Alegra's Fun Birthday Winter Party Weekend

Alegra is 12!!!!!  How can it be?  I know, I know.  Time flies so quickly the older we get.  We spent the whole weekend at our good friends, The Epletts, up north of Lansing, Michigan.  A weekend with a houseful of friends and people we enjoy spending morning, noon, and night with equals a splendid birthday weekend for Alegra.  It wasn't planned for her birthday but happened to be planned the weekend of her birthday, so we had cake, a few gifts, and lots and lots of fun!  The temperatures were cold, but children don't mind as long as they are bundled up good.  They wouldn't have stayed in for anything when there was copious amounts of snow waiting to be played in and grand adventures to be experienced.  So much fun for everyone!  Me, I chose the warmer place to hang out, inside with the other ladies.  We enjoyed warm drinks and wonderful chats about raising our children into wonderful, pure, servant's of God.  It's such a blessing to glean ideas, knowledge, and different perspectives from others who have children a bit older than our's to prepare us for the young adult stage ahead.  Alegra's 12, so it's just around the corner.  

 Alegra on the far right with her girlfriends, minus a couple that we greatly missed having with us.

 Way too much fun!

 We hadn't seen our friends, The Brothers, in almost two months, so we all soaked up the time with them and enjoyed their newest baby who we hadn't seen for that long as well.  Two months sure changes a lot in a little one!  

 Zeky enjoyed some quiet time in the parlor reading with a couple new friends.  

The snow kept falling the whole weekend and it was truly a perfect winter wonderland outside.

 Saphira and Aviyah getting reacquainted :) and picking up right where they left off.  

 Most all of us at lunch.  Thank you Eplett girls for the delicious food you prepared for your guests!  It was all greatly appreciated!

We also enjoyed having a mini Sabbath service here.  We had a time of worship and a time of discussing the Torah portions for the week.  The worship team added a new member to their band.  A cute little member.  Benaiah sure enjoyed playing Mr. Steve's little bongos.  He didn't do half bad either for his first time playing along with them and as a 4 year old.  :) 

After the service time was over, they had planned an evening of fellowship and food with others that they fellowship with from different areas.  It was such a blessing meeting new people and hearing about their walk and how the Lord directed them into keeping Sabbath and the Feasts and other areas of their lives that He's guided them in.  So much to learn from others and much we can share to encourage others as well.  Our last night turned out to be a late night, but filled with much visiting, getting to know others, and rejoicing in meeting more families with similar mind sets.  Maybe not completely the same but very similar.   What a blessing of a weekend!

We left after breakfast this morning to get home before it was too late.  The winter storms seem to not want to give up on dumping snow and making it blow.  This of course leaves horrible road conditions, so we just wanted to get home safe and sound.  Thankfully, it was an uneventful drive home.  Lots of vehicles in ditches, but we stayed safely on the highway.

It sure is a blessing when we can get out and meet other believers and share in the joy of where He has brought us as individual families.  We're all in this journey together, yet separate.  But we can all learn from one another one way or another.  Enjoying filling up our cup with more and more people that we can call family.

Another wintry day at the Bovees

We've had so much fun on these super snowy days!  I hear so many saying how they are ready for school to be back in session and their children out of the house.  Since that is our norm here (my children always being in the house), we just soaked up the extra "in" time and learned new things we like to do and got creative.  When snow comes, we take that as a sign that it's time to make sugar cookies.  It takes time, is fun, and the children enjoy being artsy with cookies.  

 Diella in "wiggle my loose tooth with my tongue mode".  It finally came out!

 So many fun cutters we've accumulated over the years from deceased grandparents to aunts to friends.  We have fun with them all!

 Initials always get done!  Don't eat my "A"!

 The boys found a new use for the scarves.  Horsey or chase and lasso or something like that.  Yes, they ran through the house a lot, and yes, I did say to stop running several times, but you know what, they had the best time doing it.  Can't ya tell!

 With the cold temps and snow to play in, Alegra set out to making these handy face covers.  Riding on the sleds behind the tractor proved to be a cold ride, so she sewed, by hand, some face scarves.  They worked perfectly and her siblings lined up for their's.  :)

 Josiah doing a fine job modeling how his works.  

 Of course there was also some cleaning to catch up on.  The girls cleaned the bathrooms for me, Jonathon took the broom all the way around the ceilings in every room, and the boys picked up toys.  I got busy upstairs cleaning bedrooms.  I was loudly at work with the vacuum when I turned around to see that I had a little helper.  She crawled her way upstairs, up the boy's bunk bed ladder, and started trying on their hats.  Oh, she was so cute!

