Happy New Year's Eve!

Here we are .....the very last day of 2012! We celebrated the infamous Winter Birthdays last night and had a lovely family party.  The beautiful snowy landscape added to our joyous celebration.

Snow, Snow, and More Snow!

Cake time! We wrote Mr. Yesteryear Acres Mommy's name in sprinkles

She tried to sneak the cake by us without her name

That will never happen here! HAPPY BIRTHDAY Mr. Yesteryear Acres Mommy!

Winter Birthday Cake

The Winter Birthday Girls

Making a wish!

For tonight - our very last day of the year - we will remember all the things that 2012 brought to Yesteryear Acres. The big things.  The little things.  And all the things in between.  We will take time to give thanks for all our blessings. I hope your New Year's Eve brings you Joy, Family time and lots of Love.

Here are this year's very last puppy pictures......
From a very snowy Yesteryear Acres

The snow just started falling again as we took today's photos

Yay! More Snow!

I think this puppy was ready to snuggle by the fireplace

Cute little snowflake sprinkles!

Bigger Chocolate Doodle and.......

Baby Chocolate Doodles

Happy New Year's Eve!!!!!!!!!!!

I know...let's open more presents!

We will soon be saying goodbye to our daughters and neither one will be back home again for at least 6 months. My older daughter's return could be significantly longer so we are having one last hurrah before we say our goodbyes.  My younger daughter's birthday is in late January and my older daughter's birthday is just 2 weeks later so.............I know!  Let's open more presents!  Today will be BIRTHDAY celebration day!  YEA!  We are having a birthday party complete with birthday cake, birthday dinner and birthday presents!  It was a slight scramble to get the birthday shopping done at the last minute but mission accomplished!  The hardest part was the wrapping.  Do I have birthday wrapping paper? Of course not! BUT do I have really awesome Christmas wrapping paper that is reversible and the reversed side is an lovely red plaid design that definitely looks like it could double as birthday wrap.  You just need to stretch your imagination ever so slightly - and voila!  Birthday wrap!  What is better than a winter birthday party? A winter birthday party for all!  Happy Winter Birthday Party Day!

All of that in THERE??????

Today is PACK my daughter for Europe day. Alternate titles for the day:
That is too much stuff
That can't fit in there
Do you really need that many pairs of socks
How many index cards do you really need
They do sell shampoo in Europe
They do have notebooks in Europe
No one needs that many t-shirts
Yes, one coat is enough
You only have 2 feet - why do you have so many shoes
and finally
ALL of that in THERE?
Oh my.  One suitcase is simply not made for 6 months worth of things. It is really hard to narrow down both a winter wardrobe AND a spring wardrobe into one suitcase.  6 months is a long time to be away from home and there are clothing items, school items, study items, books, toiletries, etc. that all need to fit into one checked bag and one carry on.  It is a mission that is taking all day.  It is a mission that will probably take all night.  Right now - imagine one bed, neatly made - then on top of that very neat bed everything my daughter loves to wear and can't live without is DUMPED into one gigantic mountainous pile........then imagine condensing all of that into a suitcase. I know.  You wish you were me. Back to the packing!

Proper Cookie Etiquette

As we all know - Christmas time = Cookie time!  Which is the most wonderful time of the year.  I LOVE cookies and I love decorating and making cookies with my family.  We had a cookie baking/decorating day which was a lot of fun.  Even Mr. Yesteryear Acres loves to decorate cookies.  The only dilemma we face is

"Proper Cookie Etiquette"

How does one decide WHICH Christmas cookie to eat first?
My son's philosophy is: "You eat what you frost"  Meaning - the second he is done taking a knife full of frosting and quickly smearing it across the cookie - he eats it.

Mr. Yesteryear Acres philosophy is: "You eat the cookie nearest to you". Meaning whichever cookie you can grab - is fair game.

My younger daughter's philosophy is: "You must eat the head off the cookie first".  She feels this is the most humane.

My older daughter's philosophy and my cookie philosophy are exactly the same: "Eat all the ugly cookies first."  Now you can see the dilemma.  EVERYONE knows our philosophy so whichever cookie we choose first is obviously the ugliest cookie. Then one by one we get down to the prize winning cookies. Then it becomes increasingly obvious WHO is the cookie decorating master.  Our proper cookie eating etiquette always leads to one winner. My older daughter.  Her cookies are always last.  She can't help it.  She is a cookie decorating master.  So now we must begin the "random" eating of cookies.

We really have our work cut out for us

Look at Mr. Snowman! Who can eat him?

Please don't eat my beautiful Christmas Tree!

Snowflake or......

or windswept snowman?  Who goes first?

My Santa was SO AWESOME until........

My older daughter had to make one.  She always wins!

Let the cookie eating begin!

Lazy Day

Every Christmas break my girls and I spend a whole day watching an entire season of a missed TV show. We start as soon as we wake up and make the laziness last all day long.  The shows last 42 minutes each which is perfect for   taking care of puppies.  We switch puppies after each episode so each puppy gets a turn at one-on-one snuggle TV time.  It is just about the only day of the whole year that we sit and sit and sit.  It is a guilty pleasure that we all enjoy.  Early this morning I put on a batch of homemade beef and barley soup which simmered all day while we got caught up on all that we missed.  Bowls of endless popcorn, a few Christmas candies and a delicious cheese and fruit plate completed our day of awesome laziness. Tonight Mr. Yesteryear Acres and my son will be tortured by our girlie film fest as there is no stopping the film fest once it begins.  Lazy day. Everyone needs one now and then!

