Happy New Year, Farmgirl sisters! If you haven’t noticed, it’s been a cold January for nearly every corner of the United States at some point this month. My family and I have been in Minnesota and North Dakota for the past two weeks and have seen temperatures as low as -30–and that was without the wind chill! Where we live in Alaska has been surprisingly warm, with some days registering nearly eighty degrees warmer than spots in the Midwest.
Leaving balmy Alaska for the frigid lower 48. That doesn’t sound right!
Joan 
Alexandra Wilson 
Dori Troutman 
Kerrie H 
Carol O 
Joy 
Amanda 
Diane Van Horn 
Krista 
Marilyn 
Sandi 
Susan Lazarou 
Pamela deMarrais 
We’re in Colorado, not enough snow yet but the COLD has been too much BUT our cold is nothing compared to what y’all experienced. Your time sounded like fun, love those times with family. The girls art work is very nice. And congrats on the soon to be new addition, stay well. God bless.
Thanks, Joan! I do enjoy short stints in the extreme cold, especially with family to spend the extra indoor time.
Hi Alex!
Looks like you’ve been having a wonderful time “outside” Alaska!
I can’t believe you got to make the Aebleskiver’s!!!!! I want to make some SO BADLY. I bet they tasted amazing. Were they hard to make? I just need to buy a pan and get going!
And so excited that you are expecting again!!! Yay for babies!!!
Hugs,
Dori, the Ranch Farmgirl
Thanks, Dori! I was pretty giddy when my mom showed me the pan. They were not difficult, but they are pretty time sensitive. They seem like something that you have to make by themselves–no multi-tasking with making bacon and coffee and brainstorming dinner at the same time! Luckily, you can make them ahead of time and they heat up really well in a toaster oven or are still tasty at room temperature. I also attribute using lots of butter in each well to ensure that flipping was easy (and the results nice and buttery). They were SO good!
Hi Alex- Enjoyed your latest post espcially since I live in Lake County, CA just about 10 miles from Red Hills Rd! Our county is covered in beautiful vineyards. Congratulations on baby 3. God’s blessings to your family.
Thank you! I bet that vineyard would be so fun to visit with all of those sheep wandering around, sounds pristine!
Appreciate your sharing these moments. We live in Massachusetts and love New England. Beautiful family.
Thank you!
I love the forced seclusion . Except for going out to feed and water the chickens twice a day, I’ve been baking bread and crock potting soups and knitting up a storm . I’ve learned how to make socks! Once a weeks we girls meet at a library one town away and for two hours and have a blast! Sounds like your doing all the right things with the kids and having fun doing it this winter. I even love knitting while listening to audio books on my iPad. Love your blogs , oh and congratulations on the new addition to the family ! Maybe a boy this time?
Maybe! We are keeping it a surprise like the other two. We know it will be a human baby :). You knit socks!? How cool. I can barely knit a scarf, haha! Knitting is the perfect winter activity, I’m hoping when the kids are a little older we can all take lessons from grandma. Take care!
Congrats on baby #3 on the way!!! I’m glad you all had some well deserved time with your families. However, we sympathize with you regarding the temperatures-especially my daughters! We had wind chills of 20 below and I’ve never heard my girls whine as much as they did when it came to doing milking/barn chores. On a side note, they never got chores done so quickly before, either-gave them extra time to draw pictures on the frosty windows! There’s nothing like a 40 degree heifer barn to warm you up when it’s super cold outside! They would spend the rest of milking bundled up in the parlor, cats on their laps, reading books. Like your family, my youngest is reading the Little House series and loving it! Oldest is rereading The Hunger Games. Enjoy your balmy Alaska weather and God Bless!
Oh, I love the image of your girls reading with their cats in the parlor. Milking cows in frigid temperatures is very nice, I remember it fondly and hope to do it again sometime soon. Farm chores in the cold are definitely more of a “chore” but you are right–the cold definitely encourages quick work. Thanks for sharing!
I love the winters here in Wisconsin and I was amazed that we were colder than Alaska for a couple of weeks. Congratulations on baby number three!
Thank you! Wisconsin winters are beautiful. I lived in Madison for five years, so I got a good dose of it. I miss being able to make HUGE snow balls! We don’t get good snowball snow very often in AK. Hope you’re enjoying the more playable temps 🙂
Congratulations on your pregnancy! How exciting! I am currently pregnant with my 3rd and I’m due in April as well. I actually don’t feel prepared at all this time around. This baby is a girl and my other 2 are boys. I feel like I have no idea how to raise a girl, but I’m super excited to meet her! Your adventures to the Midwest look like so much fun, despite those cold temperatures. We are suppose to finally get a good snow storm this weekend and I’m really looking forward to it. We will finally be able to take the boys out and play in the snow. In the meantime we have spent many hours cuddling on the couch and reading books. Good luck with the remainder of your pregnancy!
Thank you, Krista–Good luck to you, too! I have a feeling you’ll do just great with a baby girl. I hope you get some snow and some great play time in it!
Thank You for sharing your visits. Ava and Opal are getting so big. They are beautiful. I love the photo of Opal reading to her stuffed animals. Congratulations on Baby#3. God Bless.
Marilyn
Congratulations Alex on baby # 3. Going from Alaska to a much colder Midwest must seem amazing to you and your girls. Pictures of them in the snow with those bright red cheeks are wonderful memory making days. I am glad you all had so much fun and were able to visit with your families. The food you talk about reminds me of small pancakes I make for myself topped with real butter and sometimes syrup. Yum! Guess I’ll go make some now. Spring is just around the corner as some here like to remind us.
Always enjoy your ramblings…wish I was able to tolerate the cold…give me a hot belly stove day is an any time kind of day to read a good book…got two completed and working on a third..God’s puzzle Solved by Art Mokarow…great reading always comforts my soul..
I love your posts! You are such a wonderful mom, and I’m excited to know that you are adding a new baby to your precious family!
I am in Colorado. Now that it is February, apparently Winter is having her say. I do love winter…it’s my “down time,” but that really means I’m just busy doing things indoors instead of out. Many of my weekends have been about creating inventory for the craft shows I’ll do this year. That time is very relaxing for me, even when a project isn’t going so great. I don’t watch television/netflix, so that won’t occupy my time. I’ve done an awful lot of sewing, and have a full bin of new inventory in bright, cheerful colors, ready to be on display at the first fair of the year in April. I love winter. It is the only time I actually sleep long nights, instead of very short ones.