Sunday, December 30, 2007

Year in Review

 Kelli has had a fun idea. Posting a year in review type post. The concept: post the first line from the first post of each month and a picture if you like.


Here is mine:


~January~


 


We made it into the new year very quietly.


 January2007013.jpg image by kaysmarmey


-40 below and no electricity


~February~


 


Now, I do not have such a schedule but I liked this:


 db6.jpg image by kaysmarmey


 February2007008.jpg image by kaysmarmey


 


~March~ 


Check out BunnyBear's blog for pictures of a glacier in Juneau.


 


 March2007061.jpg image by kaysmarmey


 


~April~


 


I tried to post this yesterday but it was lost and not to be found again.


 April2007016.jpg image by kaysmarmey


April2007.jpg image by kaysmarmey


~May~


 


The bear with salmon won the contest.


 May2007011.jpg image by kaysmarmey


~June~


 


Wet greetings from Valdez, Alaska!


 June2007191.jpg image by kaysmarmey


~July~


 First, here is the main centerpiece that was put together for the event I helped with on June 19th.


 June2007432.jpg image by kaysmarmeyThis picture makes me tired, I was exhausted after this.


July2007035.jpg image by kaysmarmey


July2007087.jpg image by kaysmarmey


~August~


I am loving the open house!


 No camera this month


~September~


 Okay, I knew that I my favorite season was fall.


 September2007131.jpg image by kaysmarmey


~October~


 I wonder how many weeks until this becomes second nature for me


 October2007107.jpg image by kaysmarmey


~November~


I downloaded a larger group of pictures while I cleaned the kitchen and the bathrooms.


 November2007010.jpg image by kaysmarmey


~December~


 


I find myself with a few minutes of down time this Saturday morning.


 


 December2007093.jpg image by kaysmarmey


oanm.jpg image by kaysmarmey


November2007255.jpg image by kaysmarmey


May the Lord find us faithful.


 

Saturday, December 29, 2007

Welcome to North Pole

Hello from North Pole,


The blessings are on the mend, no coughing tonight and we have not had to go to the doctor. I picked up a few things from the natural store and used ibuprofen for comfort of the blessings. We are keeping them all home tomorrow for the health of others and the blessings themselves. I felt a little less energetic than normal today, so



  • I took a long bath this morning,  while I had an energy boost, I ...

  • went to the post office and picked up Exploring Creation with Zoology 1: Flying Creatures of the 5th Day (Apologia Science Young Explorers)this new science book I had ordered

  • came home and took a nap in my nice comfortable bed,

  • woke up to make a very late lunch for the blessings

  • moved to the couch and watched this movie True Griton TCM (while dutifuly checking football scores for my sweetheart who was outside cutting fire wood. )

  • Finally got up and emptied the dishwasher and began refilling with breakfast a various other dirty dished  (I wasn't a total slug today) then I  drug out the leftovers so everyone could make a plate to heat up, love leftovers, especially turkey leftovers

  • Watched Knitted a dish cloth while the men watched the Patriots/ Giants game

  • Crocheted another 2 dish cloths while I watched Mystery on PBS


All in all a very uneventful day, I was not feeling very well myself but it seems to have passed for now, thankfully.


I have been meaning to give you all a little "tour" of our town.


Since I was at the post office today I thought this would be our first stop in our town. The time was around 10:15 am. We are officially into winter now and will begin gaining daylight very soon. For now, we still have limited hours of daylight.


December2007359.jpg picture by kaysmarmey


December2007357.jpg picture by kaysmarmey


I took other pictures and will share more another day.


Have a very great day!


May the Lord find us faithful.

Friday, December 28, 2007

Quick check in

Just a quick pop in to say I am still here. I had two sick blessings Wednesday night and Thursday(One with croup and one with ear aches). All seems to be better today, at least they both slept through the night. We still have runny noses and some coughing with all three blessings but it is better today.


May the Lord find us faithful.

