This is what Iona was wearing this morning:
She was all set complete with sword, walking stick, food, money (aka aluminum foil), cape, “boots” and a great attitude. And even if the outfit and idea wasn’t strictly in keeping with the biblical idea of women being homemakers, she’s still the cutest squire I’ve ever seen.
Galena
Enjoying spring (well, almost – it looks like spring):
Baking: lately I’ve been experimenting with sourdough. This past week I tried English Muffins with Mrs. Seifert’s recipe.
Reading:
Studying:
Writing:
Listening (mainly to History and Law lectures):
Cycling:
This was taken on a ride from last Saturday up in Cedar Creek.
Sewing:
No, I don’t think that I usually look that self-possesed when I’m doing it. But maybe someday…
Music:
After a very long hiatus, I recently started practicing this again. Despite the fact that I’ve never had a strong passion for music, I have enjoyed picking it up again.
To a lovely, godly friend and honorary sister!
I hope your day is wonderful, Heidi!
Peter
Lydia and the dogs
Peter was a crack-up!
Karl and Peter
Yes, I did catch it.
The group. 
Peter
That’s all for now! Check out Lydia’s and Karl’s blog for more pictures (they’ll be posting soon!)
Galena
Pete and Iona.
Greta Marie
Karl and Anya
Victor
Mom
Anya and Lydia
Dad and Iona
Sisters. 
Dad and Mom
‘ona and her purse (made by Lydia)
Dad and his beautiful gift from Johannes.
Pete and Iona
Greta
A little monkey!
Anya
Lydia
Peter and his new sword
Iona was pretty excited about my gifts
A beautiful gift from my brother!
Anya with some bookmarks made by Greta
Karl got a framed picture of his cartography project from Mom and Dad.
Victor got a framed picture of himself from Lydia.
Gifts from Anya!
Have a Merry Christmas, everyone!
Galena
I have a lot of different memories connected with all our Christmas celebrations, which by the way is my favorite holiday. Some of them are crazier than others – like the time Lydia and I got up at 1:oo and headed downstairs… and hung around the tree until morning and ate candy (yes, we do eat candy and we did sleep… some). We don’t do that any more; we lost, in part, that childish excitement and anticipation of being the “first” downstairs and the “first” to examine every present minutely… and also now we’re the ones going to bed at 1:00 on Christmas eve, and we’ve both come to realize that sleep is not to be despised.
But in light of a recent conversation I had, I started thinking about our tradition of drinking eggnog during December. For the uninitiated, eggnog is a foamy, whipped-up mixture of eggs, milk, whip-cream, sugar, vanilla, and nutmeg. It can be made with or without cooking the eggs: the kind you buy in the stores and the kind I make is made by cooking them.
I remember that one of the signals that Christmas season was starting was that the stores would start carrying eggnog and Daddy would start bringing it home from the store to put in his coffee. We loved that stuff and nothing was better than being able to drink some of the foamy, rich, goodness – with the essential nutmeg sprinkled on the top.
Of course, as our family became more health conscious over the years, that tradition died. After all, that stuff is loaded with sugar! It probably has preservatives in it too… and artificial flavor might be in there also. So, the tradition was out for a couple years but we missed our eggnog. The season just wasn’t the same without it!
So three or four years ago, we’d thought we’d try making it. The sugar content is still pretty high: you just can’t make good eggnog if it isn’t! – but that’s okay. We only make it a couple times in the season but that’s fine too – we enjoy every drop and look forward again to next year when we can have it again.
Anyway, tomorrow I’ll be making it for our Christmas morning breakfast and needless to say, we’re all looking forward to it!
Edit:
Recipe: Homemade Eggnog
Yield: 3 1/2 quarts
12 eggs
1 cup sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
2 quarts milk, divided
2 tablespoons vanilla
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 cups whipping cream
Additional nutmeg, optional
In a heavy 4-qt saucepan, whisk together eggs, sugar and salt. Gradually add 1 qt. of milk. Cook and stir over low heat until a thermometer reads 160-170 degrees, about 30-35 minutes. Pour into a large heatproof bowl; stir in vanilla, nutmeg, and remaining milk. Place bowl in an ice-water bath, stirring frequently until mixture is cool. If mixture separates, process in a blender until smooth. Cover and refrigerate for at least 3 hours. When ready to serve, beat cream in a mixing bowl on high until soft peaks form; whisk gently into cooled milk mixture. Serve in mugs with additional nutmeg, if desired.
Galena
These two little girls are so cute that I wanted to post some pictures of them from Saturday evening.
(Btw: all photo credit for the dance photos goes to Johannes)
Heather
Carli
Jonathan and Chelsea
Kaylee and her technology
Christina
Rebecca
Andra
Gabe
Mr. S
Josiah (Johann told me that you really liked this photo so that’s why I’m putting it up)
Pete
Sarah, Camden and Christian
Michaela
Talitha
Josh
Evie
Hannah and Mr. Cole
Anna S. and Katrina
Anna M.
Joshua V.
Mr. and Mrs. G
Some of the Dads.
Jeremy and Christopher
Woltersdorf girls
Josiah
Lydia
Rebekah
Anya and Andra
The peanut gallery.
More of the same.
Joshua
Zach and Josh
Kaylee
Michaela
I was able to upload some of the pictures Johannes took of our last dance (11/28) and I thought I’d post a few.
Lining up!
The Virginia Reel.
Circle Dance called “I care not for these ladies.”
“The Sausage Machine” = Really, fun dance.
Part of the same dance.
The Physical Snob.
The Virginia Reel again.