A Handmade Christmas

This Christmas was all about creating handmade gifts :)

I wanted to create special gifts for the kids so I made each of them felt crowns. A pink princess crown adorned with ribbon flowers and tinsel trim, a pirate one for my little monster, and a crusaders crown for my oldest because he's totally into the older Indiana Jones' movies and they used the crusader crest in one of them :) We couldn't forget about daddy though so I created him his very own tugboat crown complete with a little mini tug in the same colors as his boat along with its name embroidered on the bow *grin*. It was incredibly hard to keep it a secret though! I had to do all of my sewing after everyone had gone to bed because I couldn't let the kids see it for fear that they would guess they were getting one to. So I waited until hubby would fall asleep and then I would quickly whip it out and do more work on it LOL. Needless to say there were many very late nights involved!

The kids got involved in the fun to and they each created a special Kanzashi flower for Omi (my mom). It was so cute to see my 6 year old folding the fabric and creating her flower :) We decided to put brooch pins on the back of each of them so that she could stick them onto her purse, coat or pretty much anything.

My son surprised me with this lovely little hand quilled dragonfly!! He's such a sweety :)

We even experimented with making our own felt beads which turned out really well. We turned them into another little gift for Omi by making her a festive red and green bracelet with them :)

Of course I can never get enough felt so when I ran across a fabulous tutorial for recycled paper Christmas bows to decorate gifts with over at How About Orange I just knew I had to make one to but with a felty twist to keep up with my all felt theme *grin*. So literally minutes before we were supposed to be running out the door to my moms for Christmas dinner I was busy at my cutting board zipping off strips of felt, twisting and sewing it all together to make more brooches! LOL. Hubby was watching and teasing me because as usual I had found something that I just had to do which was going to make us notoriously late as usual :)

It was worth it! I finished up two of them, one for my daughter to wear on her Christmas dress and another for my sister which she just loved! Yay. I think this was one of the most rewarding Christmases for all of us as we were so proud of our creations :)

~ Rosina

Happy New Year!!!

Wow, 2010!! I'm excited to see what the new year will bring for our family :)

We had a quiet little celebration at home with the kids. It's my dad's birthday as well so we had to break out the bubbly for a little toast to his being another year older *grin*.



When I look at the photos of tonight it sort of feels like I teleported myself back to 1980! With our red heart table cloth draped over the coffee table and our little picnic placed upon it. I could just see my sister and I as little girls under the Christmas tree in our new flannel nightgowns that we got as presents and my mom taking photos of us. Such fun :)

Happy new year everyone and may all your dreams and goals for the new year come true!

~ Rosina

You better watch out, You better not shout....

Jolly old Santa is definitely good for one thing... keeping the kids in line at Christmas time! *grin*

We're really not all that big on the Santa story but it was fun to watch my 6 year old write her very first letter all by herself :) She only asked for one thing, one of those 'Littlest Pet Shop' animals. I think I can manage that plus they really are the cutest little things with their nodding heads! My oldest is to smart for his own good though and knows darn well that when we drop her envelope into the mailbox Janet down at the post office is going to write back so he's not writing a letter this year LOL.

I'm still trying to dry out the house and with both wood stoves going and all of the moisture in the air it was a bit like a sauna in here today. On the plus side there was a little patch of concrete in the basement that wasn't completely submerged in water. YAY!! A very good sign :)

~ Rosina

Slush Angels & Felt Fun

To the children's delight we woke up to a little over 2 inches of snow this morning. The usual heavy wet snow that we get on the west coast but that never stops everyone from going out at least three times during the day leaving mom with loads of soggy mittens, scarves, and snow clothes to be dried on demand for the next round of slush angels! *grin*

We're taking part in the Kids Craft Weekly Christmas card swap again this year so we've starting working on our 10 cards that we will be sending out around the globe :) Last year we made felt trees with multi colored felt decorations on them and this year we're getting even more creative and working on a pop up card. So we've whipped out the felt, glue, and LOTS of glitter! I just love working with felt so we're creating little presents out of it right now with felt bows and a ribbon sash :) So much fun! We received some really cool Christmas cards last year from our swap partners and we can't wait to see where they come from this year.

~ Rosina

Flooding and the Aftermath

Well my worst fears actually manifested and we flooded!! Monday morning the phone rang at 6:45 am, my mom asking if we had seen all the water and off course we hadn't. It had come up in the middle of the night like a lion and it wasn't planning on slowing down anytime soon. If anything it was just getting started. The above photo was taken around 7:30am when I had a minute to look out my daughter's bedroom window. The river was now running right alongside our home.

As I glanced downward the murky river water was already climbing up the side of our home. The entire road was a hive of activity. You could hear engines roaring, shouting, and vehicles scrambling for a dry spot. Our front yard is really high since it was filled in about 10 years ago with gravel to stop some of the flooding so we ended up with neighbors cars, trucks, campers & quads parked up and down the little stretch of land that was guaranteed or at least should be guaranteed to stay dry. It seemed to have snuck up on all of us and we only had so much time to make preparations for the worst case scenario.