 And so proud of her new attire.  :)

 Another game they discovered was playing horsey with Saphira. She has mastered the walking (as much as a beginner can master walking), and found that she liked to walk behind them holding the reigns.  The cutest part that you miss by only seeing a picture is her staggered walk and hearing her say, "Giddyup" all the while walking behind the horse.  So cute!

Today I decided it was time to clean some outside stuff up a bit.  Saphira was sick all night, and after I got a good nap in with her this morning, I felt pretty rested and felt like it was time to tidy some things outside.  I love to have a welcoming porch, but often times it gets cluttered with bikes, shovels, tools, cats, etc.  I can't keep the cats away, but their mess I can live without, and the added snow just needed to be gone.  I shoveled it off, put away things that were cluttering it, and thought it might be more presentable now if we were to have company.  :)

Then I tended the chicken coop.  Ugh, now that was unsightly!  I didn't clean it to my satisfaction, but that kind of cleaning will have to wait until spring.  Our broody is back to sitting.  I got a few good pecks for trying to take all of her eggs she was sitting on.  It's hard for the children to collect eggs because the rooster likes to stay in where it's warm now, so they can't go in and gather.  I took a snow shovel to him and booted him out, along with the rest.  Some fresh air will do them all good.  Excited to see if, when spring rolls around, the broody can hatch more chicks.  She's such a good mama!

Anyways, I came back in to the picture above.  Saphira fell asleep and Diella, my babysitter, placed her in the laundry basket for napping.  So cute!  She's slept a lot today.  Hoping that tomorrow will bring healthier days for that girl.  She's had it rough the last week.  Maybe nobody else will get it and we'll be done with sickness for the winter!  Yes, that's how I think it should happen!  We'll see how it really goes though.  :)

Praying you all have a happy and healthy winter as well!  Enjoy the snow while you can and stay safe on those roads.  

Winter in January 2014-Lots of snowy fun and freezing temps.

The winter storm has brought families home and lots of warm family memories to be made.  While the temps were still warm (well, that's relative) the children got their fill of sledding behind the tractor.  Through the field they go and bounced around and bounced off.  What fun they are having this winter on the farm!

 The snow stopped last night and left us with windy conditions that caused big drifts and freezing temps.  Literally freezing temps.  The children were allowed to bundle up and go out for a science experiment and feed the animals in the barn, but then right back in.  And of course the littlest of us had to stay inside even though she was getting dressed for the adventure too.  Everybody should wear 2 hats on days like this.

 Early this morning Jonathon set out to get things plowed around our place.  With a cousin getting set to bring a tractor over to store in the barn, he wanted to get the barn arranged for that and the snow moved out of the way.  Benaiah is super excited about the new tractor coming to stay for a bit and keeps asking when Roy will come.  Roy is a well liked guy in Benaiah's world.  Saphira enjoyed standing on a pile of laundry to watch Papa out there working too.

 The children finished their school lessons (sounds like public schools don't have to make up these days off, so maybe I should take back today for them, so they can count it too :) ) and headed out to do a bubble freezing experiment.  They found that outside it was just too windy to blow bubbles.  Inside the barn it worked okay.  Diella blew one that got pretty big and when it burst, it burst into pieces of bubble instead of a water splat.  It was fun for them anyway.

Back inside to watch a movie while Jonathon and I worked on building the girl's loft bed to fit the mattress they have.  After living here for a year, I guess it's time to get some things finished up that didn't get finished when we moved in.

The summer herbs (all from plants that we grow or found growing around the farm) are all crushed and put into labeled jars, a letter written to my brother, and a couple magazines read have caught me up for the day.  The sugar cookies will have to wait until tomorrow, uh, wait, I believe the girls are setting out to stir them up now.  Love these winter days in our wood heated house and so many blessings around us in our family and friends.

Canning Shelves Done!

This winter we were hoping to get some inside projects done.  Our new wood stove boiler unit has taken up so much of Jonathon's time that we haven't gotten around to other projects quite yet.  Hopefully, he's learning how to best control the boiler, so that it works properly, and the rest of the winter will be smooth sailing with it.  At least we have good wood heat and can enjoy staying warmer without the extra expense of gas.  Thankful!

One of the projects I would like to get done is the whole basement organized.  Lofty?  Maybe.  My first desire was to have some shelves built at the bottom of the stairs for  my canned goods.  It makes it easier for the children to run down and fetch something for me if it's neat and easy to see what's what.  I suggested inviting my dad over to help with this job, so we set aside a day and the job got done.  Here are the pictures of that project.

The girls snuggly watching a movie together.  Saphira is trying to stand up by herself.  She is finally starting to walk on her own.  Still slow moving about it, but practicing more.  

 The beginning measurements were taking place.  

The boys enjoyed helping the men and using their tools too.

