Of Frogs and Snails & Puppy Dog Tails!

See this sweet little miracle?

Thanks to the good work of the doctor at the fertility clinic where my daughter found the answer to her problem and with prayer and the help of modern medicine, she and her husband were able to conceive. This little one is almost halfway to delivery day!

Due to the miracle of ultrasound technology we saw our little 7 oz. grandson's heartbeat, watched as he floated around and waved hello to us! See his little hand up there? Such a perfect set of hands, and we even saw his feet complete with teensy tiny toes!

What a neat day, what a special and precious memory.

So much to look forward to in the new year!
So much, indeed!


HAPPY NEW YEAR to all of you, my friends!

May the new year be full of little "miracles" for you, too!

What Are Little Boys Made Of?
Of frogs and snails and puppy dog tails,
That's what little boys are made of!

Irresistible. (TOTALLY.)

You don't have to be an animal lover to find these babies irresistible....do you?

NOPE. Can't resist Daisy's wrinkled forehead...

The reddish brown soft-as-velvet fur, the snuggles of puppy breath against the neck.

Not the extra skin that she'll grow into...the extra large paws that are tipped in white...

Can't resist Dan's white chest...the shiny black wet nose.

Those winsome eyes...

Oh...no, we weren't meant to resist.

We're meant to enjoy.

So we do. Wholeheartedly, we enjoy Little Ann.

We love them and enjoy them, as God meant for us to do.

Very, very,

...very much.

Merry CHRISTmas, Everyone!

A very, very Merry

CHRISTmas...

To you and your family...

On this Silent,

Holy Night.

It's Christmas in the Kitchen

It's Christmas in the kitchen
All is calm....all is bright.

That is, until it's time to start the Sugar Cookie Marathon Day. No other Christmas goodies compare to the mess that making sugar cookies becomes!

It's not Christmas without them...

And the dogs know when I'm mixing something up it's time to watch...and wait. For something yummy is bound to accidentally hit the floor.

Soooo alert. So watchful are they. See the flour on the little guy's head?! Ha!

Oh...what fun it is to clean up after flour and cookie dough!

And this is my first Christmas with a Kitchen Aid...and lo! The angels sang and much frosting was able to be whipped up without my right arm falling off from holding the hand mixer! Hallelujah!

(I always use butter and almond flavoring in my frosting. Santa is watching over them for me.)

Like an artist's pallette...

Holly leaves...

And Santa toes...

Pink and blue gingerbread children...
(Which makes me wonder: will my little grandchild-to-be need to wear pink or blue?!? I will know SOON!!!! YAY!!!)

(I always wonder how they get these little nonpareils to be so perfectly round and so beautifully colored....such little wonders these are! They have a lot of static cling and I always wonder if the people who work in the factory find them all over themselves when they go home at night?! These are the earth-shattering questions I come up with while I'm baking.)

Their patience pays off...when it's all said and done, we split a cookie. We don't feed our dogs much people food but they can't stop themselves from begging anyway, and who can resist those big, brown, begging eyes?

"Please, mama, may I have another?!"

Oh, yes...
And a hug too!

MERRY CHRISTmas from all of us to YOU!!!!

Vintage Campin'....for Christmas!

I've been busy in the sewing room lately....

Making these "campin' pillows" for my sis....she of Pine Hollow Lodge. I thought they'd be perfect for her porch rocking chairs. And I knew she already had a red camp lantern like this one, so she's all set for outfitting her porch this summer.




And now that I look at this picture, I can see that I should have made a set of three! Good thing I've got extra fabric!

I had to pull out my vintage picnic basket, map and a couple of vintage lanterns to "pose them" for a show and tell. I'm happy to report that she loved them!

Vintage Christmas Monday

In my theme that happened to develop this year for Christmas decorating, this Raggedy Ann display came about.

