I took some pictures on Christmas Eve.

There they are, in half-sun. Not the most ideal pictures, but I like the subject.

Thanks for the packages, my far-away family. Here are the chickens with the consumables....

I couldn't get them to stop eating long enough to smile together. That's how delicious it was.

This guy is five months old!!!!! Has it really been almost half a year since he was born?

Still a sweet little man. He can roll both ways, but hasn't yet put that together into rolling in a direction. He hates it when I set him down and walk away. He tries to grab my food when I'm eating. Just so you know.

We had our first big snowstorm of the year a couple days after Thanksgiving, and of course, the chickens wanted to go out and play in it. I went into our window seats and pulled out the bags of hats and gloves so carefully sealed. The kids dug in and I heard them say, "These are stinky!"
Small particles were falling out of the bags, which is when I decided to smell them. They smelled like death, so I sent all three to the bathroom for some scrubbing and did my best to get all of the nasty hats and gloves back in the bag...I set it outside and went and vacuumed and disinfected the "death zone."
Josh told me that he'd go through the bag- very sweet and wonderful of him- and we found three poor dead baby mice- past the pink, hairless stage and into the sweet little fuzzy fat part...it made me feel so sad. We, or some other predator, must have caught and eaten the little mother up.
I won't go into my imaginings, or the dead baby mouse funk I was in for a day and a half. I will tell you that I washed those hats a good ten times in a row, and when I pulled them out the kids all decided to try on our most interesting hats.

They really look more like hair.

Jack watched while his dad combed through the stinky clothes, and was a little afraid of the dead baby mice. Now, though he has been playing with some old cat toys that look like mice...."dead mouse....want him mama."

Vacation posting, done.
And less than two full months after we returned home....but not much less.

(We planted our pumpkins...maybe next year there will be a fine crop out at the Lake House!)

(Grandpa held Miles, as he's held the others.)

( We celebrated Happy Day in style, thanks to Job.)

(Josh spent some of his free time building a wigwam while in Vermont.)

New post? Finally. Here's Job with the chickens, like before.

We went out to eat at Rosie's (again, in Middlebury) after church with all the family left, and Steve Maxon thrown in for good measure. It was some good times, great fun.

The kids coloring. The service took a while, and my three went a little stir-crazy at the end.

Mom and Dad.

Miles hung out on the table for a bit.

It was all very country-chic.

The Tate crew.

Christine and Grace.

Driving back to the Lake. By Sunday we were very aware that our vacation had only a few days more, and we were feeling a little vacation desperation.

We dedicated Miles to the Lord at the church that Joel pastors for. Dad Tate did the service.

Nancy took these pictures for me- they left right after the morning service. This is the same church that we dedicated all of the other chickens at, so there was a nice sense of continuity. I love this church.

This is a picture of Steve Maxon and Josh and Lucy and Bowden out on the lake. Steve came while Dick and Nancy were still around, and he visited vigorously.

I love a man who's not afraid to hold a baby.

Josh fell asleep during the rigorous visiting.

Edwards did not.