Here are my 4 babies in the snow. I wish I had been a little more careful about the background of photo...however, aren't these little ones the cutest? Left to right: Brennah, Tyler, Sarah holding Zach. I had girl, boy, girl, boy. They are 39, 37, 34, 33 now. All 'growed' up with lives of their own. This was in Weimar, California, near Colfax. The couple that built this house, built it in the 1940's during war time and used supplies they could scrape together. It was their home for many years. After the husband, Kenneth, passed away, the wife, Mary Etta, moved to her daughter's as the 5 acres was too much for her to care for. My father bought it from her and then rented it out to my brother first and then to me and Andy (kids father). We lived there for 8 to 9 years. Brennah & Zach were both born when we lived there. This place had blackberries, apple trees and room for a huge garden, which we proceeded to grow. Andy did most of the work in garden and I did the canning. We were a young hippie-like couple doing our best to raise a family. Andy built the kids a wonderful tree house there. He had a workshop providing a place to build many pieces of pine furniture, which I still have today, or have passed down to my children.
The VW vans in the back ground...the story is that I had the blue one and it worked well for transporting my little ones around for a few years. Then it broke down and need too much work to be repaired. So my father tried to do a nice thing for me. He bought the red van from a friend and it broke down in just a few days. She was a single mom and had no recourse, so we were stuck. It needed a new transmission. So then we found an old Buick for $500.00 and that became my car for awhile. It was kinda ugly, but it was cheap.
After owning this place for about 10 years, my dad sold it and we all moved to Paradise, California for the next 4 years before moving to Idaho. My kids still have very good memories of this old Weimar house and property. It was the best of times and the worst of times. My marriage ended while living here. That, to say the least, was devastating.
But I am grateful to Kenneth and Mary Etta Snyder for their building this place in the first place. They are both in heaven now...I am sure helping to prepare heaven for the rest of us.

When I was a child the Chico Assembly of God Church built this amazing live Christmas tree every year to entertain and bless the surrounding community. My parents and I had gone to this church when I was a youngin.' Then we moved an hour away, but went back every year to Chico to see both sets of grandparents for Christmas. One of the fun things about visiting was to see the singing Christmas tree. It was such a treat and one of my favorite memories of Christmas from my younger years. Isn't it Devine?

Christmas is Coming, The Goose is Getting Fat!

So I used to purchase great books from Dover, Inc. I do still get an email from time to time
with what's new. Since the coloring books are all the rage these days I thought maybe I would post this link for a coloring book that looks fun for all ages. It is called "Old Fashioned Christmas Coloring Book." It's priced at $5.99. Hoping the link below sends you to it.


http://store.doverpublications.com/0486812367.html

There are other books on the site too that you might wanna check out. One is Dicken's coloring book.

Oh my, do I love this child! This is my grand daughter, Willow, who just this week started Kindergarten. In this photo she is showing me the dessert she got at the opening of a store in Medical Lake, WA called Farm Salvation. My daughters and I took a drive over to see what the store had to offer. Of course, a stop at Hobby Lobby was in order. I seem to always find treasures there, whether I need them or not. :) But the thing I found at Farm Salvation was a sprig of cotton balls still on the branch. I loved this right away and though it needed to be added to my home. I always loved the saying, "cotton pickin.' But it spoke to me as it reminded me of the south and old-time days. Also made me think of my Arkansas roots.