The Last Post for 2014

A little schooling...

We are studying insects. Here is Jaxson's drawing...

Keeping our work organized...

My Ruthie-girl....always at my feet (9 years old and still cute-as-ever!)...

Madelyn, hard at work...

A few pictures from around the house...

I just love my Ruthers...

I just had to share this wonderful *gift* from friends. They were getting rid of this beautiful cherry armoire. They didn't sell it so they offered it to us as a gift! I was shocked (as this piece wouldn't be something we could afford typically)! It's so beautiful (I love cherry wood) and will work perfectly in our new living room (when the addition is done...which you can see, if you look around the armoire, is not near ready). So, until we are ready for it, Chris said he will work around it while redoing the addition. We'll cover it and move it when necessary. :)

I love how the doors open and then slide back in! There's great storage as well!

 This New Year's Eve we planned on attending a game-playing evening at a friend's house...but their daughter ended up with the stomach flu...so *instead* we are planning food, games and movies here at home. Chris mentioned a possible Lord of the Rings marathon!? :)

Life is so very far from perfect but the Lord has kept us and blessed us in 2014. He has continually cared for us and taught us so much. I am looking forward, Lord willing, to 2015 (Can it really be *that* year already?) and how we can use it to best serve Him. May 2015 be a year full of Him and less of me....that's the true cry of my heart (but oh how my selfish self always gets in the way!).

Thank you for visiting me this year. Your kind words of love and encouragement mean so much. I pray my love for Christ, my family and home shine through all for His glory (although, I will admit that my selfish McSelf-Self can get prideful about things quite often. This is something I am praying about and working on....continually!).

See you *next* year! ;)
Cheerfully,
Katy

Home, Knitting, & Things

Do you see anything out that window...? Anything white and cold? ....No? Me neither! Woohoo!!! I am not a huge fan of snow and I am loving that we have only had a few flurries so far this winter! Ok...snow lovers, don't hate me! I like the look of snow...for like, a day or two...but then I get sick of it terribly quickly! Freshly fallen snow is gorgeous but once it has been driven on, walked through and mixed with mud and such, it loses it's gorgeousness and just becomes a freezing cold nuisance! ;)

I enjoyed taking a few photos around the house with my new camera!

This beautiful cross-stitch was made for us (and given as a Christmas gift) from my Grammie...

Here are some dish cloths I had knitted up as gifts this year...

I love the teapot pattern above...and below is just a fun pattern...

Sunflower...

Another teapot...

All of our hens are the same age. They have been laying the same amount of time....but obviously one of them must be a little stunted!!!....

We started back to our schoolwork today. Although the freedom of *not* schooling was enjoyed, it is also quite nice to get back into a routine (at least in this mama's opinion...not sure that my children agreed!)!

So that's what happening in our neck of the woods. Another thing going on (which I am super, uber excited about) is that we are *finally* getting to work on our addition. We built the addition on our house when I was pregnant with Xavier (11 years ago!). Chris does most of the work himself, so we have to wait until time and money allow things to get done. Between having to get wood for the wood stove each year, working on the roof and/or siding, plus his regular job, church responsibilities and helping other loved ones with things...my man doesn't get a lot of extra spare time.

Now that we have the wood shed filled and deer processing season is over....we are getting the addition cleaned out (as we have used it as a shed of sorts for all these years...it made for some great storage) and ready to get worked on! I know it's not going to get finished overnight (wouldn't that be great though?)...but I am just excited to get it going. It will be a new, bigger living room with a mud/laundry room and a pantry! Yippee! :) I'll be sure to share progress pics as I can!

Thanks so much for stopping by! I hope you are relaxing after the busy Christmas season and able to get back into a comfortable routine with your family! Hope your week is fantastic!!

Cheerfully,
Katy

Christmas Memories 2014 Part 2

Christmas morning at our house...

We don't have a fireplace...so we had to improvise...

Chris got to open the first gift...

It was a blanket I had made with pictures of our family on it! He loved it!

Before the children could open any gifts...*I* had to open one from Chris. He bought me a new camera! It is fantastic and I am so excited to have it! So all the previous pictures in this post are from my older camera and the following were taken with my new camera...

Madelyn has wanted the movie "The Princess Bride" for a long time. I thought she would be quite happy to receive it for Christmas....and I was right!

The pictures are a bit blurry because I am not a fan of the flash.

Xavier got Madelyn a bear...

For this photo, I used the flash...

We had Christmas brunch at my parents' house...

We don't do stockings at home...so my mom (who made each of the children a stocking) enjoys filling them up for the kids...

Jaxson wanted a Kazoo (after seeing Tim Hawkins playing one in a comedy video) and he got one!

Xavier got one too!

Christmas evening was spent eating and in fellowship with Chris's dad's extended family. I don't have permission to post a bunch of photos from that side of the family so I am careful about what I post. The boys got to play a bit to entertain...

My beautiful Madelyn was there too!

Chris and me...

Madelyn played while some of the men-folk sang along (here with Madelyn is Chris's brother and uncle!)!

It was a busy but enjoyable day! I was quite thrilled, though, as I got to take a nap! Yay! Friday (which I keep thinking is Monday) is going to be a day of cleaning and getting things back in order 'round here! We may even do a bit of schoolwork...we'll see how it goes! ;) If you missed the Part 1 of our Christmas Memories, you can see them HERE!

Along with the new camera, Chris got me (as he does every year) a new pair of slippers (which are soft and fabulous!). He also gave me a beautiful card. He wrote "Proverbs 31:29" on the card. Although I have read it many times, I must admit I don't have it memorized so I had to look it up. Instead of telling you what it is...I'll let you look it up too (if you want to). Nothing could have blessed me more than that verse he left me. My cup runneth over!

Cheerfully,
Katy