With Icing On Top

I borrowed an idea from a couple other blogging friends, and we enjoyed some fun family time making and decorating chocolate swirl cupcakes on the first evening of our vacation. :o)

As always, the beaters are the best part--from start to finish! :o)

Aren't they pretty? I love the swirls! :o)

Ah, the counter is so neat and clean as we begin the icing process . . .

Peter's Masterpiece:

Hannah's Masterpiece:

Daddy's Masterpiece:

Mommy's Masterpiece:

After eating our first masterpieces, we moved on to additional canvasses (with much additional mess!!!!) . . . :o)

Since I have just one cupcake tin I care to use (the other one burned the last batch of muffins I made in it about four years ago . . . ), we made the remainder of our batter into a cake which Daddy iced and the kids decorated.

I had (past tense being the correct tense!) about 2/3 of a bottle of rainbow sprinkles. Hannah cheerfully used ALL of the remaining sprinkles on our cake. "Isn't it the most beautiful cake you've ever seen, Mommy?" :o) Gotta love it! And it was worth every sprinkle just to see her pleasure! :o)

That same evening we also started what I hope will become an annual tradition of Thankful Turkeys. We created construction paper turkeys using our handprints, and then we wrote on each finger something for which we are thankful. (We had fun guessing Peter's!) :o) It was a fun project! :o)

It was a lovely start to what would be a restful and enjoyable vacation!

Something Besides "Projects"

So what besides projects has been keeping us busy these days? :o) Well, just the usual . . .

Haircuts all around . . .

I have to say, this was absolutely the very best Hannah has ever done for a haircut! She did fantastic! She sat as still as a mouse--not even once did I have to remind her to be still. What a blessing! It made the whole haircut so much easier and a lot more fun. :o)
And Peter did quite well for a 2-year-old, although things definitely improved when Daddy was able to sit in front of him to help keep his head in one place. He likes to look at Mommy's scissors. Imagine trying to give a haircut and every time you go to snip a tuft of hair, the person's head moves so they can see what you're doing. :o}
And Mommy got a hair cut, too. (No, Mommy does not cut her own hair.) :o) The "hairdressers" is actually quite a fascinating concept for Hannah. I usually go during a time when Chris can watch the kids, but I'm going to have to bring her sometime just so she can she what happens. :o)

Legos . . .

This is just one tower picture, but the kids have spent a lot of time working together to create various and sundry "buddy" trains with their Legos.

Art Projects . . .

Hannah busied herself this past week with her art project for the school contest. Mommy helped her with the inital idea and drew the shapes she asked for onto the construction paper, but she expanded upon Mommy's idea and did all of the cutting, arranging, and gluing herself.

Didn't she do a beautiful job?!? :o)

Christmas Boxes . . .

And finally, we filled two shoe boxes for Operation Christmas Child. :o) I had never heard of it before, but it was mentioned on one of the coupon blogs I regularly visit. We looked into it and were encouraged by the Christian goals of the program, so we decided to make it a family project. We had so much fun with it! :o) Peter didn't understand quite as well, but it was special to see Hannah really get excited about choosing gifts to give to someone else.

And now, we're preparing to settle in for some family time and a bit slower pace with the Thanksgiving holidays. :o)

Happy Thanksgiving!

Logs and Leaves

A wood stove is a wonderful heat generating tool--provided you have wood to put in it. :o) We definitely have a ready supply of wood, but unfortunately the trees don't seem to understand how to fall to the ground in a burnable format (neatly stacked would be a bonus as well.) :o) So we enjoyed a beautiful Saturday outside last week turning some fallen trees into usable firewood.

Chris and Dad manned the splitter, rented from a local shop:

The kids watched for a while, but then they decided it was more interesting to help Mommy who was divesting the driveway and some of the yard of its blanket of leaves.