Our first concern was heading down into the basement to disconnect our water pump that pumps the water from our well. It has to be removed because if it is submerged in water it will most definitely not start again :( So hubby raced down the stairs to find that there was already over a foot of water inside the house. His boots barely cleared the top of the water as he frantically looked for tools and shut off valves. By the time he returned less than 30 minutes later the water had cleared his boots and was creeping up past his knees.

My oldest son and I headed outside to salvage bikes that we're already going under, garbage cans that were sure to be set afloat and anything else that we could still make it to, which really wasn't much since the water was already up over the back fields and creeping into our immediate backyard right behind the house. We had just stock piled a bunch of hay for our cows two days before and it was going under :( Dh's ride on lawnmower was past the point of no return and there were countless other pieces of machinery that were already long gone. We retreated indoors to wait. It's very eery to sit inside your home and listen to the water gurgle & rush in through the windows as it attempts to catch up with all of the water just waiting to get in on the outside.

We finally couldn't stand it and had to go outside to see what was going on around us. Our home had become a virtual island as water surrounded us on all sides. Above is the end of our driveway looking towards other homes that were either surrounded or unfortunately filling with the muddy waters.



The only mode of transportation left now was rowboat *grin*.

We eventually got about 6 feet of water in the basement and breathed a big sigh of relief that it wasn't going to come right into our main floor where it would be catastrophic. With the power shut off in most of our home we waited for it to go down.

Eventually by the following morning it was finally only about a foot deep inside and hubby began the process of cleaning up the debris, and trying to pump out the water left behind. Machinery was checked out and started up & damage was assessed.

It was great to see the water rush out through the hoses but unfortunately it is not staying out. With the ground so saturated it returns immediately so we will just have to wait. Eventually we'll get it all out but for now we will have to learn to live with it. The forecast has been for heavy rains but so far we've got snow! Which on one hand is a welcome reprieve from the rain but on the other hand if it warms up to quickly we're looking at a complete repeat of Monday but with an even more dire outcome. I'm not sure what will happen next but I'm hopeful :)

~ Rosina

Flood Watch

(The aftermath of a 2007 flood. Water was finally low enough that we could wade through to the end of our road and see how far the river had receded)

I thought we were going to get lucky and not have to worry about flooding this winter but I guess I was wrong. Historically we have always had heavy rains and the threat of flooding right around November 11th each and every year since I was a little girl and quite often it results in flooding. Sometimes it's minimal and we hardly even notice and other years it hits us hard.

In 2001 we were away the weekend around Nov.11th and it flooded. We returned home to a basement full of water and mud & silt all through our laundry room & garage as it is a few feet lower than the main level of our house. But it didn't stop there. We were hit two more times in a matter of a week!

Flash forward... the raging waters encroached our home again. This time hitting in the middle of the night. By the time we awoke it was nearly to late to escape to higher ground. With my baby on my back in a carrier and my toddler in my arms I waded through thigh high deep water as I made my way to my parents house across the newly formed river where they are high enough on the hill that the water doesn't reach them. You never forget the feeling as you stand on the edge of your yard that has now turned into a full fledged river and watch your house surround with water slowly creeping higher up its walls.

Well here we are 2009 and it's happening again. Mass amounts of rainfall and snow melt are once again causing the river to swell. The pond in our backyard is spilling over the banks and the irrigation ditches around our home are dangerously high. The ground water is coming up and I expect to find water in the basement very soon.

I'm ready no matter what happens. Our clothes are packed so that we're ready to leave if necessary but I'm hoping that it will pass without to much damage.

~ Rosina

Hay Run

Hooray for hay!!

After an hour of phone calls, four farms later & about two hours of waiting we got the call. We had finally found hay :) I was actually starting to worry that we were going to come up empty after I dialed the last number and with the snow falling this morning it was starting to look like a dire situation if we didn't find some fast.

Luckily the little snow squall didn't last long and just as we were about to eat lunch we got the address of a farm an hour and half from us that still had some hay for sale. We saddled up the truck, hitched the horse trailer to the back and hit the road *grin*. I'm really happy with the beautifully big bales of 2nd cut hay we bought. Our cows are going to be super pleased with us this winter :)

~ Rosina

Red Cup of Joy

I'm in love *sigh*

I don't know how you all do it, living so close to a Starbucks. I might get to into town once a week if I'm lucky but I'm completely smitten with the holiday Caramel Brulee Latte. If I wasn't 60 minutes away I think I may be tempted to make this a daily ritual *grin*.

Hate it or love it... this red cup of joy is pure heaven for the 10 minutes it lasts! LOL.

~ Rosina

New 2010 Mibo Calendar

I am so excited, the new Mibo 2010 calendar is available!!

When I downloaded a complimentary copy of Mibo's calendar last year I'll admit I just needed a calendar that would get me through another year of appointments & dates but the fun illustrations totally rocked! So naturally I just had to get a copy of the new one and I'm loving it even more than the last one.

It's really reasonably priced to at only $4.00 for a PDF file that is sent directly to you and then you just print it out onto some nice matte paper :) They have a second 'year at a glance' version of the calendar available as well this year and it is completely free to download. I think I'm going to take that one and make myself a nice little mini calendar for inside my purse :) So fun!

~ Rosina

Lest we forget....

In memory of all the fallen soldiers that have fought so bravely for our country....

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

- John McCrae May 1915