I've never seen this before-- antlers for your car. I wasn't too impressed, and as a matter of fact, the first thought that popped into my head was: oh, more crap for people to buy.
Surprisingly, they let me sleep until I woke up around 8 am. I thought for sure they would have jumped on the bed, screaming in delight at the sight of presents under the tree, but they patiently waited. Wow. Middle noted that there were more presents than last year, and she is right. Thanks to Leslie and Tracey, 2 Mountain Mama readers, they each got new jammies, new fleece hoodies, baby dolls for each girl, a train for Baby, and various stocking stuffers. I can't thank you enough for all you've done for my children this Christmas. Thank you, thank you, thank you. They had a good Christmas and more presents than there would have been if not for Tracey and Leslie.
Saturday, the weather cleared and we headed over to my husband's parent's house in Virginia. The grandparents got to have all 7 of their grandchildren together that day. It was a nice day, spent with family, food, laughter and love.
Being behind the camera most of the time, and having 4 little ones, it's rare that we get a decent picture of the Husband and I, so I am thrilled to have this lovely photo of us, thanks to my Mother-in-Law. I want to make that another resolution for 2010-- to get more family photos that include me!
We never had official stockings for the kids, usually just some cheap ones from the dollar store, but they always got misplaced and lost. I decided to make some this year from fleece and instead of doing their whole names, I just cut out the first letter of their names in contrasting colors in fleece and sewed them on. I like how they turned out and the latest line of questioning is where they are going to be hanged.
Along with those button flowers we made, some of the ornaments are made from perler beads-- those plastic beads that you iron to melt together. They have made stars, trees, hearts, snowflakes, peace signs.... This is the snowflake.
Here's the heart.
When I do my sewing, the girls go through my scraps and with a little help from me, make assorted ornaments-- small pouches, houses, snowmen...
I also broke out my fimo clay and let the kids have at it. The Husband worked with the girls on this one and they made wreaths, candy canes, ball ornaments, snowmen, lollipops... For some, I had to stick a paper clip into them for a hanging loop before baking.
Happy kids!
Baby's first taste of snow! :o)
Hot Chocolate with candy canes to warm up frozen kids- yum!
Buried treasure: old glass bottles, 1951-62 (based on outline lettering from the Clorox bottle)
After a good soak and washing, these old bottles are as good as new again! They are four-fifth of a liter so I am assuming they were once used for some sort of alcohol. Beer? Liquor?
They are now a vessel for my peach wine, which is quite tasty by the way. I have gone through every single cap in the house to see if any fits, and wouldn't you know? The only one that fits is from another alcoholic beverage bottle! I am using a water bottle cap, which almost fits, and then plastic wrap over it, secured with a rubber band. I have 4 of these filled right now and another 2 gallons of peach wine to divide into smaller bottles.
Youngest with her house. She had very, very little help from me and I am amazed at how well she put it all together. I gotta give her more credit for her creativity!
Middle and her house. She said the gummy bears are playing 'ring around the rosie' all around the house.
The fish turned out a little dark here, it's a bit of a brighter orange than what you see above. I have 4 available and they are all slightly different, no two are alike, so what you see in the picture may vary slightly from what you get.
Pick out your buttons, arrange them, then glue with Aleene's Glass and Bead glue (I found mine at the craft store). 
Middle made that big one from metal buttons.
The kids did the arrangements, I did the gluing. Crack a window or turn on the ceiling fan when you use the glue, it's pretty smelly.
You could use new buttons, they sell bagged ones at the craft store, or use what you have. I admit, I had a teensy bit of an inner struggle with myself when the girls picked out a particularly nice button for their flowers, but I refrained from saying anything. In the end, it makes a pretty flower, right? We used a mix of old and new buttons. When some of my Mom's clothes got ruined in the fire, I snipped off the buttons! Many of these were from Mom's clothing.
There was a possibility of working at a group home not too far from the beach, but the girl that was supposed to be our roommate kept flaking out on us, so I ended up going back home to Mom's at the end of the summer.