Wednesday, December 26, 2007

The day after

Our Christmas was a little different from usual. We did not have any company over, no big dinner.  After everyone cleaned up the gift wrap, we all bundled up and headed out for a snow machine ride and a little target practice. I actually got to go since I was not preparing for company. I would have loved company and especially miss my friends who used to live here but who have had move away for one reason or another. (We did hear that there is a very strong possibility that some friends of ours will be able to move back soon!! Yahoo, you know who you are and we can't wait!!! ) For everyone else, pray that things will work out to the Lord's will for where they move. Thanks.


Here is blessing #1 with the sled to pull behind his snowmachine.


December2007304.jpg picture by kaysmarmey


Here is blessing #3 taking a target shot.


December2007317.jpg picture by kaysmarmey


Sweetheart and me (my new coat for Christmas, now I will be warm for sure)


oanm.jpg picture by kaysmarmey


 


While sweetheart practiced with the big gun, the blessings played on the side of the pond. Yes, we were riding on a pond! It is kind of our winter play ground, we take the blessings over there and let them ride around on the snowmachines.


December2007354.jpg picture by kaysmarmey


December2007341.jpg picture by kaysmarmey


May your days be merry and bright.


May the Lord find us faithful.

Saturday, December 22, 2007

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

The girls and I went to see the Nutcracker Ballet ( a couple of weeks ago), I left my camera in the van so this is the only picture I got. We enjoyed our day together. We did a little shopping before the ballet.


December2007048.jpg picture by kaysmarmey


We finished our gingerbread log cabin tonight. It was a four day process. It really helps mom to have to have those steps....


Day 1: Make the gingerbread, I love this recipe. I found it online last year but I do not know who to give credit to, so if it is yours please let me know so I can source you, they truly are wonderful cookies.


 Best Gingerbread Cookies Ever

Cream together:

1 cup white sugar

1 cup butter

1 cup molasses

1 egg, beaten

Sift together:

1/4 tsp. ground cloves

1 tsp. ground nutmeg

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

3/4 tsp. ground ginger

1/2 tsp. salt

6 cups flour

1 tsp. baking soda dissolved in 1/4 cup hot water

Mix dry and wet ingredients thoroughly and allow to chill overnight. Roll out on a lightly floured surface to about 1/4 inch thickness and cut desired shapes, Bake at 350 degrees on lightly greased cookie sheet for 8-12 minutes, depending on size of cutter used. They should be golden brown, but not too darkened.

The frosting recipe is just simple confectioner's frosting. Beat together:

2 cups powdered saugar

 1/2 cup unsalted butter

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 1/2 Tbsp. whipping cream

You can add food coloring to this icing if you want to get detailed in th decorating. But these cookies are so good that they are delicious even without the frosting.

Love that overnight part now that I have readers, the recipe says chill overnight. Finished for day 1.

Day 2: Roll the "logs", bake and cool. Finished with day 2!!

Day 3: Make royal icing and assemble walls(Here I called in a structural engineer, aka Dad, I needed help)

Patiently waiting for Dad.

December2007100.jpg picture by kaysmarmey


December2007104.jpg picture by kaysmarmey

Dad helping made it all the more fun! He is the funny one plus he lets the blessings eat more candy and icing than I do.

December2007107.jpg picture by kaysmarmey

December2007110.jpg picture by kaysmarmey

After the walls were assembled, I followed sweetheart's directions and cut out and baked the roof pieces and a few more logs for support. Then, a tooth needed pulling:

December2007115.jpg picture by kaysmarmey

December2007119.jpg picture by kaysmarmey

Now, I have to teach her to sing "all I want for Christmas is my two front teeth...."

I don't even know the words past that!

Day 4: The roof

December2007133.jpg picture by kaysmarmey

Dry fitting.... so far so good.

