The end of 2010

The last day of 2010 wasn't spent the way I had planned.

No actually the last 2 weeks of 2010 haven't been spent the way I planned.

I dreamed that the little man I and would sleep in and snuggle,

my house would sparkle without me having to try,

the weather would be nice and a little nip in the air,

Bartow and Force would get exercised and Wyatt would be able to ride Bartow alone.

I would sew up a storm and finish me a couple of 50's inspired shirt dresses

so that I could become a vintage housewife

My hubby would have a hardy supper on the table nightly when he came home

and everything would be fed up by sundown

But in reality I have spent the last two weeks rising most days before the sun as shed a ray

cleaning constantly since Hurricane Wyatt arrive with each passing hour with more force than before

the weather has gone from bone chilling cold to I'm breaking a sweat working cows

I have caught the two horses but Bartow still just stands there when Wyatt is on him

I have sew two things this entire break and they were Christmas gifts.

I am so not a vintage housewife (as I am currently lounging in my yoga pants)

My hubby has eaten cereal at least twice in the past two weeks and probably had pizza 3 or 4 times

and he still has to feed up when he gets home in the evening.

Today I spent my morning hours helping out Paw Paw with a few cows that proved to be a little more hardheaded than expected.

We began by moving the show heifers out to pasture with the herd bull,

not our original plan but they been shut up in show fields for the past 9 months and could use a diet prior to getting bred...as much as Pet and Gracie hated it they have temporarily entered the world of semi-grown up cattle...then we had planned to move 2 cows and 2 calves across the road to a barn where it is easier to feed them and they have more grazing room..

now this should have been about an hour job at the MOST..however it took forever to load the two cows onto the trailer...we fought and fought and fought with them to get on the trailer...

i thought that Paw Paw was about to lose his religion...

Wyatt even gave up and went to the house with Grandma...

but we got them moved and had a wonderful lunch with Grandma & Paw Paw

now I think its time for the little man and i to take a nap...

I'll dream of a new camera since my died on Christmas day and I can't seem to fix it...

Wyatt will dream of bullriding at the WNFR...

and maybe just maybe when I wake up

I'll clean the house and cook some supper for my hardworking hubby

Stay tune tomorrow I will be posting my New Year's Resolutions...ALL of them!!

Christmas on the Farm

Many of you know that my husband is a full time farmer and for a farm family Christmas is a little different.  No matter the day God's creatures have to be cared for.  So EARLY Saturday morning before even your most excited little one rolled out of bed we had opened presents, had breakfast, fed baby calves, and William was milking the herd.  This is a typical holiday for us.  I don't mind the early rising or the cold air in the early morning because we get to experience a one of a kind holiday every year. 

 This was our living room before the little man attacked the mound of presents.  Now typically he doesn't get tons of presents but this year I went a little overboard because I got some AMAZING deals on his favorite toys...John Deere Tractors!!!  The little man is amazing, he can wake up before most adults and still have the most wonderful attitude.

This year I was able to learn something new. Our little man is 2 going on 80! On Christmas morning he hiked to the barn with me to feed baby calves and check on the lambs and goats, then hiked back up the hill to feed the horses and dogs all the while being a trooper in the cold air. As we were in the barn feeding Wyatt said that he could mix up the milk for the calves of course I was a little more than nervous...subfreezing temps, hot water, and a 2 year old isn't a good mix. But he (with supervision of course) took the jugs of water and poured it into the milk buckets, added a cup of powdered milk to each and whisked them like a pro! It was an amazing moment to see that some of the values we are trying to instill in him were being implemented even at a young age. He didn't whine or complain he was enjoying his time with me having fun working on the farm. It was wonderful!!

Christmas day continued with visits to family (after milking of course).  Wyatt loves to head to Nana & Pop's.  They live on the main part of the farm and he likes to play and spend time with his cousin, Ashley.  We got a very rare treat on Christmas evening...it started snowing!!  Technically we didn't get a white Christmas (not 1 inch prior to midnight) but we did have a white day after!! And Wyatt loved it!  The snow was too soft and powdery to use the real sled so we made use of a feed trough and pulled little man to the barn in it.  He loved the homemade sled. 

 Living on a farm gives you a chance to take some amazing photos through out the year.  I love to catch the landscape covered with snow from various angles.  This is looking out the end of the barn. 

 This is another angle from the end of the barn but this one is special because the house you can just see at the end of the field is the original home place for little man's best friend and my hubby's maternal grandfather, Paw Paw.  It was a beautiful chance to capture a glimpse of family traditions.

 And of course I couldn't resist the chance to get a picture of some of the animals in the snow.  I didn't take many this time but I am sure I will have more chances as the winter progresses. 

I hope that you and your family had a wonderful holiday and remembered the true reason for the celebration...the birth of Jesus Christ our Lord.

God Bless,

Last Minute Christmas Gifts

Last night and early this morning I finished up the last few Christmas gifts I am making excluding baking cookies and making fudge.  I didn't forget these lovely individuals and families I just did start until the lat minute.  I do better under pressure even though it stresses me out greatly.  I am stressing now thinking about having to go BACK to the store again today because someone ate the Oreos for the Oreo truffles!!!

