Ok, so after ANOTHER day of snow I gave in and thought "Why not have some fun in this stuff?!" We built the snowman, of ALL snowmen today! The boys (Jack and Brett) obviously did the stacking (the stacking of the cat too) :) :)
YIPPEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!
We also went sledding at the farm....Brett built a tiny snow ramp and you could really get some air! Hurt the bottom when you came down, but it was SO FUN!! I wore myself out doing this.....

SUPER Brett !

Nothin' like sledding over frozen cow patties! :)

Today was Pastor Red's message about writing down your desires in a list to God :). Brett is being silly below, trying to make his list fit in his shoe! I guess some people keep their list in their shoe. Ours are in more safe places!
Fun on the farm yesterday! I think this little calf is so cute.. :)

The calf on the left kept sticking it's nose in the snow and then licking it off with it's big tongue. It was amusing to see!

Neat :). Janice named this cow Sadie.

In our neighborhood....

I was walking in front of Brett and turned around to tell him something and saw "the look".....the one that means "I'm ornery and up to something". Turns out, he had a big snowball behind his back, just ready for me!

oops, not ready for the picture yet :)

That's better! We ventured out in the snow tonight (in Brett's truck) with Luis and Regina to eat pizza, and then we all came back to our house to watch a movie. Fun! :)

see new sewing post below!

Another snow day and more sewing! I made this heart garland today, and it was super easy! All you had to do was trace and cut out mini hearts and then sew together in a long strip.

I made this purse for my sister, Becca (surprise Becca!)

Snow, snow, and more snow! It hasn't stopped ALL day.....

Today I am thankful for:
A caring husband who makes me tea :)
Tazo tea
The sound of my students voices and their concern over the people of Haiti
The thought of being an aunt to another little one
sisters :)
laughing
and God's infinite wisdom, patience, faithfulness, concern, and joy for His people

Today was farm day!This is Jack and Major :). Jack put Major on top of the hay bales and it was pretty funny. Major found some mice hiding under the lawn mower in the barn today. We (Brett, Jack, and I) were cleaning up/out the barn and every now and then you'd see one of the mice go runnin' out the barn, cause Major was rooting around by the mower. You bet I squealed like a girl!
Pretty view from inside the barn.

these two old doors have so much character and are just fantastic, in my opinion. Found them in the barn today!

There are also two old beds that are neat looking as well out there.

Caleb took this picture of his momma! He and Seth and Jana came out for a while today. I had a great time visiting with Jana and playing with Caleb. He's such a fun little guy.

Coloring! This was before Caleb figured out it was fun to drop the crayons all over the floor too!:)

Almost got a smile out of him...... :)

happy, handsome boy

So remember a while back (during one of my many snow days) when I made the wreath?
Well I actually got the idea from another lady's blog that I had seen on www.oneprettything.com . I left a comment on the lady's blog and told her she inspired me to make my own wreath, after I saw hers.

Well, go here : http://tatertotsandjello.blogspot.com and scroll down to the post called "Reader Spotlights". You'll find a picture of my wreath (with my name and blog name) there along with several others!
Exciting :)

In honor of my resolution to cook more interesting, involved recipes, last night we had an interesting meal! The things in the picture above are supposed to be cheese biscuits. However, I was in a hurry and poured in too much milk, so they are technically more like cheese cookies. :)
Hooray! I made my own caesar salad dressing and it was FABULOUS. It made quite a bit so it will last us for along time too....
We also had Gnocchi Soup (imitated after the Olive Garden Gnocchi Soup)

The caesar salad dressing had anchovies in it. :) I made the dressing in the food processor so the fishy taste wasn't very evident.

This is what potato gnocchi looks like before you boil it! I bought this at Trader Joe's for $1.99. Here at home it's more like 3 something. You should give it a try!

We went with Mikayla tonight to Wal-mart to she could register for the Housewarming Party/Shower we're having for her! It was so fun! :)

I did some baking today! I realize it's a bit early for Valentine treat bags, but there are Banana Crumb Muffins (www.allrecipes.com) inside to be delivered to the girls tomorrow (Barbara and Jill, my fellow teachers). These muffins are super quick and easy and are delicious! They make a lot though so they're better for a family or for sharing!
This is the material I got at the new fabric shop past Elkins, Lonesome Pine Quilts. Aren't they fun?!

This is one of the pillow shams I bought in N.C. at World Market. There were two this size (it is good thick material) for under $4! I am going to turn them into something else!

Congrats to my sis Becca who won the 40/29 photo contest!!! :)

My first trip to North Carolina! We had a couple of free afternoons and went to the North Carolina Museum of History because it was free. I wasn't expecting much, but it was AWESOME!! It was definitely one of the BEST museum's I've ever been to. It was 4 stories!
I thought this doll was pretty and looked like something Kyla would like. :) "Hello Mr. Turtle!" Group shot above and neato looking snake below :)
Made some new friends.........

Jurassic Park, anyone?

Hmmm.........something looks familiar.........who loves wearing a wolf hide? Me, evidently ! At the museum we went in this room that had a lot of stuffed animals (literally-stuffed) and hides and things. The volunteer gave us the four easy steps to stuffing :) and then whipped out this wolf hide and said "Oh, but have you seen our wolf?" She was proud as could be and boy did we have fun! Some of the girls stood up with the wolf skin first, and then it was my turn and they were all saying "Get down on all fours!" What a wild time we had with the wolf :) :) :) .
Westwood Wolves :)
SKUNK

Owl (with cotton peeking out of it's eye sockets-hilarious!) YOU TOO, can stuff your own animals!

Neat display at Museum

The very, very fun group of girls I went on the trip with.They also had a room that was like a rainforest with butterflies flying around you could walk in.
We stayed at the Homewood Suites, by Hilton. It was extremely nice and Katy and I found our washclothes folded like this cute little duck :)

Trader Joes is my new favorite grocery store! It is like Ozark Natural Foods, but affordable! I bought some potato gnocci there (italian product) and some great tea and trail mix (with mostly nuts)We stopped for frozen custard in the group picture above and ate it in Big Bertha. :) Big Bertha was what we named our HUGE 15 passenger white van we rode around in for three days.....oh boy, did we have some Bertha jokes. We talked about her as if she were real, saying "Bertha can turn on a dime" and "Bertha sure can make those u-turns". :)
The last picture is the girls and I sitting in front of the warm, beautiful fireplace at our hotel.

Other highlights: We visited 2 schools (that WAS the reason for the visit afterall )
We were RIGHT by a Joann fabric, but I didn't go in. So close! I did get some neato shams from World Market (another neat store) for 90% off that I'm going to use for sewing.
I found a Karen Kingsbury book I don't already have for $3.99 at the Border's there!
Back to house chores for me...I'm proud of Brett for fixing our leaky water in the tub!