'Twas The Night Before Christmas (Baby In utero version)

'Twas the night before Christmas,
When all through the house
Two creatures were stirring
My mommy and her silly spouse (a.k.a. my daddy but that doesn't rhyme).

Stockings were hung on the fireplace with care,
And mommy and daddy were busy preparing for something exciting
I could sense it,
Even inside my warm little lair.

When I heard the talk of presents, of gifts and of play,
I decided that I needed to get out of here,
So I could participate in such a day.

So I pushed and I prodded,
I elbowed and kicked.
Then on came the contractions
I thought I had done the trick!

But my mommy's body is quite stubborn,
This I have learned as she has gotten fatter.
All night I tried to get out,
I even head butted her bladder.

But Christmas morning came,
And I remained warm inside my mom.
So instead I set myself,
To doing random photo bombs.

There seemed to have been alot of fun,
That went on there that day.
My siblings were excited
With all the new things to play.

As for me I'm still waiting.
Guess a birth day on Christmas wasn't meant to be.
I hear it's up to Someone Else
The One Who has formed me (Psalm 139: 13-18).

So I will continue to grow,
To punch and kick with all my might.
In the meantime, Merry Christmas all
And to all, except mommy, a restful night.

The end

New Year, Old Bay Window and Frosty Chicken Combs

I was hoping to begin this new year with a fresh, new, non drafty bay window.... 

but our contractor was not able to make that happen.... continuing to push back the work date.  It was initially scheduled for before Christmas then rescheduled before the year's end, as of Wednesday he was going to try and start by this week's end.  I guess there was some progress Wednesday.... they shoveled snow away from the work area.

With positive thinking we went ahead and removed our Christmas tree, I guess for this reason it was good they delayed the work (since we would have had to move it fully decorated during the holidays).  What a mess trees make, I completely understand why people get fake trees (more reasons than this).

A warm up in weather is forecasted for next week so thats also another positive for it getting postponed since there will be a hole in the side of our house during the process.

Speaking of the cold weather, chickens and snow don't mix-

Some breeds do better than others, our RI Red mix (Penny, who recently survived a hawk attack), seems to not mind cold too much.  You have to watch their combs and wattles though as they can get frost bit.  The comb is the red thingy on their head and the wattles are the danglies below their beaks (formal chicken talk yall).

To prevent frost bite we slavered their combs and wattles with vaseline, oh the uses of vaseline.  The hens were not too fond of the treatment, doesn't Rooster look happy.  She has a much smaller comb than Penny as you can see.

Not sure if that was post worthy, but I just like taking pictures of the chickens.

I apologize for another non exciting post (no house updates)... we are slowly getting back in gear to work on stuff.  Someone did add a lawn ornament this week, does that count as an update?

Christmas Firsts!

This Christmas started a new chapter for our family in regards to how we celebrated the day.  One major difference was that we were actually home (New England) instead of with one of our families.  This was exciting but also alittle sad for me :(  it felt wrong without any extended family..... BUT.... it gave us the opportunity to start our own traditions and festivities.  Jazz hands excitement!

One tradition I wanted to implement was to share our celebration with someone who needed a family to celebrate with.  Since we celebrate Christmas for the coming of Jesus, the ultimate giver of good things, I thought this would be a good way to show that.  WELL..... this ended up being our only guest-

A friend's elderly and special needs dog.  I was happy to help to allow them to travel and see their family.  She did delay festivities for a little bit-

Yes, thats me shampooing the carpet.  The accident happened minutes of her coming in and before we could even wrangle her into the downstairs bathroom (reinforced my not-so-fondness of indoor pets at the moment.... my Parson Russell terrier currently living with my parents is proof of that).  It made the first gift presentation to the kids a little tricky also since that gift was this-

An outdoor/barn cat that we adopted (free from craigslist).  For mousing and rodent reduction.  Teensie is his name at the moment and he is house broken, if needed, and very friendly.  We actually got two cats but we like Teensie the best at the moment.  The other is solid black too and has long hair.

It ended up being a fun, low key day with just the husband and kids.  We had a delicious meal-
Brined Pork Rib Roast (oh my stars!!, I love my pigs) and roasted beets with herb cream and feta gratin.

and just played with our new things-

To end I wanted to share another first from this Christmas.  Last week we traveled to Upstate New York to have a brief Christmas with family.

Ambitious west coast Sister T declared this Christmas we could only give homemade gifts.  The awesomeness of these gifts has to be shared, it was fun.

Here is what my husband made the guys-
Useable fishing lures... he whittled, painted, detailed and balanced them himself

He used mesh fabric to paint the scales detail and tied the tail himself-

Here is what I made, not as impressive-
For the ladies... knitted dish clothes, nylon mesh knitted dish scrubbies and hand painted necklaces (how to linked for necklace, but I made the beads smaller and changed the colors).

Work apron for Dad T (for his awesome woodworking, you will see later)-

Door draft stopper for Brother T-

Dad T made baby girl a Xylophone (yeah, he made that beautiful toy)-

And each family a cribbage board that has a slide pocket on the back for the pegs-

AND if that wasn't enough, Adirondack chairs too!!

Little man got a truck pillow case from Mom T (he LOVES trucks! and sleep most nights)

She also made us these beautiful table runners (very, very pretty... its on our table now)-

And homemade strawberry and rhubarb jam (death to store bought jam)-

Brother T gave us a garlic braid from their garden (you cant buy garlic this good in the store so we were excited) and some shallots too-

West coast Sister T took a metal working class and made all the girls copper formed necklaces, very pretty and kid friendly (yay, I can wear a piece of jewelry now that the kids cant yank off and break).  I LOVE one of a kind jewelry.

And herb drying racks (pictures don't do them justice, nice frames with screens as the rack)-

NY sister T made homemade vanilla extract (yes, seriously) and salted caramel hot cocoa mix (AWESOME! said with vibrato)  homemade food items are in a different world from store bought.

Last, my mom sent another cleaver DIY food Christmas gift.  Homemade 'canned' carrot cake (jar is sealed so its preserved).  Yum, we like getting food in the mail-

I hope I didn't forget anything, there was sooo much good stuff.  High standards set for our first homemade gift Christmas.

Exciting HOUSE UPDATE news.  Our BAY WINDOW is scheduled to be replaced/rebuilt this week. Will post pictures as soon as able!!!!