Compost Bin

Daddy, Jacob, and Pop pop built us a compost bin with three compartments. It was extremely cold the day they worked on it, and I was afraid they would freeze! They did a fine job, and after they put the doors on the bins, I will take a picture for y'all to see.

Tricia Ann

Fun to be Feminine

Hey, Girls! Isn't it fun to dress like a young lady!? I think so. Swishing skirts, hoops, calicos, petticoats, scarves and shawls, gloves and hats...They're all so delightful and feminine (I wouldn't expect you boys to understand)! I finally finished sewing my dress, and here it is...not the best picture in the world, but it will do.

Tricia Ann

Favorite Things

Books, music, and little ones...These are a few of my favorite things!

Let the Gardening Begin....Already?

Earlier this week, our men got out their trusty tools and commenced building. They built a large, sturdy, and cleverly-designed shelf for sprouting and growing our garden seeds indoors. Their next project was a three-section compost bin. I've learned two important things about farm life: (1) If you want to be a serious gardener, the season starts really early. We started planning right after Christmas. (2) Compost is a gardener's best friend. Jacob has spent two full day shoveling horse manure from behind our neighbors' stable and carting it up to our garden site, and we've been saving every little bit of leftover scraps from the kitchen in hopes that we can mix some (as Jacob would say) "bodacious" compost.

The compost bins aren't quite finished, but they're sure looking spiffy so far!

~Trish

Here's our seed-starting-shelf! We hope to have some cabbages and peppers growing happily here under the adjustable lights in the next few weeks.

Tricia Ann baked some melt-in-your-mouth garlic loaves, and we ate them for a snack, dipping them in a bowl of melted butter and fresh garlic.

mmmmmmmmmmmmm.....

"Happiness is a warm puppy!"

Meltdown

A Jolly Snowman

Philip and I ventured out this afternoon and built this Frosty Friend. We used our "Snowman Kit" that we made a few years ago at Christmas. We had lots of fun!
~Trish

Brrrrrr....

SNOW!!!

We woke up this morning, and everything was covered with a white layer of snow. We got 4 or 5 inches during the night. It's so pretty. We have some really good hills for sledding, so we hauled the sleds out of the shed. Sliding DOWN the hill is great... Coming back up is more difficult. Mom and Dad even joined in the fun. We slid down and tramped back up that hill until we were thoroughly exhausted. I thought I'd better go ahead and post some pictures...just in case the power goes out later.

Tricia Ann

Gimli had a blast.

Here's the pond.

Barn Raising

Wow! I didn't know it had been SO long since we posted! Sorry we've been so negligent.

Last Saturday, Jacob and Daddy went to a local Amish barn-raising. They had a great time working with the Amish men and the others that came to help. At lunch time, Mom and I drove over to see what was going on and to take some pictures. When we got there, we realized the camera's batteries were dead. We stayed around for a while and watched the progress, then went home. We went back just before nightfall and took a few pictures (making sure the camera had new batteries). To see more photos, visit Kaliste's Blog. She put together a really nice photo show.

Jacob's the one in the light blue shirt (he was moving, so we didn't get a good shot).

Tired (and dirty) men after a hard day's work

Of Sleeves and School Work

I sewed most of the day today. I had a hard time with the sleeves I was trying to put on my War-Between-the-States dress (I can't say Civil War), but I finally (on the third try) got them finished. Jacob has been doing a lot of academics in an attempt to complete all his work for this year. He has really been working hard and diligently.

I haven't been taking many pictures lately, so I'll post some from a few weeks ago. Hope y'all enjoy 'em!

Tricia Ann

Moving Party

We helped some dear friends move at the beginning of January. Moving is quite fun when you have the privilege of working with such wonderful company.

Lovely Miss Kaliste

Miss Laura and her mom helping box up the kitchen stuff.

Anna, Caroline, and Abigail take a lunch break.

Claire and Elijah took a piano lesson from Anna during a break :)

Fixing Shingles

"Not another picture!" and "Who, me?"

After a long day of packing, we worshipped the Lord together.