Summer Evening Walk

You will know who took these pictures if you pay attention to who is not in them.  I picked out my favorites.  

There were many deer and fawns lying in the long grass in the meadow to the left in the picture above.  Some of them roused while we walked by.

A rare picture of myself.  I thought of you, JoAnn, when I posted this. 

One of the last summer outings of the year.

Julie's Birthday

The men are getting a special dinner ready. 

:-)

They made some pasta with tomato cream sauce...

...with sauteed shrimp and sugar snap peas.  The shrimp and peas are a treat.  They cost a little more than what I would typically spend.

Yum!!

The boys made some chocolate mousse and even put it into a pretty teacup for me.

I left temporarily to take a birthday phone call and everyone else patiently waited, or passed the time taking some pictures, as I found when I got back.

Mom sent me a couple of new cookbooks, some chocolate and a journal.  Thanks Mom!

My sweet sister, JoAnn, sent me a pretty new mug and a pack of lovely thank you notes.  She also got me a book, not pictured, by George MacDonald that I was wanting (The Princess and Curdie).

Peter's sister, Leslie sent me the greatest slippers from L.L.Bean.  They are so comfortable, functional and cute!!  They're my most treasured comfort item just now.

Thank you, Leslie!  I love them.  How did you know?

Christmas Tree Farm

Being outside always affords the best opportunity for some photographs.  The annual trip to the Christmas tree farm (which we haven't made the last two years) is always refreshing.  The chance to get outside and enjoy exercise, fresh air and all the lovely evergreens is so timely at the first of December.

Will found our tree this year.
Taking home a freshly cut tree to put in our house is a tradition that is well worth it also!  So cheerful and beautiful!  It's something we would never think to do at any other time of year.  What a neat way to mark the significance of the celebration of the birth of Christ.

And Will took this picture of me and the girls.

These last pictures of Peter and myself were taken by Sam.  Some of my favorites this year!

This one makes me think about us growing gray together and being blessed to still have little ones among us. 

Impromptu Tea Parties

 Here is a little tea party that was "real" but all set up by Amelia and Cecily, for Mom to enjoy with them.

 I gave them permission, then they did all the preparation and "surprised" me.  Amelia worked hard to write all of our names on a little sign for the party. 

 Real tea in real cups.

 Leftover cookies from the previous day's church event make for a handy tea supplement.

 I even let Amelia take a picture of me.  We don hats for tea, if the mood strikes.  This day the girls insisted on hats.

 I happened upon this little tea party one afternoon.  This is a "pretend" one.

 My older boys would have a lot to say about this photo, if you asked them.  They're not thrilled about Elijah tenderly "feeding" the baby.  I think a little of this kind of play, done in the right way, is actually beneficial for him.  He plays guns and cars a whole lot more often.

This adorable little tea set was a birthday present Amelia got from my mom and dad.  The little antique extra pieces came from my mom as well.  My mom is a lover of dishes.

Haircuts for the Girls

 You might know or not be surprised that I do all of the haircutting in our household.  I claim no real skill at it, but I do it to save money.  Part of the reason that I have just let the girls' hair grow is because my only attempts at cutting it myself haven't gone very well.  By the way, I do not cut my own hair either.  Twice a year, I take the time and money to get it cut at a salon.  So, this time around I took the girls with me when I was due for my cut.  I got to watch and get some pointers from the capable and experienced lady who does my hair. 

 Amelia's hair got several inches taken off.

 This was pretty fun for them, because they've never done it before.

 Cecily just got a trim.

Freshly cut hair!  And I learned something for next time!

A Smattering of Winter Activities/Photos

 A load of wood the boys chopped a couple of weeks ago.  Way to go, boys!

 Just kidding...

 Fellowship...

 ...with the sweetest member of the family.

 At one point we had a couple inches of snow.  That's about the most we've had at one time this year.

 Cute hat, eh Kathy?

 Benjamin planned a breakfast in bed for me a couple of weeks ago.  What a sweetie.

 Big boy puzzles have been happening frequently.  Recognize this one, Mom?

 I made my first batch of homemade yogurt, in the crockpot.  It was SO easy and it turned out super!  I have done several more batches now.  I'm very glad I finally tried it!  It costs about half as much as the cheapest yogurt at the store and we eat it in such large quantities anyway.  Awesome.

 Peter and I got together a date night to spend his "steak" gift certificate I got him for Christmas.  We went to Outback Steak House on a Friday night.  There was a long wait.  So we waited, in the cold and took pictures.  :)  We had a great time.

 Happiness is almost 16 years of marriage and making time to celebrate our friendship/love in the midst of crazy, normal life.

 I liked this cheesy picture too.  :)

 The blooming onion we shared was super good.  I didn't take pictures of the steaks, but they were good too.

 Winter morning in a winter white nightgown. 

 Small child puzzling after church one Sunday.

 Candy cane striped outfits!

 One child was less animated than the other.  She wasn't feeling very well.

 Sisters!

 This is what school looks like.  We've done most all of it upstairs this winter because it's warmer and I can cook and oversee school at the same time.  Calvin is doing his math worksheet.  Ben took his into his room to do it.  The oldest two boys do school in the office where Peter works.  I'll post a picture of that another time.

 Amelia is helping Cecily with her preschool pages while working on her own phonics worksheets.

 A Valentine's breakfast.

 The girls decorated their room for Valentine's day.

A lot of time indoors....  Soon I will post some pictures I took of a (finally) nice day when we got to spend some time at Cheat Lake.