Last week Elizabeth was here for three days.  Matthew consented to babysit her.  She is certainly getting to be a handful.  I have never had a child in this house who sasses back like this child does.  But Matthew handled her very well. 

She was very happy when Mary-Kate got home.  They colored and played games and then they watched Winnie the Pooh.

We were glad when that little "bossie cow" went home in the evening.  Her mother is expecting in April and boy is she going to have her hands full if she doesn't nip this bossiekins in the bud now.  Oh well what can I say.

Here are some lovely shots from my bedroom window that I took last week during the "snowstorm" that we had.  I put it in quotes because it wasn't as bad as the weathermen said it was going to be.  The roads were slick but the snow totals were not that bad.

I wondered why Matthew was taking so long to do his chores so I looked out.  He was out playing in the snow. 

He doesn"t look like he was having a bad time either.  He was dressed for the weather so I didn't call him in.  He was out there quite awhile.

After the snow was done falling it left everything looking clean and lovely. 

I may not like the cold or to drive in the snow but even I have to admit that it sure is pretty after it gets done falling.  It seems to cover up the little imperfections. 

Reminds me of the words of the song; "It's a marshmallow world in the winter..."

While I have been laid up in bed I have been helping Matthew work on his Christmas gifts.  Here is the outfit that he made for Mary-Kate.  He did a really beautiful job.  I am truly proud of his work.  Now he is working on a gift for his older brother. 

We also have made mittens hats and scarves for the giving tree at a local church in town.  They are collecting for the children in the community.

We thought that it was a worthwhile effort so we bought a bunch of fleece remnants and have been hard at work putting together different combinations of colors for hats, mittens and scarves.  I think the kids in the community will be warm and quite fashionable. 

Yesterday along with the birthday celebration we did some more of our decorating for Christmas.  I had to include the Advent log that I put on the table.  I borrowed the idea from another blogger friend this year.  It's very streamlined and different.  Fits better on our table too. 

Mary-Kate bought me this nativity this summer to thank me for taking care of her after her surgery (as if that were necessary).  I have had it up since then but I thought it would be nice on the table so I put it out on the dining room table.  I like the Willow tree figures.

Finally we put up the Christmas village on the server instead of the windowsill this year because I thought that we would have more room there.  It looks pretty nice.  Next week we will put up the garland and lights.  That takes a couple of days.  Need to get candles too.  It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas. 

Yesterday was Doug's birthday.  54!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  So Mary-Kate, Matthew and I took him out to lunch to the China Buffet.

There was plenty of good food for all, of course.  And we all had a good time.

Matthew was his usual silly self and entertained everyone.

When we got home Ian came over and brought some fudge to spoil the birthday boy and they played cards.  Later that evening we made some pizza's and watched a movie.  I think the birthday boy enjoyed his big day.

Yesterday it was a cold and windy fall day but the sun was out and it was a pretty central New York day.  A lovely day to be out digging in the dirt.

 Sometime in the evening the clouds started to roll in and the lake effect bands set up and you can see the result.  We have a winter storm warning in affect until 5:00 pm tomorrow night.  So I guess we have more of the same in store. 

 Last night while all of this was going on the power was out for about 3 hours.  I heard no sirens so it wasn't the result of an accident nearby (which is the usual cause of a power outage in our area).  So it must have been the wind. 

Today it is cold and windy and I am glad that I can't go out.  I am also glad that my husband has my Durango to go to work in instead of our old truck.

Yesterday the backhoe service came to help put power and water under the road to the barn that I have the pigs in.  Ian was in his element.  It does a mother's heart good to see her child happy.  May I even say deliriously happy?  If you knew Ian you would say that was not an exaggeration.  He got to play in the dirt to his hearts delight and to boss people around.  (charitibly mind you)

So here he is in the seat of the backhoe digging a ditch.  This is actually later on when he was digging along the driveway outside my bedroom window.  I got yelled at for going out to take the other pictures because I am supposed to be in bed resting my back.

 The started up the ram (the device used to drill through the earth under the road) and put it against the ground in the ditch on the barn side of the road going toward the house.  It was very loud but it took only about an hour to ram through about 50 feet of dirt from one side of the road to the other.

Here is the hose after the ram is already under the road (no I did not take this picture, Matthew did)

This is the ram through all the way into the ditch on the house side of the road.  That is what it looks like.  Ian took this picture with his phone for me.  This was after they chased me into the house.

After the drilling crew had left Ian had his lunch and then quickly got back outside and started digging on the house side of the road.  He dug along the driveway beside the house so that they could access the power and the water from the basement.  Then when Doug got home from work they were already to run the lines through the ditch from the house to the barn that you can see in the distance.  Next week they will hook up the power and wire the barn for light and a pump for water and they will also put water in the barn so that Matthew doesn't have to bucket water to all the pigs.  What luxury we will enjoy.