Welcome Spring.

Spring starts tomorrow!

But the signs of Spring have been evident here for a while.

Our baby chicks had their first look at the world.

Auntie Hen had a crazy look in her eye. Too crazy.

Green arriving quickly and spreading.

 Flowers for some color (we are still working on the vegetables).

 Carrots from the farmer's market.

 Bathing Robins.

  "Mom! Look what I found in the compost pile!" Okay maybe I should check out a book on composting again...

We welcome Spring. Although I admit, Fall and Winter are my favorite seasons, I am always ready for the new season when it arrives. Bring on the heat! No No wait I take it back, I take it back!

Happy Birthday Taven!

Taven turns 3 today! A fighter, a challenger, a creator...of pounding headaches. My St. Patrick's Day baby. 

Does 3 mean it gets easier?

Here he is this morning.

"Mom I really want to swing from this branch (twig), but I can't reach it."

 "Taven, I think that branch is too small. It will break."

And in reply: 

"No it won't! I want to swing from it!"

He will press and press and press and never give up. Not a quitter that one (I held him up to grab the branch and, of course, break it).

We always pound clovers for Taven's birthday. We made a little bunting this year.

 Taven helped bake his birthday cake. And even got to pour the flour!

 My husband took him to buy a toy tractor and we prepared to surprise him when they returned.

 Surprise!

Cheers! ...and water all over the table.

I've been working on creating a daily rhythm by the way. I'm going to start with simply waking everyone up at the same time (8am?), eating breakfast, lunch, and dinner together at the table, and getting everyone to bed before (10pm?). When we have that established I can focus scheduling what we do between meals. Oh! I need to plan meals! I think it will really help...but I should probably get some food first.

Grandpa's Farm

Quitting Time

I know I've done this before, but I'm going to quit blogging. I blog primarily to keep track of what we do and to share ideas. I find that Pinterest fulfills my sharing need and, in an effort to give my kids a bit of privacy, I'm going to start scrapbooking our photos and keeping some sort of portfolio for their artwork, etc. Please come over to Pinterest so I can follow all of your ideas!

Over the Weekend

My husband actually did not have to work Saturday and so we all finally enjoyed some quality time together. We went over to the water wall.

 And then to the nearby Houston Arboretum.

 However, the mosquitoes were quite wicked and so we spent most of our time in the Nature Center.

 Then we headed over to my Mom's to visit. Here is a picture of Mirek and his bodyguard Stinky aka Booger.

 On Sunday, we did almost nothing except hang around, watch the Olympics, and stick okra up our noses. I spent way way way too much time on the Internet! I believe what I have is called I live in the city with no physical work to do and a baby to hold so I'm just going to hang out on the Internet all day disease.

 Actually we did go over to Gramen Farm. I wanted to get some goat's milk so that I can attempt making some chevre. Hopefully, all goes well.

One thing I wanted to mention is what I have been reading. It's really rather interesting stuff. I've been slowly making my way through Joel Salatin's Folks, This Ain't Normal and Rue Kream's Parenting A Free Child: An Unschooled Life. I'm pretty sure when I finish, I'm going to have quite a bit to say about both. I have had to stop multiple times to write down what they wrote, ponder it all, and then write down what I think about it (slow going). Some of their ideas, I believe, are loony. However, a lot of them are rather eye opening. Anyway, more on that later....