Baby G.. More Pictures :)

Reading a book :) I love her little bald spot :) 

She is such a little doll! A friend called her Muffin today and it suits her! New nickname? Possibly! :) Haha or maybe not I just remembered Mr. B likes to tease Mrs B with that name... hmmm.. I bet there is a story there!! 

The best picture I have so far of her smiling.. when she REALLY smiles she sticks out her tongue but she's pretty sure the green light on my camera is evil!! 

~Fresh Squeezed~

That is hard work!! We bought a box of oranges in 'the city' last time we were there and we're getting tired of eating them as oranges so today we made juice! 

After a bit of confusion I realized that I never said how big the box of oranges is.. it's a 50 pound box... it's our second one in a row :) We're going to give them a month or so in between boxes next time. We buy apples in large boxes as well and store them in a cool spot. Very nice for having fruit on hand. 

Isabel: Self Training.

Isabel is slowly training herself to the stanchion. The 1st day Papa put Maggie in her stanchion and then some of our sweet mix in Isabel's but she wouldn't go in. The 3rd day she went in but didn't stay and now the 6th day she went right in, ate all her sweet mix and proceeded to try and empty out the wheelbarrow!! I had to chase her out! She didn't want to go at all and I had to get in her face a little to get her out. Even yesterday I walked near her and she'd back out but not today! I even stood by her head and fiddled with the lock in bar and she just paused in eating for a second then kept on inhaling. 

Want to know something I really love about this picture?

The snow? Not so nice!
The cows in their stanchions eating happily is super nice, but that's not it. 

The symmetrical way they are standing is also super nice, but still not it. 

The fact that in this picture Maggie is being milked by a machine while I'm STANDING in the doorway of our back door taking the picture..is REALLY SUPER NICE and what I really like about this picture! :) 

YUP she's addicted :) 

Marble Race :)

It was a joint effort :) It was super fun to build and they had even more fun racing their marbles down the different towers! 

J and L's self made towers :) L's is the near one. 

R's tower.. with help from Papa. She put it all together but it kept falling over..so Papa balanced it for her. 

E's tower.. she needed another bottom piece but they were all in use.. so she just held it up!! 

Popcorn Anyone?

L recently found out what happens when you put a popcorn kernel in your sisters ear! Yeah REALLY!!! After Awana one night I popped them some popcorn and set them in front of Veggie Tales as per normal just to find out 20 minutes later that L had put a popcorn kernel in E's ear.. 'just as a joke mommy!' and she LET him. I'd had a bit of a long day, Wednesdays are almost always really long days, and I got a little mad. I yelled. SERIOUSLY what was he thinking!!! Later when I googled it I found that often kids put kernels in their own ears..not that this means they should!  There were a slim few who put a kernel in another child's ear. I wonder if that's because the typical family these days has only two children several years apart?

 Anyway.. by this time it was after nine.. I took a good look in her ear and tried to get it out with the end of a bobby pin.. thinking if I can just get the end behind the kernel it should come forward and pop out. NOPE! I called Papa.. he laughed and said keep trying. We both knew it need to come out. I tried again.. the booger sucker bulb for Baby G's nose.. Papa's idea... Hoping that it would suck on to the kernel enough so I could pull it out.. Nope. Tweezers.... NOPE!! All this time I'm thinking "Your gonna have to take her to the ER so they can get it out!' and every time I tired to get it out it slipped a little bit farther in!! I called Papa again.. warm water he said flush it out.. NOPE!! Didn't even try that one.. I'd already been online and read that water can swell a seed and make it harder to get out. I told him I was going to have to take her in. End of story.

I put it up on my status on FB hoping to get some ideas... lots of sympathy, several stories.. no ideas. My mom called. :) She offered to watch the other kids while I took her in but I'd have to take the baby. Papa and I had decided he would come home early and stay with them while I took E in but he'd have to go back to work after.. making a long night into a longer night. I said yes to Grandma.

By this time the other kids were in bed and it was 10ish. E was asleep on the couch... kernel filled ear down. Grandma got here and we woke E up and got her a bit more dressed as it was -15C and falling. We grabbed Baby G, who slept through this whole thing!, and headed to the ER. I checked the kernel before we went.. it had slide closer to the outside of the ear!! YAY!!

