Happy holidays!

The beginning of our holidays :)

On December first, Jason and I went for a walk about the property looking for the perfect Christmas tree. We found one back behind the barn, and Jason cut it and brought it in while I prepared the space. Jude and Ollie were very excited, running around the living room and yelling, barely able to control themselves. Jason and I got the tree sturdily in place, and the boys helped me to hang the decorations, and all of this happened before noon!

That is a Christmas record for us, for sure!

When Isabella returned home from school she was blown away that the tree was up!

It made her feel very festive so she made herself a hot chocolate with baby marshmallows and promptly felt sick.

Regarding advent calendars, I had always had one when I was little. It was so exciting, opening up the little cardboard window and finding a different shaped chocolate each day! Isabella loves these cardboard ones so I continue to pick one up for her each year, but for Jude and Ollie I do something quite different. Jude, you see, has celiac disease and also other allergies including soy, so to find chocolate without soy lecithin or a chance of wheat contamination is pretty much impossible (aside from two chocolate bars we occasionally pick up at the health food store as a very special - and expensive - treat!). This year the boys were in need of more warm socks, so I contrived to pick up 24 of them and use them for an advent calendar that they can wear after! 

Inside the socks are two little packages of gluten-free candies.

They were delighted to wake up and see the sock clothesline!

Halloween 2015!

Home.

The past month has been very, very full, of newness and change and everything in between.

On December first, we woke up for the very first time in our new home.

It took three (very intense, grueling, emotional, exhausting) days to do the actual 'moving'. We rented a 24 foot truck for a couple days, and had four bush cords of firewood to transport, so we took that in our first load. The second load consisted of our house/barn/garage contents. For the month prior, I had been diligently visiting the dump with a loaded car, getting rid of as much 'stuff' as possible..but we still had so much. It's no wonder I suppose, with a family of five people, six sheep, a goat, dog, and a cat. And in the final week before our move, we (reluctantly) took in 11 unwanted muscovy ducklings as well. There has been much muchness! 

In between the first and second truckloads, a kind neighbour came by with a homemade sheep crate on the back of his truck, and we managed to get four sheep plus Talulah (the pygmy goat) in there for the first ride, and the remaining two sheep took the second trip, and they all arrived safely to be happily set up in their lovely new barn (: 

There was so much to do in those final days of moving, that Jason and I literally had tears in our eyes on occasion, feeling that there was simply too much to accomplish - We hardly ate or drank, and just kept going and going and going. Thank goodness for the angels who came to help us - My Mom and sister watched the boys and scrubbed the old house for us, packing up odds and ends and keeping things as sane as possible - and on the day when we hauled the firewood, two local friends - who started out as egg customers - happily offered their services. We got those four bush cords out of the truck and neatly stacked in the garage, all hands working together in bucket-brigade fashion. It was actually very lovely, a very positive experience. 

Upon returning, we all began loading up the truck with 'everything else'. The four of us worked until 10 that night, and we sent them home feeling VERY grateful for all their help..There was still so much to load, but Jason and I thought we could do it..so we started early the next morning. Hours later, we realized we were pretty much doomed. We were racing against the clock as the sun would set at around 4 or 5 pm..I had to leave in between the loading to get the sheep delivered too. Jason was basically doing it all by himself and it was awful. It started to rain..and then our friends showed up again to help us! It was nothing short of a miracle. They were exhausted and sore from helping us the day before, but they came anyway. They said they knew we were in trouble; They had moved before, just the two of them, and they knew how hard it was and just wanted to help. Can you comprehend how wonderful this was? The four of us worked and worked and worked, and by 10 pm that night had moved everything to our new place. They went home, and we drove back to get the kids - My Mom and sister took our cat to our new house while we dropped the truck off an hour away. While I tucked the kids in (it was so very late), Jason drove back to the old place, gathered any leftover items not accounted for, the dog, and the goldfish, and rolled in about 4 am. He slept the whole next day. We waded through a sea of boxes, everyone cranky because of the exhaustion and mess and chaos..But we got through it! I unpacked those boxes like you wouldn't believe, and within a week our house looked quite nice. 

