December 2008

Lucy came up and got busy making candy melts.  She and Chicka were supposed to share a bowl of chocolate.  Well, Chicka kept stealing it from Lucy - she didn't want to share!  They made some interesting looking wreaths!

  IBoy working on his candy melts.

  OK - now we can get down to business!  Why would anyone put this yummy stuff on a piece of plastic, anyway?

December 2008

   SNOW!!!!

MissE took part in the community's annual Journey to Bethlehem re-enactment.  She rotated between selling jewels, baking bread, tending the fire and dancing.  She worked for about 4 hours each of 4 evenings in the freezing cold and wet weather and had a GREAT time!  We walked the journey on Friday night and tried not to make her come out of character too much (ha!).

December 2008

We were busy making snowmen.

It is amazing how fast little ones grow!

We spent some time at the ice skating rink - brrrrrr, was it cold!  Grandma (my mom) tried to keep Chicka warm between spins.  I think that IBoy and MissE are trying to keep Grandma warm!

A video of our ice skating fun.  You can see MissE and IBoy in the background doing some of their tricks.  Chicka had watched some videos of ice skaters before we went, so she really wanted to do some spins with her leg in the air!

November 2008

    It is never too early to begin to learn to play an instrument, right?

        We had a successful clam dig at.  Once they started showing, we all had our limits within a few minutes!

MissE drew a welcome sign for our guests on Thanksgiving.

  

Andi decided that she should have her pups just as we were sitting down to dinner.

The guys working off some dessert!  Well, some of them are working it off playing the Wii and some are, well, snoring????

 

Our friend and her family prepared 2nd Thanksgiving and shared with us.  I do believe it was the best turkey I have ever tasted!

September 2008

IBoy had a few friends over on Halloween (notice the remains of a white face!).  They entertained themselves for hours with RockBand.

MissE's blackberry pie - man was it good!

We went to Great Wolf Lodge, an indoor water park/hotel and had a BLAST!

Chicka's first taste of cotton candy - she wasn't sure that she liked it at first . . . . . .   Her second surgery was just the day before  - you can see that her left eye was still swollen.

August 2008

IBoy raised a barn swallow from a hatchling.  This included feeding it every two hours which resulted in the bird becoming very attached to IBoy.  Unfortunately, as the bird was flying outside one day, a hawk decided to use the barn swallow for lunch :-(

  

Just driving down the road. 

This photo of Chicka blowing bubbles earned a spot in a published calendar of children from China!

 Dad with the new source of heat in the barn!  I know it is hard to believe, but it is COLD living in the barn - even in August!  There were many a times that we were all huddled around this.

Eldest son paid us a visit in the pole barn.

Even Leon was hot enough to go for a dip!

July 2008

   MissE volunteered her muscles to help build a retaining wall.

We found ourselves camping between leaving our rental home and the pole barn.  IBoy's friend joined us for a campfire.

We spent the 4th of July at the beach with friends and family.  IBoy makes sure that his cousin makes it down from the rocks safely.

    July 9th was Chicka's first eye surgery.  She was a trooper - this photo was taken the day after the procedure!

Grandma and Grandpa joined us for a quick trip out on the boat.