We got to the ER at 10:30pm.. E and I played Battleship on my ipad2 while we waited for the doctor and answered all the questions. By 11:25 the kernel was OUT and E was rubbing her ear! She said it didn't hurt at all until they used a very neat tool to get it out! I didn't catch the name but the tool was long and skinny with a wire noose on the end.. a little like those dog catcher things that they catch strays with..but the wire was fixed. The doctor wiggled the wire behind the kernel and pulled up! That HURT E said, but she didn't cry! She was SO brave and held super still as the doctor fished it out. It took all of 3 tries and 20 seconds to fish out!  I was seriously impressed. The doctor asked us if we wanted to keep the kernel.. we said NO!! We'd seen quite enough of it already!! I was amazed at her ear, it was producing amazing amounts of wax trying to flush the kernel out on it's own. The kernel was no longer yellow but a dark yucky brown, covered in ear wax. I do wonder what would have happened if she's slept on that ear that night? Maybe she'd have woken up with a kernel in bed beside her?? God truly did design us amazingly!!  E had quite the story to tell the next morning. Her ear hurt for a couple of days, but it never did affect her hearing or anything else.

Now every time we have popcorn I ask.. "and what do we NOT do with popcorn??" As one the kids yell.. "PUT IT IN OUR EARS!!" and I always add.. "or any place else!! Except your MOUTH!" :)

It took L a while to bounce back.. he truly didn't mean any harm and we talked about jokes and maybe next time talking to Mommy about it first to see if it's ok before we play jokes on others that we've not tried before. He felt really bad that E had to go to the ER and handled her gently for the next week or so. These two say they are 'best sister and best brother' and often act more like I would expect twins to act. Protecting each other, whispering together, holding hands. I think being in Grade 1 and awana together has really helped their relationship.

Do You Know How Much God Wants You Here?

Papa and I recently decided to visit a house church that we first heard about over a year ago.. We've been looking for a house church for quite a while since ours sort of melted :) Different people going different ways with no hard feelings. We've tried several of the churches in town but haven't found a fit. We've always house churched, for reasons I'm not going to get into in this post, and really wanted a house church. So I facebooked one of the ladies in my home school group who I knew went to this house church and asked her if we could visit their home church. That was Thursday. She fb-ed me that night and said sure, gave me the time and directions and told me they pot lucked after. She also offered to feed us when we visited but we eat a lot so I fb her back and said Thanks but I'd bring some food too ;) I also asked, I'm a bit nervous about meeting new people, if we knew anyone in the group. I did!! Of the 4 couples she named we knew 3 of them1! Super exciting! I called Papa at work, about something else, and mentioned it and he surprised me by saying.. Fb her.. we are going! That was Saturday night. I made a meal to take along, showered all the kids and checked and restocked my diaper bag.

Sunday Morning we inhaled breakfast, early mornings are not our norm, got everyone dressed and headed out the door.. Yes..we get dressed AFTER breakfast when we are going out.. then you don't get breakfast on your to town clothes. Papa and I both grabbed our coffee cups, the food, the kids, diaper bag, Bibles, and E's puffer bag and headed out! I'd written down the address and we knew where the road was so when we got to it we were super surprised to find it shorter and emptier then it should be... there were no house numbers and really truly it was really only someones very long driveway. At the end of the road there was a padlocked gate and a sign.. "Trespasser's will be shot... survivors will be shot again!!" UM.. we KNEW the couple who's house we were going to was a pastor and his wife. We also knew this could NOT be where they lived!! So we headed back down the road back to the main road and we were just talking about trying another road with a similar name when we spotted a white car!! HEY we knew that car.. it was a couple from the list.. The B family!! I laughed and told Papa.. Follow that car!! They spotted us too, and unknown to us, knew we were joining them for church and stayed in sight and let us follow them.

We enjoyed the fellowship and the potluck and after lunch another friend of ours Mr. C came up to Papa and asked him.. "Do you know how much God wanted you here today??" Papa laughed a little and said he thought he did.. and told him about getting mixed up and following B's to find the place. Mr.C laughed too.. and then told us how much God really did want us there.

The Story really started on Wednesday.. A full day before Papa and I decided to fb Mrs.M. The men of the, recently started, house church get together on Wednesday nights for a men's Bible study and prayer time. After their study they talked a bit about whether or not they were ready to invited people to their house church. They decided they were ready.. and Mr. C told the group that we, the Griggs, had been on his mind and he was going to invite us.

