Back to Basics

So Jeremy found an really old (I mean like 100 years old) cast iron skillet @ Gram's house. He asked to borrow it for an experiment. He brought it home, cleaned it up, and we put it on top of our wood stove. Yesterday we attempted making pancakes and eggs on it. It didn't work as well as we were hoping - our wood stove has several layers of filters the prevents the top from getting too hot - we still were able to pull off a few pancakes and an egg. It was fun - kinda primitive, but fun to experiment!

New Car

So we decided to update our vehicle situation and bought a new (new to us) vehicle over the holiday - it's a 2005 Toyota Matrix. It's just a little bigger than the Civics we're used to, but we really like it. Hopefully we won't have to purchase another vehicle for some time - it's stressful. Funny note: we currently have 4 vehicles because we're trying to sell our 2 older civics - any takers? Another funny note: it must run in the family because Dana and Nate also drive a Civic and a Matrix.

This photo was taken just a few hours ago - during the ice storm hence the glazed windshield.

Train

We promised the boys a ride on the infamous train @ the mall and we finally got to it. This was Jude's 1st ride on the train (not his last). Somehow he knew that the train went through a tunnel (actually through the Christmas tree). Jackson was such a good helper - of course, he's been on that train about a hundred times.

Waiting to get on the train

Coming through the tunnel

My DH

So I think DH stands for "Dear Husband" in the new texting language (I feel so old when I have no idea what OMG and TTFN mean - oh well). ANYWAY...... Jeremy has a special woodworking talent - some of you have seen all the furniture he's made for our house and some of the projects he's done for other people. It's beautiful work and he makes me so proud so I started him a little blog of his own to showcase - the link is on the left-hand side of this page called "4 Springs Woodwork" - check it out. There are just a few photos of the many things he's done - be sure to watch for more.

Wow! What a Christmas

I can't believe Christmas is over- it went by so quickly. We did 4 Christmases - here, Grammy Linda's and Pap Jer's house, G-Gram's house, and Ga-Ga and Pop's house. Of course the boys were blessed with not only the love of our family, but many, many presents - some of which are still waiting to be opened (yes - they were that blessed). Jeremy and I weren't left out of the blessings - we got many nice things - thanks to all. Dana and Nate got us a Garmin - which we used all over the county today in our post-Christmas shopping spree! Have I said thanks yet?
Wow! What a Christmas........one of the best things is we still have 9 more days till work/school resumes, so we'll have plenty of time to test out (and probably wear out) all the gifts!!!

Christmas Tree

Hi All! We went out for our Christmas tree yesterday. We really debated this year what to do because "Wayne the Hurricane" (aka Jude) seems to get into everything. But, we're gonna give him a chance with a real tree and see what happens.

We went to our usual place a couple of miles from our house. We picked a tree that is only about 4 feet tall -we'll see how it looks - we'll probably decorate it tonight (especially if Jackson has any say in it!).

Lights on the Lake

We just got back from Holiday Lights on the Lake @ Lakemont - so cool. Of course we had to stop in the gift shop @ the end! There were a couple of great model train sets that the boys loved! Santa was also there - Jude was so interested, he kept saying, "Ho ho ho!" Jackson wasn't so interested - he said he was too old to sit on Santa's lap.