Holy 6 months!

A new cousin!

We are thrilled to share the happy news that we have a new niece & cousin! Nathan and Barbara welcomed beautiful Sanne Grace (pronounced Sa-na) on Friday morning, February 9. The world is a better place for her safe arrival. More pictures to come after we have the joyful pleasure of meeting Sanne in person. Lostview Farm is celebrating!

Sanne Grace Nordlund

The Tooth is Out There

Nothing like a stupid play on words to let you know that we've finally sighted Owain's evasive first tooth! After a mere 3 1/2 months! Hooray! I'd attach photo evidence, but he'll barely let me see it, let alone take a picture. Someday...

Socks, Corn Nuts, and a Set of Steak Knives

Right now I am wearing the coziest slippers I've ever owned. They're soft and stripey and like the best socks but with soles! My glee about my new slippers is due completely to the generosity of Amy J., Corrie and Ruthie. You see, yesterday we received our annual post-Christmas Christmas package from the ladies. We've come to adore this yearly outpouring of goodies, always including socks from the Fred Meyer sock sale. I'm not kidding you, 90% of the socks in my drawer are from Amy and Corrie. So, today I sit in my cozy slipper socks, enjoying chocolate covered macadamia nuts, lavish lotion, toys for the boys, while I enjoy every page of our newly acquired "Cup of Joy" cookbook. I don't know how they did it, but those ladies snagged us a copy of this old gem. Last night Jay and I leafed through the sections, looking for recipes from our favorite people. Some winners included stuffed grape leaves from Diane Roth, millet waffles from Barb Plies, green mint brownies from Amy J. and frozen fruit salad from Kathie Gray, (sour cream, fruit cocktail, mini marshmallows, and food coloring - it's as easy as that!).

A thousand thanks, ladies. We're planning our menu right now.

130 Club

I am now a member of the 130 club. Saturday afternoon I stripped down to my garden clogs and ran outside to the hot tub, which was at 104 degrees. Outside the sun was shining bright on the clean snow, but the air temperature was -15 and with the wind chill -30. Yikes. Invigorating. Painful. On my run back to the house my fingers stuck to the doorknob.

We are experiencing the more normal Wisconsin winter. Crazy to think we are on the exact parallel as Portland but no Pacific Ocean to keep the air warmer. We had ice on the inside of our windows this morning. The curtain over our bedroom window was frozen to the plastic we keep over our windows to keep the windows sealed. For all of you northwesterners, the midwest has two weird window features. One is insect screens. All the windows have a fine mesh screen to keep out bugs (mosquitos, ladybugs, junebugs, wasps). Second is plastic wrap for windows. The wrap comes in big sheets that fit over the window and has tape that you put on your trim. The wrap sticks nicely to the tape. The awesome part is that you blow-dry the wrap and it's barely visible to the naked eye! You will notice ours at night as the light reflection in the wrap warps in variation and shape as the wind moves it. Through the window.

I digress. No worries, Owain is staying nice and warm jumping inside. In fact under his johnny jump-up the polyurathane protection is flaking off the floor. I guess the protectant is no match for Owain's sleeper soles!

An exciting update - no school on Monday the weather was too cold. It was a fun day stoking fires, cooking food, playing with Owain and flirting with Charis.

Jay