Last week we had our only snow of the year, we had ice a couple months ago but this is the only snow we've had that could make a snowball...I got out with the camera just in time to catch the one and only snowball fight! It was followed by an attempt at making maple sugar candy. We've been reading the Little House books lately and ever since the Big Woods one, we've been wanting to try it this. I remember trying it as a little girl, too, and being equally disappointed. Somehow our maple syrup doesn't quite do the same thing she describes! The boys tried a few bites and very cheerfully declared it to be "not very good, mom". :)

By the way, I still have snowballs in the freezer....

So, after reading through Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver, I keep trying things I haven't before. Most of them keep getting me into trouble (how do you peel 50 lbs of tomatoes?!) or have involved me standing in front of the meat section at the grocery store staring for a while and then walking away with nothing. One of the latest endeavors the kids and I have undertaken has been the Apple Adventure. I contacted a local organic apple orchard and asked for a bushel of apples to make into applesauce. Simple. A week later, Lovely Larry the Apple Guy brought 80 lbs. of VERY ORGANIC (read: WORMY!) apples to us (he had some extra!?). It felt overwhelming! We have gotten through all of them and found that our favorite thing has been the apple cider. We borrowed a friend's wine press and went to town. If you'll notice, P. was our most consistent taste-tester...:) I barely got a swallow by the time it was over!

The Snack Machine

A. decided the other day to create a snack machine--an offshoot of an idea by another creative friend. He made $2.55 from our sweet neighbors and lost The King and I about $15 in snack food...but such is the way with a budding entrepreneur! It was fun to watch him figure out which box would work with a hole for the money to go in, and then the "buttons" on the outside that said how much everything cost. Since our snack food cabinet has been depleted, he and P. have moved on to selling toys. I'm not sure how long to let them go at it, although the neighbor boys seem to be enjoying it!

Day One

I have thought for a while now that it would be healthy for me to write down my thoughts and share my ideas. I'm overflowing like a blender with no lid full of hot soup in a kitchen full of little helpers....exciting and full of possibilities, but kind of a mess to work with. How do I get the lid on so I can get dinner on the table?

And then there's the issue that I think there's got to be more to blogging than just adding my thoughts to an already full world, and so I contemplate where in the vast electronic world my voice would be helpful. Maybe as an encourager to families to make, to create, to share, to build unity...maybe as the voice of a woman who loves Jesus and is pursuing being more like him everyday through what I say, what I make, what I do, what I think...maybe as a mom and a wife...maybe as an artist...maybe...

So in the end, we'll see! For now, I am so excited to give in to the thing in me that God put there--that I am in His image, in the image of The Creator. What rest there is in letting the creativity that He's given me go somewhere!