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I went to my best friend's Maw-Maw's house for a weekend and she put us to work helping out in the garden. I fell in love with canning tomatoes. I loved getting my hands dirty, picking tomatoes and then learning how to skin them, can them and seeing all the pretty rows of tomato-filled quart jars on the table. I was happy that day.
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At the encouragement of my Mom, I applied for a job in the Post Office. I took the test, was hired, and began work on 11-11-95. Little did I know, a fellow co-worker that began on the same day would be my future husband.
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I think this is the very first picture of the two of us together. This was either the first or second time I went to his parent's house and this was about a month after we started dating in November of '96.
I have never brought a boy I dated home before, and by the time my Dad met him, we were already engaged. He proposed to me on Jan 2, 1997 and we moved into an apartment together shortly after. We went to my Dad and his wife's house to gather some things for my apartment and I only introduced him as a friend who was helping me move. I wanted to tell them in a formal way, so we invited them for dinner and when I told Dad and his Wife that we were engaged, my Dad's exact words were, "I didn't even know you had a boyfriend!"
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I still didn't know what I wanted to do with myself. I knew I wanted to marry my fiancee, but the Post Office was not where I wanted to be. I hated that place. Good money, good benefits, I met my husband there, but the job was hell. It was a physically taxing job with supervisors that ignored me unless they wanted me to work elsewhere.
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We got married in '98, moved to a bigger apartment, moved to a house in the country, and then, I finally discovered what I wanted to do:
Have babies with my Husband!
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to be continued next Monday...
This, was how 14 year olds dressed back in 1988.
This is me at 15, the summer between sophomore and junior years. We were dressed up for a Sadie Hawkins party and this was my version of country bumpkin. It was fun that day, but then I was caught in that anxiety of trying to "catch" a guy and hoping he would have fun with me and not be all depressed that it was me that got him. I never did figure out if he was cool with me-- after our "marriage" we went our separate ways.
At just-turned-17, I was still searching for my style. I was wearing a shirt from a guy I liked. It was Homecoming weekend at the university and he was a freshman and I was a high school senior. I stayed overnight in his room. Nothing happened- I slept on the floor, but the next day, I needed a shirt, so I swiped his. I wore that shirt out. How many times have I thought I was the coolest chick wearing a boys' shirt??? I figured out here that I liked silver jewelry, so I had the big hoops and silver rings and necklaces. I was all about the silver!
I went stag to my senior prom. No one asked me. I wanted to go, it was on a cruise ship, so me and 2 other girls decided we'd go together and have fun anyway. I was starting to discover my style-- hippie chick. This was my prom outfit. I felt so daring, wearing a see-thru blouse, belly showing, mini-skort. I went to Georgetown to buy this outfit at all the hip shops. I had on dangle-y daisy earrings, a peace necklace, my hair parted down the middle... I felt like I was in my element. I was also kind of nervous, what would people think? How would they react?
Looking at this picture of me, about to head onto the boat, I looked so sexy! Look at those legs! I wish I had more confidence in myself back then. I wish I knew how beautiful I was, instead of worrying about what other people thought of me. I wish that when I worked up the courage to ask a guy out, only to get told that he just wanted to be friends, that I said to him, "your loss", instead of feeling crushed and that girl inside of me just wanted to wither away and disappear.
After graduation, my sister and I participated in a 'Bike Across Virginia' ride. My sister was an avid biker, and I wanted to be like her. I wanted to be athletic like she was, so I tried out for the basketball and volleyball teams because she played, but I never made the teams. I could ride a bike though, so we signed up and spent 5 days riding the Shenandoah Valley with hundreds of other riders. It was a great trip, I learned I didn't have the stamina my sister had, but we had so much fun together.
Here's that picture I promised of the girls in their costumes: Oldest as a vampire, dressed in black with crimped hair and pointy teeth; Youngest as a purple witch with black-painted fingernails and pointy hat; Middle as supergirl. I found the groovy blue polyester pant suit at a yard sale a while back and bought it to wear for Halloween one day. I don't know how people did it back then, but polyester is freakin' hot!! I was sweating buckets wearing that and ended up taking the jacket off and just wearing the pants with a t-shirt. So much for dressing up!
