Christmas Morning

Christmas morning did not start to early here in our little home. HB was the biggest kid of all, as he had gotten up at 7 am to put wood in the fire and made a lot of noise doing so trying to get the rest of us up. Well he managed as the weeones slowly pulled themselves out from under those cozy Christmas print flannel sheets.
Then with the awakening of remembering it was Christmas Morning came running down the stairs to see what Santa had brought.
The screams, the laughs and the joys were enough to know it was just what they wanted.
Jayne a wii, and Monster High dolls

Jill tons of LPS Blythes and Lalaloopsy 's

Justin the XBOX 360

Yep just what they all wanted.

After seeing what Santa brought we had coffee and Dad came up to the house.

We opened the rest of our gifts and enjoyed seeing the smiles on every ones faces as they opened each one.
My mother in law came and we had made lovely Christmas casseroles and bacon, sausages, biscuits and had a wonderful brunch.

After everything was cleaned up it was time to go get Mom at the hospital. She came and opened her gifts and we ate,ate,and ate. She enjoyed her day so much except for being tired. (which stood to reason)

I will save what we got for Christmas for another post.
I will give a little hint for mine from HB. (I will be able to blog from anywhere now)

Take care and enjoy your holidays.

WOW Where did the last 2 weeks go!

Every year I find Christmas is taking forever to get here, them out of the blue it is sprung upon us. Again this year it happened.
Although it came so fast I can say it was another nice Christmas.
I will back up and try to catch up with the last few weeks. I finally got my camera working and the internet has been here and then gone and then back again.
So I will go back point form with pictures
After 2 major snow storms we had a white Christmas

Our Border collie had her puppies. 6 little joys

The girls decorated the windows with beautiful coffee filter decorations.

I received the most beautiful gift in the mail from a friend. A snowman bird feeder. I filled it right away and put in my favorite little window.

The birds loved it.


We moved in the the new addition living living. But the new Master bedroom will only be finished in the New Year.
We were able to finally get a tree up on the other side as well only one week before Christmas.

not the nicest tree we have ever had but the weeones were still very proud.

Went to the girls Christmas dinner at the school followed by there Christmas play for Christmas around the world. Jayne was not in a good mood that morning so I only got Jill in her Christmas dress. My camera stopped working and I was not able to take any pics at the school that day.

Mom Came home Christmas eve for 4 hours. Then we went to my in laws for Christmas Supper, and opening of the gifts. We all had a wonderful time and ate way to much.
Christmas day I brought Mom home for the day as well as boxing day. I will post later our Christmas morning.
I wish you all a very Happy New Year and all the best in 2012.

Holiday Happenings

Good Day, I hope you all are doing well. I hope all your homes are filled with joys and Christmas smells, children getting excited with the day getting close upon us.
I can not believe that 10 days have past since I last blogged. It has been crazy as usual around here on our little farm.
I am so sorry for not keeping up with my 25 Days of Christmas posts.
I will try and bring you up to date on what has been going on here.
Well we have tons of snow on the ground already.(no green Christmas here) with 3 storms in the past 2 weeks.
Making us hurry and get the rest of the hay brought home from the fields. We also had to hurry and finish up our winters wood. (with temps today getting as low as -20 here)
Christmas baking is wrapping up with only the egg rolls, and meat pies left to bake.
Mom had a terrible week last week,but is having a much better better weekend. (Praying every moment that it continues)
Wednesday night I had a flat tire after getting home from the hospital. So much for those new Winter tires.
Thursday morning after HB went and got a new tire put on the jeep, I went to the school for the day and gift wrapped for the Children's bazaar. (where each child can pick 4 gifts for there family members that have been donated either new or gently used items.)
HB brought home Jill a new kitten as she had lost hers to falling into the pool this fall. She has named her Buttons.
We finally  moved into our new addition Friday night. Still have no tree put up, but the decorations are slowly coming out of the boxes and being put out. (yes I know Christmas is a week away)
The gifts are getting wrapped, and I only am waiting on 2 parcels left to arrive in the mail.
I finally put the stamps on the Christmas cards that need to be mailed and will put them in the box in the morning.
The girls took there pictures with Santa at school Friday and I can't wait to see them. (another fund raiser for the grade 5 year end trip. $2 got there pics taken with Santa. as Wal mart develops them for free for the grade 5's.)
Tomorrow I need to put up the tree, and make egg rolls made.
Tuesday I am going with my Mother in law to deliver the gifts to family in the next town.
Wednesday I have a Christmas Dinner at the school and then the girls little concerts.
Thursday HB and my Mom in law and I are going to the next town to pick up a few last minute things.
Friday the weeones have a half day being done at 11 and we will pick them up and go for lunch, as HB is done Wednesday morning from night shifts until the 27th and then only goes back for 3 days and if off again until the 3rd.

As for Pictures well my battery in my camera will no longer charge. I need to go to town and get another before Wednesday's concerts.
I promise as soon as I get it I will update with pics.

Take care and I wish you all a great week.