December2007127.jpg picture by kaysmarmey

December2007164.jpg picture by kaysmarmey


December2007177.jpg picture by kaysmarmey

As you can tell, we do this purely for fun and we actually eat the thing, it is food for crying out loud!! I am  not going to just throw it away. We decorated it sparsely because it is a log cabin and we were going for rustic. We would not win any awards, this is just a life long tradition that I have desired to be a part of. I always loved the December issue of Good Housekeeping when I was a kid, last year I did not see one gingerbread structure in the magazine when I picked it up at the checkout line, that magazine went back into the rack.

From our family to yours, Merry Christmas!! Why doesn't that dog look at the camera? I think she was too busy looking for a squirrel. Emmy is our dog's name, she is a spoiled chocolate lab. She does work for a living from September 1 until the river freezes, she fetches up ducks for my duck hunting husband. The rest of the year she sleeps! And yes, it is a real fur hat!


November2007255.jpg picture by kaysmarmey


December2007093.jpg picture by kaysmarmey

May the Lord find us faithful.


"Therefore the LORD Himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a Son, and shall call His Name Immanuel" (Isaiah 7:14).

"
6 For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given: and the government shall be upon His shoulder: and His Name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince Of Peace. 7 Of the increase of His government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his Kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with Judgment and with Justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this" (Isaiah 9:6-7).

"
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God... 3 All things were made by Him; and without Him was not any thing made that was made... 14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the Only Begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth" (John 1:1, 3, 14).

"And without controversy great is the mystery of Godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory"
(1Timothy 3:16).

"And I will shake all nations, and the Desire Of All Nations shall come: and I will fill this house with glory, saith the LORD of Hosts"
(Haggai 2:7).

"I will declare the decree: the LORD hath said unto Me, Thou art My Son; this day have I begotten Thee"
(Psalm 2:7).

"For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the LORD"
(Luke 2:11).

"And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Juda, art not the least among the princes of Juda: for out of thee shall come a Governor, that shall rule My people Israel"
(Matthew 2:6).

"But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall He come forth unto Me that is to be Ruler in Israel; Whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting"
(Micah 5:2).

"30 And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God. 31 And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a Son, and shalt call His Name JESUS. 32 He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the LORD God shall give unto Him the throne of His father David" (Luke 1:30-32).

"
33 And He shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of His Kingdom there shall be no end. 34 Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man? 35 And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the Power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that Holy Thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God" (Luke 1:33-35).

"But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the Law"
(Galatians 4:4).

"
7 But [Jesus] made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: 8 And being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of The Cross" (Philippians 2:7-8).

"Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He
[Jesus] also Himself likewise took part of the same; that through death He might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil" (Hebrews 2:14).

"Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God"
(1John 4:2).

"
16 For verily He took not on Him the nature of angels; but He took on Him the seed of Abraham. 17 Wherefore in all things it behoved Him to be made like unto His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people" (Hebrews 2:16-17).

"
1 And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed... 4 And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:) 5 To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with Child" (Luke 2:1, 4-5).

"
6 And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered. 7 And she brought forth her firstborn Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling clothes, and laid Him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn" (Luke 2:6-7).

"
8 And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night... 10 And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people" (Luke 2:8,10).

"And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the Babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger"
(Luke 2:12).

"Glory to God in the highest, and on Earth peace, good will toward men"
(Luke 2:14).

"
15 And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into Heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the LORD hath made known unto us. 16 And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the Babe lying in a manger" (Luke 2:15-16).

"Hath not the Scripture said, That Christ cometh of the seed of David, and out of the town of Bethlehem, where David was?"
(John 7:42).

"And Jacob begat Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, Who is called Christ"
(Matthew 1:16).

"
22 And the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon Him, and a voice came from Heaven, Which said, Thou art My Beloved Son; in Thee I am well pleased. 23 And Jesus Himself began to be about thirty years of age, being (as was supposed) the son of Joseph, which was the son of Heli" (Luke 3:22-23).

"Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as His mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with Child of the Holy Ghost"
(Matthew 1:18).

"And knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn Son: and he called His Name JESUS"
(Matthew 1:25).

"Where is He that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen His star in the east, and are come to worship Him"
(Matthew 2:2).

