Oh Christmas Tree

Obligatory Adorable Snow Photos

Don't even bother looking at Kenyon anymore - I didn't.  Click to enlarge and watch the ensuing dog wrestling match.  

Even K caught on that he was no longer the center of attention.

Did you know birth order is true in dogs?  Case in point: Eldest, Loopie, walks perfectly in the tracks.

Laurie, number two, blazes her own trail.

Oh, Snap

You may have wondered why I haven't been posting much lately.  This would be the reason why:

Snap tests.  

Do you like my super-duper high tech laboratory I have set up in my utility room?  And by super-duper high tech I mean I shut the lid on the washing machine.  I have to test our new cattle we get in every week, and  now I also test a neighbor's as well.  It keeps me fairly busy for 2-3 hour chunks at a time.  During these testing periods I get to yell things to my assistant like, "Do NOT stick the pipette in the dog's eye!" or "Put down the ear notch!" or "Do NOT hit and shake Mommy's washing machine!"  We're pretty fun here, let me tell you.  Also, you might have to question my sanity more often than normal in the upcoming months, if I continue to test cattle at this pace.  

Snapping these 'snap tests' (and thus the title) seems to occur in a rather rhythmic fashion.  My ear-worm of choice?  The Ants Go Marching.  I can fill my entire washing machine lid with completed tests in the time it takes me to sing 'ten by ten'.  It takes me two washer-tops full to finish a batch of tests.  Therefore..... we sing about ants a lot.  Poor Kenyon knows all about ants and their antics.  

Another reason why I haven't posted often (not that you care, but if you've hung with me this long, what's another few sentences?  You obviously don't have much better to do with your time.).  

There happens to be a silent alarm located somewhere on my office chair.  Every time I sit down to write my son knows and wakes up from his nap within two minutes.  It has taken me four days to write these few measly paragraphs.  

So, what started out as a happy, end-of-the-week, TGIF story turned into a ohmygoodnesswheredidtheweekendgo? sort of post.  Thanks for hanging in there folks.  Maybe next time it will be a better post.  Maybe.  

Yet One More Picture Tutorial To Add To Your Pinterest Board

If you will recall, I lamented to the masses about making the PERFECT picture for Kenyon's room several months ago (see: Minor Meltdown 9/12/14).  Well, I finally did it.  I finally finished a project and I must say, I think it looks pretty neat.

Although this is by no means the perfect way to make a sign, worked for me and thus the title: Yet One More Picture Tutorial To Add To Your Pinterest Board.  And if you don't know what Pinterest is; don't start.  Don't start unless you're willing to sacrifice both time with your family and large amounts of valuable sleep to learning 25 New Uses for Mason Jars! and Homemade Cures for Warts! and 10 Simple Crafts to Make With Your Toddler That Require Intense Concentration and Hours of Patience!  Okay, so I made up the last title, but you get my drift.

Also, I did not take many (any) pictures during the crafting process.  Why?  Well, because my hands were covered in hot glue and I couldn't get my one year old to take a non-blurry picture.  So there.  If you ever have questions, feel free to ask them below in the comment section and I'll try to address them as best I can.

First, I found a picture that I liked and edited it in Picasa, a free picture editing tool that you can download onto your computer.  While using Picasa, you can add text to your picture.  Click here for instructions courtesy of Centsational Girl.

After I added words to my picture, I emailed it to an office supply store where they blew it up to an incredibly large size.  I did not choose to have mine blown up as an "0Engineer Print"; rather, I chose to have it printed as a poster.  Is there a huge difference?  I have no idea.  It worked for me though.  The poster-sized print was printed on regular ol' printer paper..... save for the fact that it was incredibly huge.  The weight and feel of the paper was identical to printer paper, and that was what I wanted.  That is the medium that I am comfortable with.

I ran by the local hardware store to pick up some spray adhesive.  When looking at spray adhesive there are at least two types: semi-strong (good for things like 'pin the tail on the donkey' where you will stick and re-stick items time and again) and super-strong.  I chose to purchase the super-strong (approximately $7) which it equivalent to the Aqua-Net of hairsprays.  If you lived through the 90's you understand.  This stuff is STRONG.

