Great Quote...

I have always appreciated Abigail Adam's thoughtful insight as her husband's help meet/confidant and as she instructed her children. This is by far my favorite, spoken to John Quincy...

“These are the times in which a genius would wish to live. It is not in the still calm of life, or the repose of a pacific station, that great characters are formed. The habits of a vigorous mind are formed in contending with difficulties. Great necessities call out great virtues. When a mind is raised, and animated by scenes that engage the heart, then those qualities which would otherwise lay dormant, wake into life and form the character of the hero and the statesman.”
― Abigail Adams

Christmas pictures

How many pictures does it take to get a family shot for Christmas where everyone is visible and looking at the camera (with exceptions for babies, of course!)? About 12! :)

I look like I just ran through a wind tunnel (I'm super fast after I hit the button on the camera I guess!) and Katy looks giddy... try again!

This time Katy is less than thrilled looking, and Stephen looks like he's sitting on something...

Katy again, see Bekah trying to love on her? And I had no idea Nate was doing that!!!

This time we all knew Nate was being goofy...

The one we picked!

So close...

Good times!

We hope you had a Merry Christmas!!!

Our Bald Eagle

We had some visitors in December...

He found a deer carcass in the field across from our home, and stayed for three days eating off of it.

He let this coyote snack on it, but charged the group of crows that haunts our trees... ha!

They have a wingspan of 6-7 feet, and reside near bodies of water usually... we are surrounded by lakes, so we hope we'll see him again!

Multitude Mondays

It's been so long since I've participated in Ann Voskamp's 1,000 gifts linkup that I thought  I'd start fresh-  here goes...    :)

Thankfulness is easy, despite the icky cold I have today...

1. The glowing of the fire in the woodstove
2. Toddler voice singing "Happy Birthday to meeeeeeee"
3. Baby giggles
4. Wooden train sets all over the floor
5. "Love Spheres" for the Valentine's Party tomorrow (thanks Michelle for the idea!)
6. My Natie, who turns 35 this week- thank you Lord for helping me find my best friend and letting us live this life together!
7. Children's excitement at cards in the mail today
8. Chocolate
9. Putting the baby in the Bumbo seat for the first time- so stinkin' cute!!!
10. Girls who love their daddy so much that they jump at the chance to come cut wood with him
11. Sunrises over our field (so amazed that this is really ours...)

Come join us over at Ann's site- and if you haven't read her book yet, please do. You will be better for it.

Birthday Time!

We shared a fun time with the Michigan side of the family celebrating our nephew's birthday last weekend...

Good eats!

 Great Grandma Mary with Emily Ann

 Fun with cousins

 Silly!

 Bekah's scrumptious new hairdo- her hair is finally long enough!

The grown up table

Hidey-Ho, Neighbor!

Hee hee! I always liked Wilson, the somewhat eccentric neighbor on the show "Home Improvement." We have gone from living in a neighborhood where we'd talk with our neighbors quite frequently, to one where we finally just met/saw them for the first time after living here for 6 months... crazy! Anyway, here we are after a long hiatus, and I have a sinus infection- so I have to rest- which means I'm going to try to catch up somewhat on here. I don't know who is still out there reading, so bear with me as I try to figure out what to put on here. There will be a bunch of photos, of course, and hopefully I can start blogging soon because I will finally have a computer again (yay!!!). Here is a little taste of what we're doing today... We discovered the fish lens on my camera (flattering, eh?)...    :)

A New Year...

I love lists... they are the only way to keep all of the balls I juggle in order. So, just in case anyone needs lists as badly as I do, I thought I'd share a couple of my favorites. I know I've talked before about how many great organizational tools are over at Donna Young's site, so here's an example of how I took her grocery list and adapted it to my own needs. My grocery list...

Here's a wonderful way to keep everything organized daily on a clipboard (I started using this method over a year ago- and I love it!)- which helps to keep everything in one place. As you probably know, I appreciate Ann Voskamp's writings so much... so take a look on her blog- you might just be blessed with more than a daily organizer! :)   Happy New Year from all of us here!!!