This is the one picture I got of our leaf raking efforts, although it's actually not particularly representative. Yes, Peter definitely helped, but

1. He does NOT like using the little rake. He wants to use the BIG rake (think wide open arms spread as far as he can reach and the frequent exclamation of "Daddy!" since it's the rake Daddy gives him and similar to the rake Daddy uses.) Thankfully we do have a "big" rake on the smaller side of things which is really too small to be effective for an adult, but it makes our enthusiastic two-year-old quite content.
2. If the leaf blower is blowing (Mommy's preferred method of leaf removal, particularly for the driveway), Peter IS helping Mommy use it. May I say that I'll be glad when he's big enough to use it on his own? It is much more difficult to use a leaf blower when you have a small person just over waist-height who insists on keeping a very firm grip on the handle, even when the cord gets twisted around his ankles and he's not completely certain of which direction you're trying to blow. But I wouldn't trade my "help" for the world! :o)

We did discover this past weekend though that Hannah is actually quite adept at using the leaf blower. While Daddy was re-digging the trench, she occupied herself with the leaf blower and effectively removed all of the leaves from the "lawn" in front of the house! Good job, Pumpkin!

Of course there was plenty of pile jumping going on as well. :o)

Just before lunch Chris and I stacked the woodpiles while G&G returned the splitter and picked up pizza. :o) It was a blessing to have both of the kids diligently working hard to help us with that as well. :o)

Stacking the wood reminded me of a very vivid memory from childhood--Grandma and Grandpa L. used a wood stove in the winter, and Grandpa would haul fallen trees from the woods each year to split for firewood. Riding on the tractor or in the wagon was definitely a highlight of each visit. After coming back from the woods one morning, Grandpa set up the splitter, and I stacked the split logs on the wood piles. (He had many more and much larger piles than us and the closest pile was about 8-10 feet from the splitter.) I was about ten, and I think we spent most of the afternoon doing that. I just enjoyed being with Grandpa and had fun trying to keep up with him. The best part, though, was at dinner when Grandpa bragged to Grandma that I had stacked four cords of wood that day. :o) It's funny how I didn't even think of it as work. :o)

Here's our initial supply--since we haven't done this before, we really don't know how long it will last. I guess we'll find out. :o) But, the two cubbies under the awning are each about 4 ft deep and 4 ft high, so we do have more wood than it might appear at first glance.

After lunch, the kids and I napped while Chris and Dad picked up the leaf piles we had generated in the morning. (I haven't been sick hardly at all with the little one I'm carrying, but my physical stamina is about half of what I'm accustomed to. I'm still adjusting to that one. This particular day my body basically just shut down on me--I'm glad Mom was there to be with the kids, because I out-slept both of them!) :o)

Weren't they creative?!? I surely wish we had thought of this technique back in the spring when Janie and I were hauling five years worth of leaves!!

It was such a beautiful day to enjoy being outside and we surely did! :o)

We have heat!

I realize that in the oppulent country in which we live, that's pretty much an assumption, but we pulled out the ductwork this spring and are still working on the final plans for what's replacing it. So just as we did temporary cooling for the summer, we're doing temporary heating for the winter. But we went through a cold snap about a month ago with just two very small space heaters, so we are very thankful for the "real" heaters we have now. It's kind of neat--both major sources of heat were provided by Great Grandparents and delivered by Grandparents. :o)

Here's "Mommy's" heat: a wonderfully convenient electric space heater which Great G&G L. sent down for us with G&G M last week. Thank you! It's wonderful, and it keeps our entire kitchen/dining/living room space warm and toasty with just the push of a button!



And here's "Daddy's" heat: his Great-Grandfather's wood stove, which Grandpa used for many years and has now installed here for our use. Thanks, Grandpa!

Looking at it after Grandpa's paint job, you'd never know it's probably close to a 100 years old!

Here's a couple pictures of the chimney pieces he custom-constructed. We were looking for minimal cost outlay, so one of the basement windows has now been replaced with this piece.

Here's the process of getting the chimney installed . . .

