Two Peas in a Pod

There are moments when Thane does something that is uncannily like Jordan.  Thane is definitely his Daddy's boy, and he mimics Jordan in just about every way he can.

Love my boys! :)

It Is Official

  

It is officially official.  Jordan and I are now the proud owners of a federal-style home that's been around since 1805.  We love old homes, and Jordan has wasted no time in getting into the house to demolish outdated features that we don't like (think orange shag carpeting and avacado green bathroom fixtures) and to expose the ones we do (hand hewn beams with wooden pegs).

The house and the view is pretty cool (see our glimpse of the river in the photo above), but the land that comes with the house was a huge selling point as well.  We have 15 acres:  4 pastured acres, 10 timbered, and 1 marshy acre down by the river.  The land around the house was beautifully landscaped at one time, and we are looking forward to discovering floral treasures in the spring.

Oh, and did I fail to mention that a lovely brook runs through our property?  It does, and we are all excited about doing some fishing in the spring - right after black fly season!

Cold Spell

There's nothing like a good, old fashioned Maine winter to make you re-think your life decisions.  Well, it's not quite that bad, but it IS that cold! 

As if the ice storms weren't bad enough, the bitter cold snap (aka polar vortex) that followed almost threw us over the proverbial edge.  While we didn't have the -60 degree weather that some experienced in the midwest, our -20 degree weather (not including the wind chill factor) was frigid enough.  The weather wreaked havoc on the plants and trees here - we're hoping that they make it once things thaw off (hopefully before June!).

All of this cold hasn't helped much as Jordan renovates our new home. 

Yup, that's ice covering the INSIDE of one of the kitchen windows.  Now THAT'S cold!

Precious Moments

My kids love being read to, but technology has brought this favorite past time to a whole new level.  One of my favorite memories is being read a story by my Grandma Heydenburg, who lives in Michigan.  Due to the distance, we only saw my Heydenburg grandparents every other year or two, so each visit holds a special place in my memory.  I wanted my kids to have the same experience, so Grandma recorded herself reading the Christmas Story.  The kids were DELIGHTED (to put it mildly), and we often catch the kids in a quiet corner listening to the story.  Truth be told, I've listened to it a few times myself...

Grampie Ahlquist

One really, really great perk of being back in Maine is that I will, after 22 years away, be able to reconnect with family here.  Life has been such a whirlwind of late, and winter (in case you haven't heard) has given us such a run for our money this year that we haven't managed to make the 5 hour trip to visit the Ahlquist clan in southern Maine.  That all changed when my Dad called to inform me that my Grampa Ahlquist had pneumonia and wasn't doing well.

So, Annabel, Thane and I packed into the truck and headed south.  The kids have never met their great grandfather, something we needed to remedy quickly.  We arrived late Saturday morning and had a good visit with Grampie, Uncle Dale & Aunt Bonnie (whom I hadn't seen in years).

Later, my cousin Lizzie agreed to babysit the kids so I could get a little shopping in, including a late night visit to L.L. Bean with my Aunt Judy.  The kids ADORED Lizzie - and how!

The next morning, we had a special treat when we got to visit with my Great Uncle Leon and Aunt Ann, who own 14 miniature horses.  The kids were enthralled and already have just such a horse on next year's Christmas list.

I'm so grateful that we were able to get down there, as my grandfather died 2 days later.  He died peacefully in his sleep at the age of 91 (almost 92).  He was surrounded by children and grandchildren.  Looks like it was blessings all around.

Rest in sweet peace, Grandpa.  Give Gramma a big hug for us.  We all look forward to the day when we can be together again.  Love you!

Happy Christmas

Christmas was a bit unusual for us in our new locale.  Not bad, just different. It was a quiet affair - well, about as quiet as Christmas can be with 4 and 6 year old children underfoot.  Christmas Eve was spent at a Christmas concert held by our church.  No other churches in the area hold services, so quite a large crowd gathered to listen to carols both traditional and new.  It was lovely, except that I got the stomach flu about half way through the evening.  Not quite what I had planned for the night - or the following day!

The kids opened a few presents when we got home, and they especially enjoyed the video Pappa (Jordan's Dad) made of himself reciting the Pirates Night Before Christmas, a definite favorite in our home.  Thane, especially, was enthralled, although he couldn't quite grasp why Pappa wouldn't answer any of his questions.

Bright and EARLY the next morning, our little elves were awake and ready to begin the day.

In our home, Santa fills the stockings.  Since our stockings are still packed away, we had to improvise.  Did you know one's stocking stuffer pile doesn't look quite so robust in a large paper grocery bag?  At any rate, we left opening our stockings until later in the day.  I didn't think much of that decision until Thane was walking from window to window looking for Santa's sleigh, wondering why he was taking so long:

Annabel also used some of her down time to create a nice platter of food for Santa & the reindeer:

The upside of having the flu for me was that I got out of a lot of kitchen duties this year.  No large Christmas dinner spread for us.  Nope, I got to stay on the couch in my jammies, nuzzled under the quilt that Jordan's Mom made for us. It's so Scottish - we love it!

Happy Christmas!