Snow, Snow, and more SNOW!

This morning when we woke up, we awoke to a snow storm like we haven't had in a long time. Today we accumulated about 39" of snow!! That accumulation is only from 1 storm. It took us virtually all day, with a lunch break and a break before lunch, to clean it all up. We are VERY thankful that we have a snow blower, however the time and energy it took us was really unbelievable. We are hoping that just maybe we won't see anymore snow falling from the sky for a very long time!! Here are some pictures of the damage....

Before we started clearing the driveway was just filled!

The drift on our woodshed roof.This is what happened to poor Lacey who was the first one out this morning!
Chris holds a tape measure to record the amount.

A close up view. In this picture we have about 33 1/2", however it was still snowing hard and we ended up getting another 5-6" after clearing the first part. I didn't mention this before, but there were drifts over 3' tall!
Our handy helper!!

Well, I hope nobody else had to clear this much snow today!!!! In fact, probably most everybody hasn't accumulated this much snow ALL winter! Hopefully the weather will turn around soon.

Praying we will not get buried in :-) Love,

Jeff, Joan, Beth, Lindsey, Chris, Rebekah, Isaiah, Noelle, Hannah, and Timothy and Lacey too!

A Job Well Done

This post is of a home that my dad completed this year. It is really quite amazing to see the house-building process from start to finish. When we first saw the beginning stages, we saw a massive hill covered with trees. It is hard to imagine how things will turn out, but in this case they turned out very nicely! Probably the most rewarding part to the home for me, is that Elizabeth and I played a key part in the overall design and layout of the house. I hope you enjoy the tour!

The outside has log siding and many windows and french doors that go onto a deck to be able to display the amazing views.

The lowly start to a beautiful house.

My favorite part... the kitchen. (On a side note, on the left side of the fridge, you can see there is an opening, go through there and it will lead you to the 2 downstairs bedrooms and the bathroom. Also, coming up the cellar stairs brings you up to the side view of the kitchen where you see the fridge. So in essence, after you come up the cellar stairs go to the left and you are where the beds/bath are, go straight and you are standing in the kitchen.)

The dining area which is only seperated from the kitchen by the bar and stools.

An overhead look of the living room area. (To the left is the dining room and kitchen)

The beautiful staircase leading to the master suite.

After opening the french doors, you go into the master bedroom.

The closet in the master bedroom.

The sink area in the master half bath.

The rest of the half bath.

This is the first bedroom located downstairs. The main bath room.

The second bedroom downstairs.

The deck.

The amazing view!!

I hope everyone was able to get a good look at what dad does and what amazing creations he gets to build. This house turned out beautiful and this is only one of them. Though building a house from start to finish can entail many headaches, problems, and challenges, the result is truly beautiful. I hope you all enjoyed. Until next time, Lindsey

Hannah and the Money

Hello to all our readers! Today was a very interesting day for our family. While Mom, Bekah, and I were doing a morning devotional, Hannah managed to break through our blockade of gates and get upstairs. We knew that we had to get her, however we had many interruptions already and really just wanted to finish our little study. Very shortly after, we heard Hannah's little voice calling for someone to come upstairs. I found her sitting on Beth's bed. She then told me that she was eating something, and after I got out a small plastic piece from her mouth, she told me that she ate money. Now Hannah does very, very well communicating to us though sometimes certain things get one name and I was unsure if she was serious about it being real money. I asked her where the money was and this was her answer, "I put it in my mouth and it went down, down to my belly and now you can't get it." I was very stunned with her answer. I told Mom and we then questioned her some more; her answer and little hand motions were the same every time. Mom called the doctor and they had her go in for an X-Ray. Sure enough there was a coin down there! We are very thankful that nothing serious happened to our little Hannah-Banana, although it is hard not to chuckle thinking of what happened, however we do not wish for it to happen again. The pictures are of Hannah after getting home from the hospital with her tiny teddy bear she got from the nurses who told her she did a great job during her X-Ray, and also told Hannah that she should name the bear Penny!!!!

This was Hannah this morning geared up to go outside with her 3-D glasses on :-)
We are praising the Lord for HIS hand of grace in this whole situation. Love from all,

THE REYNOLDS

Sewing Projects

I have decided to make a late New Year Resolution: DON'T TELL ANYONE WHAT YOUR GOING TO POST NEXT BECAUSE YOU NEVER DO IT!

