Hot Pepper!

Today at lunch, Garrett was reading the label on our pepper shaker and declared, "We aren't supposed to be using this for pepper!"
The shaker says, "Not for hot products."

Winter Violin Recital 2016

Garrett - Minuet 1 by J.S. Bach (Accompanied by Charlotte)

Lincoln - Hunters' Chorus by C.M. von Weber (Accompanied by Abigail)

Heidi - Concerto No. 2 - III Allegro Moderato by Frederick Seitz (Accompanied by Abigail)

Emily - Concerto No. 5 - I. Allegro Moderato by Frederick Seitz (Accompanied by Charlotte)

Charlotte - Sonata No. 1 in A major - II. Alegro by G. F. Handel (Accompanied by Abigail)

Abigail - Minuet from Quartet in d minor by W. A. Mozart (Accompanied by Charlotte)

A Quiet Farm

Last year, we sold all of the cows and decided to rent out our pasture to our neighbor. We will probably get more in a few years, but the girls had gotten too busy with school and other things to be able to spend much time with them and the boys weren't quite old enough to take care of them.
We have had just the horses for a while but decided to sell them before winter because they were getting older and none of the kids rode them very much.
Now that Loyal died, all that we have on the farm is one cat.

Getting some last minute riding in.

-Abigail

Thanksgiving

We went over to Roger and Sue's for Thanksgiving this year.

Almost ready to eat

The three Musketeers

Putting on a play (Heidi was the uncle in "Caddie Woodlawn". She has an ingenious beard)

Playing the Great Dalmuti

-Abigail

Magic Show

These three put on a magic show for Grandpa and Grandma when they were here last weekend.

-Abigail

Loyal

A few weeks ago, we went outside one morning and found that Loyal had died in the night. We miss having her around!

-Abigail

Remodeling the Basement

We decided to turn rest of the basement into a playroom and train room.

The mess

Painting

The storage room

The play area for the girls' daycare children

The train area

-Abigail

The Lego Room

Our winter project has been the basement. We decided to make a room for the boys' Legos so they could play with them without having to pick them up all the time and without having them scattered all over the place.

Getting ready to tile.

Tiled and ready to start the room.

Building the walls.

Finished!

-Abigail

New and Improved Trash Transportation

Garrett found a better way to bring the trash cans back from the road.

Clip the trash can onto the bike with a dog leash.

Bumping along

Made it!

-Abigail

Happy 16th Birthday, Charlotte!!!

We love you!!!

Happy 8th Birthday, Garrett!!

We love you!!!!

Happy 12th Birthday, Heidi!!!

We love you!!!

Happy 19th Birthday, Laura!!!

We Love You!!

Sweet tooth

Garrett told me the other day that he used to really like sweets. Now he doesn't like them quite as much (although he does like them more than just a little bit). Then came the reason...

He pointed to one of his newly grown in adult teeth and said, "The tooth that fell out here was my sweet tooth."

Happy Birthday Dear Abigail!!!

💜🎈🎉🎂🎊🎁17!!!!🎁🎊🎂🎉🎈💜

We love you!

Happy Birthday Dear Emily!!!

🎈🎁🎂 🎉💖14!!!💖🎉  🎂🎁🎈

We love you!!

Summer Strings in Fall

The kids had a mini concert in the city square on the last day of summer. They played several Summer Strings songs during the lunch break so that people who work on the square could listen while eating lunch.

Monarchs

The kids found a couple of monarch caterpillars in the yard and we watched them turn into butterflies.

Just before hatching

Trains, Trains, and More Trains

A friend of ours was cleaning out his parents' house to sell and gifted the kids with some of his dad's model train collection.

What a treasure! The track planning has begun.

The entire back half of the van was loaded with boxes

Explaining how a train engine works

Refinishing the Table

The table has needed refinished for a long time. Todd finally had a chance to tackle it this month.

Before

Removing the old finish

Working on the leaves

Sanding

Working together