We took this picture of Katie Sunday when they came for a visit.  She really is growing and seems to be a very content little lady.  You all remember how I said it was cold here Monday.  Well, Tuesday morning it was 10 degrees with the wind chill below zero.  Our water froze in the bathroom and the new laundry room.  A little disappointing as Hubby thought he had it fixed so it would not freeze.  I tell you all, when the wind blows hard like that it can find the tiniest little hole to get in and freeze pipes.  Anyway, he thawed out the water and insulated more around the pipes, so hopefuly it is fixed now.  Wednesday morning was cold too.  Temperature was 10 degrees again but not near as much wind so it didn’t feel as cold.  Our hard working wood stove is very much appreciated.  Today however has been very nice-low 40′s.   Thank you, Lord. 

Well, I guess that’s about all the excitement we have had going on here.  I hope you all have a great evening and God bless.

We have sunshine today with wind gusts of about 50 mph.  Temperature is cold.  Actual temperature is 35 degrees.  I’m not sure what the wind chill is but I know it is cold.  I have one load of clothes on the line but I have to keep going out to pick them up off the ground.  The wind keeps blowing them off the line.  I think I’ll probably just go bring them in.  I wanted to do some trimming today but I think I’ll have to postpone it until tomorrow.  Hopefully it will be warmer then.

We had our first lesson today in our new study, NO OTHER GODS by Kelly Minter.  It seems to be a good study.  She asks a lot of questions that cause us to search ourselves for the answers.  I think these are hard studies.  I guess I’m just not very good at self evaluation.

Tonights menu will be ham biscuits, the leftover kale and potatoes.  I made fresh rolls today for the ham however half of them have already been eaten.  I love to cook things that get eaten quickly.  It makes me fill happy inside.  I also made a fifteen bean soup with ham for tomorrow.  I like to make soup a day ahead when I can.  I always think it taste better the next day. 

Enjoy your day and God bless.

Baby Sam LOVES food.  Yesterday, he discovered blackberries.  This boy loves every type of food he has sampled so far.  Brother Daniel, however, is a totally different subject.  Whereas Sam eats and loves everything, to Daniel almost everything is YUCKY.  Jess has to disquise all the fruit he eats.  They eat a lot of “purple snack” (blueberries combined with other fruit and pureed into total smoothness).    He can’t even suspect he is eating fruit.

Today temperature is not near as nice as yesterday.  Wind chills around zero this morning when we go up.  It has warmed up some though-mid 20′s with wind chill around 10 degrees.  Needless to say, I did not hang clothes on the line outside today.  We are doing school as usual, working on history now.   They are learning about Egypt.  Tonight’s menu is undetermined at this time.  I know, though, it will revolve around a deer roast, which is cooking on the wood stove as I type.

Enjoy your day and God bless.

I finally have Grace’s quilt finished.  I started it last year after I finished Julie’s.  Gardening came upon us and I had to put the quilt away until winter.  I now have made all 3 girls a wall hanging/quilt that I sewed by hand.   I am not very skilled at sewing things by hand so these will probably be the only ones I do.

Temperatures are still cold here.  Actual temperature this morning was 10 degrees with a -10 wind chill.  When the cold wind blows here it is very difficult to keep the house warm.  The wind seems to find its way inside in places we never thought possible.   Anyway, our wood stove is working overtime.  I am very grateful to have this stove.  It certainly puts out a lot of heat. 

I am working on a new apron and hopefully will be able to show you all a picture of it soon.   School as usual today.  The ladies are coming tomorrow for bible study and it is my turn to make dessert.  I am thinking of making a buttermilk chocolate cake.  I got the  recipe from a blogger friend and it has become a favorite of ours.   I like buttercream frosting with ours.  It reminds me of a cake that was served at school when I was a kid.  They called it wacky cake.  I do not like chocolate very much but this cake is really good.

Enjoy your day and God bless.

This is my first little girl apron.  I made this one for my granddaughter, Alexius.  I am sure there are many things I did wrong as I am just learning how to read patterns.  Most of the time, I did not know what the pattern was telling me to do so I just figured it out my way and did it.  I used some old material I had,  just in case I messed up.  I thought it would be better to practice some with the new machine.

Temperatures are very cold here again.  Wind chill this morning was -10 degrees.  The wind has been whipping all day, gusts up in the 50 mph range.  Our snow is now blown into 2-3 ft drifts.  The predictions are, though,  for it to warm up by the weekend.  I certainly hope so.