"Concerning His Son Jesus Christ our LORD, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh"
(Romans 1:3).

"And again, when He bringeth in the Firstbegotten into the world, He saith, And let all the angels of God worship Him"
(Hebrews 1:6).


Wednesday, December 19, 2007

Blogger Friend School #12


                                               



Assignment: Write out some goals that you would like to accomplish. These goals should include your personal goals, but also goals as a family.


While setting goals, try to write out small attainable rewards for each goal accomplished!


Wow, I am a planner, but not that great at implementation.



  1. Work at being home as much as possible and making my home a haven of rest for my husband and children (aka the blessings) oh, yeah, our dog too, but she already seems to be quite comfortable and enjoys her 21 hours of sleep a day!

  2. Teaching my children to be others oriented over self oriented.

  3. Work on my perspective, which means on working on my spiritual condition daily.

  4. I could go on a list a lot of things I would like to do and want to do but I would be just planning and nothing more. Being realistic......


 


May the Lord find us faithful.

More on perspective

Now, I was reading the title of my last post and thought I am glad that is already written. Now, I am dealing with other perspective issues, like the temperature of -39 degrees!?!?!? I am very thankful that these temps held off until last night when I was snug in my warm home with a lovely fire burning away in the wood stove. The blessings and I did the grocery shopping yesterday in -25 degree temps (Believe me there is a huge difference between -25 and -39! Come and see for yourself , now I crack myself up. I am no kellieann but I can make myself laugh. Well, I must go take care of a little thing called school and begin cleaning the house. Oh yeah, when it is this cold and I go to start my dryer for the first time of the day, it sounds like a car that doesn't want to start due to cold weather! Just thought you would want to know!


May the Lord find us faithful.

Monday, December 17, 2007

Perspective

Tonight I dipped cherry filling for chocolate covered cherries, peppermint patties, oreo truffles and thin mints. I will share recipes and pictures later.  As I was finishing up and clearing things off the counters blessing #2 came in and asked if she could look at her baby scrapbook. She is very quiet and is probably the only blessing I have that would actually ask before grabbing her book. I said yes and she took the book down and went to look through the book. I ended up sitting down at the table with her. She and I took turns reading the journaling. Boy was my perspective different back then. It has really convicted me. What happened when that third blessing came along? Why do I have such a different perspective, Oh, I love and know that they are all blessings, but would I write those same wonderful, complementary things in current scrapbooks?  I don't even make time to scrapbook any more. What do I fill my spare moments with that doesn't allow time to scrapbook, journaling how wonderful it is to have  these blessings, to list their personality  traits and find the best in them at all times? What a precious thing to read tonight, she will have my words in my handwriting about her, she will be able to see the pictures and read the love I feel for her. I could right now list many negative things about my children (boy we had a "self on the throne" time span this afternoon by two of my blessings, and I do not mean bathroom throne, I mean selfish behavior!). Now, I know what I need to work on this up coming new year...ME! My attitude, my perspective, my relationship with God. I am thankful for that little girl that wanted to look at her scrapbook tonight, I am thankful that I sat down with her to look, it is painful to know that I am the source of my frustration, but it is good to know where to start, where to begin the journey back to 2000, when my perspective was dead on center.


Proverbs 18:10


The name of the Lord is a strong tower, the righteous runneth into it and is safe.


I typed that from memory so if it is not word for word, I apologize. Now, excuse me while I run to a strong tower.


May the Lord find us faithful.

Friday, December 14, 2007

Twelve Blogs of Christmas Contest Post

My favorite parental Christmas memory was last December when we built a gingerbread train. It was just fun, calm and we were home!!


 


May the Lord find us faithful.

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

We settled on playdough

I found some great playdough recipes but I really prefer cooked playdough. Next time I will take my recipe


which is:


2 cups flour


1 cup salt


2 cups water


2 Tbsp.oil


1 Tbsp. cream of tarter


1 package of kool-aid, unsweetened  (this makes for a good smelling playdough, plus it gives color)


Throw it all in a pot and stir constantly on medium until it looks like gloopy mashed potatoes. Throw it onto the counter to cool and knead. Next time I will just not do the kool-aid thing and add the other ingredients from the website linked to above. Today we made gingerbread, peppermint and sparkling snow doughs.


