New Barn

These are a bit late, but I wanted to share some pictures of the hoop building/barn we helped side this fall. Most of these are cellphone pics- not the highest quality, but at least we've got some memory of it going up!

I'm definitely feeling older with heights...I used to scale scaffolding like a monkey. Now I've found I need to cling to any solid surface with my knees shaking like a new sailor gaining their sea legs. J seemed to not have this fear as you'll see in coming pics! We put a few layers of scaffolding on top of a trailer and moved it around as needed. Worked quite slick!


We had some absolutely gorgeous weather- unseasonably warm many of the days we were out. Here's a pic of Nana and Emily gathering apples from the trees by the lower garden:

Another one of them out with us- probably handing out refreshments and cheering everyone on. And wondering when in the world to start dinner. We would be out until we couldn't see things anymore...a few nights we'd end up getting the skidsteer or pickup lights on and tried to get an extra 15-20mins which would turn into another hour or so. :)


J and his acrobatics. He's on top of the area where the large doors are...and is holding on to the top of the hoop. No problem, obviously! (Everyone else is sweating below!)



Squeezing in those last few minutes at night. Dad in the skidsteer, J in the bucket:


Back of the barn pretty much finished- we added a couple of side pieces later after finishing the front. The doors went up a week or two later as well.


Emily driving the truck with J- she was quite thrilled:


Nana helping Papa get another sheet while we're up on the scaffolding. He got a new saw that cut through all of the steel siding like butter- definitely made the job easier. We would get measurements, he'd cut the sheet and I'd either be down below, helping ferry siding and handing things up to J and screwing it in down below or else up with J as we got higher. One day got pretty windy- not fun!


J making everyone nervous again, putting a new light in. He ended up standing up on the top there, just hanging onto the pole a bit as he worked. It kept getting darker and darker.... I can't remember what the deal was, or if we actually got the thing working that night or not.


Dusk arriving too soon, as usual. You can see most of the front is finished in this pic. I wasn't able to take a good finished pic as it was too dark by then:



Here are a few pics I took the next time I was out. The door on the left went up not too long after:



Here's the back with the doors on. You'll be able to see the mistake more clearly in this picture. Dad was given two different shades of steel, which we totally did not notice until the next day. Argh! By then, nobody cared since it was the back and we certainly didn't want to tear it all down. He did get more sheets because of the error and will possibly be able to use some for the old garage.



They're quite pleased with their new building. They've been planning it for a couple years and got it set up inside how they want which makes separating/loading cows much easier than in the past. The siding definitely made the hoop building look more barn-like. I do miss seeing the old barn at times, although I'm getting used to this one now.

Christmas 2011

We had a very nice Christmas this year, even though we were all sick quite a bit from late October through December. So far January has been kind.

We took 2 light-hunting trips just the three of us- plugged some of the area highlights into the GPS and just followed along! Here are some cell pics from a few houses:

We stopped for coffee/cocoa before and brought our own cookies along to munch on as we drove. This will probably become a little tradition- Emily had a ball, saving cookies until the next stop, then eating one...music on...free-save-for-gas Christmas entertainment. :D

Christmas Eve day J worked at the PO. He got home early though and we were able to make it to church. Had a nice dinner and then watched our Nativity movie. We love that tradition for Christmas Eve...it's nice to keep it low-key and fairly quiet and solemn. We always open one gift- pj's. E keeps forgetting each year that it's pajamas :) This year was Phineas and Ferb jammies. I didn't make something pj-wise since she still had a few that fit. The last nightgown I made was in the fall and it was a long sleeve flannel one. After the movie, we sang a few songs and she zonked out on our bed. We tucked her into her own and followed suit after stuffing stockings. :)


Christmas morning! She's still bleary eyed here:


I have lots of present pics, but I'll just include this one for her faraway aunt to see. This is E playing her new Active Life Explorer on the wii- super fun and it actually keeps them working for good portion which is nice. Can't just sit on your rear and play tennis with this one! :)


Nice to chronicle a bit of the season for remembrance!

Sewing Catch-up

I'm getting the sewing bug again, which could be a good thing since stash game on my favorite site is starting up in just a couple of weeks! Not that I'll win or come close by any means, but it's fun to play. :D

I made this for a birthday gift for one of Emily's friends this fall. Emily got her own version for Christmas:




This little matching skirt set was made from an old sweater. Another of E's Christmas gifts:


We had a crafty evening of ornament-making from an online tutorial. Put some cider and music on and chatted while stitching these little guys together. It was a fun night.

This was E's:


These were mine:


These were J's...the first one strongly reminded us of the 70's. Or the tootsie pop owl for some reason:

The second one here I hid at the side of the tree down at the bottom. :D Viking owls don't really jive with my whole golden-woodland-bird theme:


This giraffe flannel-lined minky robe was for my niece Romi for Christmas. She just turned 4, so it's quite large on her and quite small on Emily for the photos:


I want to make one just like it for E for next year. I don't have enough fabric though. :P I'll have to hunt this fall!

We made a few quick hair accessories for her small advent gifts:

The angry birds were inspired from a blog I follow. So cute!

I loved figuring out how to underbraid this year- looked really cute with all the Christmas-themed hairthings:


That catches me up for 2011. I finished a pile of hemming and finally sewed up 2 dryflex shirts I cut out for myself over two years ago. Heh. I also cut out a skirt last night and sewed it up today. Felt really good! I will post that soon. Off to watch Mansfield Park with J! :)

Weather

It's been quite the unusual winter here in MN. Last week we walked to the library and around town. It was in the 50's and we ended up taking our coats off at times. Very strange for January!


This was earlier- perhaps early Dec. E would normally not wear her light fall coat past October:


A week prior to that, we'd had a good dusting of snow:



Now it's pretty cold, but I hear it's warming up again. The city where we attend co-op was even debating whether or not to flood some of their rinks this year. Luckily, one of our moms went to the meeting and they decided to go ahead with it in hopes that there's still a good season of ice left. We're all glad since our skating class runs through January and February! Our first one was already cancelled due to no ice.

We're getting quite spoiled though...anything much below freezing and it's reason to stay indoors. Sad! :P

Microscope Pics

Aunt Cassie got Emily a microscope for Christmas. It hooks up to the computer and you can take pictures and videos with it- so cool!

We are studying flowers this week and got to use it to look at the parts up close.

This is the carpel of the rose...the 'female' part. The portions you can see are the stigma and the style.


This is a leaf:


Petal:


Calyx (the green leafy part under the petals). This is the bud that opens up.


These are stamens- the male part of the flower. You can see the filament and anther.


Pretty cool! This allows us to see a pretty clear picture that a basic microscope would show- someday we'll get a higher powered one for late middle school/high school. This one is very easy to use and we love taking pics. When the insects are back out in MN we're going to try watching one eat!

Extra pics...we couldn't stop after looking at the flower. :)

Dragonfly wing (E has kept this in her room since last year):


Moth eyes (another specimen from her room):


Moth back:


Moth leg:


We can't wait for spring...lots more flowers and plants and bugs to look at!