3.27.2011

My Sunday

This is how my day starts on a lot of days... I finally had to capture it on film. Air instrument playing is a highly respected talent around here. Almost all instruments have been mastered, but the guitar and harmonica are definitely the favorites.

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The concert was followed by a trip to the pool where we spent the rest of the morning swimming.

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I ended my day by planting 62 tomatoes and crossing my fingers for better luck then I had with the onions (1 for 36).

3.25.2011

When It's Still Winter...

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Make your own Spring indoors.

3.20.2011

Weekend Highlights

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~ 50 degrees and sunny
~ Watching Grace set up her "house" in the tepee
~ Spending all afternoon outside
~ Getting Jackson's "new" room painted
~ A visit from Katie and Kris

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~ Coming in the house to the yummy smell of cookies that Katie made with Grace and Jackson
~ Setting up our "sugar shack" and collecting 14 gallons of sap
~ Making monkey oatmeal for breakfast (although I think I'm the one that liked it the best)
~ Watching Jackson proudly show daddy his new room
~ The return of Franky and Frida

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3.17.2011

Signs of Spring

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Under dressed children

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Green

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Muddy children

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Puddles

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An overabundance of wet outdoor clothes

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Yes, spring must be close now...

3.16.2011

My Little Helpers

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Cleaning the stairs (they actually got them clean too!).

3.15.2011

A Week In Review

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My family left me again last weekend. This time for four days. I spent two days painting blissfully in my kitchen... working very hard on a project I hope to finish soon.

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The other two days I spent at this conference... which was amazing. I learned so much about bee keeping (and bees!) and feel very excited to be beginning my new endeavor next month. I was also reminded how much I love science and have a sudden desire to get my hands on a microscope.

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I made this painting in class last week with tempera paints and now I can't stop thinking about them. I'm not sure that it counts as "art" when you use an art medium that is made for 5 year olds, but I've never had so much fun painting. Must get some.

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Ryan has been working really hard to chop firewood for next year. Our first winter trying to heat our house with wood was a good eye opener as to how much we really need. A lot.

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Ryan also decided he wanted to tap our Maple Trees this year which I was ecstatic about. I'm not sure my vision of tapping trees was quite as grand as his though as we now have 30 tapped trees. I have to admit that "making the rounds" is much more fun then I thought. And should everything go well we could have a year's worth of maple syrup (and we do love syrup).

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Spring is still not here... yet. I have a little more spring fever then I did last year and looking back on my blog (and last year's March 15th) isn't helping. But I can feel that it's getting close. Falling rain has replaced falling snow... and instead of sliding on ice we are stomping through mud. Yes very soon.

I have been spending more time away from here these days to try and make some space in my life for some other things I want to get done before summer. While I do love posting here on a regular basis, it has also been freeing in a way to let it go just a bit. I think that's how it's probably going to be for the next few months or so. But I'm also looking forward to June when I have a lot less on my plate (and no work) and can be back here every day to record our summer adventures.

3.06.2011

Off To Bed

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Phew. That was a long week. Five days of work, one night of school, and one full day of homework. Today was my first day off since last weekend. I'm not use to that I guess. But we made up for it today with a full family day of playing and cleaning and cooking and a lot of outside time. And there's just enough time left in the night to squeeze in some more garden planning and watching a good comedian with Ryan before going off to bed... and then starting it all again tomorrow.