Farewell

I have to pause a moment and say a prayer in thanks to our beloved

goldfish named Dorthy.  She has been with us for almost three years now and has been

a great "pet" for the kids. Dorthy contracted a disease

and was put out of her misery today. My oldest had the hardest time with the passing.

He sat in my lap and sobbed for a good 20 minutes.

On a happier note though, I cleaned the tank while the kids napped and

filled the tank with these beautiful glass blown fish we got as a Christmas gift from my big sis.

They aren't Dorthy, but they made all the kids smile.

Yarn Along

I'm joining Ginny at Small Things for the yarn along this week.

Here are my Christmas gifts still not completed yet for my oldest and my little princess, which I told them I would try to accomplish before fall so they could have them for apple picking(I guess that didn't happen).  They will turn into apple hats with a stem and a leaf (My idea: my oldest can be the granny smith and my little princess can be the golden delicious) This is my first attempt making a hat and using double-pointed needles, it's going well so far.  I had to adjust the pattern that I used due to size differences. 

I'm reading "the Naturally Clean Home" by Karyn Siedel-Maier and making a list of supplies to get after the holiday season.  I can't wait to start putting this into action.

Our Christmas Tree

Every year we go on a Christmas tree walk on our to find our

tree for Christmas...this year we went the day we came back from our

family Christmas in Green Bay.

There wasn't any snow in Green Bay so the kids got a little distracted

from our mission.  You could follow the snow angels to our tree:)

This is me cutting our tree down this year. 

Zach had to do a small amount of trimming once we got it inside.

I guess I overestimated the size our living room ceiling.

This is the first year my baby was able to help decorate the tree.

She went to the same branch everytime...it was so adorable.

Happy kids...they've been waiting for the Christmas tree

decorating for a long time.

My baby and me. 

My hubby getting the ornaments ready for the baby.

I have never seen this girl happier than decorating the Christmas tree.

The Christmas tree train (ok it's a Caterpillar train)

with the much coveted Hess trucks from

Aunt MaeMae and Uncle Brian.  They're a hit!

Nana's visit

Nana was nice enough to come to Sparta for hunting season,

allowing me to hunt on our land for my first opening weekend hunt.

She learned that the baby stroller she bought for my little princess...

also cart my baby around.  One of their favorite games-

pretending they are part of a parade:)

Everyone was excited for Nana's visit!

While I was hunting, all of the gingerbread men got frosted.

Thanks Nana for being you.  Love you lots!

Hunting Season

We took a family trip to the public land we hunt at to set

up my husband's tree stand.

The walk is almost 1mile in from where we park our vehicle.

The kids were so happy to go on a hike. 

One of the three bridges we had to cross to get to the hunting spot.

We ended up stopping at all of these and the kids enjoyed throwing sticks

into the water and watching them go downstream.

The kids did really well on the way there.  This is right before we climbed

a great big hill to get to the spot.

I had to put this in here...this is the rock face my husband

and his brother climbed while hunting last year.

Needless to say, I wasn't impressed.  He hasn't climbed it since.

The kids and mama back taking a much needed rest. 

My honey checking out his spot...he's right on the edge of the hill so

he can see forever!  All the work paid off because not even an hour into hunting

he shot a buck along with his two brothers and sister.  Thank you Lord for the food!