My, my I've been a slacker at the blogging thing.  Hope you had a wonderful Christmas - we did - hubby's parents were able to come up, and my family lives right around here, so we all had fun being together.  We are a family of pranks and have gifts that show themselves year after year - we have to creatively figure out ways to "stick" people with them and this year was no different.  I will not go into all the details, but we did enough laughing to last all of 2009!!  Most of it at my Dad's expense - he was a great sport! 

I always try to allow extra time off from school during the weeks leading up to Christmas - that way I'm not stressing about the things that need to be done and barking at the kids to hurry with their work - learned that the hard way a couple of years ago - not pretty and very unproductive for all of us!  So we go  little longer in the summer to make up with it and it works.  We've been back in the swing of things since New Years and I'm glad to have our routine back.  E is still working in the same books and moving along nicely.  T is learning to read (using 100 Easy Lessons) and is so excited that he can read a few words - like me and see...

I've been looking through seed catlogs planning this years garden - I'm excited to do some things differently and try to grow different things.  We've sold both of our litters of rabbits and now are back to 4 adults - betting there will be babies again soon!  Our chickens are doing well, as is the turkey.  The goats are hating all the rain we've been getting over the last month - I look out back to 3 heads sticking out of their barn hoping that not 1 drop of rain will get on them!  Delilah is blossoming - we're hoping for babies at earliest the end of March, but more likely April.

At church this last week the sermon was on resolutions - most of them fail, but we keep making them - lose weight, exercise, read my Bible more, .....the list goes on.  He put a nice spin on the resolution idea - we can do nothing on our own (that is hard to swallow at times) and unless we're looking to God we can make resolutions until the cows come home and they won't stick - we may get 1 right, but for how long.  The resolution we can make - 2 words - "Follow Him"!  If we do that the pieces of our life will pull together - strength will be given and we will make it on Gods terms.  just thought it was a good reminder for myself that my priorities may be different than His.