I couldn't be more pleased with this costume I made for Middle!
Happy Halloween!!
It went from feeling like winter was here early back to lovely fall days this week. We took advantage of the warmer days and gathered fallen logs in our woods. How nice it has been not to start up the wood stove just yet. Maybe we can push not using the wood stove to November? Wait and see, it was overcast today, then rain, and all the windows are shut again, so who knows what the weather may bring this weekend.
I am trying to get the girls to come up with ideas for Halloween costumes. I don't want to buy over-priced, cheaply-made costumes that rip and tear on the first day. When I told the girls to make suggestions, they all immediately wanted to be disney princesses. *sigh* Let's see if I can get them to come up with other ideas. Oldest wants to use a renaissance princess costume we have that is surprisingly well-made and we've had for a few years now. I hemmed it when she was 4 and it was too long for her and will probably need to let it down for her to wear. I'll need to make her a crown of some sort as the one that went with it is long gone.
Last year, when we went trick-or-treating at the mall, there was an adorable little toddler who was made up as a french artist, with the black and white striped shirt, black pants, black beanie and carrying an paint board and brush. I'm hoping to get Youngest to dress up like that, as she already has the clothing, I'll just make a beanie and a cardboard paint board. She got upset when I told her we'd "paint" a mustache on her and she didn't want that. I think she just doesn't understand that it will wash off and I need to explain better to her what I meant.
The power company sent out their tree trimming people to trim any branches or cut down trees that pose hazards to the power lines. Several months back, a rep from the company went door-to-door, letting homeowners know and to get permission for them to come up on your property. They came up yesterday and spent most of the day trimming our trees. I know they are doing a good thing, preventing possible disruptions to the power, but I still can't help feel bad for all the trees they are cutting down.
The previous owners planted a great line of evergreens and they are nearly 3 stories tall. Each tree had the tops lopped off and we can now see the neighbors lights across the road. I know they'll grow back, but still... On the bright side of things, the tree-trimming guys asked us if we wanted the wood chips. Yes!! So after they were done for the day, they dumped the whole truck-full of wood chips exactly where we wanted them. They'll return on Monday to finish the job. They also left the logs from the trees they cut down which we will save for next year's wood pile.
My van is fixed, after nearly a month of being in the shop. Only one time, out of that whole month, I was able to "escape" for a couple of hours, when my Mom was here and Hubby took me to the food store. The rest of the time, I was "stuck" at home and feeling a bit stir-crazy. I am used to getting my kid-free time at the food store at least once a week, when I can leave the kids at home and get a few hours all to myself, without constantly being at the beck and call of 4 little ones. It was hard not having that time to myself and I appreciate the freedom the van gives me. Hopefully, the van will not give us any more trouble for a good while and now we can focus on getting the truck checked out. Always something to fix or work on around here!
Have a good weekend!
If I forget to lash the cabinet doors, Baby opens and climbs in or pulls out all my pots and pans. Not so bad this cabinet, but the other one, he has broken my vintage melamine bowl (karma- I broke my mom's when I was little), pulled out the very sharp and very dangerous mandolin slicer and used it as a banging toy (ack!) and pulls out all the mixing bowls and piles them high in wobbly towers.
We have started to bungee cord the chairs to the table because he has learned to climb the chair, then climb the table where he proceeds to table dance, grab stuff and toss it off and just grins from ear to ear!
I have 3 flavors in 1/2 pint sizes available: 
From all accounts I've read.. online, bloggers, books; I was under the impression that 6 hens will give me, on average, 5 to 6 eggs daily. If I was lucky, I was getting 2 or 3 per day, sometimes, nothing. I worried that maybe they were laying in the woods and I'd have to put up a fence to pen them in.
exposed! 
After I wrote my last post about making pants for Baby from an old sweat jacket, my sister sent me a box of clothes from her baby boy! What an unexpected surprise in the mail today. Thanks Sis!! :o) Lots of nice warm clothes for Baby to wear in there!
