Winters of old...

Since we are stuck here in Virginia this year longing for a white Christmas, I thought I would share these pics I found of Christmases and winters past in Minnesota. This one's for you, Mom & Dad! Merry Christmas!

Now this is snow!

Dad & Me... 1973?

Dad & Me

Yours truly, probably 1973, age 3?

Snow is a blast when you're a kid

Me & my gorgeous ma!

On grandpa's jeep

How long does it take to dress up in MN? lol

Dad & Me

Holiday Dinner, me (age 2), & mom

This probably wouldn't happen if I wasn't wearing 18" of clothing!

Love the pants, mom!

Like in Christmas Story when he couldn't put his arms down

(age 4?)

Merry Christmas to everyone, and to all back home in Minnesota & Wisconsin, we miss you! And thanks, Ma & Dad, for giving us many, many White Christmases!

I have no business doing this...!

I need an intervention, seriously! I decided to learn a new skill. Of course, I would go and pick one that I have no business learning - KNITTING! With my no-patience, Type-A, OCD personality I decide to learn something that requires loads of patience and time. To make matters worse, I am trying to teach knitting to myself using a book! Someone stop me, please....

After an hour or so of my husband watching me throwing needles, swearing, and just acting like a 2 year old in general, he decides to pick up the crochet hook I had also purchased along with my knitting supplies. Within a half hour he has already made a toy for the dog. My husband is "opposite-me", that is, he has infinite patience, calm personality, and a real whiz at knotwork. The guy makes rope hammocks in his spare time onboard the ship when he is deployed. I should have known to hide while I was trying to learn this!

Here is Sailor/Husband crocheting happily within minutes of first touching a crochet hook.

UGH!

Here is what I have after 3 hours... this is worse than I remember boot camp being!

I will say that what happened after all my struggling made me burst out in fits of laughter... below is hubby with one of my knitting needles stuck through his nose piercing. (This of course was something he had done before I met him LOL) He just sat there crocheting quietly away until I looked up during one of my knitting/cussing rants and saw it. Looks like it came in handy for comic relief for me when I needed it!

Now I am not completely inept at everything. As a matter of fact this woman knows how to ride a dirt bike, I can portage my own canoe, I can do it while carrying a baby on my front! I even know how to ride a stand-up jetski and take off while standing up....why is this so difficult?! I would love to hear from those of you who remember learning to knit or crochet and give me any tips on maintaining my sanity. I understand that neither is easier, just different. How long did it take you? And did you struggle as I am? I am bound and determined to learn a proper homesteading skill this winter, even if someone gets hurt in the process...

The below photo is completely random, but for those of you that read Nicholas Sparks' novels (he is a "local" author), here is the status of the house in the movie "Nights in Rodanthe"... this was taken after our nor'easter. Yep, that would be the Atlantic Ocean! Not sure this one will survive another storm.

Friends, Fun, Chaos & Snow!

Today is a lazy blog of pictures, but when it comes to the kids - pics speak volumes! We had a Christmas Party Saturday night for a few of our friends, all of us are stuck here for the holidays. This is probably a good thing, since many people we know had to cancel their plans for road trips Friday. The start of the military's Christmas leave period coincided with the largest snowstorm in years and record snowfall amounts across several states. Most everyone we know travels from 600-1200 miles one way to get home for the holidays, and usually by car since cost prohibits us from flying with children, pets, etc, so the storm put a damper on plans. Parts of the state of VA here received 28 inches in less than 24 hours!! Here, however... different story, only a dusting near the coast, although the bad road conditions started less than an hour from here. The kids were a bit disappointed, and I was too - I was looking forward to being able to make my kids shovel the driveway!

Here are a few pics of our party the other night. We had a dinner of Elk Chili, Buffalo Wings, assorted appetizers and way too many cookies!

Hubby keeping an eye on the food

Great friends!

All my baking efforts of the past week!

A little bit of Christmas came early for the kids

Did someone say "sugar"? Apparently cookies were enough to remove the gas mask and take a break from whatever game required it...

Best friends Liz & Nick can always be counted on for a get together of any sort!

"Military Family" cousins! Note that it was ALL BOYS, except for one gorgeous girl that hung out with us in the other room... can't say I blame her!

Our "Military Family" Christmas Portrait... first of several we will take between now and Christmas Eve & Christmas Day. Drop-ins are welcome too!

I am not sure this video needs any explanation... I will say, however, my house was spotless before the invasion of the children! Listening to this from the other room we commented that in a few short years our homes will be quiet and we will miss this!

...and did the child seriously ask me for a ladder?!!

After dinner it started SNOWING, yay!

Snow on the Blue Star Juniper

Snow on the Mugo Pine

Snow on the deck

Snow on the winter container garden

** this morning's update: the sub freezing temps and snow didn't hurt the Giant Parsley or the ornamental cabbages and only damaged a few leaves on the Chard!

Hope you all are having fun over the holidays, whether you are with family or making your own family wherever you are!