It’s winter here in SW Wisconsin.

What a wonderful idea God had when he created the seasons!!

We are anxiously awaiting our first real, good, stop-everything snow storm – can’t wait to enjoy playing in the snow!

It’s cold though.

Crisp air and bright blue skies are my favorite!

You just don’t get a blue sky like a cold winter blue sky, do you?

The cold weather changes up the smells in our kitchen…to those warming comfort winter foods that hit the spot on a freezing cold day.

To start this post, at least you know I am still making food, ha, ha!

Don’t worry, I still have lots of help in the kitchen from my trio!

Tate and Eliza made us a roasted chicken (with carrots and onions around it) for dinner one night.

Right before I snapped this photo Eliza said, “Hurry, Mom, this is HEAVY!!”

Which would explain the look in Tate’s eyes!

All that food has to come from somewhere….I snapped this photo on date night Friday night while Blake went to get a second cart so we could finish our grocery shopping.

At least I am never bored!!

I love the day after grocery though!

Beautiful berries!

While I had some muscle home over the weekend last weekend, I had the guys move the furniture in the living room in preparation for our Christmas tree.

Which means I took away someone’s view out the front window!

Poor Ruby Jane!

Speaking of that fluffy little cutie, she got a haircut last week.

She was SO fluffy (first two photos) and now she is SO cuddly (last two photos) – I think because she is freezing cold!

Early last week Blake got our tree up and lighted for me.

I LOVE Christmas lights!

Then I had an awesome trio who helped me decorate it after school one afternoon.

Tate and Eliza had piano assessments one evening last week and they both passed with flying colors!

They are now in level 3 in piano lessons and their love for it is still very strong.

We enjoyed school this week, a new read aloud, and games with hot cocoa in the afternoons!

Lane has been building more cool things in the garage – it is his favorite time of the day.

After lunch one day as Eliza cleared her dishes she said, “I filled up all my tummy spots!”

They say the cutest things.

Thursday morning Tate had a little accident – he slammed his baby toe into the cold air return vent as he was headed down the upstairs hallway to the school room to start school.

That’s one way to get out of doing math!

Because his toe was sticking out at almost a 90 degree angle we knew it was broken.

I took him to the neighborhood clinic to get it set back in place and make sure he didn’t need more intervention to help it heal.

An x-ray showed that it was indeed broken, and broken in the growth plate even.

Poor guy!

The doctor was awesome, and thankfully Tate only has to keep his toes taped together and some good shoes on for six weeks.

When we got home from the doctor we jumped into art class – none of us want to miss art class!

I have a new website and art class we are doing now called Lily & Thistle.

It is free, which fits our budget, and the kiddos loved it – so win, win!!

Saturday morning brought the opening day of deer hunting season, which means it was just girls here at Twin Oaks!

Addie had to work, so that left just Eliza and I.

Eliza is not our morning person, so I let her sleep till she woke on her own.

It was SO quiet.

I LOVED it.

I didn’t even want to turn the lights on!

Once she woke up she helped me do some things like wrap birthday presents and run errands.

It was a nice change of pace!!

Saturday night was our beloved monthly hymn sing!

This month we added a pie baking contest to the evening (for Thanksgiving and all!).

It was super fun and a huge hit that I think will now be a tradition!

All the mom’s were the judges, and I was able to be a judge on the smell and appearance of each pie since I could not eat any of them!

We rounded out the week and weekend yesterday enjoying a birthday bash at Aspen’s place!

We celebrated Clyde, who just turned six, Ellie, who will be six in a few weeks, Briar, who turned three yesterday, and David whose birthday is today!

It was wonderful spending time at the farm, with Kay’s and the grand babies, and with David’s family too!

As far as the birthday party portion of the evening, here is the quality of photos I have….

Good grief!!

So, I will spare you the rest of those!!

Here, though, is a photo Kayla sent me early Sunday morning as they celebrated Briar with a special breakfast and gifts!

How can she be three?!

Last but not least, some sky photos.

My signature now.

I stuck my arm out the sliding glass door at 4:27 one evening and this was my view!

Crazy how early it is getting dark!

But I love watching the morning arrive…don’t you?

Another week gone!

Winter days full of wonderful things!

Memories made and memories kept!

This week will be slllooowwwww….as we are on a break from many things due to Thanksgiving.

No complaints here!

We are looking forward to Thanksgiving very much, Lord willing!!

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving, everyone!!