Happy Blizzard Day!

The weather outside is frightful! But we love it!  We are knee-deep in the white stuff and it keeps on falling.  Today will be filled with sledding and hot cocoa! It is the perfect Day After Christmas as we will be surrounded by WHITE doodle doggies and snowflakes all day long.  It is just beautiful.
AND for more perfect Day After Christmas smiles - here are this week's puppy pictures

Juneau's Caramel Boys are getting a little bit bigger

Their coats are just starting to come in now

They are just the sweetest love sponges

With awesome coats

Trixie's Double Doodle babies

LOVED their first meal

And got their food everywhere

Cause that's what happens when you lick the bowl clean!

Our chocolate doodle babies are just starting to open their eyes.  They got their first peek of this beautiful world.

Happy Blizzard Day!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!!!

Mr. Yesteryear Acres, the doodle doggies, and I wish everyone the MERRIEST of Merry Christmases!  I hope your day is filled with love, peace and joy and you and your family are surrounded by happiness.  Our day here will be spent with family and doodle doggies and endless smiles.  What is better than a White Christmas, a cup of hot cocoa, a blazing fire and delicious Christmas goodies? We are just overflowing with Christmas Happiness.  Borrowing a line from our favorite Christmas movie of all time, "A Christmas Story".......

"All was Right with the World"

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Merry Christmas Eve Day!

We love Christmas Eve Day.  Ever since the kids were little, we have saved Christmas Eve day just for us.  No company.  Very little work. No schedules. Just lots and lots and lots of family time.  It is a day we hold so close to our hearts.  Christmas Eve Day means family happiness.  We have the perfect recipe...
A little bit of Homemade Cream Cheese Coffee Cake
A little dash of sledding
A little pinch of hot cocoa and marshmallows
A slice of "Elf"
A heaping serving of "A Christmas Story"
mixed well with
FAMILY FAMILY FAMILY FAMILY
And Tonight - we will sit down to a feast. And we will feast and we will feast and we will feast feast feast!
And Mr. Yesteryear Acres himself.....will carve the Roast Beast!
PERFECT!
Merry Christmas Eve!

Who wakes up this early?

Today was Puppy day for some lucky puppy families!  Mr. Yesteryear Acres and my daughter set out this morning at 5am to do the infamous puppy delivery run. The sky was still dark and thousands of stars were twinkling in the sky as we loaded up the puppy mobile. The puppies all looked at us with tired eyes wondering why we were disturbing them from their peaceful slumber.  Who gets up this early? We looked back at the puppies with the exact same sleepy look.  My younger daughter was kind enough to accompany Mr. Yesteryear Acres as this gave them one last chance to have a long chat together.  A whole day uninterrupted with just the two of them. Days like that are precious and few. My younger daughter will be gone for 6 months right after Christmas break so this was just the day they needed for their one-on-one time. They picked out their favorite music and I packed a yummy lunch for the two of them and off they went with lots of puppy tails wagging.  They won't be back until late this evening and I have a big pot of Cream of Leek and Potato Soup simmering on the stove and a batch of homemade Pretzel Rolls ready for them when they return. Tonight all our puppies will be snuggled with their new families with visions of sugar plums dancing in their heads. Merry Day before Christmas Eve!

No Cookies yet....BUT MAN can we build a house!

Today was supposed to be COOKIE DAY..........but as everything here at Yesteryear Acres - the "To-Do" list is always subject to change.  Instead of cookie-a-rama day- we became construction workers and built an entire house.  And Barn.  And fencing. We are that good.

Home sweet home....and Barn Sweet Barn

Our home - of course completely built from scratch - complete with a campfire and a stocked pond with fish

We were lucky to have enough "Construction Materials"

as my son liked to sample the building scraps.

Our lovely barn and barn animals. The even have appropriate "bedding".

Every Marshmallow snowman needs a scarf!

Every door needs a candy wreath!

The back of the barn with almond shutters.

And a fire in the fireplace

AND OF COURSE

Since this is Yesteryear Acres

A doggie house complete with licorice Doggie Bowls!

Happy House Building Day!

Now That's What I Call The First Day of Winter!

Happy Winter Solstice!  We definitely were blessed with an AWESOME first day of winter!  Yesteryear Acres is blanketed in a beautiful snowy landscape and we can't stop smiling! IT IS SNOWING!!!!!

Doodles LOVE the snow!

And everything is so beautiful!

HEY!  DID YOU KNOW THERE ARE DEER OUT HERE?

I am going to POUNCE!

Hey....where did that snowball go????

Frosty says YEA FOR SNOW!

Doodle Snow Smile!

It was really snowing hard!

Snow everywhere and no ice on the pond!

Can you find the Christmas Elf?

Snow always brings BIG SMILES!  

Walking in a winter wonderland

Bestest Snow Buddies

Let it Snow! Let it Snow! Let it Snow!

Snow picnic anyone?

Yesteryear Acres

All is calm.....All is bright

Happy First Day of Winter