Shelves are finished and painted!

What a wonderful space for my canned goods and supplies!  I am so thankful for these shelves.

One area done in the basement.  We have some other shelves down there, but I just have to figure out what should go where and how to arrange it all.  Too bad it takes so much time.  One day at a time.  Today, I have laundry, schooling, piano lessons, and my herbs to crush down and jar up.  We'll see if I get time to squeeze in some organizing.

Sewing Party for Diella's 10th Birthday!

It's known in our family that when a child turns 10, there will be a party.  I don't like to do parties for everyone for every birthday.  It just seems like a little much for me.  I think living a whole decade in our family is a big deal though, so I try to do something special to celebrate it. 

Diella picked her theme and came up with some of the ideas too.  It was fun working with her to get her party ready.  She really enjoys sewing and has been wanting a sewing basket for quite some time.  We went shopping and after looking through actual sewing baskets, she decided that they just wouldn't hold enough of her stuff.  We ended up getting creative and found that tackle boxes have lots of little compartments and plenty of space for all of her goodies.  Sewing basket found, now we're ready for the party! 

This table was set up with lots of goodies.  Our party favor bags on the end were ready to be decorated, the papers in the center were awaiting to be filled out, and the jar on the end with buttons was a little game for the girls to guess how many were in there.  The winner got to keep the button filled jar.  

 This paper said, "Diella is "sew" special because......

The girls were to fill the center with things that made Diella a special person.  They were really cute!

 How many buttons do you think were in this jar?

 Grandma Deborah made these hoops for decorations.  Diella picked out what she wanted it to say and the flowers and colors to go on them.  She is a girl who know what she's likes.

 With fabric paint, the girls decorated their party favor bags.

 Creativity ran wild at this party!

 They each got their own drink with a button top lid. 

 Cake pops that were supposed to look like spools of thread.  I should have made the balls look more like a ball of yarn.

 A simple snack to start the party while the girls were busy with their projects.

 Fun pages to color and a word search that was all about sewing.

 A great group of girls!

 The last project was sewing felt initials onto felt.  We also provided the pieces for girls to make flowers too.  Felt flower petals, leaves, buttons, and initials ended up making this hoop project very cute!  They had so much fun being creative with these.  Great job girls!

 Forgot to mention that Diella wanted this to be a girl and her mom party.  No boys allowed.  I think we all enjoyed not having the rowdy boys running around.  I think we'll have to do this more often.  :)

 Their finished hoops.  So adorable!

 Time for gifts.  If the girls wanted to bring a gift, we asked that it be something that she can put in her sewing basket.  Such fun things they brought to help fill her basket.  

We are so blessed to have such a great group of girls who enjoy the simple things in life.  I love that they all enjoy playing simple things and hanging out doing imaginative and creative stuff.  I pray they all continue to walk in righteousness as they grow older.

Blessings to you Diella!  I pray you have many more decades in our family!  Oh, and if you guessed how many buttons were in the jar, the answer was 92!

Field Trip Day with Grandma Linda!

We haven't done a field trip for awhile, and it was time to take a break from the books and get out to see some fun stuff.  We called Grandma Linda and asked her if she'd like to plan a day around her area of educational fun.  So, on Friday we set out for some good fun with Grandpa Ron and Grandma Linda.  

Our first stop was to an Earth and Space Museum.  Now if you drove by the building, you would never know what kind of a gem was inside.  This store/museum called The Joshua Tree was filled with very ornate gift items, but also with gems, fossils, and amazing artifacts.  Diella took along the gem that we found a couple years ago on a beach.  The girl working said she thought it looked like an amethyst.  That was fun for Diella.  The children really enjoyed this stop and took home some little souvenirs. 

We then went to Grandma Linda's for lunch.  She pulled out her plastic tub of gems and stones that were a collection of her daddy's.  The children enjoyed going through all of them and picking out a few to take home.  

Our next stop was a delicious one!  The South Bend Chocolate Factory gave a wonderful tour with delicious samplings.  I actually remembered to take my camera in, so I have some photos to share with you.  Enjoy!

 One sleeping baby and our crew waiting to start the tour.

 We got the "inside scoop" and boy was it a good one!

 Time to wear our chocolate hats.

 Surprisingly, Saphira loved wearing her chocolate hat.  She made sure I saw her with it on.

 Now those are big Kitchen Aids.  : )

 Sampling time!

 We all got to dip spoons in chocolate to take home.

We toured their museum of chocolate artifacts and watched a movie in their mini theater.  Before leaving we all bought some yummy chocolatey treats and then ended our day.  What a fun day!  Thank you to Grandpa Ron and Grandma Linda for the wonderful time spent and the fun that was had!