Christmas and beyond

Christmas is totally over. Did you know that? In fact, tomorrow is the first day of February. Just in case you were wondering.

But, lets rewind a little bit. Our Christmas this year was much different than any other that we had in the past. Normally we spend Christmas eve with my ma and she fixes a fabulous meal of baked ham, mac and cheese, green beans, and biscuits. Christmas morning we would open *our* set of gifts, have S's homemade cinnamon rolls, and then rush around crazy so that we could head out for his folks...we had to be on the road by 9 am.

This year however, we were(well, I mean we still are) in Washington. And the family is not. So, we did a whole lot of computer communication.

And there were a whole lot of boxes being delivered.

K got this chair that she had been wanting FOREVER. I think this is why I hardly see her out of her room these days....

J was super excited about this game he received and had to show grammy via our Skype session just how amazing it was.

After the holidays were done and the tree was all cleaned off we threw it out to the animals. After an initial burst of enthusiasm, they were not at all interested.

Weve had some super nice weather in the last several weeks...so I can say that the coop is now sporting a really nice door.

And well, when the weather wasnt so nice...I had one of these made especially for Dolly.

Thats right. A llama coat. Dolly came over to me one day and told me that the cold temperatures were, well, cold. So, I, being able to totally relate to being cold and not liking it one bit...jumped into action and contacted a lady here in eastern WA that makes llama coats.

S is trying to convince her that everything is fine.

He offers her some grain which she readily accepts. She likes her grain.

And theres Toni in the background...seeing Dolly getting grain, but realizing that there may be some type of ulterior motive to it.

Dolly did a great job with letting us put her coat on. The next morning when I went out to feed everyone she told me that the coat kept her super warm. She did say however, that she didnt really like the noise it made when she moved around....

But clearly she got used to it. I mean, it definitely wasnt keeping her from enjoying her breakfast.

A real one

Having lived in the Midwest(central Illinois) for most of my life, a real Christmas tree wasnt always the best way to go. They werent super easy to find and when you did find them the price was pretty intense.

So, when it was clear that we were making the move to Washington state, well, the ol' standby fake tree was taken to the curb. My feelings were that we were gonna be in Washington for cryin out loud. They have pine trees everywhere. Well, not really knowing at the time that our destination was actually the desert of Washington state, it made perfect sense then.

Fast forward to quite recently...We really wanted to go out and pick out our own tree AND cut it down. Come to find out, the desert doesnt have many pine trees for the taking. There are plenty of huge sage brush...but its kinda illegal to cut those down. We could have driven 2.5 hours to the closest tree farm in Spokane, but the weather really wasnt conducive to a drive of that sort.

Luckily, after Thanksgiving weekend, these little tree stands began popping up all over.

We werent really feeling this particular one so we moved along.

We found another stand that we really liked.

G kinda led the way.

And leading the way quickly turned into a good game of hide and seek.

So there was seeking.

And hiding, of course.


He has really great hiding spots.

After looking at row

after row of beautiful trees.
We chose this one. A grand fir.

They trimmed the trunk for us.

And then they bagged the tree for us(which to me really looked like fish net stockings for trees) and off we went.

Grumpy and not so grumpy

Last week we had our first snow since moving to Washington.

So, needless to say, I was walking in a lot of this on the way to and from the barn. If only it stayed at this nice depth the whole time.

Toni llama is not very fond of the snow it seems.

In fact, both Toni and Dolly have been quite grumpy since the snow began. Dolly has no trouble communicating. Right this minute Im hearing her scold Toni (yet again) for her eating technique. Which really just means, stay outta my bucket.

There have been lots of frozen water buckets to tend to.

And of course, when its really cold, you can see your breath.

Grumpy llamas aside....G is very happy to see the snow.

I think last week J and G had zero days of school due to the snow and Thanksgiving break. They werent concerned.

First order of business? Test the packing ability of the snow.

J says its too dry for snowballs.

G, always the one to try and prove his big brother wrong....thinks the snow is just fine. See, he says.

How could J walk away from that?

After the snow"ball" fight...it was decided to move onto bigger and better things.

For some reason, the sleds didnt make it on the move here...or, they just havent been found yet...Im not certain. I need to look in the barn attic. But in the interim, J tends to be quite resourceful.

A wading pool seems like a great alternative. Run...

Jump in... GO! Yeah, not so much.

Maybe if he turns backwards.

Him and G try to figure this out.

And with lack of a better idea...G decides just to push him down the hill.

A few trips down the hill later...hot cocoa is in order.

Coop update

As you can see, we are really making some great progress on the coop.


Kidding.

We (meaning my husband and some occasional helpers) are actually making exceptional progress.

J has really been enjoying learning how to build things.

This was a week or so ago. This will be the front of the coop.

Right side facing the barn.


Left side where the little pop out door will be.

Front after all the siding and roof is on. And an opening for a door. :-)

Left side again which will contain the pop out door. The roof is visible in this picture, too.

Meet a couple of said helpers. Kip really wants to know whats going on.

Him and Niko go in to check things out.


Just a little itch.

I think Niko really feels that if he asks me just right and looks at me just so...that maybe I will let him and the boys have this new little house.

I told him I didnt think so and Im not sure, but he may be throwing a fit right here...

But soon Kip came over to talk things over with him. And even tho Niko still looked a little distraught over this...

They felt a much better plan was to head out and see what S had in his little basket.

Theres still more work that needs to be done on the coop. There are corner pieces to be put on and windows to be installed, among other odds and ins. But it has really come together quickly and since the majority of the structure is put together, some of the smaller, last minute things can wait if they need to.

Especially since we woke up to this.


4 inches of it.

Our first snow in Washington.