Thursday I fb-ed Mrs. M. Saturday we decided to go. Sunday we went and Sunday afternoon Papa asked if we could join the group. We haven't even met all the couples that go yet, but we will :)

UPDATE! We've gone twice now and have meet all the couples that regularly attend. We are both really enjoying the group and fellowship. Three or four of the men take turns speaking and singing. We've heard two and are looking forward to hearing the others. We've also both started a Bible study with the group.. Papa with the men and me with the ladies :) Amazingly BOTH studies work as they are on Papa's days off. I know the men changed theirs so Papa could go. What a great bunch of people :) We are a bit out numbered though!! There are 14 adults and 25 children :) And two of the ladies are expecting :)

What a MIGHTY GOD we serve!!

New Picture Of Baby G :)

Papa`s Aunt L emailed me this morning and asked for a new picture of the baby :) Here you go!! She loves to stand up all the time so Papa went out and found the exersaucer and she LOVES IT!! This was her first time in it and she was super distracted and this is the best picture I got :) I love the look on her face. It`s like she`s saying "Really?? Your gonna LEAVE me in this THING?? I don't know about that!!" This picture was taken on Feb 16th.. two days before she was 3 months old :)

~Isabel~

Isabel joined the Griggs Family Farm recently. She is a purebred Holstein 4 year old cow. She's due to calve on March 17th with her 2nd calf. She is a year minus a day younger then Maggie :) They are both from the same dairy and we checked their records while we were there. Maggie's original name was Mindy, which we changed because we have a friend named Mindy. But we have no friends named Isabel so Isabel it will be. The dairy names them for paper purposes but refers to them by number so Isabel doesn't know her name, that also makes sense as to why Maggie learned her name so fast.. She'd never been called anything and Maggie was really her first name, not her second like we thought. I think it will be a bit of a challenge to name Isabel's calf when it's born if it is a bull.. as we name them with the first letter of their mothers name. Iggy?? Ian? Inch thick steaks?? lol. We shall see. Isabel is bred to a mixed semen lot from a Holstein, Jersey and a unknown beef breed.  So we could get just about anything, but we are sort of hoping for a Jersey heifer.. NOT a Jersey or Holstein steer, or a beef steer!! Or maybe a Holstein heifer?? There are a lot of possibilities!

Isabel and Maggie taking a walk to the water. She's just as tall as Maggie but her hip bones are wider.. Not sure if that is because she's a month from calving or because she's just wider. Maggie is SO happy to have company and if it all works out the two of them will not be separated.

 Isabel and Maggie went head to head at their 1st meeting literally! Isabel just came out of a herd of cows about 75 strong and she really felt she need to make sure Maggie knew Isabel was the boss. They went at it forehead to forehead and shoved each other around some. Maggie gave up rather soon and, I think, she was just so happy to see another cow she didn't care who won!  Later that night they were standing head to tall for warmth and the next morning they were best friends sharing the hay bale. Papa has already gone out to the hay bale with a bucket of our sweet mix we use instead of grain and poured some out for both cows so that Isabel will catch on to the wonderfulness of it and we can slowly start to stanchion train her before she calves so we can easily milk her when she does calve. Isabel so far has not realized that there will be food available at all times and is pretty possessive over the food. Apparently when Papa dumped the sweet mix out on to the snow she headed over there and demanded her share which really works to our favor. Soon she'll be like every other bovine on the place and drool while Papa mixes it, bawl for a taste and INHALE it when ever she's allowed some. Perfect! They say the way to a mans heart is through his stomach.. I'm not too sure about that but I know for a fact that the way to a cows heart is through her stomach :) 

     A few things we have to watch for.. Isabel has never out on snow. She didn't seem to mind it at first and thankfully the cow pen is not super icy, only one area is even the tiniest bit icy, but after half an hour or so she would pick up her legs and give them a good shake trying to get the snow out of the hoofs. This morning she looks a bit foot sore, gingerly picking her way along. 

      She also is fascinated with the pigs and chickens.. When/if either of them escape their pens Isabel will probably react badly. 

      Because Isabel is a food hog, so far anyway, milking could be interesting for a couple of days.. if she figures out there is sweet mix in the milking parlor and chases Maggie out of the milking parlor before we lock her in or if she tries to get Maggie's sweet mix WHILE Maggie is locked in.. well lets just say we'll try really hard to NOT let that happen as the results could be interesting to say the lest! 

   All in all both Papa and I think we made a good choice. Time will tell as in all things but she's perfect for us in many ways. She'll calve in the right month so we will not have to have a dry spell with no milk while we wait for Maggie to calve. She's already on a spring calving schedule which is really handy! Maggie is only giving just over a gallon a day now but should, if she follows her pervois pattern, be able to keep giving a gallon until Isabel calves in March.   

