Snow Girl

We've had one day so far this year on which it was possible to make a snowman (usually it's too cold and dry so the snow won't stick together), sadly we had to be gone most of the day, but we did what we could once we got home and the girls pronounced their new friend a snow"girl".

Face Painting

Perhaps our most loved project to date. We even made our own paint!

I adapted a recipe to use what I had on hand and it worked well.

For each color paint I used about :

1 tsp lotion

1/2 tsp cornstarch

1/2 tsp water

food coloring

and just mixed them all together.

The girls wanted to paint their own faces, so I let them.

Fun!

Drawing Ourselves

I laid my kids on a big sheet of newsprint this week and drew around them. We cut out the outlines and the girls colored them in.

FUN self portraits!

Making Valentines

For our Valentine cards this year I decided to use what we had around the house - quite literally - I had the girls pick up all the scraps of paper that were all over the floor (as they often seem to be with some scissor enthusiasts I have around here). Then we tore those scraps up even smaller and threw them in the blender, added some hot water and blended away. Apparently that part was really funny because Hannah couldn't stop giggling the whole time the blender was whirring. Next we stirred in some flower seeds. I found it humorous that what I had on hand were bachelor buttons and forget-me-nots.

Then the girls squished some more water out and formed the pulp into heart shapes.

Well, okay, I helped a bit with the forming.

They turned out quite cute, and the recipients can plant them in Spring.

Ice Thrones

Painting Snow

Levi: 6 Months

Yes, he is a drooler, why do you ask?

Abundantly Beyond

When Karl chose to act in faith and terminate his employ at the arena last spring we weren't sure where our income would come from.

We put our all into the farm...
and experienced total crop failure...
with no insurance.

And yet, God has provided.
Not only all our needs,
but some of our wants as well.



A couple months ago my trusty used oven, bought by my sisters as a housewarming gift when we moved into our home, decided to be a little over zealous in the heating department. As in I set it at 350, wondered why things were burning in a quarter their allotted time, checked and found the temperature to be 695.
I thanked God that He had blessed me with a wall unit a couple of years ago, determined that a new oven was not a need, and moved on with life.

Then, Karl went to the dump one Saturday last month and brought home this: Yes, that is a flat top stove/convection oven combo!

Karl wisely waited until after our dinner guests on Sunday had been fed before trying it out. It worked! The only things we could find wrong with it were a broken interior glass on the door and a bit of grime. I gave it a thorough scrubbing and Karl ordered and installed a new pane.

I now have two convection ovens at my disposal and a marvelously easy to clean stove top - and all it's cost us was the price of the door glass.

I am blessed and provided for. Even in the "wants" category!