And the final product:

Here's the chimney from the outside:

And the nice, neat pipe sending the smoke away. :o)

I must say, the basement couch is now the coziest place in the house on a cool evening. :o) This Mommy needs to learn how to manage a woodstove though if we're going to get the full benefit of Grandpa's labor of love . . . I do know what to do if it starts burning too hot, but I haven't learned how to actually start it. Well, I know in theory what you're supposed to do, but somehow theory and practice don't always mesh real well. Especially when it comes to fires. :o) At least for me. It's kind of like trying to tell me how to get somewhere I've never been before without giving me a map (and preferably Google Satellite images as well). It doesn't work. Period. :o) But if you show me, I can learn. :o)

Double Blessing

We enjoyed the special blessing of having both of our Grandmas and Grandpas here at once for a short time--mid-way during G&G H's visit, G&G M stopped in for a day on their way to a conference. What a special treat! :o) (And I finally got a picture of our new table filled with family!) :o)

Grandma H. usually brings special stickers, and Grandma M. brings special treats in the kitchen--this visit was no different. :o) Unfortunately, I have no pictures of the final results, but these were cute, simple treats made with pretzels, Hershey Kisses (or Hugs), and M&Ms.

To make, you unwrap the Kisses, and place one on each pretzel. Warm in the oven (~2 minutes @ 275 deg.) until Kisses are soft. Remove from oven, and carefully press one M&M on top of each Kiss. It takes about an hour for the chocolate to fully harden again, but they're a yummy sweet & salty treat and super easy for the kids to make! :o) (Really and truly! Even Peter was "getting" it without any problem at all.) :o)

And after dinner we enjoyed a couple good rounds of Candyland. :o) Grandma M. beat everyone soundly in the first round and Hannah beat everyone soundly in the second. (Grandma H. played, too, but she was taking the picture.) :o)

The Grandpas busyed themselves with projects, including smoothing some of the remaining ruts from The Project and installing the faucet in our bathroom sink!! :o) Woo-hoo! :o)

2 days . . . 4 inches

And this is why we water proof the basement. Yes, our house is far out of reach of our creek, but 4+ inches of rain in less than 2 days tends to leave things slightly waterlogged. Our creek is adequate testimony to the great quantity of rain we received.

Actually, things are still pretty waterlogged nearly two weeks later. We had just a couple hours of rain yesterday afternoon, but because the ground is saturated, the roads and creeks looked like it had been raining for a couple of days again. I was very thankful for the Lord's protection though as a I hydroplaned for the first time ever on the way to church last night. It's an experience I hope to never repeat! I think it was about ten minutes before my heart settled into its normal pace again!

Not Your Average Game

No, this was not the scene at a late night soccer game . . .
Our munchkins were persisting with Daddy through the finishing stages of re-digging/re-filling the trench along the North (bedroom) wall.

As is often the case with such things, you sometimes realize after the fact that there's a better way to do something. Sometimes, it doesn't matter. However, in this case, the plastic we had put over the insulation on the wall had pulled away when we originally put the dirt back in place along this wall. (The front wall was fine, because the tar had more time to set before the dirt was put back.) However, along the North wall, water could easily seep behind the plastic, soak the insulation, and get back into the basement. Since the point of The Project was obviously to keep the water out of the basement, it needed to be addressed.

So, Chris re-dug about 18-inches of trench (by hand this time), attached the plastic firmly to the wall at the point where it had pulled away, and then attached a second layer of plastic a little above that to shed the water above the insulation. The two layers overlap by about a foot, so there shouldn't be any trouble with getting water behind the bottom layer anymore.

And such is the reality of the nitty gritty of finishing details. :o}

Two Little Indians

It's hard to believe it's been two weeks since I last posted! Yikes! Well, stuff has been hopping around here, but we have a six day respite coming this next week . . . woo-hoo! We're looking forward to some quiet family time. :o) I'm also hoping to recap the last couple weeks in the next couple days . . . till then, enjoy a couple pictures of our two little Indians. :o)