I whipped up these super cute dish towels to give to my husband's aunts and their families along with a tin full of goodies.  They were easy and helped use up some fabrics in my stash.

I made these headbands to give to as a couple of little girls I know.  Since they are sisters I made each one an anthro-inspired headband and a ribbon wrapped band. 

Now to go feed up some baby calves, clean the kitchen, bake some cookies and a couple of cakes, make two loaves of bread, a couple of batches of fudge, wrap the remaining presents, clean my little man's room and the den and perhaps sit back later with a cup of coffee and a good book!

Merry Christmas to you all!!

Linking up at

A craft for kids of all ages

Yesterday as I was blog hopping I saw numerous post about making salt dough ornaments with your kids.

I decided this would be a great project for my 2 year old because we could break it up into segments so he wouldn't get bored during the process. 

I saw recipes on numerous blogs but the most common was

1/2 cup of salt

1 cup of flour

1/2 cup of water

mix it to a cookie dough like consistency.

fold out onto lightly floured surface and roll out to 1/4 inch thick

cut using floured cookie cutter

bake @ 200 degrees for 5 hours or overnight

I didn't get any photos yesterday while we were making up the dough but I did discover a few things I would like to share...yes you can double the dough but we were better off making small batches as he could cut and roll fast enough to keep the dough from drying out (yes I let me roll our the dough and cut it too)

below are some pictures from decorating the ornaments today

we used 97 cent paint from Walmart and glitter...

LOTS & LOTS of glitter

 After a while we had to loose the paint covered shirt.  Not surprising for anyone who knows the little man!

FYI: your kitchen table may suffer some temporary paint stains!  I covered the table with multiple levels of newspaper however the little man still managed to get paint all over the table; however don't worry too much because a little warm water and a sponge cleaned it right up!

Take time this week to enjoy the gifts God has blessed you with and remember the greatest gift was Christ!

Christmas Card Holder

I saw this cute idea over at 30days to make a Christmas Card display.  We always like to hang up the cards we recieve from family and friends during the holidays.  We have taped them to the door in the den, sat them on top of the entertainment center, made a card garland of sorts but I think this is my favorite.  And it only took about 10 minutes to create!

I got a barnwood frame for 50% off at Hobby Lobby, used ribbon and rick rack I already had, attached everything with hot glue since I couldn't find my tacks or staple gun and added a little bit of wintery goodness with glittery snowflakes!!

Look at the finished product!

Linking up @

  

Christmas 2010

Last year I posted about our Christmas tradition of going out and cutting down our own tree for Christmas.  Now when I say that we go out..I don't mean to a tree farm or to the lot downtown.  No we brave all types of weather and take the chainsaw (Wyatt calls it a saw chain) and find the tree that we can all somewhat agree upon. 

Typically we do this on a Sunday afternoon while checking cows however with our crazy life this year time was running out.  I get a little hard to deal with if we don't have our tree AT LEAST 2 weeks before Christmas.  So one evening after William finished at the barn and we had eaten supper we all bundled up...(it was 12 degrees in SOUTH CAROLINA!!!) and headed out to find that perfect tree in the DARK. 

Looking for the perfect cedar tree to serve as your Christmas tree is a rather difficult task in general but in the dark makes it a little more difficult.  I thought I had found one earlier in the day while I was putting out hay but apparently it was 2 trees in one.  So we finally picked one from along the fence row.

Our tree is one sided...it has very few branches on the back side to the point we had to anchor the tree to the wall because the lights were too heavy.  Wyatt and I did most of the decorating which proved interesting since he wants to play with each thing he puts up.

But we love our very traditional country Christmas tree.  It is decorated with ornaments that represent us...cows, sheep and horses galore plus a farmer Santa, a few barns, John Deere's and UGA footballs, handmade ornaments that we have received as gifts, pictures of the little man and his yearly ornament.  We also have angels, wise men and baby Jesus on the tree.  The wild man loves to sit and look at baby Jesus, especially since he has been practicing the Christmas Story in Sunday School and Children's Church.  He can't wait to make Jesus a birthday cake. 

We also have a tree in Wyatt's room covered in blue ornaments.  I will try to remember to get some pictures of it soon.  I have a tree in my classroom as well but I completely forgot to get pictures of it prior to leaving for break.  I was lime green and red with pok-a-dots...a theme that would not go at home since I am out numbered 2 to 1 in the gender area. 

I hope you have a very MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Moved away and then came back

A while back I moved away from this blog to focus more on another and attempt to combine two passions into one.  Well that didn't work out too well.  So I'm back and with my two week break for Christmas I hope to really get some good post up and going for each of you.  Please enjoy a few pictures of events and happenings that have taken place in the last few months!

The little man and his Build-A-Bear...he loves that dude

Our fall photo shoot

Our future running back

The heredity lab my students completed...this was just one of 50 bugs that were constructed

Wyatt and his blanket he painted for Casa da Hogar

The girls that I coached on their trip to Nationals!

Wyatt helping me to make Strawberry Jam