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.New International Version (©1984)

     

Baby G @ 3 Months.

She is such a little doll. Tonight I got her first real giggle out of her. Now that she's found her giggle I expect we'll hear it a lot. She is a very happy smiley contented child and a pure JOY to be around. I can't help myself I laugh at her when she cries because she is SO STINKING CUTE even crying. She tries so very hard to be sad, but turns around 2 seconds later SMILING up at you like your the only person in the whole world and she knows how much you love her.

This pose is what we call a 'Baby Sausage' wrapped up tight arms at sides with another extra blanket to keep it tight. The purple and white rolled blanket is her baby blanket I crocheted for her. It's bright colors don't quite seem to fit her yet so while I wait for her to grow into them and it I've placed it beside her in her bed for a comfortable 'space reducer.' She loves to be cuddled and snuggled and this is some thing to make the large space in her bed seem like a smaller more cuddly space :) Even though she almost never even touches it!   

I love this look! Her shirt says 'My <3 belongs to Daddy.' 

We got her weighed today and she came in at 11lbs 1 oz. At 6 weeks she was 10lbs, 4 oz. Yup that is a Griggs girl as I told our wonderful Doctor :) Come out big babies, grow into small girls! She is really long though so maybe she'll be taller like E?? She eats enough, sleeps enough, poops enough and smiles and coos and now laughs. She's found her hands and loves to stare at her toes. She can make any one of the 7 people she has totally wrapped around numerous digits laugh out loud with just a look or a smile. She loves a good ceiling fan, you know the kind.. the ones that is on!, and enjoys 'kid watching' from her safe chair on couch for several hours a day. She still thinks the camera's green light is evil though has decided the Ipad2's camera is not :) So I have finally gotten a smiling picture but I don't as of yet have it on the computer. She loves to 'talk and tell stories' and can make a surprising number of sounds that are not words or cries. She hangs on tight to my shirt as she nurses and is already eyeing up the food on my plate. I'm going to have to start dressing her in a jacket even in her car seat as she's not falling asleep instantly in it anymore and enjoys looking out at the big wide world.. or at least the ceiling of the Travel all. 

Valentines Day 2012 :)

Papa likes to surprise me a day early with Valentines day stuff :) This year the kids and I got 3 boxes of chocolates to share and I got these lovely flowers in a mug!! Perfect fit for me as I love mugs ;) and the red rose in the bunch is fake and will not die on me like so many of my flowers do. Also I love daisies :) as they remind me that summer will come again.. even when winter seems amazingly long as it does every year in the north. The message on the mug puts a smile on my face every time I see it.

For supper on February 14th we had a snack night and for dessert we had chocolate fondue.. with out the fondue?? So maybe we should call it fruit drizzled in chocolate! Very yummy! 

LOOK it's a J3 fondue!! 

 I think he liked it! :) I know the rest of us did! :) 

Feast!!

Mr and Mrs B came over for supper one night recently and we OH we feasted BIG time!! Mr. B and Papa did pretty much all the cooking. Mr. B did a pork roast on the BBQ that was heavenly!! Papa and Mr. B did shrimp together, Papa did these mussels resting in our sink in a white wine sause and we dipped them in a wonderful butter/lemon juice mix before inhaling them!! We had baked potatoes and salad and veggies and dip. It was amazing!! 

Attacking Mr. B is always on the menu :) 

Awana Grand Prix

They really loved it and Papa and I really enjoyed watching them love it :) 

J loved it because it was new and exciting and his car did really well.

L loved it because it was cars and racing and FUN!! (His car also did really well but he hardly noticed!)

E loved it because well.. because her brothers loved it and she loves them. 

R loved it because she got to cheer on the other kids and dream about when she could do Awana. 

J3 loved it because he is a boy and he loves cars. He loved to clap when we clapped. 

Baby G could care less about car racing but Momma was there, Papa was there, J3 was there and she had smiles for anyone who came her way!  

L placing his car! He really worried the 1st time he had to go up there and put it on the track so Papa went with him the 1st couple of times. Too many people for him. 

L waiting with a friend to see who's car won! L's car won almost as many times as J's. E's car did really well too and was only ever beat by one of her brothers cars!! (and maybe one other?)

E picking up her car at the finish line :) 

J placing his car.. I think of all the times he raced he only came in second once!! 

E placing her car!! Oh so carefully. I really liked how they had the ladder for the smaller kids. Made the little kids feel like they were important! 