I think I will go work on another apron pattern.  This time, I think I will try the pattern I am wanting to make to sell.  I need to practice on it some and besides I can always enjoy a new apron.  Take care and God bless.

I know this picture looks just like the picture of the peanut butter balls but it really is a different picture.  These are the Martha Washington Balls.  The recipe is:

2 boxes powdered sugar, 1 stick butter softened, 1 can sweetened condensed milk, 1 tsp. vanilla.  Using mixer, blend ingredients together.   Mixture will be stiff.  Add 4 cups chopped pecans.  Put powdered sugar on hands and roll into small balls.  Chill.  Dip balls into melted chocolate.  Use 4 cups chocolate chips and 1/2 block parafin wax.   DELICIOUS!

Temperatures are super cold here.  Wind chill is close to zero again with gusts of about 50 mph but we are toasty warm inside with a nice fire going.  Hubby was able to get propane for the gas logs Saturday.  This really helps keep the house warm.  Our little woodstove is a work horse.  However it  was severely overworked last week trying to do the job all by itself with zero temps.  Pray our water doesn’t freeze again. 

We are going to get some tires put on the front of the car.  Hubby didn’t work today, so he is going with us.  I’m glad.   Enjoy your day and God bless.

Praise the Lord!  Water is once again flowing in the Dawson home.  We got it unthawed this morning.  We are so happy. It truly is amazing how much water we use during the day.  Temperatures are still cold here.  8 degrees this morning with a wind chill below zero.  Tomorrow though it is supposed to warm up a little and not be too bad until Sunday, then it is supposed to turn cold again.  We will be having an all day play practice Saturday for the Youth Christmas play at church.  We will be doing the play on Sunday-weather permitting.

We have decided no school today.  We are going to our friends, the Horns, to make some more candy.  I will be making peanut butter balls and Vicki is going to make oreo truffles.  We are looking forward to a day of fun.  Hope your day is as blessed as mine has already been.  God bless.

This little Nativity set is the star attraction on our mantle during Christmas.  It is already sitting in its place of honor.  It has been to cold too go to the building to get out our other decorations but we did venture out to get the Nativity.  Hopefully, it will warm up some so we can get the other stuff down soon.  Very cold here last night.  Acutual temperature 7 degrees with a wind chill of about -5.  Our water is frozen.  So sad.  Hubby thought he had fixed every little crack that the wind could get into but I guess we were wrong.  Remember last year, our bathroom water was frozen for about 1 1/2 months.  We were hoping to avoid that this year.  Well, this morning all the water is frozen, nothing coming into the house anywhere.  Definitely not good.  Hubby is going to work on it this evening as soon as he gets in.  Pray it will not be too hard to get it running again.  Then I guess we will just have to keep a small trinkle running at night to keep it from freezing again.  I am so grateful I went up yesterday to the cellar and covered up our pototoes and our canned green beans with quilts.  Hopefully they are in good shape.  Last year they froze in the cellar.  I do not want a repeat of that.  The green beans are closest to the door so I guess there must be some wind that gets in at the door.  Oh well, this is all part of winter, I know.  I can’t say I like it though.

I do have good news.  A local bakery, The Bread Basket, has graciously agreed to display my aprons for sale.   I am so excited!!!!!  I took her 9 aprons this morning.  I pray they sell quickly and that perhaps I could bring her more.  This would be so much better than trying to sell them myself.   All in God’s hands. 

Well, I have things to get done-not laundry though.  Can’t do laundry without water.  Stay warm and God bless.

Our apple tree is blooming.  Isn’t it pretty!  We are not sure what type of apples these are.  The tree was here when we came.  However they are very good apples.  The tree blooms very early though and usually gets caught in the frost.  I fear this will happen this year.  Temperatures tonight will be in the upper 20′s.  We have had a very hard wind for 2 days now so of course it feels much colder.  Temperature now is about 50 with a wind chill of about 40.  YUCK!  I guess this is what we call “dogwood winter” as the dogwoods are blooming now.  Warmer temps are on the way though.  Yeah!

Dogwood in bloom outside our dining room window. 

My bouquet of flowers for the ladies today.  I love to have fresh flowers out when they come.  Makes the room look so much more cheerful.  We all enjoyed these today.  Forsythia and spirea.  Class went very well.  Two ladies could not come.  We missed you, Wanda and Vicki.  I know I have said this many times, but this really is a good study.  She takes it nice and slow so you get to just let it all sink in.  I like that.  I better get started on supper.  Take care  and God bless.