CatchUp

Ha.
Some of you will get it, some of you won't.
Dumb, I know.

But seriously.
A few things I've missed over the last couple of months:

As with many little girls, Sarah's fine hair and the ultra dry air is not a good match.  She has to have it put up some way within a short time of getting up in the mornings to avoid nasty knots from the static electricity.  Her hair is finally long and thick enough for me to play with it and experiment with different styles.  This is a french fishtail braid.

 

 

Sometimes we go fancy, but most of the time you will find her in french braided pigtails.  I can get the pigtails tight enough without hurting her head that they will stay in all day.  I love doing her hair!

 

Never leave a pan of rice crispy treats unguarded with a silly daddy and two nutty kids.  I left to get a knife and soon thereafter heard hysterical laughter from the kids.  They thought Daddy was just about the funniest this side of anywhere... Mommy didn't quite think so!

 

I had the honor of being featured as a farm cook in the Iowa Farmer Today, a multi-state newspaper focused (obviously) on farming.

 

And this is how a princess eats a cheeseburger.  She was all duded out in her princess attire, but that didn't stop her from diving into lunch...lady-like or not!

 

We did more sledding this year than we have in the past, mostly because the kids are older and can handle the cold weather better.  Josh and I took turns on the four wheeler, each time taking a kid on the four wheeler while the other rode on the sled with the other kid.  It was a lot of fun!!!  Especially when us girls ("Girl Power!", as Sarah says) succeeded at throwing the boys off the sled.

 

Meet Popeye.  The snow was never very good for building a snowman.  We ended up finally just piling it, shaping it and sticking in twigs for arms and acorns for eyes.  No matter... the kids LOVED him!

 

We have a metal roof that retains some heat from the house that allows the snow and/or ice that accumulates to melt for a while before it finallly builds up.  One day, it was snowing and the wind was blowing pretty hard, while at the same time the snow was still melting off the peak of the house.  By the time the snow sliding off the roof got to the gutter area, it was ready to freeze again.  So it was melting and freezing and blowing all at the same time.  This is the formation we got off our roof due to all that.

Its also the reason I long ago lost my gutter here.

 

The real reason why hummingbirds migrate for the winter.

 

Sunday night at the Van Zantes.  We almost always have snacky foods, just usually not in a "fancy" spread and especially not in the living room.  The kids thought this was great and called it a party.  We had an offer of cookies, tomatoes, cauliflower, green peppers, carrots, pretzels, and dip ...

 

.... But look closely at Sarah's plate: no cookies in site, despite allowing them to have whatever they wanted.  My kids are great!  They always choose the fruits and veggies over the junk.