Rebekah, at age 10, completed her first sewing machine sewing project today! She was so excited about it, I told her I would post it on the blog. She isn't exactly sure what you call it, however she does know you can use it one a dresser or table as a centerpiece. She thinks she is going to use it on her dresser and then will probably be able to put her jewelry boxes on it. Rebekah did a lot of it herself, however she did have help from our awesome neighbor Debbie. So here are the pictures of her project.

She used really pretty fabric that she received for Christmas.

(The first side.)

Oh, and did I mention that it's reversible?!

The fabric she used on the reverse side was a delicate light green print and a pale yellow

Close up of the first side. (I personally love the red material!)

Rebekah proudly holds up her creation!



GREAT JOB REBEKAH!

Until next time, The Reynolds

Piggies

Hello Again! I thought that this time for real I would do some animal pictures. I will start off with the saddest transformation of all. My piggies! :-(

As weird as this sounds to most all of you, I actually got attached to them. And as many of you think pigs are awful creatures, they aren't. I would also like to put that pigs really are intelligent animals and they do have the intelligence of a 3 year old. We also found out that they bond very well with other 3 year olds! Noelle also liked them very much and would go down and talk to them and also yell at them when they got out. She told me once that Ethel was SO naughty for getting out of her pen at least once a day, that I needed to give her a spanking, but that I would need to wash the spoon after because they had just rolled in mud. I tried my hardest not to laugh, but as you can imagine, it was quite difficult not to! Anyway, we found out when I taught them how to play hide and seek and tag how intelligent they really are! They learned that even after we put several large rocks in their big water tub, they could work together to tip it over to roll in the mud, even if I had just made a mud puddle for them!

Using their water bucket to make a mud puddle.

After installing what I called "the finishing touches to our Pig Concentration Camp"(barbed wire on the bottom and in between the electric fence), Ethel would use innocent Piggybank as a stool to hop over the fence. They never got out after we installed the new fencer though!

Ethel also found it great fun to push Piggybank into the electric fence after we installed the new fencer. At first I didn't know if they were just playing, but after watching her we knew she did it purposely. She would walk back to their house, look at Piggybank and wait for her to either munch on grain or treats, or start drinking water, then run full speed right at her and literally ram her into the fence, and then proceed to run back to the house and act like nothing happened!

We found that if you gave them attention and actually did stuff with them they were much better behaved and they didn't get out as much. So here are some more of our beloved pigs...

Hopefully you all enjoyed the stories and pictures leading up to their difficult departure from us. I can't bear to write any more about them! No, just kidding, but I do have to go now! Hope you enjoyed, I'll do the chickens next. Love on behalf of all, Lindsey

What We've Been Up To

As many of you probably know, this time of year is basketball season. I thought that, even though I said I was going to post something different, I would do more current things going on. Plus, I knew where all my current pictures were and I would have to have time to search the archives for my older ones. The first picture I have to the right is of Rebekah looking on as some of her other teammates play. She is (starting from the far right) third to the left.

The second picture I have posted below, is of assistant coach Chris showing his boys at the warm-up before a game how to do a REAL lay-up! Chris really misses playing, however he has been enjoying coaching too. He really has a talent at basketball, so I decided to put one of him up too.

This picture below is one of Isaiah and his teammates as they match up on the center line. He is the first lined up closest to us with his arms resting on his hips. Sorry I don't have any action ones of them playing, but because Chris and I referee the games, I don't take pictures at the same time!

The pictures next are some of a craft we let the kids do when the weather was below zero. I am REALLY sorry for the immodesty, however it is much easier to wipe paint off their skin than get it off their clothes.

Hannah and Noelle do colorful paintings!

Noelle informs me that she has "accidentally" broken her paint brush!

Hannah looks a little dazed as she paints!

However, my absolute favorite work of art (sorry everyone else, you did a great job too!) was Rebekah's. She used the technique of putting the paint on one side and folding the paper in half. I thought it looked better than most (okay all) of the abstract art I have ever seen! I wanted to know if you guys might write what you think this picture looks like. I already have my idea, and I wanted to see what others thought!

I have also been taking pictures of the daily visitors that come to the house.

I hope you all enjoyed looking at everything, and I will definitely try to finish the "animal story" soon. We send lots of love to all, The Reynolds

This One's a Winner!!

Hello to all! I was so excited about winning a picture contest at a local picture gallery, I just had to share it! I really thought I wouldn't win, and the funny thing is, is that Isaiah asked me this morning (I found out today), if I won. I told him I didn't know, however I was quite sure I wouldn't. So here it is...

The picture is one from an ice storm that we got, and I love the light coming in from behind. On a side note, I noticed that I haven't put any up of Timothy. So here is one...

Love from us all, The Reynolds