Christmas Season

Christmas Around here....

Christmas season always seems so busy, we've tried to not schedule too much and keep things simple, focusing on our family, some time with friends and doing things for others.

 Our tiny potted tree

House decorating

Advent calendar bible verses

Cookie baking

Silly pups

Crafts with friends

Homeschool Christmas party

Hubbies work Christmas dinner

A few decorations and our potted tree-

 Hubbies casual work Christmas dinner

(had to have the kiddos take our picture, we hardly have any together!)

Boys baking..

and the dog hoping something drops!

Lots of cookies!

My bed WAS made this morning...until...Ernie made a nest for himself!

Crafts with friends and our homeschool group to be distributed with meals on wheels.

Advent Calendar

Instead of a chocolate paper calendar one with doors - I made a hanging one, each day has a bible verse leading up to Jesus birth/Christmas day. The kids do get one small item each day as well along with the verse.

Merry Christmas season to all, may you enjoy the precious time with your families focusing on what is truly important.

Catching Up from November

November Happenings...and Hello December!

We moved! Same town, more land. 

Baby chick born

Photography

Building

Unpacking

Schooling

Learning

Gorgeous Sunsets

House Plants

Animals

Life Lessons

Science Experiments 

Park days with friends

Cast off for our son

Baby chick Charlie, unfortunately he passed two weeks after.

 Photography in our field. My view from my window...finishing work while the kids were out taking photos.

 New house...loving our kitchen cabinet space!

 Dining room, office, school room....love the view.

Hubbie built shelves. Starting to hang some photos making the house feel like home.

 We have no neighbors out the back and the best view...mountains and gorgeous sunsets.

 Zeike our daughters rabbit is now a house bunny. This old man wasn't doing so good so we want to keep him close.

 Our old girl Sadie.

Finding time for school in between all the move craziness. Our son the science lover.

Sundays we do crock pot meals! 

Quick , easy  and it cooks while we go to church and spend time as a family.

Last weeks was a hit (not vegetarian)

Recipe: cabbage-sausage-potato-soup 

This weekend we spent building pallet animal pens.

That is one of the qualities I love most about my husband - his dad taught him valuable life skills, using tools, fixing cars, building things and now my husband is teaching our son.

Blessed in our new home, filled with love.

The Last Few Weeks, Hello October

Happenings in the last few weeks- Hello Fall, Hello October!

Pumpkin patch fun with friends

Corn Maze

San Diego Vacation 

Grame's Birthday!

Airplane Flying

Zoo trip 

Saying good bye to Papa

Lab Snuggles

Sibling game fun

Learning new games

New recipes

Wildlife sightings

Broken arm

We visited Mortimer Farms with our homeschool friends and had a blast...play equipment, jumpy, zip line, picking pumpkins, corn maze, tractor ride, tons of fun! http://www.mortimerfarmsaz.com/

 Strawberry picking....and eating!

San Diego Zoo trip

Fort Rosecrans looking out to San Diego over the beautiful water.

 We love you Papa, you will forever be in our hearts and missed.

 The best kind of sleepover...

Game time

New Recipe - Pumpkin Sweet Potato Bisque - http://www.laaloosh.com/2011/09/19/pumpkin-sweet-potato-bisque/ 

We did swap out the greek yogurt for coconut milk instead and it turned out great!

Most our ingredients came from our local farmers at the farmers market!

Prescott Farmers Market : http://www.prescottfarmersmarket.org/

The boys playing video games or our son attempting to. 

Our son broke his arm from falling off a slide at the park...he's in his temporary cast here and waiting until next weeks visit to the Pediatric Ortho specialist for his permanent one.  His agenda is to rest, elevate, and ice for the next few days. They want the swelling to go down before re x-raying it and doing something permanent.

The dogs are having such issues not being able to snuggle close and having to stay away from the arm! 

October has been a whirlwind so far...we are looking forward to the upcoming holiday months when school slows and we can focus on family and breathe a bit from all the activities!

Falconry Class

Saturday we spent the day up in Flagstaff. It was the Flagstaff Festival of Science. We had pre registered for a Falconry class specifically for our son, a lover of all birds especially raptors.

The nearly 3 hour class was amazing and entailed: biology, history, governmental policy, cultural heritage and live demo's with the birds. 

Our son was in heaven. He's only 12 but has talked off and on through the last few years about career in working with birds whether it be at a zoo, in conservation efforts or even running a bird rescue. He soaks up any information about birds he can.


There were so many awesome classes and events offered, next year we have plans to make several trips up to join in on many more events-
Science Festival - Flagstaff

 Beautiful day for a beautiful drive to the mountains.

The group that put on the Falconry/Raptor class -
International Raptor and Falconry Center

They brought in 3 birds - Finley, Kieran and Coral. A kestrel and two Harris hawks. 
Meet the Birds

 A family project - our son wants to build some nesting boxes to help the kestrels in our area.

 Kieran and Coral

We didn't take too many photos but just enjoyed the experience, learning and seeing the beautiful birds. Our son said it was a great day and he definitely wants to explore learning more and even wants to start saving part of his allowance to donate to help the facility, and the birds.