Gingerbread Decorating, Ice Storm and Gifts from Brazil

Season's Greetings, my friends!  Yesterday the boys opened an advent gift from their other grandma and it was a kit with 4 BIG gingerbread men and all the things to decorate them with.  So, in the afternoon Kristi set us all up with our cookies so Dayle and I could decorate with the boys.  We had so much fun!  This is mine.. the only girl cookie in the bunch.  LOL!

Caleb really did well placing all those candy beads on his.

Hayden and grandpa were hard at work.

Mmmm.. Hayden thinks the frosting is pretty tasty!

Grandpa did a pretty good job, too.. don't you think?

An ice storm began at around 8 pm last night.  There was raging winds all the while and we heard huge ice cubes hitting the roof all night.  My thoughtful husband Dayle grabbed my camera and trudged around the farm snapping some shots for me.

Ice encases the branches of our old apple tree up behind the farmhouse.

That's quite some ice, eh?

Looking across our pasture to the neighbors trees all covered with ice.

Little icicles hanging from our garage.  We have 2 skylights over our bed and our master bedroom is on the end of the house next to our little forest so we heard big ice cubes hitting right over our heads all night with a BANG!  

When my blog friend Taci went to visit her family in Brazil, she brought Gracie and I some souvenirs!  Her mother actually painted the flowers on this cotton weaving!  How nice of her to send these to us.  She wanted to give us something in return for the hats we crocheted for her project of helping poor young mothers in the mountains in Brazil.

Taci also gave me a clay hen and chick made in Brazil.. I just adore them!  They are now living in my dining room window sill.

Taci also brought me a tiny sand painting in a tiny glass jar.. it's not much over 1 inch in length.. about the size of your index finger from the knuckle joint to the tip.  The design is made in sand.. can you imagine?  Thanks, Taci!

I forgot to show you the cookies Kristi made for us for after we decorated the tree.  They are oatmeal, raisin, chocolate chip and are YUMMY!

I'm not sure whether I will be able to drive on our roads to get to swimming.  We aren't hearing many vehicles go by and they canceled school in Corbett for the last two days due to the ice storm.  But so far we're staying warm and have not lost electricity, although it's blinked off several times.  I hope you're staying warm and dry.  ((hugs)), Teresa :-)