Baby It's Cold Outside

It was down right cold out today!! So what better way to warm your tootsies?



That's right, snuggled up by the fire!!

New accomplishments around the York household this week...Nick built brackets for the bunk beds and painted them.




He also built the stairs!!




Now those are some sturdy, boy-proof stairs!! Trust me, we need more stuff like that. Ruly broke 2 of his toy combines this week which resulted in Nick having to use screws and super glue to keep them together!!

In other events, I've been plugging away at making shirts and such.




This one is for my dear, sweet grandma. She's so cute!! I also got up enough nerve to open my own Etsy shop, the CraftySewingBarn. Http.//www.etsy.com/shop/CraftySewingBarn. Check it out :)

Stay warm!!

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'Tis the Season

I've totally neglected my blog lately. Sorry. There's been major developments in the York household!!! Let's start with the most important...



We're going from 2 to 3 (THREE) boys!!! Baby York #3 is due March 21, 2013!!! (As I sit here in the hospital waiting for my glucose test). YUCK. And you know what that means...Ruly and Ruger must now share a room. Nick is so handy that he's building the bunk beds himself!!!




Next, I've taught myself how to appliqué. I LOVE it!!! I've been busy making Christmas shirts for all the little girls and boys.






We had a special delivery this weekend from the Polar Express!!! It included the boys' advent calendars, a new Christmas book, Christmas pj's and Timmy our Elf!! Priceless was the expression on their faces ;)




Finally, the house is fully decorated for Christmas and I'm in love with it!!! It makes my heart smile this time of year.



'Tis the Season to be merry!!!



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

**My Thoughts Lately**

I've had a lot on my mind lately.  Kids, harvest, schedules, new and up coming events, etc.  However, tonight my thoughts are on my chickens and their house.  I need to make it cuter for them - and me!!  I'm pondering landscaping around the outside pen but there are a lot of plants that are toxic to chickens.  This puts a damper on things.  It seems like butterfly bushes and roses are safe but I'm bored with that.  

These people used boxwoods - I thought they were toxic??

!!!Chicken coop envy!!!

I do have this one brooding chicken that refuses to leave the nesting boxes.  She's so stubborn, I have to use a stick to get her out just so she'll eat and drink.  Then she chases one of the rabbits like it's her fault!! Crazy animals.  I need to come up with a name for her stubborn ways.  Thoughts??  Irene, Patricia, Mauve, Pauline, Margaret, Hazel, Agatha, Berta???  

Stay tuned for an exciting announcement (I need to update my chalkboard first)!!!  I've also been working on some projects to occupy my time, I'll post pics soon.  Like I've said, there's been A LOT on my mind lately.

**The Farm**

If you remember, last year we attempted to raise chickens, a rabbit and cats.  Well it didn't pan out so well because some varmit got into my chicken coop leaving nothing but feathers from 10 chickens and a rabbit.  Originally, I rescued 2 litters of kittens from the pound ~ of those 11 cats, I ended up with 2.  Now to turn a sad story into a happy one...

I bought 12 chickens this spring at our local farm store, and they are all doing quite well!!

I'm not sure but I think I have a rooster in the bunch!!  It's still kind of early to tell but I'm pretty sure this is him :0

I adopted another rabbit ~ she's fed VERY well!!

The two cats that remained had 3 kittens!!

AND ~ My flowers are so pretty this year!!  That's just for my own pleasure that I had to stick this in!! 



**Home Sweet Home**

We are currently in the process of redoing the outside of our home.  What a task!!!  We decided to re-side/stone the house, add a front porch and put on a new garage door.  The crew has been working on it for a little over a week and you can tell there's progress!!

First we moved some of the landscaping,

Then we had to do clean out this concrete planter so that we could destroy it!!!  Oh happy day :0

Bye bye flower box...

They stripped off the siding and started building the front porch.  The stone is going to go around the picture window.

They installed my new garage door...BEAUTIFUL!!

Here's the south side of the house with the new siding.  LOVE LOVE LOVE!! 

I'll keep you posted with the progress of the farmhouse!!  :-)



**Again?!?!!**

Well, here I go again.  There's just no excuse for this!!  I'll try harder I promise.

Since I've been MIA we've went on a wonderful winter vacation, Ruly is potty trained and Ruger is walking!!  Dang ~ life moves fast!!!

We went to Cancun for 5 days last week, it was much needed and marvelous!!!  This was the view from our hotel room.

Nick and I soaking up some rays on the beach...



We also took a boat out our last day there to see some scenery.  The perfect way to end our vacation!!

In the meantime, this kid is in to everything!!!  

Love him!!! 



**28**

Well, there I go again; it's almost been a week!!!  Geez ~ no excuses this time, here's my update...

Monday was Nick and I's anniversary ~ we've been together for 13 years (married for 5 1/2).  Lucky 13!!!  Nick was 16 and I was 14 when we started dating in high school ~ high school sweethearts!!!!!  He stole my heart so I stole his last name ;-)

Wednesday was my birthday ~ the big two-eight!!!  Nothing too exciting happened because my mom, grandma and sister were sick.  I cleaned my floors that day - happy birthday to me!!!  Haha.  My family did come over last night and cook supper for me though. 

Here's my younger brother, Jake.  One word ~ different.

Last weekend I decided to host a Super Bowl party so I've been gathering recipes for the big game.  Here's the menu (all from pioneerwoman.com):

~pulled pork sandwiches

~wings

~salsa and guacamole

~brownies and cookies

Sounds yummy to me!!  Not to mention the beverages we will be drinking.  In honor of the party throwing, I've been trying to get some little projects done that I've been putting off for no darn good reason. 

 I organized all of Ruly's school papers into this plastic bin.  I'll add to it as he goes through school.

Then I finally drew a growth chart for Ruly!  I just marked his heighths on his closet door, nothing too fancy but it needed to be done.  I'll add Ruger's at each of his birthdays as well.

Yesterday Nick and I had a parent-teacher conference with Ruly's pre-school teacher.  Turns out he is doing wonderful!!  We are so proud of him ~ so as a little treat I took him to the Shop today to hang-out with daddy for a little bit.  He was in hog heaven!!!

Now if I could only get that kid potty trained!!!!  Dang.