Christmas Card Bloopers

We really wanted to send a photo card this year for Christmas. A much harder task with an 8-month-old than you might think.

We considered this one.

(Yes, we were the Holy Family for our church's Christmas play. Cranky Jesus took a pacifier for the first time! It was a Christmas miracle!)

We considered a photo of just the kids.

Or one where Jeremiah was reading a Christmas story to you.

But Pinterest has countless beautiful family pictures that are just longing to be recreated. We wanted one of those photos. Surely we could do it...

 

 

Conclusion: Those families are mannequins. Because in real life, this is what happens.

 

In the end, we did get some great photos. Let's just say we're glad we weren't paying an hourly rate to a photographer.

 

 

 

Merry Christmas!
 

More travel!?!

It seems like we are traveling a lot these days. Back in mid-November (I know, I'm a little behind) Josh had to travel to Indiana for work, and we got to go along! We decided to stop in St. Louis on the way home. We played tourist and visited the St. Louis Arch. We even rode the little tram cars to the top!

When buying tickets for the tram, they ask if you are claustrophobic.

They do not ask if you have a fear of heights or adversion to touching strangers thigh to thigh. Be warned.

If you can muster the courage to get friendly with strangers, you are rewarded with a great view of St. Louis and the Mississippi River!

Here is Jeremiah at the top!

While Josh was trying to take a picture, Jeremiah touched the screen and found the panorama button. Well, that made for much better photos! (We are fairly new to this 'Smart Phone' thing...so no, we didn't know this button existed. Don't judge.)

 

In the gift shop, I found these! Now this is my kind of souvenir!

Once back on the ground (and with our new-found camera abilities), I was able to get this beauty!

 
If you remember this post, then you may remember that we visited a restaurant in Washinton, D.C. named the Pi Pizzeria. Well, they happen to have several in St. Louis, too! In DC, Josh got a t-shirt. In St. Louis, I got a set of these!  
 

 
Now if you come to visit us, you'll get your milk in a pi glass! 

Since I'm behind on blogging, I might not see you again before the 25th. So just in case, Merry Christmas!

Happy Halloween!

Meet the Flintstones Rubbles!
They're the modern stone age family.
From the town of Bedrock,
They're a page right out of history!

Do you remember Betty, Barney, and BamBam Rubble? (Fred and Wilma Flintstone had a girl, Pebbles.) We discovered that most kids don't know who the Flintstones are. Does that mean we're getting old?

We stumbled across a photo of a homemade Flintstones' car on the internet a couple weeks ago and decided that we could easily recreate it for our church's Trunk or Treat. I will always prefer homemade costumes to store bought ones. So we got busy!

The car was made out of a couple barrels (that Josh is excited to use as burn barrels now that Halloween is over), two pieces of lumber that we had laying around the farm, a few dollars worth of PVC pipe, some screws, and an old sheet.
 

Jeremiah's costume started with a pair of leopard pants (that originally had a ruffled pink skirt attached!). I altered a 12 month shirt to fit him then sewed the brown sash onto it. A rawhide bone got sewn onto his pants (Hanna is excited to get that finally!). I also sewed and stuffed the brown BamBam bat.
 

My costume used a dress from a past beachy vacation. I added black fabric to the halter and made a white fabric yoyo (a sewing term for a fabric circle) for the front. I used the pieces of dress that I cut out from the bottom to make a matching hair bow.
 

Josh's costume was made from some quilting fabric that I got at a yard sale just last week! I cut out the black embellishments from felt and hotglued them on. Now that Halloween is over, I'll be able to re-use that fabric for quilting!

When it came time for the Trunk or Treat, it was raining. So the party moved inside! The decorated trunks turned into decorated tables, but our car was just assembled inside!

 

The church had estimated that a good turn-out for the event would be about 50 trick-or-treaters. Three hundred hotdogs were gone within the first hour! We're estimating that there were 200 trick-or-treaters and close to 500 total people! We had a great time, and we're already thinking about a theme for next year!

Hello, Autumn!

Goodbye, Summer! Hello, Autumn!

September was the month of travel for us. Most were short, weekend trips. But one was a bucket list destination: Washington, D.C.!

Luckily, we were there the week prior to the government shutdown, so we were able to visit all of the obligatory museums, monuments, and memorials.

 
We even found a Pi Pizzeria! That's our kind of place!

This past weekend, we visited a local pumpkin patch. We roasted hotdogs, made s'mores, and drank apple cider. They had several activities for kids and kids at heart including a giant slide and a corn sorghum maze. We had a great time and will definitely be back next year!

 

 

 

 

 

Our next fall activity will be our church's Trunk or Treat for Halloween. Look for that post next week!

The difference a year makes...

One year ago we were doing this:

We found out we were pregnant just one week before. We quit our jobs and packed up everything we owned in a giant moving truck and trailer. We had just a vague idea where we wanted to go. We had no jobs, no house...just a dream. Some called us crazy, but we called ourselves "modern-day pioneers."

We left behind many friends, our church, and this:

While driving across the country, we found (over the phone) a rental house near an area we liked.

We immediately fell in love with the people at a nearby church. Then Josh got a great job. So we decided that this was going to be home.

We moved to a little farm outside of town.

Very soon after that, Jeremiah was born.

Now we're getting ready to experience the four seasons all over again. What a difference a year makes!

Change

Change can be bad. Like that time in middle school when I cut my hair so short it didn't even touch my ears. (I will not post pictures of that decision.)

Or change can be good. Like all the things we've been working on here at the farm.

When we moved in, the back porch steps led straight to the well head. Now, the steps are wider with railing on both sides, and the well head is hidden under the whiskey barrel.

We put in a new mailbox.

My dad came to visit for Father's Day, and the barn got new paint.

We removed a dead stump by the pond.

We removed some trees from the shoreline of the pond so it didn't have a neglected, overgrown look. (This is an ongoing project.)

We installed a septic tank. (Yes, that before picture is exactly what you're thinking.)

The house came with its very own baptistry in the dining room! Or bathtub. Or koi pond. Whatever it was, it's gone now. (This is another work in progress item.)

And perhaps the biggest change of all...I got a new phone! I believe I have had my flip phone since 2006. It is a bittersweet goodbye.

Yes, change is good!

Hello blogosphere

I finally decided to jump on the blogging bandwagon.

If you know me at all, you know I'm never the first to do anything. I like to wait and let others figure it out so I don't have to. Or if it isn't broke, why fix it? I don't go to a restaurant within the first week of opening. I joined facebook years after everyone else. And I still have a flip phone. I still use a desktop computer. I use a camera to take pictures. And I use my phone to call people. I'm sure these things will eventually change, but I'm in no hurry.

I think I've not started a blog sooner because I thought my life was boring. The same mundane things as everyone else. Who would want to read that? But now we have a baby and a farm, so there's more material to keep you entertained.

I will give you a quick recap of all (okay, just the highlights) you missed when I wasn't blogging.

We got married. (This happened before digital photography. Well, I just wasn't using it yet.)

We moved to Las Vegas.

We went on vacations.

 

We moved to a farm.

We had a baby.

Now that you're caught up, I hope you come back soon to read another slice of the Pi life.