Christmas, Part Two

After our presents were opened, we headed outside for fun in the snow!  Our first White Christmas since... well... a long time!

This is the only picture of Robbie smiling.  Poor 'lil guy wore himself out real quick with the snow being up past his knees in most areas.

We all love icicles!

I always take pictures of our pond behind our house in every season.  It's so serene to me, most especially on cold, frozen nights when the moonlight is reflecting on it.  I will just stand at my kitchen garden window and gaze at the beauty of what seems to be a sea of diamonds.  It sparkles so effortlessly, so magically.

We head out down our little country road...

Having a little snow snack

The big kids found a little hill to tumble down.  It didn't look very fun to me, but they sure enjoyed it so that's all that matters.  They tried to get me to join them-- I politely told them that is something a Momma shouldn't do.  They didn't understand this.  I didn't either... it was the first thing that came to my mind.

I adore my neighbor's log cabin.  It's so dauntless as it sits high on a hill with massive boulders underneath it.  It's a beautiful spread no matter what time of year you see it.

We enjoy our little country road all year long.  The bridge and creek make up for what we are lacking in acreage for the kids to run and play in.  Of course, the most fun time of year to be at the creek is in the summer when the craw dads are out and about.

Just because a Momma shouldn't tumble down a hill doesn't mean a Momma can't have any fun!  My husband grabbed the camera and practically took a still video with all the pics he snapped of me making a snow angel.  The real humor came when I was trying to figure out how to get up without messing it up.  Don't worry; I'll spare you the rear end shots!

Unlike most normal people who head straight for the fireplace and hot chocolate after being out in the cold, we head for the snow ice cream!

I was extremely excited when I discovered the recipe a few months back.  As a child, I fondly remember ending my Christmas Eve with a batch of snow ice cream.  Over the years, my family had forgotten the ingredients.  It has a home-made ice cream taste to it, yet there is something special about it that I just can't put into words.  I so enjoyed making this treat for my kids (and they enjoyed it too!).

How fun it was to have a white Christmas... To take our time with no worries to the clock... To not rush here, rush there, rush everywhere... To truly enjoy each other the way God intended for us to.

I am grateful for a fun and loving family that I enjoy and desire to spend my time with making wonderful memories that will last our lifetime!

Log Splitting

What a beautiful day... even though it is 46 degrees here right now.

You can't tell it inside our home.  It's nice and cozy!

Remember the huge dead tree that came down in our front yard?  Well, it looks like we will be reaping the benefits from that all winter long without having to go cut wood somewhere else.

Rich borrowed a log splitter from a friend.  The afternoon that I was working on fluffing my cardinal tree, he and the kids spent that time splitting wood.  All of this came from two of those big logs:

Rich tells me I'm such a "freak" about things.  He's so silly; he doesn't realize how much he is too!  He took the bigger logs off of the rack and split them into smaller logs.  I think he was just having lots of fun with the log splitter.  I knew it was coming... and it did about 2 hours into log splitting... "Honey, I think we need to get one of these".  So my answer-- put money aside for it and watch craigslist.  Isn't that the answer for everything??

I agree that a log splitter would be nice to have to save his back and shoulders from hurting after all last season of using a maul.  Rich did have a very good idea.  How about saving a few of those big tree trunks to use as seats?  We're slowly clearing away our land to the pond and will one day have a fire pit down there.  I agree... these would make some pretty neat (and weatherproof) seats!  What do you think?

I am grateful for a husband that works around the home doing what needs to be done to take care of our family.  It's so nice to have a wood fireplace.  It heats up our family room, dining room and kitchen.  That's three rooms that don't need to be heated by natural gas.  I'm all about not giving ONG our hard earned money!  =]