My Man at Work

Well, my folks have moved to a new place, and we have been delighted to get to be a part of the process! A couple weeks ago we all went up, and Kyle put in new carpet for them.

Before we arrived, they when all through the house writing favorite or appropriate scriptures all over the sub-floor. It was such a neat idea, and so fun to see! I won't post too many pictures (don't want to steal their thunder), but here is one from Mom and Dad's closet. ;-)

These pictures are in reverse order (just the way they loaded), so here is our evening visit with the "little helpers".

Alaina rolling out the pad. Kyle is so great about involving the kids whenever he can!

I love to see Kyle at work. I'm always so impressed by his skill, his speed, and the careful attention he puts in. He always wants everything to be just right! When we were courting/early married I went out on quite a few jobs with him, but it's been a long time, so I was impressed all over again getting to see him at work!

Matthew and the scripture near the dining nook - good one guys!

Would you believe that I didn't get any after pictures? Maybe I will later, or you'll just have to remember to notice the carpet in future posts from my parent's house!

Finally Done!

I'm not going to post a before picture, because I'm sure you all can imagine what an absolutely plain green stocking looks like. Over the last few nights I've taken time to finally embellish Stephen's stocking. I chose a crown shape since Stephen's name means "Crowned", and since Christmas is the birthday of the King. It also happens to be an easy shape for the artistically challenged to draw. ;-) I'm quite happy with the end result - cute, but still masculine looking. So there you have it! Now it's time to put away those last, few lingering decorations . . .

Learning Something New.

One of my Christmas gifts has allowed me to delve into the world of Digital Scrapbooking - and I'm having so much fun! I've always loved the idea of scrapbooking, but the practicalities of it have put it out of my reach. There's the expense, the storage, and how in the world would I get out and put away all that stuff in the limited times I have when the kids are up?



Well, with digital scrabooking, I can do (and store) everything right on my computer. Plus, there are a lot of great free kits out there, and all the "materials" are re-usable! I've had some varicose vein problems this pregnancy, and it's given me something very fun to do while I'm keeping my feet up in the evenings/nap times.

So, for my show and tell, here are two pages I've done while learning how to use everything - one with Honeymoon pictures and one from last winter. I still have a lot to learn, but I do know enough to have a lot of fun!

Old Fashioned Fun

These are some pictures I didn't get up in December. Here's the story:
For the past several years Kyle has been talking about getting a train to go around the Christmas tree. He's priced different models, shopped on e-bay, and generally looked around for a long time.

Last summer, the topic came up when Kyle was talking with a gentleman from town. He said he had an old train that had been sitting around for twenty some years that we could have. Sure enough, a few weeks before Christmas he brought it over.

At first we talked about putting it up on Christmas Eve - I didn't want to have to play Train Police for too long! But Kyle wanted to get to enjoy it longer. We ended up putting it up a week before Christmas, but only putting the train on the track when Kyle was home in the morning or evening. It worked out perfectly!

The kids were entranced, especially our little cow-on-the-tracks-Stephen. Best of all, being an older model, the train actually played real Christmas songs! Things like "Angels We have Heard on High", "Silent Night" and "The First Noel". Bet you won't find songs like those on modern Christmas, oops, I mean, Holiday trains.

Anyway, it was a fun treat for us all, and the train is definately getting a second life of enjoyment!

Something new for the New Year

It is with great amazement that I present to you a recipe from . . . me! I'm not one of those innovative - in - the - kitchen types, so it's pretty exciting to come up with my own recipe, even if it's only soup. This one came about when I was throwing together a vegetable soup for supper. I had in the sausage (in our case, venison sausage) and veggies, but it just lacked something. Then it occurred to me that everything in the pot went well with . . . cheese! And since my Mom makes a fabulous corn chowder with cheese in it, I knew that adding it in was, in fact, possible. So here you have it:

Cheesy Sausage Soup

1 onion, chopped
5 small potatoes, chopped
2 sliced carrots
1 C. frozen green beans
1 small summer sausage
2 C. chicken broth
2 C. water
1 can corn
1-1 & 1/2 C. grated cheddar cheese
Boil first seven ingredients until tender, about 45 min. Add canned corn and allow to warm. Turn heat down to simmer and add cheese, stirring in a little at a time. For best results, eat during cold weather.

And because I always like a post better if it has a picture . . .

Merry Christmas! Happy New Year! (Pass the chicken soup, please.)

Yep, we've had lots of good times over the Christmas season. Cookies were baked and eaten - especially eaten - gifts were exchanged, family was visited and the hours were sometimes late. Not surprisingly, after all this carousing we now have colds. ALL of us. So we're back snuggled in at home with the Vicks-VapoRub and homemade Chicken Noodle Soup. Life could be worse.

Here's some things I'm thankful for at the moment:

-Kiddos are still sleeping fairly well. Makes a big difference.

-A well stocked pantry. I've been able to put off that big grocery run for several days now til it's not so cold and we're feeling better.

-New Christmas toys to play with and new books to read. :-)

-A Special Someone who brought me Dark Chocolate M&Ms. What a guy!