Hot Chocolate With Marshmellows...Mmmm...

If you saw a little girl at your door that looked this cold, wouldn't you give her a nice cup of hot chocolate loaded with marshmellows? I thought so.


The kids wanted to go outside and play in the snow sooo bad that they didn't care how cold it was. Before long, one after another they filed back inside starting with Katie. Justin was next with really rosy cheeks. His chubby little cheeks were so red and cold that they started to swell up. I was quite worried, but he is fine now. At the time we were fussying over him so much about it that he said, "Great, I'm going to die now."

Do I really need to say anything about this picture?

If the kids had their way, this is the kind of picture you would find in your Christmas card.

Christmas Kids....

The kids look just like stair steps don't they? They are all very excited about Christmas coming soon and have been counting the days. Today, Rebecca and I went to our church to make cookie baskets to give to various people around town. It was a good time of fellowship and of course a few cookies were eaten. The weather has been great, lots of sunshine and 39 degrees today.
It is amazing how quickly that feels warm!

Frosty...

One of the windows had this pretty frost on it this morning. I am glad that we are nice and warm inside.


One morning we opened the front door and saw these cute little bird tracks on our front porch. Can you see them? I wonder if our cat Daisy saw the bird when it was there?

Justin and Katie..!

Say Cheese! Aren't they cute. Right now they are outside enjoying the fresh, powdery snow. Perfect for trying out the new sled we bought at Menards.

Dakota Dusk...

The frontier life is a good life...

Getting Ready for Christmas....Already...

The day after Thanksgiving we are all set to put away all of the fall decorations and get out the Christmas decorations. Before long we had the whole house decked out with figurines, wall hangings, Christmas tree and presents. This is going to be such a neat place to have Christmas.


The kids saw the snow blowing around outside yesterday and wanted to go out and see what it was like. Katie was the only one dressed appropriately. The boys didn't think that putting on their snow pants was necessary. She was also the only one that wasn't cold. We thought they would be out there for awhile but, they came back right away. I guess Mom does know best after all!

Grandpa and Katie....

Clyde came for a visit two weeks ago. On the last day of his visit he had a conversation with Katie.


It went a little something like this. "Katie, are you smarter than me?" Katie replied, "Yes."
"Katie are you smarter than your Daddy?" Katie replied, "Yes."
"Katie, what does it mean to be smart?" Katie replied, "I know how to do stuff good."

I thought that was so cute. I am glad that she had this talk with her Grandpa...

A View of South Dakota....

I love these views out of our windows. The brown grass, distant farm houses and Spirit Mound are all part of this great big land out here.


We haven't had too much snow yet. Right now the only snow is a coating on the drive way. We have such nice weather the last week or so. Alas, that is all about to end. We are in for frosty cold weather and hopefully some heavy snow....

Snow....

Rebecca is hard at work doing her math. I had just finished knitting her a snow hat and she is modeling it for us. I think she likes it. The kids had a good time playing outside today. The snow was wet and full of leaves, but they managed to make a snow man. The best part of playing outside is coming in for hot chocolate!


You can see the snow out the back window. If you are wondering what is on the wall, there used to be shelves there from the previous owners. We are not sure exactly how to patch it up since the walls are textured like sandpaper. We will have to figure that out soon. We are already used to it and don't notice it until people come over...

Climbing Spirit Mound....

There is a great big hill not far from our house called Spirit Mound. The other day we finally decided it was time to climb it and see what it was like to stand in the same spot that Lewis and Clark stood 204 years ago.

That's Brendan standing up there at the top. Justin and Brendan both went the long way and still managed to beat us. The girls are giving it their all....

It was quite windy up there. Poor Katie was blown around a bit. We looked around and tried to imagine what it would have been like to see a herd of wild buffalo off in the distance. We did see some horses to give us a little perspective. We all were glad that we went while it was still nice outside. Two days later we had our first snow. It was only a light dusting, nothing at all like the dumping that Rapid City and the Black Hills received. Winter is fast approaching....

My Boy Being a Boy...

I love looking outside and seeing my boy doing boy things. Like climbing trees.


Or running gleefully with a rotten apple to chase his younger brother with.



And his sister following close behind.

It is a good day....

Fall and Food Fun....

The light was shining on the leaves and looked so pretty. Fall is my favorite time of year, and the trees here are wonderful to watch as they change. It is cool and crisp out, a little cold but dry.


Whenever we get a little carried away with the whipped cream, the kids squeal with delight at the silliness of it all.



They love to get it all over their faces and then pretend that they didn't even know how it got there. I wonder where they get that from....

Apples....

The kids have a new hobby...Picking apples...It is amazing how many apples they can bring in, and they haven't even put a dent in the trees.

Katie likes to pick them and eat them. We have three trees that have tart apples and one that has sweet apples. Surprisingly, it is the green apple that is sweet.

I learned quickly how to make applesauce and it is sooo good. We have had apple pie, apple crisp, apple muffins, and apple butter. I would like to make more applesauce, but, all of the local stores are out of canning supplies. Next year I will have to be more prepared!

Back in South Dakota...

Here we are in South Dakota again! It has taken a long time to post, I know, but we are working on getting faster Internet service out in the country. This is our new house on a beautiful fall day.
There is a lot of room for the kids to run around and play, the house is roomy as well.

This is the view of the backyard. We were all taking a walk to the road in the back. There are nice gravel country roads with corn and soy fields to see.

The back view of the house, a nice sun set. We are waiting to see the color of the trees and enjoying the crunch of the leaves on the ground. We miss all of our new friends that we had made in Florida, but we are glad to be back here in South Dakota.

Pumpkinland

We went to Pumpkinland in Orange City, Iowa last week with our local homeschool group.

The kids had a great time going through the giant corn maze. Here is a picture of the maze, the kids had to find 6 mailboxes to receive a prize of candy.

Justin is standing at the top of the bales of hay. They had lots of time to run around, look at animals and pick pumpkins. After we left Pumpkinland we went to a dairy and I have to say, we were all impressed.

Fun at the Park....

Robert gave Justin some swinging lessons. Katie listened closely and tried her best too.

Brother and sister, I wonder what they were talking about...

Justin looks out to see if he is still master of his kingdom.

The Proud Parents...

Aren't we cute? We love to take pictures of our kids and laugh at the ones we take of each other.

Clyde was happy to take a picture of us together, a rare event. Thanks Pappy.

Talking on the Phone....

Rebecca spoke with her friend Ally while we were at the park. She talked and talked, and walked and walked. By the time she got off the phone, she worked up a good sweat.


Sooo cute....

How to Slide Down the Slide...

Step one, climb to the top and look really excited.

Step two, glide down with no hands...

Step three, repeat step one...

Father and Son at the Park....