This is an older video of a cute little reading session with Cyprus. This boy LOVES to read.

Of course, when he can’t convince anyone to read to him, he just reads to us.

What can I say, this kid likes to sing and dance!

Happy Holidays!
What a year we have had! For sure, 2011, was full of twists and turns and adventures! We have so many things we are thankful for this year.

Miss Daphne is growing up so quickly! She celebrated her 4th birthday in March. She is very proud to be 4, and she proves how grown up she is every day. She has taken on many different chores around the house. She especially loves to be involved in the growing and preparing of food. She spent countless hours helping plant, weed, water and harvest the garden. She’s even got a very big garlic patch growing that promises some delicious 2012 eating.
Daphne started her study of ballet this year. This is something she has always expressed interest in. She takes her study very seriously, and decided to perform in the Nutcracker! We are grateful for the patience of Miss Emma and the willingness to include such small children in this production. Daphne was a trooper. She practiced hard and did a great job when it came time to shine on stage.
This September, Daphne started school. She is home schooling with mom, and is doing a great job. She is working hard on her writing and math skills, and Jared has been working hard with her on her reading. She can now read many chapters from Dick and Jane. We are really excited to see her grow through her education.

Master Cyprus is also growing up. He turned two this year, and we celebrated with a pie picnic in our orchard. Somehow, our baby turned into a cowboy! She has a miniature horse that he rides and rides and rides. He even went through a period when if you asked him his name he would say, “I’m not Cyprus, I’m a cowboy.” Our little cowboy loves the farm, and he can be seen outside helping with chores even in the rain and the freezing temperatures. He is very helpful to his mama, and he helped pick hundreds of pounds of strawberries, blueberries, cherries, blackberries, peaches, pears, figs and apples.
Jared has been working hard, and he expanded his company and hired two new employees. We are grateful for the work and dedication of the Expansion Computers staff. Jared got to fulfill a long standing dream this year. After 5 years of working out of tiny corners in our house, he has renovated and moved in to his own office space! The farm’s old dairy make room now houses the world headquarters of Expansion Computers! Jared revels in the peace and quiet at having his own space. He has plenty of windows to watch out over the farm. Perhaps the best feature of his office is the heated floor. Jared has finally beat the cold!
Christine has been working and farming away. The kids and her managed to raise enough food that we now have 5 freezers full of our own delicious bounty! She is enjoying being a farmer, a mother, a teacher, a chef, a textile designer, a bookkeeper or whatever other job she needs to be on any given day.
We completed the total renovation of the play room this year. It took over 400 hours of careful work. Christine made the paint herself, and the room now rings of its 100 year old past.
This was our first full year on our farm. We finalized the sale of our property, and it is now ours for good! Even though there were some tough moments this year, we have had a lot of fun and joy as well. Spring time brought Easter egg hunts in the orchard and plenty of green grass for the cows. Summer was passed with many lazy days in the hammock and plenty of bouncing and goofing around on the trampoline. Fall brought us many, many, many bushels of apples and pears. We watched the leaves on OUR trees turn colors and fall as the cool breeze chased off the heat of summer. This winter has been passed with lots of cooking (and eating!) hearty meals and some knitting in front of the fire.
So many momentous things happened in 2011. We made some wonderful new friends and celebrated, births and weddings with old friends. We wish you a warm and joyous holiday season. We hope that this dark season bring you light . May your pantries be full, your food be delicious and your fires be warm.
Warmly,
Jared, Christine, Daphne and Cyprus
We are thankful for:
kisses from my boy | brussels sprouts | home grown chicken dinners | high speed internet | childrens peaceful sleeping faces | strawberries freshly picked still warm from the sun | baby bunnies | cozy warm beds | a barn full of hay | a large home garden | shelves full of canned goods |a husband who is always willing to wear his farmers hat | 3 family meals each day | Jared’s new office with a heated floor | 5 freezers full of nourishing food | owning property free and clear | owning our farm officially! | new fencing | soft, slippery mohair | baby animals | our cozy wood stove | sheepskins | calla lilies | ratatouille | a remodeled playroom | our trusty little car | huckleberries | the Carlton house sale | fresh cheese curds | Community Plate | raw milk | 2 happy cows | grits | Jerry Ripp | reclaimed wood floors | knitting | farm tours | potlucks | feeding Corey and Armen | food from other farmers | bead board | new babies | buckets full of blueberries | our trusty tractor | Thanksgiving dinner | Miss Emma | ballet shoes | family and friends

Mr. Cyprus got these wonderful overalls for Christmas, and we are getting ready to put them to good work cleaning the barn. Notice they are already nice and dirty, these will get some GOOD use.

Miss Daphne has now learned to swim across the pool without any assistance, no help from me, no floaties, nothing. As a reward, we got her some spiffy new goggles! Check these out! She thinks they are pretty cool!

We routinely go swimming 1-3 times each week. It is a fun way for the kids to get out of the house and exercise. I do have an underwater housing for the video camera, so I get to take video of the kids under the water.

This ought to get you in the holiday spirit.

Cyprus has always been my hat man. When he was born, even though he was due in the summer, I worked to make him a hat, and from the moment he was born until he outgrew it, that hat was on his head or near his head. It was made out of hand spun yarn that was mostly angora rabbit. After I was done with it, it had bloomed quite a bit and it was adorable. That hat has since been lent out and lost, but I remember it very fondly.

Of course, not having a hat was unacceptable for Cyprus, so I pulled out the trusty spinning wheel and spun up some grey Shetland/Angora yarn that was to die for. I had also recently run into a hat pattern I couldn’t live without, so I spent a frantic week spinning and knitting a hat #2 for Cyprus. Technically, it was a matching hat, sock, pants set. The socks got good use and have since been outgrown. The pants have also been outgrown, so the only thing that is left is the hat. BOY does Cyprus love and appreciate that hat!

Young kids have a reputation of being hard to keep hats on, and they tend to lose them easily, but looking back through my year of photos, I see the many, many times the hat has warmed the head of my little man.

It kept him warm last winter while we were outside in the weather quite a bit trying to set up a farm.

It did its job in the dead of winter when we received our only snow of the season and had to go out and play all morning.

It accompanied him out to do the chores during the long, late spring.

It kept the wind off his bald head while we explored the tulip fields.

It made him look adorable at every possible opportunity.

And, after a long summer break, it again made an appearance as we went out to explore some Pioneer Cemeteries for Halloween.

And he has worn it almost every single day since the weather started to get cold. Recently, someone was asking me about using Angora in yarn, I asked Cyprus to grab his hat to show an example. He went and grabbed his hat and came running through the house shouting, “I’ve got my hat, there is rabby (his work for rabbit) in my hat.” He was so proud to show it off.

The hat now tells a story, it has a meaning for me, and it’s still a bit big, so I know it will continue on keeping my boy cute and warm for another few years before he out grows it and it is time to make a new one. This, folks, is why I knit.

Cyprus really, REALLY loves umbrellas right now, so in yesterday’s torrential rain (we got 2.5 inches in one day!), he got an opportunity to use his umbrella.

This is an old video from over a year ago, but I can’t help but sharing in the cute adorableness!