Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

This year we cut down our Christmas tree at a local farm and I loved the beautiful setting and experience

We had a wonderful Christmas Day and we are still celebrating Christmas. I love going to Mass and singing Christmas carols weeks after Christmas Day.

I cooked the turkey and the girls helped me with the Christmas meal and it turned out well.

The younger girls helped Michael with making beeswax candles for some of our Christmas presents. They look and smell wonderful.

And...a Christmas present for me was a red cardinal on the porch on Christmas morning. :)

Our 22nd Wedding Anniversary

We got our first snow on Dec. 10th (our anniversary) and thankfully, it didn't change our plans of going up to Pennsylvania to an Amish area. It was a nice day there and I met and interacted with many kind Amish people.

We did our usual shopping and invested in a big quantity of raw honey (yum!). I don't like to take photos up there since the Amish don't want pictures taken of them but I got a few of our surroundings. Michael also enjoyed a trip to an Amish hardware store where we bought a lantern in case of a power outage. I really enjoyed our time up there and love being close enough to go and visit the Amish.

Mikey's Birthday

Mikey turned 5 on November the 27th. He's still talking about his party and how Logan (his friend from school) was there. I tried to make the party healthy by making fruit snacks and a gluten free cake, etc. It wasn't perfect but there was a lot less sugar than we have at our regular parties!
I've begun to implement the GAPS diet with him and other than the obvious withdrawals, he's doing well with it. I'm happy that he is progressing well and playing with the other kids.
Happy Birthday to my boy!! XXXOOO

Happy Thanksgiving

I have so much to be thankful for this year. Here are some of the things that come to mind...

getting to hear Dr. Natasha Campbell McBride at the Weston Price Conference (she's my favorite doctor in the autism field), Mikey doing so well in school this year, Hannah getting a job, Jonathan, Marianna, Rebecca and Julia. I'm thankful for Michael and our (almost) 22 years together. I'm thankful for our new Amish made table that we ate at this Thanksgiving. It's made of beautiful red cherry wood, it's sturdy and can seat up to 20 people if it is fully extended. My biggest thanks are to God.

That's the beginning of my list of things in my life that I'm especially thankful for this year.

Gypsy Love

I'm crazy about Gypsy Vanner horses and we were blessed to get to go to a farm (an hour away) and see these beautiful horses. It was a beautiful fall day on the farm and the horses came right up to us and loved all the attention. It was such a treat for me to spend some time with these horses...thank you , Michael, for taking us there!

10/10/10

Hi and sorry I've been so behind with blogging...I don't have a working camera so it makes it more challenging to post pictures. :) I borrowed Marianna's camera since it was a beautiful day (in the 80's) and the fall is so pretty here.

I caught a few pics of Mikey playing outside today and the goaties. We have a buck visiting and hopefully we'll have kids in the spring. Notice how much the billy goat looks like my goat.. they are a cute couple.

Jonathan and Mikey

Jonathan got a new car by clearing someone's land for them. He's happy with his new car but he's a little too tall for it. Just kidding...he wanted to take funny pics of him in it.

Mikey is in Jon's car too. I like the pic at the bottom of Mikey's smiling face.

Catching up

Here are some random photos from this summer. Becca has a new camera so she has given us some nice, clear photos, yeah!

We visited North and South Carolina and Mrs. Conley saw her family and I got to see my sister, Sherri and meet my new niece, Amelia. Sherri recommended the Billy Graham library which was incredible and inspirational. We also went to a huge Scottish festival in North Carolina which was so much fun!

Celtic Festival

Michael did an excellent job organizing the Celtic festival. I was happy to have all our kids there too.. Hannah and Marianna helped at the gate and Julia sold bottled water. Rebecca sold ice cream for her club fundraiser and Mikey was there for a couple of hours. It was hot so Jonathan's dunk tank was a big hit. Michael got into his Scottish ancestry and wore a kilt.
Becca and Julia danced in the morning, thankfully before it got really hot. There were around 3,000 people who came and we all had a great time!

Jonathan graduates!