Wordless Wednesday – Cookie Monster!

More frosty trees

Just couldn’t resist taking more pics of the lovely trees.  The wind has knocked some of the thick frost off branches, but it’s still beautiful. 

Even more frosty…

Driving home from Angelina’s dance lessons last night, the fog was quite dense again.  This morning, the frost on the trees is even thicker than yesterday!  I hope to get a chance to take a few pics outside during daylight … the sun is still coming up.

It's been a year...

of blogging at Shepherding My Sheep.  It's definitely been a picture of our everyday family life and a great outlet for me ... in both joys and struggles.  Thanks for reading along.

Changes that have occurred in the past year:

1. Added another child to the family
2. Started building a detached garage
3. Acquired a new vehicle - a suburban - to transport our expanded family
4. Joined the country church as members (still plan to keep our membership at Cathedral, too)
5. Cut back significantly on trips to Fargo
6. Entered a new stage electronically - with the Wii
7. Started praying a family rosary and did really well until our schedule needed to adjust for a new baby ... don't worry, the rosary will come back in once we figure out our new routine


There were many more adjustments and changes, but I wanted to make sure I recorded these ... they seemed more significant to me.

Fog rolled in today ...

and frosted everything.  Visibility was low - we could barely make out the farmyard.  Eric didn't notice any fog when he went out to care for the rabbits between 5:30 & 6:00am.  At 6:30am, when I arose, the fog still wasn't here ... or at least it wasn't as thick.

It's better now, thank goodness!  Eric needed to drive to Fargo this morning.

The view out my back porch at about 8am this morning. 

Monday DayLook - January 18, 2010

For Today: January 18, 2010

I am thankful for... health, family, being able to stay home and homeschool
my kids, and a functional (and also beautiful) roof over our heads.

I am thinking... how truly easy my life is compared to others I know.  My needs, and even my 'wants', are met. 

I am hearing... Eric and the kids playing Clue (yes, I'm writing part of this post on Sunday evening AND I'm not playing Clue because I promised I would play Catan later with the crew).

I am praying for ... a miracle for our friend's, Lori & Ryan: he has brain cancer and has already endured two surgeries.  They have three children under the age of six.  Ryan has decided to discontinue medication ... he's ready.

From the school room... the workbooks for this Latin study from CHC are on order for Angelina, who will be finished with LCI from Memoria Press this coming week.  We already own the books; each book will last approximatley ten weeks ... perfect for finishing out this semester.  Dash will complete LCII by semester's end and then they can both start First From Latin from Memoria Press in the Fall. 

Looking out my back porch... the trails for x-country skiing and snow-shoeing head out from our back yard up to farmyard ... Grandma Green Acres' home ... and to the burn barrel!

From the kitchen...  not sure how many of my readers are familiar with Chipped Beef on Toast ... it's basically diced corned beef in a white sauce served over toasted bread.  Anyway, this week, I threw together a simple white sauce, added diced chicken, chopped bacon, and seasoning for a quick sauce to serve on toasted bread.  The kids and I really liked it!  It's a great way to use up leftovers.

I am reading... quite a bit about politics, lately.  Change is occurring here in rural ND, where change is generally shunned or looked at with skepticism (at least, IMO, politically) .... our state will at least have one new senator after the next election.

State of the house… some of the Christmas decorations were put away; that's always a good way to get a little cleaning accomplished.  The kids also helped clean bathrooms this weekend.

A really cool moment… last week, my husband thanked me for doing the laundry.  He commented that he had noticed when the laundry room was empty last week and thought it looked really nice.  I epmtied and de-cluttered so I could vacuum up all the dust bunnies that had grown!

A few plans for the rest of the week…
Monday: Angelina's dance class this evening.
Wednesday:  Prepare meals for two families with new babies -- to be delivered on my trip to town on Thursday.
Thursday: Angelina 'gets' her top braces applied today and she has a playdate with a friend (ie. girly-time for her and for me).
Friday/Saturday/Sunday:  This is the last free weekend before my husband starts attending a long streak of ag-related shows and meetings.  No kidding .... he has something every week until Easter!  I predict a penance-filled Lenten season.

A picture memory...

My hubby loves to buy flowers for me ... and progress on the detached garage.

The next two are inside shots; part of the garage has floor heat (one pic shows the tubes coming up from the floor) and we have a large storage area up above (accessed by the folding 'attic' stairs - boy! are they narrow).  The second pic is where a future workshop will be located.

This photo doesn't quite do the sunset justice, but it was beautiful when first spotted.