I WON BANANAGRAMS!!!

ClaireAnna got this fun word game for Jes for Christmas. Jes LOVES word games. She's also the master at them. I'm no good at word games. I did not inherit the Scrabble gene from my mother. But, I got some lucky letters in this round and I WON!!! Yay!

My winning play!

Post Script: Months later I noticed I miss spelled "gleam."  Haha! I didn't win after all! But it's a fun game!

Christmas Morning 2010

It was the latest we’ve ever gotten up for Christmas. We’ve just been up so late for several nights and everyone was tired. We all expected ClaireAnna to wake up first and jump on us, but she didn’t. Several of the adults woke up first and eventually, around 8:00, she did too. So we got started about 8:30.

Here’s our mini tree with all the gifts.

A couple bigger items were hidden in other rooms.

Josh was the last to wake up.

Kate and ClaireAnna doled out the gifts.

ClaireAnna was only supposed to get a couple of small things because she got a very expensive saddle a couple of months ago that was to be her Christmas AND birthday present. But her father couldn’t control himself. Every time he went out shopping for other people, he came back with a “little something for Claire” too. True, she didn’t get a “big” thing, but she got more then she expected and was so happy about it!

Before we opened our gifts, ClaireAnna read the Christmas story to us from Luke 2.

Josh and Lily were very happy with their Griddler! Josh is only making a face because he doesn’t want his picture taken!

Lily got this chocolate brown coat and matching scarf too! The girls gave her a game and a gift cert. to get her nails done.

Kate got her Kindle. I also got her a bath robe but she is taking it back. What ever! The kids got her some movies and books and some coffee.

Josh got one very nice piece of luggage for his honeymoon, coming up in June! He also got a knife that he wanted and some utensils to use with his Griddler.

My son gets me Ferrero Rocher EVERY YEAR! I love them!

Josh and Lily got me the softest purple blanket ever made! And a foam matt to place under my pallet on the floor for when I am having a pain attack. That one made me cry!

Ted got me a new Olympus camera AND a Sony Handycam! Yay!!!

ClaireAnna was thrilled with all her gifts. She got a hat, mittens, a shark puzzle, a shark book, some craft kits, new PJs, a pretty silver necklace, a book light, some Encyclopedia Brown books, socks, a watch, and several other small things.

Her favorite though was the book that her dad got her about birds.

It has a page for each bird with a beautiful painting and description of the species and a doodad on the side that plays an audio of each birds song. Very cool.

We got Jes a new winter coat and the Pampered Chef Apple Peeler Corer Slicer. Josh and Lily got her lots of kitchen stuff. She got a couple of books and some movies and two word games.

The kids got Dad a digital frame for his office since I never print pictures anymore and he never sits at the computer long enough to see any of the pictures I take. So now, we’ll load up a flash drive with them and he can have them scrolling through all day long at work! He also got a new flashlight, tool belt, construction knee pads, chain saw chaps and a cell phone case. He’s all set for long days working on the fences come spring!

After gifts, as we always do, we had a huge country breakfast: eggs, hash browns, bacon, sausage, biscuits, gravy and juice! I forgot to take a picture of the feast but lets just say, Josh is in a coma!

We all had a wonderful, fun, and loving Christmas together!

Christmas Bingo

This tradition started several years ago when I wanted something fun and different to do when my mom came to visit a week or two before Christmas. So I bought a bunch of prizes and we played bingo for them. The first year, I wrapped all the prizes and put them in the middle of the coffee table. We played bingo and the winner got to pick a prize. The winner could feel them and try to figure out what it was. You could also choose to steel a prize from someone else. This part of the game had to be eliminated because Josh and Jes nearly came to blows over stealing from each other! So now there is no steeling, but there is voluntary trading. There is always one booby prize and one grand prize. It’s pretty funny that several times the booby prize wasn’t such a booby. Like the time that Kate won a zit picker and was quite delighted. Or the time that someone won the purse pack of toilet seat covers and Grama happily traded for them.
Last year, Ted did the prize shopping and got ALL gift cards. The grand prize was $50 to Wal-Mart! This year, he also bought the prizes – 45 of them!!! So he put a sticker on each prize indicating the number and suit of a playing card. We played bingo and the winner picked a card. No one saw the prizes till all the cards were won. We try to make it so everyone gets several prizes by playing till there’s a winner in each bingo game. But once we had each won five cards, we changed to playing for only one winner for each game so some people get extra prizes. It was at this point that Claire said, “I’ve got butterflies in my stomach!” Josh ended up with the grand prize this year (last year too!) of $25 to Cracker Barrel but he traded with Claire for $20 to Pizza Hut!

Daddy was the caller! “G………42!” At first, he’d call out the letter, check his own card, and THEN call out the number! After enough complaining, he sped things up a bit.

The cards were spread all over the table. If you get Bingo, you pick a card!

This duffel is FILLED with prizes! Daddy called out a card and who ever held it, claimed the prize!

Here are the cards Claire one. She only got five, but Lily gave her one of her wins to make six.

Here are Claire’s Prizes. She won butter cookies, Ferero Rocher, $20 to Pizza Hut, Gummy Octopus and some other stuff! She also got the booby prize but I can’t tell what it was this year! Sorry!

Here are Kate’s winning cards. She got six.

Kate won some sparkling juice, shampoo, a water bottle and two nail care kits which she liked very much!

Lily won the most games with 9, but she gave her last win to Claire. Aw……

Funny thing is, she won all the meat. Slim Jims and Beef Jerky, which she loves, and a can of Spam which she doesn’t. (and which oddly enough was not the booby prize!). She also got a little car vac, some nuts and a bunch of other stuff.

Jes with her prizes – Red Bull AND 5 Hour Energy drinks. She’ll need them to stay awake to watch the dumb movie she won – called….DUMMY!

Weirdo Josh with his prizes on the table – a HUGE case of Twizzlers, Pringles, Toblerone, and of course, the grand prize of $25 to Cracker Barrel.

We all had a great time and after the game was over, Josh fried every one up a Spam sandwich!!

Fuzzy Winter Ponies (And a calf)

The ponies haven’t gotten much taller since we got them in the spring, but they sure have gotten fatter!  And now that winter is here, fuzzier! Elvis is the black one, Johnny is the red one.  Aren’t they cute!

  This is Junior , next year’s market steer.  He lives with the ponies in the bull pen. 

Fat, Fuzzy Mamas

Goat kids are due the first week of January!!! All our mamas are getting fat!
Thacia (above) has twins or triplets each year. But she lost one of her teats in an injury and will only be able to feed a single kid, so we are milking Allie the dairy goat and freezing her milk. Claire will surely have a bottle baby this year, but at least feeding it will be free. Powdered milk replacer costs a fortune!

This is either Cheetah, Lola or Misty. I can’t tell them apart anymore.

Brook, on the left, with a beautiful, full belly. She was born here and this will be her second kidding. She’s half dairy and has the cutest kids with mottled dairy goat ears! They will sell quickly. Grace is in the center. Grace was our 2009 Grand Champion Market Goat. We bred her to a fancy show buck this year and can’t wait to see what her kids are like!

Again, either Cheetah, Lola or Misty. They are triplets and look too much alike! Claire knows who’s who though.

This is Jasper, the Nubian dairy goat buckling, trying to get some attention.