And the year goes round again ...

Getting the Christmas tree!


Mark stayed warm and cozy at home on the couch. Grandma had suggested a fake tree this year but the girls protested and insisted on cutting their own. So Cailley drove us a few miles to the local tree farm.


Hot mulled cider was delicious!


Townsend tree lighting on the common! Isabelle was there early singing with the girl scouts.


and then there was light!


Guess who ... pays a visit on the town fire truck?


... Santa of course hands out candy canes!


Warm hobo stew after the choir concert at one of the local churches on the town common.


Mid-December finds us enjoying the girls recitals and concerts. Isabelle played second chair in her orchestra and enjoyed dressing up for the concert.







Postcards of Christmas!







Our Christmas card for this year. Each girl made their own snow globe.






The Christmas table ...


Santa pays a visit ...


Singing Christmas carols after dinner ...


Our very own "Elf on the shelf" arrived late in the season and will stay until New Year's Eve!

A few peaceful mornings...

Yes... that's what I need. The girls will finish up with school on Friday so these are the last few mornings I will have to myself until next fall. I have thoroughly enjoyed these past two whirlwind weeks and weekends (busy with the girls' recitals), but I am a little frazzled to say the least. I think the stressful part is getting everyone from point A to point B. And when there are timing issues involved too with three ... well it takes its toll. My husband just goes on oblivious to these issues but honestly I feel like an air-traffic controller here. So I am going to take a break for a few days and catch up on some much needed gardening and house cleaning. Its difficult to attend to these with guests visiting. And gardening outdoors and enjoying the warm sun is so calming to me.

I want to share a beautiful new treasury on Etsy called Nesting: Home sweet home by sheridesthelion includes my little bluebird in a nest.



I listed my hen and chick pairs yesterday. The sky was overcast and bright so I ran down to the field out back to photograph them. I guess it was a good thing I have been too busy to mow the field because the yellow flowers were beautiful. The bees are enjoying them too so I will probably hold off on mowing for another week. The mother hens are basically the same pattern I made several years ago but I have been modifying the chick pattern a bit with some successes. My family likes one pattern and I the other so I will probably solicit more opinions on this. If any of you have any opinions let me know! I love how they display in baskets.



And while we are on the subject of chicks I have to confess that I signed up to get 3 little bantam chicks when I was last visiting the Farmers Exchange. I had every intention of resisting temptation this year and look its already June and I have seen several batches of chicks come in and leave. I haven't mentioned this yet to my husband to avoid getting the "rolling eyes" look but the kids know now and are excited.

Survived the weekend!

We survived the first crazy weekend in June and have another coming up next weekend. This is due to music recitals, dance recitals, and end of the year church plays for all 3 girls and husband as well.

As a break from all that turmoil I sat down on the couch and worked on these little guys today. It was too rainy and drizzly to tempt me to go outside -- though I have much to do to get caught up on my gardening. My daughter needed to make a model of a starfish for science class but our cement casting didn't set properly due to the cold. I suggested that she needle felt her model and she did a very good job on that. I am sure that her science teacher will be curious about the wool though.