Hand knitted Christmas gifts

Yes I have begun to wrap my homemade gifts and ship out what needs to go to far away places, where family and friends will hopefully get use of them.
While I was in the hospital staying with my Mother I finished up a couple of those (that were not that hard to make) For my 25 Days Of Christmas,
I would love to share the patterns with all of you today and hope that it might inspire you to pick up your needles and whip up one of those last minute Christmas gifts for the one who you have been puttering over what you will buy them.

Use: approx 100 yds of bulky handspun

Using 9 mm dps CO 20 sts

R1 Knit, R2 Purl, Knit next 10 Rows

Gusset:

R1: K1, inc1, K1, inc1, knit to end of row

R2: knit

R3: knit 19 sts put last three sts of round on a sts holder.

R4: add first 3 sts to sts holder, co 1 st (create a new st by looping yarn around the working needle), knit to end of round.

Body:

Knit 16 rows

Next row: K2 tog, repeat to end. Cut yarn and weave tail through remaining sts.

Thumb:

Among three needles pick up 6 sts from st holder and 3 more along body of mitt.

Knit 6 rounds.

Next round, K2tog, repeat to end. Draw tail end of yarn through remaining sts to close top of thumb. Darn in ends.

Note: By virtue of the fact that our yarns are spun individually, by hand, each skein’s yardage will vary slightly. With one skein of Hand spun slub you have just enough yarn to finish this project. The mitts are a women’s size small/medium. If you need a larger size or are unsure about knitting right to the end of your skein fingerless mitts are a great alternative

These Mittens are super warm!!!! I have made so many pairs over the last few years.

Next is a weekender Scarf 

 This scarf is super beautiful and I must admit it is the first one I have made. I almost decided to keep it for myself.

4.5mm needles

1 skein Hand Alpaca. Merino. Cashmere blend
you'll need approx 200m of yarn.

PICOT CAST ON (30 st):

Cast on 4 st, *knit 2 st, bind off one st, knit 1 st,
bind off one st, place remaining st on right needle back onto the left needle as if to purl.
Cast on 6 st repeat from *

BEGIN:
R1-2: slip 1, knit to end of row
R3-6: slip 1, *(yo, k2tog)*, knit1
R7-11: slip 1, knit to end of row

MID SECTION:
R1: slip 1, purl, knit, purl, knit, purl *(purl)* knit, purl, knit, purl, knit
R2: slip 1, purl, knit, purl, knit, purl * (k2tog, yo, k1)* purl, knit, purl, knit, purl, knit
R3: slip 1, purl, knit, purl, knit, purl *(purl)* knit, purl, knit, purl, knit
R4: slip 1, purl, knit, purl, knit, purl *(yo, k1, k2tog)*, purl, knit, purl, knit, purl, knit

END:
R1-5: slip 1, knit to end of row
R6-9: slip 1, *(yo, k2tog)*, knit 1
R10-11: slip 1, knit to end of row

PICOT CAST OFF
*Cast on 3 st, bind off 6, place remaining st on right needle back on left needle as if to purl. Repeat from *, end in Bo1.

FINISH: Block Lightly, approx 8” x 45”




I hope you will print off these patterns and get good use out of them. Have a wonderful day everyone!!!

On The 4th, 5th, and 6th day of Christmas

With the opening daily of the advent calendars, and the sounds of Christmas music filling our home we are into the spirit of the 25 Days Of Christmas.
I am back with a little recap of the last few days.

On Sunday we went into town with HB for a quick nail run while Mom rested. While at the general store I came across these great candles that smell as good as they look. These are put out by glade and I have been burning these great Christmas scents in the house ever since.

I bought all three Christmas Scents

I think the green "Spruce it up" is my favorite.


The other day I blogged about my families favorite cocoa recipe. I forgot to mention that I have kinda a weakness for mugs ( especially Christmas mugs) I love my Christmas tea cups but my all time favorite Christmas mug is my family snowmen one.

As you can see each snowman repesents each one of my family. right down to the bunny. hehe!

I also sat and got while listening to Christmas music of course. I got my Christmas cards made. Remember that get kit my friend sent me.

Look in my mess there's my favorite mug filled with cocoa.

This is what they turned out like. Very nice I think.

and that's what our little home has been up to.

No Internet

Living in the country is great. Living in the middle of nowhere is so peaceful. Living so far in the country in the middle of nowhere can also have a few glitches . Since Sunday we have had no internet. Sadly this meant no posts of 25 days of Christmas and no reading my daily blogs either.
But last evening after Supper the weeones discovered that it was back. (HB found out about a hour before that but forgot to let us know)
You should have been here in our house last evening, as every laptop was taken from checking in on there Webkinzs to updating there Club penguin to checking and returning emails.
We all had a little bit of internet withdrawal I guess.

We woke up to a blanket of white out there this morning and it is still coming down hard. I have eye Doctor check up this morning in town so I am hoping the roads will be ok.
HB left for work a little early this morning as they will have a heck of a drive there. I put a nice fire on and the house is cozy. I already did up a load of laundry and filled the dishwasher from last night as the dinner dishes were still in the sink. We had company show and I sat and enjoyed my company. We have farmer friends that come out to visit every so often and we all enjoy there company very much. Viv brought me a loaf of her very still warm homemade bread. (that I will share for breakfast this morning) She also brought a lovely pan of Chocolate Chip cookies. So we shared those and had a coffee and chatted farmish things for awhile as the weeones got there internet fill.