J and his trophy for the second fastest car in the Prix!! 

He was pretty excited!!  

Their home made and painted cars now race around my living room, sleep in their special boxes, and have an active part in everyday life. They are already planning their cars for next year and J is already planning on bringing home another trophy :) This time he wants the 'most original' trophy :) 

What a fun way to learn about playing fair, playing to have fun and that life is not about winning or losing but about living for God and treating others the way you'd like to be treated, no matter what life throws at you!  

Yogurt Love :)

I recently found this online.
 
Took me all of 4 seconds to talk Papa into ordering it for me :) Here Glengarry Cheesemaking is where he ordered it from. My new butter churn I got this summer is right under the yogotherm :) I love it too!!

I LOVE IT!! It makes 1/2 a gallon of yogurt at a time by simply keeping it the right temp. I recently did a bit of an experiment where I did my half gallon of milk heated to the right temp of 115F and added the starter; about 1/4 cup of yogurt from the last batch, stirred for a bit and poured it into the half gallon bucket that fits nicely into my new yogotherm pictured above. I had a little bit left over so I poured it into a plastic container, put a lid on it and placed it beside the wood stove on a table. I expected to have yogurt in both containers when I finished as this was how we used to make yogurt.. though with not a super good success rate which is why I got the yogotherm. In about 7 hours I took the container and the bucket and placed them in the fridge.  The next morning J wanted yogurt for breakfast so I took the container and opened it.. the milk had separated and not made yogurt!! I was a bit apprehensive but got called away and J got the bucket out of the fridge and placed it on the table.. and dished it up and it WAS yogurt! When my old yogurt failed I assumed it was because the starter had not worked.. but I learned with this experiment that it had not failed.. my temps by the wood stove must vary too much to keep the yogurt alive but the insulation in the yogotherm keeps it regulated and makes perfect yogurt every time.. or at least the 3 times we've had enough extra milk to try it :) Like I said I LOVE IT!!!

THAT STUFF MUST GO!!

The kids have a cute Berenstain bears movie where Papa Bear is trying to get rid of a stump in the yard and he keeps saying.. "That STUMP must GO!!" Well I've been going through the kids clothes, the back bathroom (also know as a catchall for all things), closets and the whole general house and bagging it up in black garbage bags and hauling it to the second hand store. I'm not nearly done yet but I'm getting there. I took 9 black garbage bags, so far, and probably 10+ boxes of stuff out of our house so far.  The boxes went on to the floor.. some of jars, clothes that will still be needed for the younger children. It's amazing how much more ROOM we have now..

You might be wondering why I'm getting rid of all this stuff.. some of it simply doesn't fit in the house anymore.. those cute foam chairs J and L used to have out in the living room to watch movies in just simply not longer FIT in the living room.. E and I are both allergic to polyester and I can't even wear clothes washed with fuzzy polyester so we are getting rid of TONS of polyester clothing, blankets and all. I plan on going through all the totes of kids clothes on the floor and culling...eventually :) SO if anyone is interested in going through some of these bags before I send them off to the thrift store.. let me know what your looking for and when I clean out those sizes I'll let you know and we'll set it up.

Ice Rink.

With all the nice cold weather we had there for a bit in January Papa expanded the natural ice rink we had beside the house and made it quite a bit bigger.. it's not huge but it's a nice size for a learning ice rink. He flooded it several times a day when it was -38C and now it's a nice smooth rink. This picture was right after the kids had been skating so there is a lot of snow on it.. it's a bit longer then the picture shows as well. 

A Little More Fun Science!

The first part of Papa's talk about batteries.. Baby G was in my arms and she started fussing, you can hear her on the video and as she goes from 0 to 60 in 4.2 seconds and I had to miss the rest,but I thought I would share it anyway to give you an idea of what they talked about. 

Fun Science.

Papa does Science with the kids for school. He enjoys it and homeschooling gives us the flexibility so that he is able to do this fun stuff with the kids and call it school. J's science this year is all about liquids, solids and gases. His teacher sent a great book. 

Which we have really been enjoying. They have done a couple of the experiments now and we have a list of others they want to do.. some of them even make ME excited about science and that means it's a pretty neat book as I'm not normally even a little excited about science :)  

This one was called Indoor rain and you were suppose to use a ladle that you had frozen in the freezer but it was -38C outside and Papa's frozen hammer worked just as well. :) Basically you boil water and put the frozen ladle over the boiling water and it condensates and makes rain!  

It's hard to see but he's holding this....

