Crafty Day

Since I worked with the children at church last Sunday, I was not at all surprised when a few of the boys felt ill by midweek. (The petrie dish of child contagion gets us every time.) Phil succumbed to the cold on Saturday, and slept all day. The boys were feeling mellow, so we read a few books and they watched four (eek!) movies. It was a bit ridiculous.

But it was terribly windy outside, so we wouldn't have wanted to be out, even if everyone was happy and healthy. Wind is our least favorite weather.

We had decided Saturday that we would lay low on Sunday, too, which ended up being good. The wind brought a temperature drop, and the bulb in our heat lamp, that keeps our water thawed, burned out. So we had no running water, which meant no showers. The cows' water had also frozen, so by the time we had fed ourselves and the cows, and watered everyone, and bathed, it was night.

In the meantime, Jadon read to his younger brothers.

The older boys were ready to do something interesting, so they worked with Phil on their Christmas kits: birdhouses. Phil needed to help them, as my woodworking skills are nonexistent.

Jadon's is fairly traditional.

Isaiah's a bit more unusual. (It even has a hinged door so you can open it to clean it.)

Then they started tying hemp bracelets.

They made a clock that runs on the juice of potatoes (no, really: the zinc and copper strips somehow turn two potatoes into a battery that powers a little LED clock). The younger boys amused themselves with books. And they played horse.