After I get back today and get things here under way, I will pop in and add a few things that we have done over the weekend towards our 25 days of Christmas.
I am not sure if I told you all that my Mother was coming home for the weekend. She came home Saturday for the day and was very tired when she got back to the hospital that night,so Sunday we only picked her up later and she went back after supper. She enjoyed her weekend as did we. She was amazed at the new addition and also how much her dog had grown.

Well enough chatting for now. I will be back later. I'm off to make breakfast for the weeones.

On The 3rd Day Of Christmas

For Day 3 of the 25 days of Christmas I found this website that had these great little tags.

http://www.creaturecomfortsblog.com/home/2010/12/23/a-super-duper-free-printable-holiday-gift-tag-roundup.html

These ones are Jill's favorites.

I love homemade tags, but sometimes I run out and these will be great.

Ok now we are off to watch a Christmas movie in the hallmark channel.

Well The Weather Outside Is Frightful

With the colder crisp days of Winter now upon us, we are beginning to get into the holiday spirit with decorating the house, putting up Christmas decorations outdoors,listening to Christmas music and staying warm enjoying Cocoa in our Christmas mugs.
I thought for today's 25 Days Of Christmas Post would be a great time to share with you our families favorite holiday drink to stay warm. I got this recipe years ago when I began learning about blogging and reading my favorite ones off of a great blog that I learned so much from.

Miss Ruth's Best Ever Cocoa Ever


Please note that this Recipe makes a huge batch that I store in a large glass jar,but however you can take it down a step or two not make so much if you like.

32 cups worth of powered milk

4cups powered sugar

1cup powered coffee creamer (I use plain but use could use flavored )

4cups of Nestle's quick powder

Mix and store

add 3 heaping teaspoons to 1 cup of boiling water for cocoa. or to 1cup of coffee for a great cup of Mocha.

ENJOY!!!!!

On The First Day Of Christmas

Our local hospital puts on a fund raiser every year entitled "The Northern Star"(it is when companys raise money to buy a Christmas tree,or decoration)

They have a night that entitles the lighting of all these beautiful decorations, with Hot chocolate, and scarfs for the children. I visit from Santa and candy canes are given out. 

Despite  the bitter cold temps the girls had a good time.

I know a few of the pictures are a little hard to see, but my battery was dying in my camera.

These are made out of metal and the horse one is my favorite 

 The train is beautiful

and oh course Santa came for a Visit.

Picture Update

Yep I found my cord for the computer. It was under the island in the cupboard. Right where I left it.
So lets go backwards back to the beginning of November.

So remember the beginning of November was not a easy one. My Mother was not well and I spent all the time I could with her. She slept and my Father and I sat by her bedside. But because he still works he could not always be there with me. I decided to take along some knitting projects to keep myself sane as she slept. I completed a lap blanket that will become a Christmas gift.

I also got to read this fabulous book.

I did not get any pictures of my dear daughter Jillian's 8th birthday or Hb's birthday cake (as they celebrate this day together) but on the 13th was my Dad's Birthday and the girls baked him a cake.

It was a million dollar chocolate cake with boiled icing and the smarties was a great idea. The smile on his face was priceless. (I think he needed that)

Next I got outdoors and snapped a few pictures of the new addition before it had any interior walls in.

This is the back end that has a patio door. It will be the master bedroom and I will have a small deck coming off of it. Now It has ty wrap over the logs and we will cedar shingle it.

I know it is hard to see but this what it looks like from inside the patio door looking towards the new living room. I love the 2 big picture windows. That beam is now a log wall that has been covered in tongue and grove cedar boards.

Hb decided to add in another room off of the side of the living room for a small wood stove. Just as added heat for those really cold nights.

Tomorrow I will get out there and take some updated pics and show you how amazing the transformation is.

Next we did our pork up for winter. We did pork chops both boneless and with bone, we did roasts,steaks,ribs, and ground pork for both breakfast maple sausages and bigger ones for honey garlic. We also did up a few bags of pork hawks for boiled dinners. I did up some smaller bags of fat cubes for the beans and rendered the rest for cooking.

On the 18th was Jayne's 11th Birthday. Again I was not able to have any kind of party for her as my Mother was still not settled in and I was still running. But however I did pick her up a cake and we had a little birthday party with just us.

So not being able to be with my children was a terrible feeling. I hated the thought of not being there to share all the fun things we normally do. HB was great and took right over as Mr.Mom when I was away. I am so lucky and Thankful to have a Husband and Father of my Children like that.
So after Mom got settled in and things are beginning to finally slow down and normal is sort of coming around our little farm once again, I decided it was time to do something with my girls. HB went back to work on night shift and I told the girls we would get down and bake some cookies. Well it felt great to cook with my girls and the best part was the smile on their faces. They immediately  took out the Companies Coming Cookie book and choose some good ones.

Yep I love these little moments.