Glorious Under Pressure

Where has the year gone?
It is almost Christmas and I have prepared  panicked. The tree is up. That is about it.

We finally got lots of rain and cold weather. Cold weather means worrying and fretting over livestock and stacking firewood.

The boys spent a good week playing on top of the firewood pile until we decided it really needed to be stacked neatly under the pool deck.

We started on a nice sunny day and finished on a cool day that was going to be freezing by nightfall.

We function gloriously under pressure.

Of course the cattle, who are roaming our yard, peaked at us curiously from afar. Cows always make me laugh with their curiosity. If we are out working on any project, they are right there watching.

This is Molly and Brownie. Brownie is ready for processing but the processors here are all swamped with work. Getting an appointment has been challenging. Until that time, he and the other 2 steers will continue to free range, despite the lower than usually supply of hay. I think we will be okay, but I hope for an early and luscious spring.

Journee finished a rather nice art project last week too.
She collected some beautiful fall leaves form my mother's yard. The leaves were soaked in a mixture of 1 part vegetable glycerin and 2 parts water.

She let the leaves soak for 3 days and then set them on a towel to dry for a day. The leaves were pliable and held their color.

She painted  a canvas and then glued the leaves to the canvas in a leaf pattern.

The result is a beautiful piece and a reminder of how lovely fall can be here in North Georgia.

We found a nice place in the kitchen to hang it up. We are not sure how long the leaves will hold up, since this is a first time project for us. I am sure we will do it again next year, and I expect it will turn into a project for several kids since they all loved watching her create it.
Journee has already come up with some ideas to expand the project.

This weekend I am hoping to get some baking done. If not, I will get lots of baby holding done. Either way it will be a win/win.
How are your Christmas preparations going?

Happy Tuesday Ya'll!

Peace,
Sami

Christmas Time

It's THAT time of year!!!!!

 

It's almost Christmas! My kids are excited and are wishing for a white Christmas. It can happen here in Georgia and it did back in 2010. It won't this year though.

 

Aside from the baking and movie watching that is happening over here, we are still milking cows and making cheese.

In fact, I think I have the Camembert cheese down quite well. I also have several hard cheeses in the cave aging for at least 3 months.

 

 

Usually it is Zeb who hangs out with me the entire time I do cow chores, but Fletcher decided to visit with me instead.
He is barefoot and in unmatched pajamas. His hair is a mess too, but that doesn't stop him from having fun.

Today after milking we had lots of baking to do for Devin's birthday tomorrow. I am taking full advantage of this weekend and plan to squeeze in a movie later this evening.

I took this picture to illustrate how much cows love being together in a herd. These ladies are done being milked but will stand outside the gate until the last cow is done, then they head out to pasture together. In the meantime they pass time by licking each other on the faces and butting heads. True cow fellowship.

It affords me the chance to snap a cow selfie. I prefer the *cow face* over the *duck face* personally.

I hope everyone has a fabulous Christmas and is able to enjoy the time with family. I have simple plans here for us. Warm home, good food, family movies.
It is nice to be able to stay home and enjoy down time after the last couple of very hectic weeks.

See you after the holidays!!!!

Merry Christmas!

This week has been one full of last minute sewing gifts and whipping up yummy treats in the kitchen.

Today Devin is finally off from work and so we plan to sit around and watch movies. That's all. Of course we will have to milk the cow and do those pesky farm chores first. I say pesky because it is all of a sudden winter here in Georgia. It's a very chilly 26 degrees out this morning.

If you are up north reading this you can stop laughing now:-) 26 is very cold for a southern girl:-)

I told myself that I would try a recipe or two from my Pinterest page. I pin a ton of stuff and never attempt to make them. Well, yesterday I made Santa Mix.

Mine doesn't look as yummy as the original blogger , but it's pretty good and the little boys love those hats! Here is the recipe!

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I bought a new quilt pattern a couple of weeks ago because it was on sale and I really loved the snowman quilt. Actually it's 12 quilts...small ones you can hang up.

Talk about a great stash buster! My plan is to make one each month. I started with January and I have set out my fabrics for February. Here is the Happy Snowman for January.

 

 

He's hanging up and making the kitchen a litter brighter. I can't wait to start the next one. It's nice to have a short and quick project. I have several quilts that I am a few years into making and at times I am not sure they will ever get finished. That's the life of a quilter though. Too many fabrics and not enough time.

 

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I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas! Eat lots of goodies and enjoy the season and your families!

I couldn't send out a card to everyone, so here is our family picture.....complete with Yoda. He brought some fabulous light sabers for us to use. We had  a great time.

 

Merry Christmas from My Barefoot Farm

 

 



 

Three Ideas for Holiday Home Schooling

This time of year we get more crafty. There is something about Christmas music humming in the background that makes us want to pull out felt and construction paper and create.

Yes, we are back into full school mode post Thanksgiving but we are also focusing on creating.

Today I wanted to share with you some of the things we are doing because they are pretty cool and some of you will find them cool too.

First, we have Rainbow Dragon.  This is a company I came across at our local curriculum fair this year. They offer these neat designs to color and they are awesome to color and they are REALLY great for those kids who have trouble with focus.

They have large sheets of these designs, but these here are actually ornaments for the Christmas tree.
We also have the markers that they offer. They are a little pricey but they are high quality and worth the cost.

I suggest you check them out. Rainbow Dragon. Our tree will be so pretty with these colorful beauties!


Next we have a custom game that the kids are making. This is again something I bought at the local curriculum fair but only brought it out this week.

Bare Books offers many blanks items for your child to customize, but we are making a board game. The girls decided to base the game off Monopoly and have created Farm-Opoly.
They are coloring and customizing the money, the board and the cards.

Excuse the poor quality picture! :-( The game kit comes complete with the board, player pieces, a timer, spin wheel, blank cards and blank money.
I think these would make great Christmas gifts! If you have a creative kid, go see what Bare Books can offer!

Finally I want to show you all a wonderful music program I bought many years ago and still use today.

Color the Classics is a simple program that teaches a little about music composers and has a matching music cd so the children can hear the songs.
During the holidays, though we pull out the Christmas Book and learn about the famous and well known Christmas songs.

Inside the book are stories about the beloved Christmas songs. After the short history lesson, the kids can color a picture about the song while listening to the actual song.

It is a great way to introduce some music appreciation and learn about the meanings behind the music.

Color the Classics actually has the Christmas Classic program on sale now!

Of course I did purchase some more felt last night and hope to have the kids sewing some more ornaments this weekend. I will post when and IF they turn out like I hope:-)

I hope you are having a great week!

It's a Beautiful Thing

We woke up this morning earlier than usual, ate breakfast, got everyone dressed and brushed hair too. This morning the adoption social worker from DFCS came by for her quarterly home visit. It went fine.
She met the children and got to see where we lived. We had to sign ANOTHER form and she went through our list AGAIN of what specifics we were looking for in a child. Now we again wait. Although we do have some specifics (such as a child 5yrs or younger) we are basically pretty flexible, so we will see what happens as we wait. In His perfect timing.

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The week has been one of preparations for not only Christmas, but also for Devin's birthday. We are having a family party tomorrow night complete with his favorite meal and desserts. The younger children decided to make some decorations.

 What's a party without awesome decorations? Handmade banners are the most beautiful thing...

Indiana excitedly crafted a construction paper chain to hang up in the kitchen as well.
On top of the decorating, the kids all bathed and washed their hair and picked out some "fancy" clothes to wear tomorrow night! Daddy is going to have a blowout of a celebration tomorrow!

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Yesterday I spent a good portion of the afternoon sewing some gifts. Let me share.

 These are bowls that I made from cotton clothes line and strips of scrap fabrics. I am filling them up with nice chocolates for gifts. I really enjoy making these because they are easy, fast and beautiful. Each one is also unique in color and size. If you live locally, you can take a class to learn how to make these at Sew Bee It. Of course I encourage you to take the class because you will love it!

 These I actually made for the two little boys of the house. These zippered bags are the perfect size to carry toy cars and trains around, especially on trips to grandma's house.

Finally, I made these earbud cases. This was my first one I made and it doesn't look as neat as I like, but my next several looked great. I have teenagers who are using them for earbuds, a child who is keeping guitar picks in one, and my youngest girl is using hers as a change purse. The tutorial to make these is done very well, and you will really enjoy it!

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It is a well known fact that many holiday traditions include certain foods. I know that I have certain dishes that I only make at Christmas or during this holiday season. One item that is a MUST is our Frost Holiday Punch.
My kids insist on it. They expect it. They ask me everyday if I am going to make it for Christmas Eve. It's that yummy. I also like that I can put it in my punch bowl and it stays cool and slushy. It goes great with a night of finger foods and movies too.

Frosty Holiday Punch

8 C water , divided
3/4 C sugar
6oz package of cherry gelatin powder
46oz can of pineapple juice
2L ginger ale or lemon lime soda


Combine 2 C of water and sugar together in a large pot and bring to a boil. Remove from heat. Add the gelatin and stir until the gelatin and sugar dissolves. Add the pineapple juice and the remaining 6 C of water. Stir well. 
Put the mixture into small containers or freezer bags and freeze. When you are ready for punch, remove frozen punch base from freezer and allow to stand at room temp for about 2 hours. Place in punch bowl and add 2L of ginger-ale or lemon lime soda.

I usually make up 2 or 3 batches at a time so that I always have a quick punch to make for family movie nights as well as the holidays.

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With my grocery shopping done and the social worker visit through, the only other large chore on my "to do" list was house cleaning. I must admit that it went fairly smoothly. It helps that we are all excited to celebrate Devin's birthday party tomorrow and that was a positive motivator.

 Of course there is that old saying about cleaning house with young children and shoveling sidewalks while it is snowing. Fletcher is NOT organizing my cabinet in this picture. Life with curious toddlers.

Have a colorful, beautiful week!