My Little Tiger Cub

Here is a short video of David, wrestling in his first tournament.

First Wrestling Tournament

Saturday, Dec. 20 was David's first wrestling tournament. He won two and lost two of his matches. We thought he did really well even in the ones he lost. His first losing round, he was way ahead on points, but ended up getting pinned. His other losing round, it was very close, with the other boy winning on points. But I considered it a victory, points notwithstanding, because when it was over the other kid was crying and David wasn't. (Isn't that terrible?) Everyone who wrestled got a trophy, and David loves his.

Making Christmas Cookies

My Deer Husband

It's a few days after Thanksgiving. What better time to dress up like a big, glowing pumpkin, grab your gun, and tromp around in the snow? I want Jason to be happy, of course, but I can't bring myself to hope he gets a deer. I don't like deer meat. Just not enough of a true farmer's wife, I guess. Make it into chili, it tastes like deer. Make a meatloaf? Tastes like deer. Burgers? Sausage? Bologna? Deer, deer, deer. (The same is true for goat, by the way, with apologies to Melanie.)

Turned out that Jason and Brian saw no deer that day, and they did have a good time walking all over the farm in the snow. It may be that I am safe, at least for this year. I think I'll go cook some chicken.

One Saturday we had an ornament party. The kids' cousins and some grown-up family members came over, and the kids made Christmas tree ornaments.


Amanda works with beads


Corinne shows off her tree



Kellie helps Abi thread sequins onto pins




Rachel and Ryan cut out felt

Andrew didn't make any ornaments, but he is so adorable there is no way we could leave him off the blog!

School Days

Rachel works on phonics, and Benjamin learns a math lesson

Amanda and Katie play "Store"

Yesterday was the last day of our fall semester. Here are a few of the little students, hard at work. The school room is nice and sunny in the mornings.

On Friday afternoon we went out to ride sleds.

Fall Turns to Winter

I have sometimes thought that it would be nice if Thanksgiving were earlier in November, so the Christmas season would last a little longer. That is especially true here, because even though Thanksgiving is not until next week, the winter snow that looks so Christmasy has already arrived.

We had a family Thanksgiving gathering on Nov. 9, so I am letting myself go a little, only in that we are listening to Christmas music whenever it snows. I should go and get the pumpkins off of the porch, too, and just let the weather do the decorating. I can't bring myself to do any Christmas decorating until the day after the real Thanksgiving.

We are loving the snow. The farm looked beautiful wearing its crowns of golden leaves, but the snow's beauty is also arresting. These are a few pictures of the pond, the chicken house and the house, all dressed up for Christmas, a little early.

Snow Way!

They said it might snow. We told the kids not to hope for too much. After all, it's not even November yet! But now they are calling for four to twelve inches by this afternoon. Wow! We'll see what we get!

Monkeys in the Treehouse

Here are some of my monkeys. Amanda was taking a nap while these pictures were taken. The kids really enjoy their treehouse. It is at the far end of the backyard, overlooking the west pastures and fields.

Sunrise, Sunset

Sunday Stroll

Here are some pretty pictures from our walk on Sunday afternoon. The girls on horses are our neighbors.

The Garden Goes Night, Night

We put the garden to bed last week. All the potatoes came out, and then we tilled everything up and planted rye, which we will till in next spring. We only left the carrots and brussels sprouts to harvest later. It is nice to have it all done. Here are David showing off a sprout, Jason and Rachel digging potatoes, and Katie, inspecting the taters and running around in the yard.

Mr. Tomato Head

Benjamin has a new friend he met in the garden. It's Mr. Tomato Head!

Katie's Apple Adventure