I happened to have some 3/4" MDF laying around in my shop, which I chose to use as the backing for my picture.  It was left over from one of my endless 'honey-do' projects (see: Sunday Funday 9/14/14).  I am fairly confident (hahahahahaha) you could use something thinner and thus more lightweight such as a sheet of 1/4" plywood, but I also wanted to have some depth.  I'll explain in a few paragraphs.

This is the one part of my project where I needed an extra set of hands.  This always ticks me off as it means I have to wait until my husband comes home at night and I can't do it rightthisminute.  I had a piece of my MDF ready to go that was approximately 3x5'.  Why so large?  I knew that trying to lay a picture on top of a piece of lumber the EXACT same size would be nearly impossible, especially when using the Aqua-Net of spray adhesive.  Once you lay that picture down, it is down for all eternity.

So I sprayed my entire board a bit larger than the size of my actual picture.  Then, Wesley and I each took two corners of my picture, stretched them tight and laid it down on top of the sprayed area.  I took a stiff manilla folder and scraped it over the top of the picture to try and smooth out the few wrinkles there were.  In all actuality, once you lay down your picture, you're screwed.  You'd better do it well the first time.  If there are wrinkles, call it character and play them up somehow.

Once the picture was attached to the board I then used a jig saw and cut around the outer edge of the picture.  Was it a perfectly straight line?  Absolutely not.  That's why I used a hot glue gun to add a border around the edge using 1/4" jute (twine).  Going 'round and 'round with the jute was actually the longest part of this entire process.  I think it really added some character though, so I recommend you do it.

In the end, this is what we ended up with;

TA-DA!

Five Men and a Grandma

I really can't even add captions to these photos; they speak for themselves.  We had much to be thankful for during Thanksgiving. 

Major Events

These are in no particular order of importance (except one that is CLEARLY the most important).

K is sleeping in his new room for the first time tonight.  I only cried a little, and really the tears didn't make it out of my eyes, so technically that's not really crying, right?  Our little man is growing up too fast.  I realize this is a terribly cliche thing to say, but when it is your own baby it doesn't sound cliche at all.  

I chipped a nail on Sunday.  My first.  Nail.  Ever.  While this means absolutely nothing to 99% of the population, this was actually big news in my family.  I've never had nails this long in my life.  I think it means I'm maturing nicely.  

Our nephew, Kade, was baptized Sunday. 

You must click to enlarge.  Someone put up a population sign and was kind enough to also update the head count.  

Deviled eggs.  Mmmmmmm..... One of the few times I will fight my son for the last one.  Maternal instinct, my foot.

Kade and I took a moment to take a selfie in the mirror.  You can see how successful that was for us. 

Cousins - 11 days apart. 

My little bow-legged bandit.  

Our mom said she wanted to take a picture of her three girls.  She should have known better.

Notice how two out of three are wearing nearly identical outfits?  Not by design, trust me.  This has happened approximately 967 times so far in our lives.  

Miscellaneous

• This morning at church a lady over 60 asked a girl under 30 to make a jello salad for a funeral dinner this week.  I (the girl under 30) was at a complete loss but I politely nodded yes.  Any and all recipes for jello salads not involving marshmallows or mandarin oranges would be greatly appreciated.  I did not realize anyone still made these.  
• Kenyon's room is coming along nicely, and once we move furniture up there be ready for a barrage of before and after pictures I've been sitting on for just this occasion.  I am giddy with excitement for this child to have a proper room.  
• We had a bit of a cold front move through late last week.  In the space of mere hours we went from 76 degrees to 33 degrees.  Seriously.  Kenyon has started wearing clothes on a daily basis.  Pray for him.  
• With all this cold weather comes pictures like this:

And this:

 And this.  I love the little snowflakes on his stocking cap and coat.

 The cattle don't need any coaxing to line up at the bunk on a morning like this.

This is the view out our front door.  I love it that Kenyon is 30 feet from cattle and can look at them all day, every day.  

..... And a belated Halloween picture, because I'm a terribly apathetic mother.  I got super creative this year and Kenyon went as an indian.  I sewed three feathers in one of my headbands and threw a wool blanket around him.  He was warm, it was simple, everyone was happy.  And no, we weren't trying to be culturally insensitive by dressing our son as an indian.  I think it is an interesting culture.  Please feel free to dress your child as a farmer or rancher next year and I'll be flattered you thought of us.