December 24, 2015

My favorite hand-made gift this year has got to be this moose coat rack I made for Tracy.

He has been dying to hang a moose head on our wall ever since we moved to Maine.

There are way more hunters than moose so the state uses a lottery system to award hunting licenses.

Of course, winning the lottery only guarantees a chance to hunt - not a moose - 

and considering Tracy has entered the lottery every year since 2007, 

even winning the lottery doesn't appear to be a real possibility in this lifetime.

I decided to help things along by bagging two moose for our wall myself.

I mounted them on a pine board that had been layered with paint sticks stained varying lengths of time.

I messed up the pattern while I was gluing - it was supposed to be a little more random - 

but I'm still pretty happy with the way it turned out.

I included all these pictures because it is still amazing to me what a difference lighting makes!

December 18, 2015

Jed shocked me by condescending to join me for the Polar Express this year!

It might be the first time we've done something fun by ourselves at night...

our ride didn't start till 9:15, so it was quite the date.  :)

The conductor and one of the chefs seemed to really be enjoying the entertainment they provided.  :)

The Denver & Rio Grand Western Railroad Line provided our transportation to the North Pole.

Jed was a sweet date.  :)

December 17, 2015

We started a homeschool science class today, which we are both excited about.

They're finishing up a series on chemistry and today's lesson was just a bunch of fun experiments,

like making crystals on a pipe cleaner snowflake.

This is what we had the next day - pretty cool!

Yes, that's supposed to be a snowflake.  :)

I was told that my help was not needed.  haha

December 16, 2015

Our overnight snow fizzled out to a light dusting.

The really sad part is that although our high today will only be 25,

the snow has already started melting under the bright Colorado sun.

Such is life at a mile above sea level.  :(

December 15, 2015

We got our 6th snow today!  About 8", with more to come tonight!  

The kids next door had a snow day from school and Jed was out early because of it.  :)  

This was taken in the morning.

We were measuring about 6" in the morning.

 Snow coming down.

The balcony off our bedroom in the back of the house.

Our mailboxes.  :)

Pine tree with South Table Mountain in the background.

December 12, 2015 - Part 5

The house on the left is where Jed's friend Jack lives....

this is the first time in his life there has been a kid living next door to us

and we're all happy about that.  :)

This is our old homeplace.
Not crazy about the yellow but we really like the house

and the neighbors.

I think this might be the friendliest place we've ever lived.

December 12, 2015 - Part 4

This is the end of our street...it's a dead end and we're the next to last house, which means there's no traffic.

I haven't taken any pictures from the end of the street before...

the guard rail is there because it's quite a precipitous drop.

 See?

It would be a great sledding hill if it didn't end at a street.  :)

December 12, 2015 - Part 3

Our house...

Our hot chocolate...

Our house and our hot chocolate....

December 12, 2015 - Part 2

What we came home to...

December 12, 2015 - Part 1

We went to a play this afternoon...I can't tell you how much I love being able to walk places,

especially when it's snowing out.

We went to the Miner's Alley Playhouse

for a play version of The Nutcracker.

There were quite a few little kids in attendance

and the cast members included them in the performance....

it was really cute.

Jed was a good sport about the whole thing

so I took him to across the street to Starbucks

for a hot chocolate afterwards.

I'm not sure what I did to deserve a hot chocolate

but it was yummy.  :)

These pictures were taken before the play...

it snowed the whole time we were in there

and on us the whole way home.

December 11, 2015

We went on a field trip with a homeschool group today for the first time since we moved.

It was great to get out!

The Denver Museum of Nature and Science is hosting an international Sherlock Holmes exhibition.

Since Jed has been Sherlock Holmes three times now for trick-or-treating,

it was a sure thing that we would want to see this exhibit.  :)

This is the only halfway-decent picture I got of the exhibit...

they didn't allow flash photography and I can't figure out what settings to use in low indoor lighting.

The hands-on exhibits were really, really great.

We didn't solve the mystery 

because we're hoping to talk Tracy into going back with us sometime

when the place is not filled to the gills with screeching school children.  :)

December 9, 2015 - Part 2

Snippets of the living area of our new home.

The tree is a little skinnier than we're used to but it had to be that way to fit in the space.

It's a noble fir, which is a new tree to us, but it's healthy and full and smells nice.

I love these little stone houses.

They made me cry a little when I unpacked them in Wilmington.

I'm so glad to be back in snow country!

This village grows by one every Christmas...

we get a new building every year that reflects something we did that year.
Our sweet friend Rita started that tradition for us
and we think of her every time we unpack these buildings and people.

December 9, 2015 - Part 1

That picture I took on Friday night at the Candlelight Walk?  I sent it to the administrator of the Golden.com website and told her she could use it if she wanted to....and she did!  She made it the header on the website for the day!  And gave me credit!!  :)  (the tiny white letters on the right side under the N in Golden)