Sugar Shacks

 Spring here means it is Maple Syrup time.

Which means you have to go to Parker's Maple Barn.

You get to visit their sugar shack and see how to make Maple Syrup,

but most importantly, you get to eat a huge breakfast

covered, DRENCHED in warm, fresh maple syrup.

Basically, you drink it.

 On the way home we realized our little plot of land,

10 miles outside of Boston,

has a lot of maple trees on it.

So we tapped our maple trees.

In one day we have collected 7 gallons of sap.

I can't believe it.

The kids love checking the taps.

Home brewed maple syrup here we come!

Our Birds and Bees

We have had a long and very cold winter.

The bee experts were saying 80% of the hives died this winter.

But our hive is part of the 20%!

I couldn't believe it when I opened it the other day.

There they were, huddled together and buzzing away.

I'm so excited.

After a long winter of being cooped up, the chickens are out.

Little Coco strayed a little to far from the fold.

Poor girl, she got killed by a hawk.

 I felt so bad.

That was a sad day...but good learning experience for all of us.

 

"White Water" Kayaking

I love how creative my kids are.

They turned their sleds into kayaks 

a made paddles out of sticks.

Now they kayak down the frozen "White Water".

I Caught the Bug

I've known for a long time that family history is important.

But I have never done it.

I had all sorts of excuses for not doing it...

Some of my lines go back to Adam

My retired family is working on it full time

I'll do that during another season of my life

I don't have time

...all lame excuses.

So, I decided at the beginning of the year, I was just going to do a little bit each week.

Well, it has been so fulfilling and rewarding.

I found 42 names of ancestors who need temple work done!

42 names!

And Daniel found 5!

And now I have been researching Arnemuiden, Netherlands.

I want to go there so badly.

The Little and Big Moments

 We are just wrapping up a four day self prescribed weekend.

We had to take advantage of all the snow we got.

So we headed up to the mountains.

 Everyone else skied while Cabub and I hung out.

Poor Cabub, he wanted to ski so badly.

And he was so tired.

Fourth kids have to be flexible.

 Then we did a little CSI for Sci-Fri

(fingerprinting, substance identification, animal track identification).

We love Jackie.

She makes everything so fun and always brings a treat to share.

After Sci-Fri, we headed to the pool, and then to a trampoline park with friends.

I love being a mom.

I love being there for the little and big moments.

What a thrilling adventure and marvelous opportunity.

I'm Going to Brag a Little

We have this whole document memorized.

 I am so proud of my kids.

I love this document.

I learned so much memorizing it.

Garden Fresh

On Sunday, we used up the last of our 2014 garden harvest.

We made it until March 1st.

This year, we have plans to expand the garden and add some new veggies into the mix.

I'm so excited to dig in the dirt.

Saturday's Outing

Sometimes I want to ask my kids...

Do you know how lucky you are?

Wrestling

 Wrestling has been so great for Daniel.

It is a tough workout,

but what boy doesn't love wrestling.

 Poor Daniel, he is so tall, he always ends up wrestling the older kids.

But it is good to be the small fish in the big pond.

It turns you into the big fish.

When we wrestle at home,

he is the big fish in the little pond.

Snow Graffiti

We secretly visited Dad's work.

We found his car.

And in the snow in front of his car, we painted

"Reserved for #1 Dad"

Littered with Memories

 I love how our yard is littered with footprints.

And if you look very close,

you will notice chicken tracks.

Our kids are "training" the chickens.

It's not working out so well.

 I love that there are about 98723487623 bunny holes spattered throughout the yard.

And watching our kids play king of the igloo,

or try and help Caleb climb to the top of the snow mountains...

....is hilarious.

And check out that sunset!

Guess Who Had to Scrub the Walls?