{Pretty, Happy, Funny, Real}~~ January 25, 2014

Another week has gone past and it's time for {phfr}!

{Pretty}

In the bleak mid-winter, flowers from the grocery store can be such a pick-me-up!  These sit in a big mason jar on our kitchen table.

{Happy}

This is my next sewing project.  I'm not very accomplished, but I know more than I used to, and I do like sewing for my granddaughter.  Children's clothes are small enough that they don't overwhelm me.  The green fabric is for the dress and the blue is for the appliques.  I think I'll do the big polka dots.  I'm a sucker for polka dots!

{Funny}

Speaking of Arane, I/we video chat with her everyday.  For some reason, last Sunday evening we pulled out our instruments and played for her.  You can see her look of intense interest on the computer screen.  (Okay, so it's not that funny, but it's the best I could do this week.)

{Real}

This winter has been colder and snowier than any I can remember, even those from my childhood which have been exaggerated in my memory.  And here on the prairie the wind gets to sweeping down those plains with great ferocity!  Dave took this picture of blowing snow on a rural highway between our town and the next one down the road.

Don't worry~ he pulled over to take the picture.

This is our backyard taken from the warmth of the kitchen.  I wasn't crazy enough to go outside to take it.  See the swing?  Blowin' in the wind.

Visit Leila & Co. at Like Mother, Like Daughter for more {phfr} fun!

{Pretty, Happy, Funny, Real}~ January 18, 2014

It's time for {phfr}!

{Pretty}

Lots of pretties this week, all Christmas presents from my lovely and talented daughters.

My firstborn, Elizabeth, has been teaching herself to sew, beginning with simple things at first, of course.  She made these pretty pillowcases for her dad and me~

She did a great job and I love the vintage print!  These were in our stockings (I think).  I love bed linens, table linens, kitchen linens, etc., etc., of any sort, and these are perfect!

*~*~*~*~*~*~*

As you already know if you've read my blog for very long, Hannah is very crafty and skilled at handcrafts.  She was practically born with a needle and a pair of scissors in her hands.  She had been working on the project you see below all autumn, but little did I know it was for me!  I had wished (even out loud) that it was for me, but Hannah assured me it wasn't.  So imagine my delight when I opened it on Christmas!

Hannah and I have both been learning Greek (from Dave :) ).  I think she had fun doing this in Greek, and we both enjoy the fact that we can translate it.  It's verse one from the prologue to John's Gospel and is one of my very favorite places in Scripture:  "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."

The walls are a soft yellow.  No matter what camera I use and
what the light is like, it never photographs as its true color.

Here's a close-up so you can see Hannah's perfect, tiny stitches!

*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Lizzie, Justin, and Arane gave each of us (Dave, Hannah, and me) a mug along with homemade hot chocolate mix and chocolate-covered marshmallows.  So good, and the mugs are nice and big! They are too pretty to hide in a cabinet, so today Dave drilled holes for the hooks and we got them hung up.  They are so bright and cheery!

I don't know whose mug is whose . . . I, for one, can't decide which I like best.

{Happy}

This man makes me very happy~

So I think it's only fair that I try to make him happy with things like this~

Low-carb banana bread!

{Funny}

It's been snowing today like crazy (again!) and the clusters of berries on our bush are wearing tall, funny snowcaps~

{Real}

I have a new camera and I love it!  My in-laws very generously gave each of us some money for Christmas, and I used mine on a new camera.  My old one had five megapixels, which I didn't know what so pitiful until I began to look at new models and they all had sixteen or even twenty! And I got one for low light, too, since that seemed to be the cause of so many of my blurry pictures before.  I {real}-ly like my new camera!

{Pretty, Happy, Funny, Real}~ January 9, 2014

Has it really been a month since I lasted posted?  I certainly won't win any blogger-of-the-year awards at this rate!

We had a lovely Christmas.  Lizzie, Justin, and Arane were here for ten days!  We spent a lot of time quietly staying home, but with an eighteen-month-old on the premises, the days were anything but slow-paced.  It was delightful to once again see Christmas through the eyes of a small child and be reminded of the wonder.

{Pretty}

A few days the temperature approached 50, so we managed some good outside time.

The big girl in this picture is pretty too!

{Happy}

Dave made Arane this kitchen set and she loved it!  She spent lots of happy time playing with it, and her mother tells me once home she had to be dragged away from it for trivial things like meals and sleep.

She preferred the sink to be out instead of in.  It got in the way of dropping things down the hole.

She's happy to be sitting on Daddy's lap, clutching a bag of M&M's in each hand.

Arane and her "papa", happy as two clams . . .

{Funny}

A day or two after Christmas, Arane discovered my pantry and spent long periods there playing with plastic spoons, cups, ice cream buckets, and canning rings.  (She was supervised the whole time so she wouldn't accidentally get into something she shouldn't.)  She made a shambles of the organization, but she had a great time!  And really, when all was said and done, it only took a few minutes to get things back in order.

This would be a nice picture if it weren't for the star sprouting from Justin's head . . .

What we didn't know when this picture was taken was that baby #2 was on the way!  Hurray!

{Real}

We were smack dab in the middle of that arctic freeze.  One day the high was -15!  Lots of snow . . . lots of reasons to stay home . . . There was ice on the inside of the threshold to our front door, and the storm windows in the growlery were spectacular!

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