The Snow is Always Smoother . . .

 * This is a re-post from January 2009. I liked it then and it's still true now, so I thought I'd share it again! *

You know what they say -

"The snow is always smoother on the other side of the fence". (Don't they?)

Here's a picture I took today over the fence, of our next door neighbor's back yard:



And here's a picture of our backyard:



Our neighbors are in their early 60's and their children are grown and out of the house. Their backyard looks peaceful and serene. Our yard doesn't. Our yard has obviously seen lots of activity - trampled on over and over again by 3 boys and a dog. Some days I look over the fence and envy the calm.

I know, I know; some day our yard will look like our neighbor's, and I'll eventually find myself missing those footprints all over the back yard . . .

But still, for now, can't I sneak over the fence and live over there every once in a while?

Halloween Fun

Yesterday we hosted a hobo, a hippie, and a glow stick man at the house.

 

 Aaron (almost 7)

These are the coolest costumes! Glow sticks taped with clear packing tape to black clothing.

 

Isaac (almost 12) and friend

Dancing glow stick men!

This is what they look like in the light

And here ...

Noah (15)  Groovy! He played the hippie role way too easily! Far out, man!

I don't usually dress in costume, but I could have been an ice cube, as cold as it got while walking with the kids trick or treating! At least it wasn't raining. Okay, Halloween done, now a new knitting project to start!

Always Be Prepared

You never know when you might need to defend yourself or your family from the bad guys.  So even when doing school work, be prepared!

I love how boys are just born with a natural, God-given desire to protect, defend, provide, and conquer.  It's busy work raising 3 Knights-In-Training!

Well, Hello Summer!

After a very nice Spring, with great weather, Summer has blasted it's way into Michigan in a hurry!  May averaged a little below normal temperatures.  But within one day, we suddenly reached the upper 80's!  Most of our week is forecasted to be in the mid to upper 80's.  And it's humid.

A little too fast of a change for me. I like to ease slowly into the warm weather.  Hot and humid tires me out.  But Aaron has no problem with it.  A swing and a balloon; what could be better?

Dog-sitting

Our dog Chester is having a 6-night sleepover with his friend Pharoah.  Well, perhaps calling them friends is not exactly accurate.  Chester is a little annoyed with having another dog invade his territory, but they're getting along better than they did the first day.  Maybe by the end of the week they will be friends!

Don't they look like they could be related?  Chester is the smaller one.  Pharoah lives up to his name and is the larger, grander one.  We love Shelties; they make great pets!

Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow . . .

It's still winter here in Michigan, and will be for a few more weeks.  I'm getting a little tired of the snow, which has been on the ground for 3 month straight now.  I'm looking forward to being able to just wander outside, without putting on boots and coats, searching for mittens and snow pants.  But the boys have just recently started being more adventurous outside - partly due to the fact that the temps have been milder, in the 30's, but also probably due to my insisting that they go out to play, or they don't get computer time!  That seems to be working!

Last week we had snow every day - just an inch or so each day - but a continuous fresh supply. 

One day, Isaac and Aaron made a little "fort", just Aaron's size:

 
Another day, the snow was perfect for packing, and looked so pretty falling down lazily and gently:

And another day, burying each other was the order of the day:

Even our milk farm cows don't seem to mind the snow.  They just eat and stand around, as calmly as always, seemingly without a care in the world.

Spring, please show up soon!!

Santa, Reindeer, a Christmas Tree, and The Parsley That Wouldn't Die

(I enjoyed writing that title!)

Here's a bit of what we've been busy with the past 2 weeks, other than finishing up school for the year, and getting ready for Christmas . . .

A week and a half ago, we still didn't have a Christmas tree. So when Rashed had a day off work, we decided that would be the day to find our tree. First, we went to a lot with cut trees set up near a local shopping area. After only 5 minutes of wandering through the lot, with the wind blowing hard, and near zero degrees wind-chill, we found ourselves questioning our sanity and asking "WHY are we looking for a tree outside today??"



