2:00pm

The moment finally arrived. As a parent it was better then Christmas. Seeing the joy on their face when I walked in the door with that peeping box will forever be etched in my heart.

I was so surprised (and relieved being he's only two) by how gentle Jackson was able to handle them. And Grace learned that if you rub the top of their head and sing them a song they go right to sleep... so precious!

We decided to go with a variety of chicks- 6 Buff Orpingtons, 3 Australorps, and 3 Brahmas. The Buff Orpingtons will be a beautiful orange color (the prettiest chicken if you ask me), the Australorps will be black, and the Brahmas white. They are all suppose to be cold hardy, good layers, and gentle with children... but we will see I guess.

Now only 5 more months until farm fresh eggs...

(ps I cheated on the banner up there. Those flower bloom pictures are from last year. It will be another 5 days or so before they look like that this year. Just trying to move spring along a bit... even if it's only in my head)

7:30am

Sunday

Shorts (gotta love that outfit)
Lunch on the picnic table
More garden beds built
New screen door on
More flowers blooming
Taco salad for dinner
It almost felt like summer...

Much Better

Ahhh, what a difference a day makes. Today was heavenly. My favorite sort of day. Ryan had the day off and it was a beautiful spring day, sunny and warm. We spent the entire day outside working and playing.


Jackson and I got all the bird feeders filled. (He is my little birder.)


Found blooming flowers everywhere.


These two played incredibly well together all day imagining and exploring.


I spent almost the whole day searching through the woods for rocks and hauling wagon loads of them over to my rock pile. It is amazing how happy I am digging for rocks.


5 new garden beds completed (the motivation for all my rock hunting).


And finally. We successfully finished our second batch of mouth wateringly delicious maple syrup... in our new pot.

I am going to bed with a smile on my face tonight.

Low Moments of My Day... From Low to Lowest

~ It could be that I was doomed from the beginning. I didn't get enough sleep last night and that is a common thread that runs through my not-so-good-days.

~ After spending way to long trying to finish up a doll quilt for our schools silent auction I had to turn in something that was not my best work. I'm totally fine with less then perfectness when the gift is going to say my children, not so much when it is being sold.

~ By 11 in the morning I had a house so messy it honestly looked like we had been robbed. Picture overflowing laundry baskets, dirt trekked through the house from the previous days muddy boots, piles of tiny fabric scraps cut by Grace that were everywhere "for a quilt for the new baby someday" (no I'm not pregnant), neglected breakfast dishes... I could go on...

~ Realized my heat mat had gotten unplugged for my tomatoes (which explains why I only have 6 of them... so much for 63 tomato plants).

~ But by far the biggest low was coming home and finding our giant sap pot on fire. The whole bottom half of the pot was completely gone. While Ryan did remind me later that ground and grass were completely soaked from rain and melting snow and no "fire" could have possible spread beyond the pot, I was still pretty disgusted with our ridiculous decision to let that burn while we were gone.



Thankfully I was able to pull it together enough to end my day on a half-way decent note. After putting out the fire(!!) I managed to clean our house and make a pot of veggie soup for dinner.

Thankfully tomorrow is a new day.

Spring Weekend

Well it finally feels like spring is here. It doesn't really look like it since there are still traces of snow everywhere... but when it's 50 degrees out that's easy to ignore.

Our weekend was filled with a lot of playing and working outside.



Ryan worked on continuing to build up our log pile for next year (he would probably want me to add that this picture doesn't do the "pile" any justice, it is currently one story high and still growing).



I spent my time (with my helpers of course) unearthing rocks. Lots and lots of rocks. Which I then used to build two new garden beds.



As always this time of year here, we uncovered many new treasures including these stone "stairs" that lead down to the pond.



And finally, we started boiling our sap. I can't yet say the results as it is still a work in progress.



But I can say that it was a very, very fulfilling weekend.

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.







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















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

When It's Still Winter...

Make your own Spring indoors.

Weekend Highlights

~ 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



~ 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

Signs of Spring

Under dressed children


Green


Muddy children


Puddles


An overabundance of wet outdoor clothes


Yes, spring must be close now...

My Little Helpers

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

A Week In Review

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.



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.



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.



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.



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).



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.

Off To Bed

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.