Hope of Spring

So, I know it is only late January, and we still have at least a month and a half of winter to go, (which I will thoroughly enjoy!) but just in case some of you are yearning for the next season, here are some pictures to inspire you.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

 {I was struck with a brief spell of spring fever when I saw these adorable mini Daffodils at the store. So Mumsie dearest bought them for me.}

 {Peter Rabbit is the essence of spring, so when Grace gave me the adorable mug recently, I just had to set up a photo shoot, complete with some wintry hot chocolate! }

 {Dainty blossoms! }

{My favorite part about the new mug... the adorable English Robin on the inside}

~Chs

All Grown Up

Wednesday marked the completion of Josiah Thomas Sauve's 18th year.

Josiah, the youngest and only boy left at home, is a huge part of our family.  He loves God's great outdoors, and is working towards his goal of becoming a farmer.  He is an avid reader and really self-taught, and he absolutely stuns us with his knowledge of scientific and historical facts.  At 6 ft. 7 in. Josiah towers above us all and is always ready to help us with fetching the high stuff.  

As mentioned Josiah's favorite place to be is outside, and so this year, despite the cold, we continued our tradition of going for a hike at Beaver lake trails.  Because of the recent frigid weather, Josiah was thrilled to be able to do a lot of our walking off trail.... on water!

Beaver Lake was completely and solidly frozen, holding the 6 intrepid adventures and their canine companion with ease. (Mr. Reiche and Josh joined Dad, Faith, Josiah and I on our adventure)

Sadie Rose was beyond thrilled and probably traveled 3 times the distance we did because she was constantly racing back and forth.

Upon reaching the middle of the frozen body of water Josiah and Josh decided to see just how deep the lake we were strolling across was.  So taking Josiah's hand hatchet they chopped away, and by the time they finally reached water, they had gone through almost 7 inches of ice!!

{watching the ice choppers}

After we had measured the ice we had a quick snack of homemade peppermint patties (uhuh!  delicious!!) before continuing across the lake.

{Josh's signature.}

There were many beautiful winter wonders all around us, including many marks from the resident Beavers.

{I was there}

The boys had way too much fun at the island with dead trees, using them as jousting poles or..

.. or... Ummm, I'm not sure, why don't you give a caption for this photo? :)

Two masked persons, a dog, and The Birthday Boy!

{Sadie checking out the Beaver dam}

Despite the cold weather we did see some Skunk Cabbage.  Spring is on it's way!!!!!!

The sun came out a little here and there, and the four of us "young ones" took a slightly hazardous route through the marsh and back across the lake to meet Dad and Mr. Reiche (who had taken the more sensible path) at the beginning point of our journey.

*******************************************************

We made our way home where a party awaited us.  We were very happy that Grace and Tim were able to join us as well as Theresa; if John and Mandi had only been able to join us it would have been a family reunion!

Josiah was thrilled to receive his own top notch air rifle, among his gifts, 

and other useful tools,

As well as his own leather bound copy of Spurgeon's Morning and Evening devotional.

 A delicious carob cake and homemade Ice Cream was served after dinner.

And was enjoyed by all! :)

We are so grateful for our brown-eyed "boy" and his many talents given him by his Creator.  It has been such a blessing to see him grow in the handsome tall man that he is now.

~Chs

Winter Birds

"Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them.  Are you not of more value than they?"  ~Matthew 6:36

"But now ask the beast, and they will teach you; and the birds of the air, and they will tell you; ...

Who among all these does not know that the hand of the Lord has done this,"  ~ Job 12:7,9

"I know all the birds... and the wild beast of the field are Mine.  If I were hungry, I would not tell you; For the world is Mine, and all its fullness." ~ Psalm 50:10-12

With the cold weather coming in full force, our bird feeders have been inundated with birds. In particular last week we had a flock of Red Polls come through.  The Gold Finches were not to happy about this, but the Red Polls only stayed long enough to let us capture a few photos of their adorableness before they moved on.

~Chs

Snowing Indoors: The Snowflake Party

One rather warm Friday in January, when the snow was all melting outdoors, and everything was putting on the false hope of spring, inside the Sauve home we were ignoring the odd weather and preparing for a snowflake party in the basement! :)  Ironic... yes.

As I shared before we have found a new hobby, customized snowflakes.  As we showed our friends the new snowflakes we had quite a few mention that they would love to learn how.  Thus birthed the snowflake party.

We brought down our "special" snowflakes to display for idea starters, as well as a stack of papers printed with the snowflake pattern on them, ready to be folded and cut out.

We decided to go for a white snowflake theme with our tea, so piles of Macaroons, Russian teacakes, Lemon melt-a-ways, and a gorgeous snowflake and icicle Chocolate cake graced the table. 

It was short but lovely time, full of snowflakes, laughter, a short devotional on snow, tea and delectable dainties.

Unfortunately I was not able to get any pictures of all the wonderful creations of our guests.  But there was some beautiful ones among them. 

Above are some of Faith and my snowflakes from the party.

So some wintry day in February when you have the blues, why not have a few friends over and host a snowflake party of your own?  Just try to pick a day where the weather outdoors coincides with your activity indoors. :)

~Chs

Sledding Season!

Winter is one of our four favorite seasons! - filled with hanging snowflakes, going for hikes, snow forts, and best of all.....

Sledding!!

One of our favorite sled hills is of course Mr. Reiche's sled run!

Last year the sled run didn't open until mid January, but this year we were able to slip in some sledding before the end of the year.

The initial run was made on December 28th.

That Friday morning run was the beginning but not the last.

Saturday we returned for some quick runs in the dark.

Then Monday we were back again....

This time with a bunch of little ones in tow.

The sled run was used to its full potential, as one after another climbed up and then slid down.

Quick breaks at the fire were taken here and there to return feeling to our cold limbs before jumping on sleds  for more!

If you became tired of sledding, you could run out back where the new attraction at the Reiche resort was installed.

A superb zip line!!!!

Then of course there is the fort to defend or attack!

And if we are along, you just might find a boy willing to become a snow mummy.

We are patiently enduring this short thaw, but as soon as the snow comes again, we will be sitting on sleds waiting to go down and anyone is free to join us!! ;)

~Chs