Weekend Snapshots

Ah, a three day weekend.  

One photoshoot with the sweetest little one year old

A few snow squalls

Sun & Clouds

Cook stove cookin'

Hot nachos fresh from the cook stove when i walked in the door from my shoot

Cabernet & knitting

Sunday morning blueberry muffins

more snow flurries

Strawberries thawing for shortcake

Fresh eggs from Bean Hill Farm

Afternoon tea with my mama via FaceTime 

An afternoon and evening playing and snuggling with some of our favorite munchkins

Rocking a two month old to sleep while we watch Downton Abbey

Watching him sleep soundly in our cradle for two hours, while also realizing that i don't have any baby blankets, so a dish towel will do

Racing matchbox cars down the 2x8 "ramp" Jas built, and hearing him teach Liv to say: "ready, set, go!"

Sink bath

Homemade pizza

Realizing how very amazing my husband is going to be as a father someday, working together during crisis mode like we're a well oiled clock

Feeling perfectly happy on this snowy cold January night.

Afternoon & Evening

Whose woods these are I think I know.   

His house is in the village though;   

He will not see me stopping here   

To watch his woods fill up with snow.   

My little horse must think it queer   

To stop without a farmhouse near   

Between the woods and frozen lake   

The darkest evening of the year.   

He gives his harness bells a shake   

To ask if there is some mistake.   

The only other sound’s the sweep   

Of easy wind and downy flake.   

The woods are lovely, dark and deep,   

But I have promises to keep,   

And miles to go before I sleep,   

And miles to go before I sleep.

                                                                          -Robert Frost

Creamy Ham, Spinach & Potato Soup

Creamy Ham, Spinach & Potato Soup

Like so many other people, we had ham leftovers from Christmas dinner.  Here is a great twist i came up with to get some greens in your soup.

Supplies::

4 Potatoes, peeled and diced

1/3 C. diced onion

1 large carrot, diced

2 celery stocks, diced

3 1/2 C. Water

1 C. diced (previously cooked) Ham

3 Chicken bouillon cubes

1 clove garlic - minced

5 tablespoons butter

1/3 C. Flour

1 1/2 C. milk

1/2 C. half & half

A few handfuls of baby spinach - torn

Shake of celery seed

Shake of parsley

Shake of Thyme

S&P to taste

Method::

Put water in stockpot, add celery, onion, carrot, ham and potatoes.  Bring to boil.  Once boiled, continue to simmer over medium heat until potatoes are soft.  In separate saucepan, melt butter, add flour, stirring constantly with whisk until thick.   Slowly add milk & 1/2 & 1/2 to butter mixture.  Add garlic.  In the meantime add the spices to the first pot.  Once milk mixture is beginning to thicken, add to the first stockpot.  Add spinach to mixture.  Let simmer until combined. 

Serve with crusty bread.

This is so tasty, hope you all enjoy!

Gathering Light

He suggests we roast a chicken for dinner, as the rain continues to fall.  Rain which is predicted to be quite the ice storm come morning.

I chop the carrots, potatoes, celery, onion and parsnips to toss with the chicken.  He prepares the chicken with herbs and butter.

He lights the cook stove as the sun sets on this shortest day of the year.

We gather around it's warmth, it's comfort.  Knitting in my hand, a glass of wine at my side.

He snuggles with charlie on the crocheted blanket my Nana made, next to the heat of the stove.

As the sun sets, we gather light from our Christmas tree, warmth from our home.

Our home is silent, besides the clicking of my needles and the snores from Charlie.

I light candles as we gather at the table to enjoy one of our favorite meals.

Our home & hearts are filled with so much love and peace.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

May your holidays be filled with warmth, light and love.

Christmas Spirit

Last year i had all i could do to get through the holidays with enough energy.  This year, i have been so enjoying getting into the holiday spirit once again.  One of the things i really love the most about the holidays is baking cookies and delivering cookie baskets to neighbors.  Our plans were canceled this weekend, as we had a nice snow day on Sunday, which meant gingerbread & sugar cookies were on the menu.

Growing up, my mom and i always did just this.  Spent the day in the kitchen listening to enough holiday tunes that my brothers and dad would eventually leave the house, and then walk to neighbor's houses the next day to deliver.  Another tradition when i was little, was to head down the road to Grandma Linda's house for an afternoon of sugar cookies and a craft.  I'm sure it was a nice break for my mom, while also allowing me to spend quality time with Grandma L.  We usually made a craft that i could give my mom for Christmas.  To this day, those years are still so fond to me.

Hubs helped by cutting out & frosting a few, along with taking some pictures of me, but most of the time he was in and out of the house, escaping the Christmas music!  Oh, he was also on quality control, as always :)

I also spent some time getting our family holiday cards, along with my photography cards ready to send out!