 


May the Lord find us faithful.

Orange Fudge recipe

 


Here is the orange fudge recipe (One clarification, the batch in the picture  was too orange. I guess I mismeasured the food coloring.) I will try to post a picture of this years batch, if I ever get back to blogging regularly. I think I will once I get good routines established! It is coming along. I have kept my house clean most of this week.


Does anyone know how I could add archives to my side bar? I will research it later, probably after Christmas if I get no replies here. Many thanks in advance.


Now, go make cookies or candy or these stars or homemade gift cards or anything homemade, how about these minibooks, or mini matchbook notebooks. Take a few minutes today to make something with your blessings. If all else fails make some hot chocolate and watch a Christmas movie together.  We have overnight company tonight, two boys, we are going to either make the classic cinnamon applesauce ornaments or peppermint, gingerbread and snow playdoughs. I have not decided yet.


Have a great day.


May the Lord find us faithful.

Monday, December 10, 2007

Just haven't gotten around to blogging lately

It was just one of those weeks and weekends. Not a whole lot going on last week, but I just did not get around to posting anything the rest of the week. The girls and I went to the Nutcracker Ballet on Saturday then we headed home and changed into play clothes and headed to an evening birthday party. It was a busy day and I am glad we don't have those too often. Today we have been home and completed our school time and a little cleaning time. Now the blessings are watching a movie and I am making orange fudge!


May the Lord find us faithful.

Tuesday, December 4, 2007

Blogger Friend School #11

 



This week's assignment is to list your prayer needs and then to visit classmates and pray for them. The complete list is on the training hearts blog.


My prayer requests are not for me. I need prayer but  my heart is for others this week,my Pastor is down again. He got some sort of flu and is having some symptoms that he had last winter when he began this journey of illness. Please pray  for him. Also, please pray for my little three year old friend I mentioned here earlier in the week. He had to spend last night in the hospital. Pray that if the doctors here cannot treat him that they will take him to pediatric specialists. 


 


May the Lord find us faithful

Monday, December 3, 2007

Today's recipe and a prayer request

Today we are making:


Chocolate Covered Peanut Butter Balls


(or Buckeye's as some call them)


1 pound butter


1 quart peanut butter (I used one 40 ounce jar)


2 (16 ounce) boxes powdered sugar


Melt butter and add peanut butter. After peanut butter is melted add powdered sugar and stir until mixed well. Cool. Shape into balls. I put them on a cookie sheet and put in fridge. I only pull out small amounts when dipping to keep them cold and firm.


1 large package semi-sweet chocolate


1/4 pound paraffin or a couple TBSP. of shortening


Melt in  a double boiler or in a glass bowl on top of a pan of simmering water. Dip balls in chocolate and place on waxed paper to harden.


We love these. I just remembered I took my glass bowls to church to leave them there. Oh, well, onto plan B and I will have to pick them up for the next few weeks and then take them back! Oops!


I will post pictures when we complete the dipping. The peanut mixture is cooling now. We will dip later this evening.


Prayer Request: a little  three year old at our church was hospitalized today, he has asthma and has been in and out of the hospital many times when he is struggling to breathe, also his mom just had a baby a few weeks ago and is having to go through this as well. Pray for this family please.


 


May the Lord find us faithful.

Sunday, December 2, 2007

Losing teeth and a mother's heart

Blessing #2 lost her top tooth on Friday night.


November2007277.jpg picture by kaysmarmey


Then, Friday I walked through the house and saw this:


November2007238.jpg picture by kaysmarmey


Oh, how it did my heart good. I have longed for the day of useful handicrafts for my girls and I. I loved seeing this.


November2007242.jpg picture by kaysmarmey


November2007240.jpg picture by kaysmarmey


May the Lord find us faithful.