First Snow of this Winter Season!

WALKING IN A WINTER WONDERLAND!

MAKING SNOWMAN!

THROWING SNOWBALLS!

BRO'S SLEDDING!

TIGGER'S POSING!

SNOW ICE-CREAM!

MORE BRO'S SLEDDING!

FALLING DOWN IN THE SNOW!

MORE SLEDDING!

THROWING MORE SNOWBALLS!

O Christmas Tree!

Here we are in the Christmas tree field that our neighbor owns. He offered a free tree to us!

He had several different kinds.

We chose a Grand Fir because it is really pretty and smelled the piniest!
And doesn't it look GRAND in our front yard next to our moose?
(Since Ted is allergic to them, we get to enjoy its glow from our front windows!)

Pilgrim Day

Saturday we went to a church in Napavine that some friends of ours go to. They held a "Pligrim Day" with all kinds of good 'ole fashion activities like . . .

cider pressing

and making cheese from goat's milk.
They also had log splitting, blacksmithing, candle making, etc.

It's a Dog's Life

A neighbor of ours just brought us 54 pounds of venison that they hunted and processed themselves. All of it is ground, and some has been seasoned for sausage. The night they brought it to us, we had some of the sausage with eggs for dinner. Last night we had some as taco meat for a taco salad. It cooks up very easily and it is not very greasy. We feel very blessed by this, as if we purchased 54 pounds of ground beef, it might cost us around $135.00! To help thank them for their kindness, the girls baked them a pumpkin apple loaf of sweet bread and took it to them with a thank you note signed by each of us. I think they enjoyed it, as she has asked for the recipe!

Today, they have invited us to cut down a Christmas tree off of their property. We have never done this before, so we are excited! Another special blessing! I'll post pictures of this soon!

Here, I think Danny might be dreaming of some of that venison!

Cute Boys

Hmmm . . . What is Kyle Building?

Hmmmmm . . . . what do you think Kyle and his daddy are building? Is the suspense getting to you?

Well, here, he has a little helper to help hurry things along.

Stay tuned to find out what it is!

Getting Lights Hung BEFORE Grandpa is Here

Hurry . . . we only have a few more days before Grandpa's visit!

(You might not want to look, Grandpa:)

Christmas is Coming!

There's the hum of helicopters in the air . . .

gathering Christmas trees.

There's the hum of the sewing machine . . .

making skirts for a family Christmas picture.

And there's the hum of the electrical meter. . .

as it spins faster and faster with the addition of many strands of Christmas lights.

Thankful Thursday

I am thankful for . . . four kids turning twelve on the same day.

And a loft full of slumbering kids.

New Pics for Crossroads Country Ranch Website

Just in!

Election Day Coverage

On a gloomy day, for more reasons than the weather in Washington:(, we have decided to focus our energies on remaining happy and hopeful! In an uncertain world, we can certainly have peace, knowing that God is still King of kings and Lord of lords, and all that happens to us and our country is within His perfect sovereign purpose and plan!

So, the "coverage" from here on election day is . . . .

We finished our 1000 piece puzzle last night! Wahoo!

(With not a single piece missing! One has been modified by Joseph with the top of it chewed off, but a little coloring with a marker should fix that!)
We'd like to glue it together, because we think that we will probably NEVER do it again!

We have started to think about our Christmas decorating plans.

Timothy and Joseph were sure this should include getting out our "Christmas" train!

They really love it!

Ted has already constructed a train of lights on our fence out front.

We are enjoying it already as it helps cheer us when it is dark at 5pm!!

Bread Baking 101

We had a friend come over today to help us learn some better bread baking skills.

She decided white dinner rolls would be a good place to start.

Here is our taste tester . . . .

Drum roll please . . .
And the verdict is . . . .

Very yummy!

Pumpkin Carving

Victoria wanted to carve our family pumpkin as part of her birthday evening. So she scooped out its contents and Daddy did the finer carving.

Now we're watching a movie:)

Happy Birthday Victoria!

Today we celebrated Victoria!

Our house was decorated with some extra "sunshine" with yellow decorations everywhere!

She requested "peach bread" for breakfast for her special meal. We accompanied it with a healthy farmer's casserole!

Then, came the presents!

Valerie had chosen her name way-back-when, so she purchased several play boer goats and a cow that Victoria has been wanting. She also found a foaling book at the thrift store she thought Victoria would enjoy.
Timothy gave her the skirt she is wearing (with a little of Mommy's help.) Victoria picked out the fabric a long time ago, and so I made it up for Timothy to give to her. He also gave her some brown horse earrings to go with it:)!

Kyle has been working very hard on the play animal cart that Victoria is holding. He made it from scratch, all by himself. He even drilled out pieces of tree branches to form the tires.

For her cake, she requested TEXAS sheet cake!