The trees were very pretty, but we decided their prices were a bit too high for us, so we hurried back to the warm van and went to Christmas Tree Place #2.

Christmas Tree Place #2 was Horrock's - a local specialty grocery store and garden center that we love. Their trees were outside, but blocked by much of the wind - yay! We quickly found a fair-sized tree that caught my eye for some un-known reason because they were all bound up and you couldn't see their shape. But this one called out to me, and home it came. After thawing out a bit in our garage and relaxing it's branches, we put it up in the house the next day. And it had a great shape!









a growing Snoopy ornament collection, that started with this first one which I've had since I was a child







(sorry, he's out of focus for some reason, but I didn't want to leave him out)

The next day, we went back to Horrock's; this time to see Santa and 2 real live reindeer. I've never seen real reindeer before. I thought they were very cute - like a mix of moose and deer.

We've never made a big deal about Santa at all, and Aaron has never done the sit-on-Santa's-lap-and-tell-him-what-you-want-for-Christmas thing. So after I quickly explained the drill, he eagerly climbed up on Santa's lap and told him he wants Legos and cars and Sponge Bob stuff for Christmas. And then Santa just kept chatting with Aaron for a couple minutes, it was so cute! After Aaron got down from the sleigh, he stopped and turned around and said "Santa? I have a question. Are you real?" Exactly like that, word for word! I guess Aaron was confused because we had told him that the story of Santa delivering presents to kids all over the world in one night, with flying reindeer, was not real. Santa poked his arm and his cheek and pulled on his beard, and said "Looks like I'm real!" Aaron just looked at him for a minute, and then said Okay! and walked away.






(aren't they cute?? By the way, the owner said they have to keep them in an air-conditioned barn in the summer!)

And finally, The Parsley!

Maybe I'm just ignorant about the hardiness and strength of parsley. But weeks after putting our garden "to rest" for the winter, one of the boys noticed that this potted parsley, which had been sitting just inside the gate to the garden, was still green and alive! We brought it up near the house, and I actually used some in November! It hasn't continued to grow, but it certainly seems to have no plans on dying this winter, as evidenced below:

December 4: (after 8 inches of snow)


December 11: (after 14 more inches of snow over 4 days)


December 14: (after several nights of temps in the teens, and wind-chills in single digits)


We're calling it our Miraculous Christmas Parsley. We'll see if it holds up in the new year!

May you have a joyful and blessed Christmas!

Winter Is Here!

Our first snowfall began last night, and by this morning we had around 6" - 8" of snow on the ground, with a little more coming off and on throughout the day.


(looking east toward our neighbors' yards; just after sunrise)


(Our cats love to be let outside immediately every morning. This morning, Hazel was a little confused - what's all the white stuff? Both cats were back in the porch waiting to be let in after just a few minutes!)


(Just yesterday, I was marveling that some of my potted parsley was still growing after numerous frosts. I don't think it will survive this snow cover though! In the background, in a flurry, is our strange dog, Chester, who LOVES snow and races around the yard frantically every single time it snows. I'm actually thinking about asking the vet. if there's something we can do or give him to calm him down; for at least the first hour after bringing him back inside, he kept pacing around, looking out the front window, and whining to go back out. It drives me crazy!)


(heavy snow weighing down branches on the big evergreen tree in our backyard)


(a close up of some of the branches)


Today happened to be the day I needed to go have a fasting blood test done; so I was out and about earlier than usual. Near the building with the blood lab is a walking trail. I had brought my camera with me, in case there was a good shot that I just couldn't resist.








We'll surely be tired of the snow come February or so; but for now, it's always exciting and so pretty! If I ever moved really south, I'd miss the snow. Even though it can be a bother sometimes, there's nothing like the calm, quiet beauty of freshly fallen snow.

Still Calm and Quiet Around Here!

Even the dog has been well-behaved . . .



Practicing jumps and flips from the mini-trampoline on to the couch counts as P.E., doesn't it?!