This ones is called Strong Air. Water in a glass with a piece of cardboard over it.. tip the glass upside down and the air pressure keeps the cardboard on the glass and the water in the glass. Very cool. They all got a turn pulling the cardboard off and seeing how little air pressure it takes to keep it there. 

Did you know??? If you throw boiling water into the air at -30C it will not hit the ground?? It works. We tried it, several times :) Papa found that the smaller amounts of water got the best reaction. There are several youtube videos if your interested in seeing it for yourself and don't have cold weather. The water goes from a liquid to a gas and floats away! VERY COOL!! Very cold too.. brrr... glad it only stayed a few days.

Looks like fun right? What does it have to do with science?? Well I'll admit not much.. but it turns out that because of the way we cut the trees here in the front the wind makes a circle and it's just about impossible to fly a kite in that open space!! So they learned quite a bit about wind currents watching their kite go around and around and crashing to the ground :) Papa took them to the neighbors field and they got to really fly the kite there.. "Way up so high you could barely see it Mom!!' Very cool. 

They took a break from skating one of our warmer winter days recently to watch as Papa took apart and explained a old frozen car battery. Apparently there was no danger involved as the battery had frozen solid proving that there was no more acid in it. 

The fins and dividers in the battery. My children now know more about batteries then I do.. 

~One Saturday Afternoon~

Cousin L had a birthday awhile ago and because it was on a Saturday and Papa, because of the extreme cold, had to take the T-all to work as the car actually froze solid in the -38C weather we had earlier that week, we couldn't go. Then Grandma called. She was going and she offered to take J and L with her. So we quickly got some lunch and then ready to go. They had a blast and got to go bowling for the 1st time ever! 

SO while the boys were off with Grandma, J3 and Baby G sleeping, E and R and I had some fun!! I asked them what they wanted to do and they both yelled, "BATTLESHIP ON YOUR IPAD!!!" Ok so I shared my ipad2 and let them play a couple of games of battleship on my app. While they were busy I cooked up an idea.. 

Yup we had a Tea Party :) 

Chocolate Milk, cookies, goodies Grandma had brought them, marshmallows and chocolate chips :) 

The kids love Tea Parties and they love to use LOTS of play dishes :) They also all like to have their own 'pot' so we each had our own teapot full of chocolate milk. To make it extra special we lite a candle. We had fun and I was surprised how good the girls conversational skills were. We talked a bit about manners and being a good hostess. E really has wonderful instincts at being a good hostess.. I have no idea where she got them from as I have NONE! Maybe next time we have company I'll ask her what I should do :) I love to watch my children mature and grow and I love that they surprise me and outdo even what I expect from them. I guess we really are a family of overachievers :) 

Spring Rolls, Coffee and Fun!!

Our dear friend Mrs. L came over the other day and taught Papa and I how to make spring rolls. The pork we thought we'd gotten out of the freezer turned out to be beef but they still turned out really well. We both learned how to wrap them up in their flour warps and I have to admit all mine turned out to be short and fat and all of Papa's were perfect.. long and skinny. Humm... I guess he can have that job :) They turned out to be a lot easier to make then I thought. Mrs. L doesn't use a recipe so I didn't get one either but basically it's fine noodles, graded and squeezed carrots, meat, sugar, salt and pepper, soy sauce, eggs and the mystery fungus.. some kind of chopped mushroom that looks like tiny stripes of fabric. Despite being hamburger instead of pork they turned out wonderful.
The next night Mrs. L brought her 4 children and Papa took them on sled rides with a sled he borrowed from work :) And of course they had to warm up with hot chocolate and cookies!! They had a blast!! Papa also BBQ'd some chicken which we served up with baked potatoes and green beans :) Chocolate chip cookies and Kettle Popcorn made for a great dessert. While Papa and the older kids were outside Mrs. L and I baked the potatoes, played with J3 and Baby G and visited. Great times!!

New Kitten!

She is a cute little fur ball that showed up next door one day about two months or so ago. She moved to our house about a week later and still goes over to visit next door fairly often.  She was a kids kitten. They pick her up any which way and run, ride, jump and she takes it. She didn't much care for Chip at first but has learned to love him and they are often seen sniffing each other or sitting together in the sun. J was carrying her when she 1st came and Chip came over to see her and she ran right up his face and sat on his head!! Jumped off his head and poor Chip really didn't know what he'd done!! He is such a softy. Papa has dubbed her midnight and we are hoping she stays around long enough to give us a batch of kittens or two :)