Ann Marie and I joined the fun of cooking and putting jam in jars. My mom also brought over some berries and berry juice that she had in her freezer for quite sometime...that sure makes good jam! It was a good home ec project for Ann Marie and we got our shelves full of homemade jam and pumpkin apple butter.

More skating...

What a skating party! We had an impromptu skating party last Saturday as friends decided our pond looked like lots of fun! It was a beautiful sunny day and perfect for hours of skating. The four oldest boys found plenty of games to play and spent four hours on the ice...with blisters to show for it the next day! The younger kids didn't spend quite so many hours on the ice, but still had plenty of fun.

There are several pictures here that show off Steve's artist eye. The culvert is the water source for our backyard pond and is a beautiful waterfall of frozen ice in the winter.