Josiah's Hike: Second Day

Every year, when it comes to Josiah's day, we always go out on a hike.  This time we headed out to an area we had never been before.

Since it was hunting season, Sadie sported a fashionable orange bandanna!

All ready to hit the trail!

Precious little treasures in the snow.

Rows of pines hemmed us in on our first part of the journey, but it soon opened up into lighter woods, and....

hills!!  You would make it heaving and whooshing to the top of one hill, only to look down a steep chute on the other side and once you tiptoed down the dangerous ravine, you would find yourself once again trudging upwards!  Mumsie and Dad trudged along with the "youngins" quite well!

So many unexpected beauties found in this "dead" season.  It is just as much a stunning declaration of God's beauty and majesty as the other more colorful seasons; you just have to look harder, which makes it all the more special and wonderful!

One of the most drastic hills we surmounted!  Mom took one look at this and nearly turned right around! :)

Even Sadie Rose was properly worn out by so much trekking.

Sledding anyone?  We passed this hill on our path, and immediately claimed it for further adventures, with our sleds.

Delicate beauty

Majestic Beauty

{This is Mount Holly, far away in the distance!}

Simple Beauty

Alright now I must disclose a secret not well known....  We talk to Rocks...

...And trees!  No just kidding. Really, Faith was looking at some exquisite moss on the rock, and Josiah and Sadie were seeing if anyone was living in the hollow tree.  :P 

"A shadowy figure dodged among the trees..."  Josiah forsook the main trail on our way back and decided to jog through the austere stand of pines.

Baby Pine Cones

The only difference between Faith sitting in a tree and Josiah sitting in the tree...

..is the height!

And so the adventure ended back were it began, and the intrepid travelers (in many versions of footwear) piled into their trusty vehicle and made their way homewards!

~Chs

Unique and Unusual

Most all of our snowflakes hanging in our house, are cut out from patterns, but just recently we discovered a whole new world to snowflakes.

A couple days ago Faith stumbled upon this gallery of snowflakes. Take a look at them; they are incredibly stunning!!  Anyways, we were inspired, and while at first we stuck to trying to use her ideas while drawing them ourselves, soon Faith was branching out into her own ideas and creations.

This beautiful butterfly one came first.

Next Hummingbirds flew in.

Then Faith delved into something more dramatic and very detailed.  A garden snowflake, complete with gloves, sun hats, seed packets, shovels, hoes, and more!

Spring bulbs bloomed in the next snowflake.

I tried my hand at a design of my own, with horses and horse shoes!

And finally to go with the season, Faith created this winter snowflake.

Josiah wasn't so sure about these beyond snowflake designs, and so he stuck to real life snowflakes.

A couple he actually did from pictures of really true snowflakes.

So go ahead and be creative, all you need is a properly folded piece of paper, an imagination, a sharp pencil and a pair of scissors.  Draw your design on your folded paper, then cut out the extra parts.  Unfold, iron and voila, a customized snowflake.  

~Chs

All Natural Snowman

The other morning, when we had a half inch of snow that only lasted till noon, Josiah bared the deck of all it's snow in order to make a first rate snowman!

But this snowman wasn't your usual carrot-nosed snowman.  No, Josiah would never be satisfied with such expected and normal decorations.  Instead he wandered around back looking for creative and natural appendages for his snowman. 

A catail formed his foreboding mouth, and a Sumac was made to act as an elongated snout for the man.  His eyebrows were ferocious pine needles, but the most shocking part of all was....

HIS HAIR!!!  Yes this snowman had hair, and quite a bit of it.  Apparently he doesn't own a comb, either that or his hair is of the type that will not lay flat no matter what you do to it! ;)

The small eyed - big nosed- green haired- large mouthed snowman, and his creator.  

The fierce and bold snowman, only lasted till that evening, when, while still glowering at all the world, he toppled forward, doing a perfect nose dive onto the wet deck. :(

(By the way, can anyone guess what his eyes were made of?)

~Chs

Traditional Snowflakes: The Beginning

We Sauve's enjoy snow, so much so that snowflakes have become a beginning point and major part of our end of the year traditions.    On or around the first day of winter we set aside an evening to turn our living room (and other sundry parts of the house) into a winter wonderland.  This tradition has become the launching pad for our "Special Days".  And just as last year, Faith took the snowy evening for her activity.

Paper was cut, snowflakes emerged, they were then ironed flat, and strung ready to ascend to the ceiling.

Tasty little snackables were partaken of between snowflakes, while the audio drama of the classic story "Christmas Carol" set the tone.

As always the men of the family were in charge of sticking the paper crystals up where they belonged, and the now nearly 6'7" Josiah, managed easily standing firmly on the ground.

As Ebenezer Scrooge went on his ghostly adventures, snowflakes danced down the hallway, and swirled about the living room.

So now Winter has officially begun, inside and out!  Do enjoy!!

~Chs

The New Room

After Grandpa passed away, we began to think about revamping the master bedroom for Mom and Dad.  This included, new paint, new flooring, and general rearranging.

{Before}

{After}

: not quite completed yet, but pretty close! :

The first step was a new coat of paint.  Most of our house is the same tan color, so we decided it was time to liven things up a little bit.

If you have never tried, you can have NO idea how terribly difficult it is to pick out the proper shade of green.

Even if you think it looks just right on that tiny piece of paper in Home Depot, beware!  Once it is on your wall, it will take on an entire shade of its own.  But despite the "frosted pine" not being exactly what we were looking for, it was still pretty, and created a calm relaxing atmosphere.

Once the paint was applyed and dried, we began to work on the floor.  Tearing up the old dirty carpet, then after much debate decided to install Pergo flooring.

We were delighted to have the help of friends who had experience in the placing of the flooring, and in one day it was all finished!

All the furniture moved into place, the curtains hung, and the elegant touch of an orchid on the dresser, the room was finished, excepting a few wall hangings which are to come.

We did hang one picture up.  A painting of my Grandpa and Grandma Sauve's house, a house whose roof just "happened" to match the "wrong" color of paint exactly!

~Chs