Snow

What a beautiful 8" snow we received this past Thursday night that did not begin or end in rain.  The kids were happy for a snow day.  The only pictures I took (unfortunately) were a few of my fine feathered friends.

Now they are getting another day off tomorrow because of the cold weather with high winds.  It is supposed to be down to 7* with strong winds.....an equivalent to MN's -35* with winds???  Do we have to keep up with all the other states across the midwest that have closed down schools for the same reason?  Kids are happy, but groaning 'cause I am coming up with some good chores.  I keep thinking that there are plenty of days of winter left and we don't want to "waste" snow days and have to make days up at the end!!  

And don't even get me started on the way DE wastes road salt and pays people to push snow banks on cleared shoulders off farther into ditch when the back roads haven't even been plowed once!! If my husband was a politician, there would be a job opening in that dept....

Does no good to complain, I guess.  I'll enjoy my day at home with the kids.

Devan's 10th birthday

We were in Minnesota at Grandma's for Devan's birthday this year.  His Mom forgot to pack any of his birthday presents so the poor guy had to wait until we got home to get his presents!!  We did buy him a cool Balsam, MN, sweatshirt so he would have something to open.  He was a pretty good sport about it considering he had to wait 3 extra days for his gifts!

Grandma made a delicious chocolate pudding cake

Minnesota

We were able to fly as a family to Minnesota this year for a quick visit. We overlapped with my sister and her family for a few hours for a short "Christmas" time on the afternoon we arrived.  We even got a much needed family picture which will be coming to a post later.

As always, we didn't get near the pictures taken that we should have.  We had 2 nice days (even hit 30*) to do outdoor things like skating, x-country skiing, (which the 3 oldest kids actually thought was fun) and snowmobiling.

 

Taking a break

The Byler and the Helmuth kids

Our last day there was cold....didn't get above -10*.  We went to church and spent time playing indoor games.  The next morning when we left for the airport the thermometer read -36*.

It was so nice being there.  Thanks everyone!

Our Family

It's always such a chore getting everyone to cooperate for a family picture.  This "goofy" one turned out to be one of the best ones.

Devan's 4th grade Indian project

For a school project, Devan needed to make a small village of an Indian tribe.  Everyone in the class had a different tribe.  Devan's was the Wichita Indians who lived in the plains of Oklahoma and Texas.  They had to show what type of home they lived in, the setting, their means of transportation, how they made their living, etc.  The Wichitas were farmers, hunted game, lived in grass houses, used dogs to carry things, used rafts in rivers, and made things like pottery and beads.  He got help with the house, but the rest he did mostly by himself.

He had fun and was really proud of his grade....105....had some bonus points!

Hunting 2013

Lyn had an opportunity to go sika deer hunting this fall.  A sika deer is in the elk family...must be the miniature breed....a full grown sika is only 50-60 lbs.  They feed mostly at night and aren't the easiest to hunt.  They live in the marshes along the Chesapeke and Lyn got lucky and got one with the bow on his first time going.  Most call it beginner's luck, he calls it skill.

He shot another interesting deer during MD bow season.  It's called a piebald....one that is mostly white with brown spots.  As you can see the antler was damaged while in velvet creating an unique shape, and it had a strange overbite which you can't really see in the pic.  It looks like we will be having yet another addition to the household! (groan)

None of the kids bagged any deer this year.  Lyn also got 2 doe.

Horse Lessons

Renae has enjoyed taking horse lessons from a widow lady in her late 70's from our church over the past year.  Jan is a young 70 and is so sweet.  Since Renae is going to school this year she hasn't done much riding, but we did slip one day in this fall on a day off school.