We have celebrated Isabella's 14th birthday, as well as our first Christmas here. We all love our new home, and it is so warm and cozy! The woodstove is amazing! The quiet of the surrounding woods is enchanting, and overall we are just very content and happy (: We are blessed. Life is wonderful! A gift! 

A handmade Christmas

We had so much fun this year, making gifts for one another!

From the top: Jason built this covered wagon from vintage wagon parts (wheels, axles, handle), reclaimed wood and some newer wooden pieces for the top arches. I sewed the cover from some canvas we had left over from art school (:

Bow and arrows: Jason made the bow from green twigs and paracord. The arrows he made from green twigs and birch bark.

Wooden snakes: My Dad gave us a bunch of wooden wheel segments with holes drilled in the centers, so Jason strung them together with leather cord and I painted faces on them.

Mullein-Beeswax torches: We saved the stalks from our mullein plants. When dried, Jason cut them into parts, dipped in melted beeswax and made me a whole basket full of 'candles'!

Wooden hen pull toy: Jason designed this so that as the hen rolls along, it lays a wooden egg! He cut and assembled the hen and I painted it (:

Arrows (close-up)

Toy cars: I drew some car shapes on reclaimed wood, Jason cut them out with the jigsaw and Jude painted and then drew onto the cars. This was Jude's gift to Ollie (:

Covered wagon again, this time with happy kids inside!

Super-hero puzzle: Jude has been obsessed with being a super-hero, of course with Ollie as his baby superhero sidekick, so I made an illustrated puzzle of the two of them in their superhero gear (-;

Isabella also made the boys some puzzle blocks and I made her and my sister both hand-painted pendants. Jason made me a cool picture to hang as well - one of me and Teapot together, mounted on a piece of barnboard and sealed with an epoxy-type resin. Very cool. We also gifted Mom and Tash some beeswax ornaments made from some cast-iron moulds Jason found in a dilapidated century building, and he crafted an antique cupboard door into a chalkboard/bulletin board with an antique railway tie to hold a piece of chalk and two old nails holding a length of wire for attaching pictures along the bottom. Difficult to describe but utterly wonderful. He made me the same thing for my birthday (:

Happy holidays (:

We love this time of year!

With the very first snowfall this year, I secretly started playing holiday music. It was only November, after all! Then Jason took Jude out into the woods on the very last day of November and came home with this amazingly beautiful Christmas tree, and between the five of us, we had it up and decorated by the end of the night! It is the best one yet I think. I have loved all our trees, right back to the spindly redwood in a pot that we had in our California apartment (: But with a large tree comes a need for more ornaments, and what better way to adorn such a beauty than to do so with ones' own hands! Jude and I have been busy. We have made yarn-wrapped stars, spools and sheep in the past week, and I also made a bunch of stamped mushroom ornaments. Jason sliced an orange and hung those on the tree. Isabella made one of her famous happy cupcakes on cardstock-type paper and sparkled it up with glitter glue. So far, this tree is being treated very nicely indeed (:

Next, gingerbread (:

Happy Halloween!!

painting, playing and such (:

Jude and I are loving the pumpkin-ness of this time of year (: We decided to make a couple jolly little pumpkin garlands to decorate our window. First, we painted large pieces of paper with orange paint, then drank tea while they were drying. Tea parties are awesome.

Ollie woke up from his very short nap and jumped right into painting!

I made the garland by folding the paper into a fan and then cutting out a pumpkin shape. Then Jude drew the most wonderful faces on each one, each unique (:

When we were finished, he drew tattoos on himself.

 

Then Ollie drew tattoos on himself too (:

And of course I needed some, so Jude gave me three; a chainsaw, a tree and a baby highchair.

Practicing letters (:

Playing with puzzles (: