Random photos and thoughts

I have all sorts of ideas of things to share on this blog but am completely distracted with so many things to do right now.  And I've been busy making several of my "angel feather tins" to send to families who lost children this month.  (December is really a rough month - so many Trisomy children died in December.)

The day after Lilly died, my friend. P.D. and her husband came over and brought us dinner and hugs.  They also brought us a plant.  This is the first year it bloomed and it is beautiful!  I think it's a "Christmas cactus?"  Lots of "hellos from Lilly" on it:

 

We're on break from homeschool and using that time to try and clean up the house some.  While we were tidying up the other day, Solomon went "shopping" on our pantry shelves.  It cracked me up to see him pushing his "cart" by:

 

Our "Elf on the Shelf" has been busy this season, though I will be glad when I get to stop thinking of places to put him each morning.  I see so many clever things online that people do with their Elf, but it's all I can do to move him to a different place.  Our Elf was originally named "Clive" but this year it evolved into "Clive Staples Lewis" (C. S. Lewis) after the kids were totally immersed in the Chronicles of Narnia this year.  Here is Clive hanging out with LillyBear:

I'm not a big gardener but I do like the look of flowers adding color around the yard.  As I've thought about planting more in the spring, I've wondered how to protect it from the chickens.  That includes Lilly's garden, which is currently covered with plastic fencing to keep the hens from dust bathing in it.  So I was very excited to find a book at the library the other day called Free-Range Chicken Gardens: How to Create a Beautiful, Chicken-Friendly Yard by Jessi Bloom.  The pictures it are great and so is the information.  I'm learning so much that I've decided I need to buy my own copy of this book.  I was pleased to see two kinds of flowers which I planted last year, Echinecea (coneflower) and Black Eyed Susans, do well with chickens around.  Mine have and now I know why!

 

It made my mommy-heart feel so good yesterday to look out the window and see Hunter patiently pulling Solomon around the yard in a wagon:

 

It's not always easy for Hunter to be patient with his little brother.  Hunter likes to do a lot of building and electrical set ups and Solomon has a hard time resisting messing with Hunter's things.

Tabby had a funny blog post yesterday about the goat milk supply problem we're having with Christa.

Speaking of Christa, Solomon found a new "set of wheels" to ride:

Well that's it for now! 

"This is the day the Lord has made; We will rejoice and be glad in it." - Psalm 118:24