Terri has an awesome giveaway going on over at her blog right now!  She is giving away a gift box full of cheese made right there in Wisconsin where her hubby works!  We have been the lucky recipients of this cheese and let me tell you it is AMAZING!  We are kinda cheese "snobs" here at our house and love our cheese.  I make a lot of it and didn't think about flavors changing, but I can see why the Green Bay Packers fans wear cheese hats, they know how to make cheese!  It was the best ever! While you are there take a look around Terri's blog and read her story, careful though, it may be convicting!

One of my favorite gifts this year was by far the homemade farm sign that my Father-in-Law made for me!  I is from an old piece of wood that came from Grandma Mc. house after she passed away.  Dad Mc. wasn't sure what she had planned for it, but it is now hanging over the door in our dining room.  I love it!!

As my girls have grown up, I have been excited to share my love and passion for fiber arts, yarn, spinning and all the stuff that goes along with it.  They both have talents at 12 and 15 that I did not acquire until I was in my 20's.  I tell them all the time how much farther along they are.  My oldest daughter has taken an interest in spinning and mastered her first skein of yarn using a drop spindle.  I am excited as to what is on the horizon for that talent for her.  She can knit and crochet also along with using the sewing machine. She had her biggest accomplishment this year when she started and completed (that is a biggie around here as we don't all finish what we start, even I am bad at this!) a beautiful knitted cape for her best friend for a Christmas present!  I am one proud Mama.

I hope everyone has a blessed Christmas!  We are having a wonderful, peaceful day here at home with a Tail Spin Farm raised 19 pound heritage breed turkey!  Hubby and I got the kids a quad for all of them (us:) Hubby and I just back back from a ride:)) and it has been an usually calm, peaceful season for us. 

The grass is green here in Michigan and has been pretty much most winter so far, so much for the hard winter they predicted for us. Of course, the beginning of last year brought us 2 huge blizzards back to back. We aren't complaining to much because animal chores have been made simplier.  Last year we pick up our three goats and three days later we got 20 inches of snow in a blizzard that we haven't seen since I was a kid.  Hubby and I spent most of that night checking on animals and having "Little House on the Praire" snow storm moments where we couldn't even see where we were going! Looking forward to some snow though!!

What do you get when you take 9 teenagers in costume, an entire kitchen island full of food and 12 hours straight (other than food and potty breaks) of the Lord of the Rings Trilogy?  A very long, but fun filled day!  Our three oldest and some of their friends were here yesterday to do just that.  The kids had been planning it for a while now.  Our two youngest weren't allowed to participate (a whole other blog post:)) so our youngest son had 3 of his friends over (siblings to the others) and  youngest daughter and I had a Christmas movie/game playing day.  I am so thankful to be able to open up our house, now that the remodel is finally almost done!  I am also blessed to have kids that enjoying being here at our house!  That has always been one of Hubby's and my goal is to make sure the house is open to all the kids and their friends (after they ask for permission of course!) 

When the eldest got his senior pictures done this fall, my mother-in-law, who is a professional photographer, wanted to get family pictures done again.  It has been a few years since we have had this done and everyone has grown up a lot the last couple of years.

Look at what was waiting for me in the mailbox tonight! I have been following and reading Jenna at Cold Antler Farm  for a couple of years now.  I love what this young lady (she's in her 20's I'm not, she's young:)) has done and what she has to say.  I love that she is a fellow fiber nut, and that she has completely described me in the whole "sickness" of Barnheart.  She has created something that this entire nation needs to stand up and take a look at.  Getting back to the basics, buying local, and producing and creating more things ourselves. I pre-ordered this book and got it autographed to boot! I am especially excited to dig into this book with all the things we have happening with our little farm right now.  I heard from the designer that I sent my yarn off to today and I am now an "official supplier" for her boutique and line of items.  I have a little tweaking to do in my spinning method (we all have our different ways of doing it) and

We had our 4th annual party today with 15 girls invited! Unfortunately, sickness and sports kept about half away, but everyone who was able to make it had a blast and the mom's were able to enjoy some time together too!  My two little nieces were able to come and enjoy the fun.  They weren't too sure what to think of the really loud older girls!