Gingerbread Barn Project

This year Nathan requested that we make a gingerbread barn. Lo and behold, a magazine I subscribe to had complete directions for a gingerbread barn! I was pleased with how nicely this project turned out. We used real gingerbread for the building. It completely fell apart on us, but Daddy rescued us with a few strategically placed toothpicks. It turned out to be an all-day project, but we had fun once the structure stayed together! I let the boys eat as much candy as they wanted thinking it would teach them a good lesson once the stomach ache set in . . . . not sure it worked. Tonight they are very hyper and no one has complained of a stomach ache! Oh well.

Waiting for the glue to dry

Barn Siding

Barn Roof

The finished barn, complete with animals, hay bales, a snowman, and Christmas lights!

Church Living Nativity

On Sunday, the children and youth of our church presented a living nativity while the Christmas Story was read aloud. We collected costumes Saturday afternoon and did no rehearsal. It was sweet!

Mary and Joseph
(Rachel Bousfield and Nathan Ramey)

The shepherd and sheep come to worship
(Peter Ramey and Allison Bousfield)

Aren't they cute?! She crawled all the way down the aisle, she was so happy to be a sheep!

The Littlest Angel
(Juliana Ramey)
(All the way to church she sang "I'm going to be an ANGEL!)

King Herod
(Karston Bousfield)

Three Kings
(Daniel Ramey, Andrew Bousfield, David Ramey)

The Nativity
(Other angel is Hannah Bousfield)

A real life day!

Thought I would give you a glimpse into my day. Today I cleaned the kids' small fish tank. Juliana pulled a chair up to the counter to watch. While I'm siphoning out the water, I see her suck on the air hose like a straw--and get a whole mouthful of yucky fish water! Eww! We resolve that and I continue cleaning. And the siphon hose gets taken out of the tub on the floor and floods my slipper and the floor with water! I have only just begun this project! What else could happen? Oh, and did I mention that the reason for cleaning the fish tank today was because someone dumped about 1/2 the jar of fish food into the tank? And I'm still smiling! What else can I do?

A glimpse into a real week at our house!

I thought you might enjoy a few odds and ends pictures that give a glimpse into real life at my house. It is never dull! And in case I don't post again before next week. Merry Christmas to you and yours!

Last Saturday was rainy, so we worked on lots of little projects around the house. Something had blocked my central vacuum outlet, so the men of the house set to work to fix it. As you can see, it was quite the operation. Note Peter even has on his headlamp! By the way, they were successful at unblocking the vent. Hurrah!

Nathan decided this week he would like to learn to make pancakes. I mixed up the whole wheat batter and he learned to flip hotcakes. You can see his obvious joy and pride in his work. It was a luxury for me to sit down and enjoy the pancakes while they were still hot. I just might give him the job permanently! He loves to cook.

Just after waking up early in the morning. Two kiddos all snuggled up ready for family Bible time.

Here we are making a special kind of cookie. They are made with applesauce, cinnamon, and cloves--taste terrible, smell wonderful! You cut them into pretty shapes and then let them airdry. They make cute ornaments, etc. Every time I walk into my kitchen, the spicy smell of cinnamon and cloves greets me as they are drying on top of the refrigerator! I hope to use them kind of like potpourri. I also want to make a festive cookie garland to hang in my kitchen.

Peter's Birthday

Peter wanted a Pirate Birthday party this year. Here is the cake! It was a joint effort of my mom, Darlene, friends, and anyone else who was around! Peter loved it. All the kids got "cannonballs" (whoppers) and gold chocolate coins with their piece of cake. Fun!

Crafty Candles

Today we made candles using odds and ends from around the house. I confess I bought the prewaxed wicks that stand up by themselves. (Previous experience of trying to weight cotton cording and keep it straight wasn't so fun.) We used old candles that weren't burning well anymore and some old parafin I got in a collection of canning supplies from a garage sale. To color the wax, we added broken crayons. The glass jars are recycled from various sources.

Peter made the tall green candle using ice cubes in a cardboard milk carton. The ice melts out, but hardens the wax before it completely melts. As the candle burns, the lights shines through the holes. The striped candle utilized an old candle jar and I just poured the left-over wax in layers. The kids think this is the best candle!

December Snow!

We awoke this morning to 11 inches of beautiful winter snow! Since this happens only a few times a year for us, school was postponed and the children played happily all morning. Now the wet clothes and mittens are hanging by the fire and the children are resting quietly.

Our neighbor's old barn. Beautiful in the snow!

The official Ranch snow measurement!

We rarely have icicles form on our eaves, so this was neat to see!

My little PT Cruiser is grounded! No 4-wheel drive = don't get out of our driveway when it snows! Good thing we have the Suburban.

Peter's Snowman
(with a little first aid help from Mom--his head fell off and we had to fix it)

Nathan's snowman made all by himself

Two cute boys!

Cutting Christmas Trees

It is a Ramey Family tradition to drive into the mountains after Thanksgiving and cut Christmas Trees. The Forest Service sells permits for $10, and you cut trees from an area they want thinned. This helps give the trees more space and thus stronger bigger trees can grow. This year's trip was fairly uneventful, thankfully. Here are a few of my favorite pictures from the day.

Tailgate lunch

What is Peter looking at???

Juliana had an obsession with eating snow this year. All the way home she kept telling Daddy how she ate snow and it went in her tummy!

Sledding is also on the day's agenda

More snow to eat!

Decorating the Christmas Tree

Last week was so busy for Josh and me that we finally got the tree up Sunday evening (12/6). It ended up being a good thing since we had snow falling outside while decorating! The children had a fun time decorating with all our special ornaments. Juliana is old enough this year to help. Our tree isn't a designer tree (ornaments ended up in clumps), but the children are delighted and it feels like Christmas now! We spent the evening with all the house lights out but the tree lights, sipping eggnog, and reading Christmas stories.