May your day be filled with love

May laughter ring through the halls

May you rejoice in the celebration of life

May your coming days give so much more!

Merry Christmas!

Christmas at Entertrainment

 Entertrainment Junction

 I've already written about Entertrainment once before, but my family had the joy of experiencing their Christmas celebration and I wanted to share it.  They have a complete winter wonderland set up with Mrs. Claus and Santa, though he will not be around after Christmas.  There's an elf workshop and there are reindeer to visit!

They are closing January 5 (We're all secretly hoping someone comes along and buys it!), so this is the last chance to visit.  I highly recommend it if you live near Cincinnati.  There's a fun jungle gym/play room for kids, lots of informational attractions spread throughout the junction, and a host of mazes on the other side of the building.  The clown maze and mirror maze are our favorite.

If you can, go to Entertrainment before they close!

Diabolical Baby Brigade

 The Mission Log of the Diabolical Baby Brigade has a new post:

Diabolical Cookie Crumbs

As Logged by Agent Rose

Who doesn’t like a Christmas cookie?

Whether fancy or simply low key.

But, Mommy won’t stop baking

And the oven timer has me waking.

Time to put an end to all of this

I’ll take the cookie with a chocolate kiss

Munch, munch, munch on my parent’s bed

Til’ the crumbs keep them awake instead.

 

Does Agent Rose's plan work?

Find out in:

Diabolical Cookie Crumbs

What is it with Cows Always Wanting Kisses?

 

Of course, Caramel loves kisses more than she loves treats.

What do you expect from such a cutie?

Still, what is it with cows always wanting kisses?

Gingerbread House Party

 

What better way to celebrate the season than having friends and family over and letting the kids (and even some adults) go wild building their own gingerbread house!  We bought a five house kit with pre-cut pieces that we separated onto each house's own plate, along with extra cookies, marshmallows, candies, etc. to let everyone have as much artistic fun as they wanted.

Any broken pieces were "glued" back together with icing.  Also, knowing that this was for kids who would be using huge gobs of icing, we bought extra tubs of icing and filled individual bags for each person to use.  That way, no one would need to wait for their chance to use the icing bag.  Everyone could grab their own and go!  

The results were creatively amazing!

SO MUCH FUN!

Diabolical Baby Brigade

 The Mission Log of the Diabolical Baby Brigade has a new post:

Diabolical Sibling Rivalry and a Deer Leg

As Logged By Agent Chase's Mom

The holidays are an interesting time

Where families get together and enjoy key lime.

It's also a time of sibling rivalry.

And, this time, I've brought the cavalry.

My sister thinks she can embarrass me.

But, Gobbles has given me reason to say, "We'll see."

A random deer leg in the woods?

Gross!  Hmm... What interesting goods.

 

What does Agent Chase's Mom do with the deer leg?

 

Find out in:

 

Diabolical Sibling Rivalry and a Deer Leg

You're in my spot

 

A Winter's Dusk

 

There really is something magnificent about dusk once the cold weather begins to set in.  

The colors are crisper.  

There's almost a silvery sheen blanketing the sky.  

Even when only a slit, the moon pops out with a brighter light.

The Winter Hoophouse

With winter setting in, I want to showcase this hoophouse.  The design was an idea inspired from The Greenhouse and Hoophouse Growers Handbook.  We bought a hoop bender from Johnny Select Seeds to shape the metal pipes and criss-crossed rope along the plastic sheet to both hold it down and conveniently open sections of it without worry of the plastic sheeting falling.

I really love this design.  It kept the chickens comfortably warm, even the crazy one that decided to try sneaking out on a night that got into the negative teens one winter.  We found her the next morning, huddled against the plastic and, somehow, still alive and perfectly fine.  She never tried that stunt again!

When we decided to breed pigs, it made the perfect home for the baby piglets to be born in.  Especially, when they ended up being due in early February

A goal I'm hoping to try out soon is to use the metal pipes for climbing vines during the summer months.

Of course, I did find one down side to having the pigs stay in the hoop house:

Our sow, Dot, kept getting excited and wanted to play with the plastic by tearing it to pieces.

Diabolical Baby Brigade

 The Mission Log of the Diabolical Baby Brigade has a new post:

Being Diabolical with the Dirty Diaper Pail

As Logged by Agent West

Another dirty diaper is tossed into the pail

After a poopy so stinky, it made Mommy wail.

It doesn't look all that full.

Could it fit Mommy's sweater, the one made of wool?

That's not enough, I'll give it some more.

A wallet, a purse, those pearls they adore.

Next this bowl of chocolate pudding cake.

Wait!  Pudding cake?  Time for a break.

 

Does Agent West stuff the diaper pail full?

 

Find out in:

 

Being Diabolical with the Dirty Diaper Pail

Funny Friday (Belated)

 

I am the king of the chair!

 

Roar

Farmer's Breakfast Smoothie

 

This recipe is so quick and easy.  I'm barely awake, trudging my feet down to the kitchen while my husband is lifting weights in the basement, and I don't have to do anything more than throw a few ingredients into a blender and turn that baby on.

I love it because you can add some of the healthy stuff to it that you hate taking.  We sometimes add Omega-3 oil or liquid vitamins.

The recipe calls for raw egg yolks (totally optional, not everyone likes the idea of eating raw egg and I totally get it.  It used to freak me out, too.  And we only use raw egg yolks if they are from our chickens, thus we know how clean the eggs are/were.).  We usually cook the egg whites to give to the outdoor cat, Kitty, or save them for a recipe that we'll use that day (like icing for making gingerbread houses, which we seem to be doing every single day right now.)

Farmer's Breakfast Smoothie

Prep time:  5 minutes, plus 10 seconds of the blender

Makes:  Roughly 5/6 cups of smoothie

Ingredients:

4 egg yolks (totally optional!)

3 - 3.5 cups plain kefir or plain yogurt

2 cups blueberries, fresh or frozen, then thawed

2 ripe bananas

Plus - any optional vitamin/healthy stuff add-ins

Directions:

Put ingredients in the blender, starting with the yogurt/kefir and egg yolks (if using).  Once all of the ingredients are in, pulse the blender a few times, then turn it on and run until it looks blended.

Enjoy!

The smoothie monster!

Diabolical Baby Brigade

 The Mission Log of the Diabolical Baby Brigade has a new post:

Diabolical Christmas Music and Delicious Turkey Legs

As Logged By Agent Rose

I do love a good turkey leg

If it's fried, I'll even beg.

But, Auntie P has gone batty

Dancing to Christmas music with Catty

It's starting to get on my nerves.

All those dips, trips, and swerves.

How am I to enjoy my turkey

When she is acting so quirky?

 

Can Agent Rose stop Auntie P?

 

Find out in:

 

Diabolical Christmas Music and Delicious Turkey Legs