I have a vintage Raggedy Ann Christmas book from 1952, a Raggedy Ann doll, and a vintage high chair in red. I paid $1 for the high chair and the other items were each a quarter all at different garage sales this summer. It brings to mind a simpler time, when there was no such thing as an electronic toy under the tree at Christmas!

Go here for more entries for Vintage Christmas Mondays. Joan is a participant and has listed all others who've joined in on the right hand side of her blog.

In other news....snow finally came to complete the job of Christmas decorating around the old farmhouse...we got around an inch, with another inch possible tonight. I was thrilled! Of course, I had to go outside with the camera.

And a package came in the mail, too! I'd ordered a sign from Dee at FARMHOUSE COUNTRY STYLE for the outdoor display I'd made earlier this fall. I found what looked like an old ramp or door of some sort that came out of our very last barn. I made Lem save it and he thought I was nuts, as usual.

But this fall I pulled it out and stood it upright in a bothersome corner near the door and thought I'd use it for display. It's tall and narrow and all chippy and perfect. I got a live wreath and an old sled and on it I slid a little green lantern and a red bow with some greenery. When the sign I bought from Dee came, I knew just where it would go....on my display!

The snow covers the words...the sign says "All hearts come home for Christmas".


Doesn't it look perfect? Thanks again, Dee. You do such nice work.

And...

We had a bout with the flu here over the weekend. My fourteen year-old son got a bad case of it to start his Christmas vacation off with a real bang! I had tons of laundry to do today and because of missed sleep, I missed church this morning. So amid loads of laundry (he's feeling a lot better today, but is still on the couch with aches and pains and not wanting to eat) I got some treats made.

Those were Chex mix (six batches) and several batches of YURTLES (previous post) and I also dipped pretzels in white chocolate. Tomorrow is the big day for SUGAR COOKIES! They have to be here or the kids think it's not Christmas! After the cookies are rolled out, baked and frosted, I will be done with Christmas treats.

I got to attend our church's canata tonight, it was "A 1777 Christmas" and it was wonderful. I loved how it brought out the fact that those Christmases while fighting for our independence were not so happy for the soldiers at Valley Forge or their families awaiting them back home.

I sat there and thought about how terribly our government officials have strayed from the Declaration of Independence and then the Constitution, the freedom and the sacred documents that those brave revolutionaries were fighting for in their bleeding bare feet in the snow so long ago.

The sacrifices they made for those to come after them, those of us they didn't even, or couldn't ever even know...was immense.

AND, what are we leaving for our kids? DEBT? A chaotic mess of a tangled government, a tyrannical "big brother" involved in the most personal areas of our private lives!?

I left encouraged, because we who are Christians will always belong to God, but sad because I'm not so sure that our country has chosen to stay with God any longer.

What say YOU?

Ya Wanna Make Da Yurtles?

Ever wanna turtle but you're too busy to make da real ting? Well...ya can make da YURTLES! Easy 'n good is da best, eh?

(Yoopers talk like dis. Whatsa YOOPER? Well, it's da name for da people who live in and speak a dialect of da English language in da upper peninsula of Michigan, and northern Wisconsin and northern Minnesota.

You can go here and read about da Yooper. I have lotsa Yooper relation. Dat will be yer geography lesson today. And, fer more fun, read about dese people dat make a livin singin' da yooper songs! Dey're a HOOOOOT!! Say, dere da ones singin' "Rusty Chevrolet" that is #3 on da playlist! Hilarious!)

Back to da YURTLES.

HERE'S WHATYA DO:

Ya need dem ROLOS, unwrap em.

Ya need pecan halves.

Ya need some foil on a cookie sheet.

Ya need dem round pretzels set in rows on da foil.

Ya need da oven at 250.

So put da Rollos in da middle of da pretzels, smallest end down.

Put em in da oven for FOUR MINUTES ONLY.

When dey come out of da oven, squish dose pecan halves down into da melty Rollos.

Lettem cool.

Eat dem suckers!