November 2013

I haven't updated in a looong time.  There's been a lot going on here.  I've been incredibly busy with my crochet business.  The whole Christmas rush was a little overwhelming. I want to try and make a lot of things ahead of time this summer, I've already started a list of ideas.   Besides the crochet business my dad was diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer's and Parkinson's.  I felt like if I blogged I would need to say something about that but I just didn't want to.  We've been going down to NJ every couple weeks and that has helped to be able to see my parents more often.  They are both so amazing too and I find comfort in their faith throughout everything.
We were down in the beginning of the month with the whole family.  It's always nice to be all together.  The cousins love playing together and having Grammy read to them.

Katy and I planted a tree in the backyard.

It's an Autumn Brilliance Service-berry tree... Blooms white flowers in the spring that turn into purple berries also known as juneberries that can be used in jams, jellies and pies (if you get 'em before the birds). In the fall it turns a brilliant reddish orange.

I also baked a lot with the kids in November. Pumpkin bread with streusel topping didn't last long.

Kids decorating their own sugar cookies:

Of course those didn't last long either :P

I made my own butter too! I was super excited about it but it's actually really easy to do! There's only one ingredient and it tastes delicious.

I also made 10 crockpot freezer meals in 90 minutes.  Everything has been delicious and we actually still have 2 meals left in the freezer still! It was so nice to have that.

We also sold a litter of puppies that were so much fun to have.  The kids were always carrying them around or playing with them.

They definitely get socialized before they go home with people!

Katy had her first visit to the dentist and did great!  She looked adorable doing it too :)

Chase and Jo needed work done so we ran back and forth several times until they were done.  They all did great though and never complained.
I somehow found the time to make this play dress for Katy Emma.... She would always try to steal Joanna's, which didn't even fit her, so I figured she should have one of her own.

she loves it of course and now she wears hers and Joanna's at the same time :P

Joanna wanted me to take a picture of her in her dress too :)

We had a very fun Thanksgiving.  We told the kids that they could dress up as American Indians for our meal and they went all out with it!

We had Thanksgiving day with Ricky's family and smoked a turkey and baked a ham for that.

We also started decorating for Christmas that morning... we just couldn't wait any longer!

I made us some mistletoe.

I free handed it and was pretty proud of myself :P The kids had a lot of fun with it this Christmas season.

We went down to my family's the day after Thanksgiving but somehow no one took any pictures!

Ricky took Chase Squirrel hunting on his birthday, which is at the end of November.  They didn't get anything but they were really cute anyway :)

 I surprised Ricky with this awesome Camouflage recliner...

We also started working on out backyard ice skating rink.

It's all finished now and Chase has been able to walk on it a few times, we're just waiting for a few good days and nights of cold weather so we can all skate on it!