Sunshine and Popsicles

All the snow has finally melted, the grass is getting greener, and the boys brought me the first of the dandelions yesterday. I'd say it's finally SPRING. It's been a long winter and I'm so happy the sun is out and everything is growing. I have some seedlings that are almost ready to go in the ground, and with hopefully our last freeze warning last night, they should be planted next week. I have some beets, corn, and carrots already planted in my raised beds. I also planted 4 different kinds of mint, lemon balm and some dwarf dahlias in a wine barrel next to my front door. I covered them with an old sheet last night to protect from the frost. 

The chickens have been laying about 7 eggs a day, so we have been sharing a lot with Chris' coworkers, Tim and Dave. As long as I check them a couple times throughout the day, they don't try to eat them. I think they just did that in the early spring because they were bored and didn't want to walk outside in the snow. We've been letting them walk around the yard while we watch them, and they love it. August has a favorite chicken and will follow her around the whole time we have them out. He calls her Duck Life, which is a computer game the kids like to play, but her real name is Josephine. She's a Cuckoo Maran and lays beautiful dark brown almost chocolate colored eggs. On Tuesday we got a massive double yolk-er, it is about twice as big as the normal eggs. I wonder why they lay such big eggs sometimes. 

Wishing for springy weather

Still snowy... so no gardening yet. :( Although I have been researching a lot for when the snow is gone, and I can plant. One of the things I've been looking into is hugelkultur, which means hill culture or hill mound. It's a no-dig raised bed filled with cut branches, has excellent drainage, provides extra planting space, and seems like the perfect plan! Chris and I trimmed up all the trees in the front section of our forest so they would not be full of ticks come summer, and we thought we'd have to rent a chipper to take care of all the branches. This way we actually use some of them, and even if we do still need a chipper, the job will be quicker.
The boys had their library story hour today, and since there are only a few classes left and Gus is almost four anyway, Miss Mary said he could join the big kids in the hour-long kindergarten style class. I stayed close just in case August got freaked out, but he did great and loved it. I got a bunch of knitting time, and we didn't have to get there at 9:30. Afterward, we walked in the beautiful falling snow to Cabin Creek Coffee and got coffee and muffins.

Spring Break so far

We are completely snowed in today. The snow started last night and I think we have about 8 inches so far. The wind is making deep piles against the house and cars. Everything is shut down except the airport, so Chris still had to go to work. He took my car since it does better in the snow. The chickens are hiding inside and have not laid any eggs. They are probably just as sick of the snow as us!
This morning I used the last of the raw milk to make mozzarella. It was getting sour, which is actually called clabbered milk, and isn't rotten or bad like pasteurized milk when it goes beyond the best by date. It is still good for you and can be used for lots of things, although I'm not fond of the taste or smell when drinking it straight. It kind of reminds me of previously frozen and defrosted breast milk. I gave the leftover whey to the chickens since it is supposed to be good for them and was still nice and warm. I haven't tried the cheese yet but it looks good!
This past weekend Chris had three days off, so we decided to spend the weekend in Frankenmuth since we've been wanting to go back and explore and go to Bronner's when it's not Christmas and completely overrun. Bronner's is a 361-days-a-year Christmas store. We tried to book a room at the Drury Inn, which is our favorite hotel chain, but they didn't have any of their bigger rooms available, and none of the other hotels had any either. So we booked a room at the Drury Inn about an hour south of Frankenmuth in Troy MI. Its just outside of Detroit and we hadn't been to that area of the state yet, but we have tickets to go to a baseball game near there in a few weeks, and this would work as a scope the area trip. We were going to try and go to Bronner's still, but since it was Easter weekend, it was closed on Sunday when we were driving past on the way home. It was still a fun trip, and the kids enjoyed going to an aquarium and swimming in the pool. I got to shop at Trader Joe's, which we don't have up here. Bridget stayed with our friends, Dave and Sara.

Fun filled Sunday

It's so nice to see the sunshine back out. While it's definitely still feeling like winter with the 30 degree-ish temps, the sun shining makes everything feel warmer. I enjoyed soaking some up at two different farms yesterday. After church and lunch, we took the kids out to the Bixel's farm to meet their two baby goats. They were precious and I got to hold one. He did the adorable bleet sound that sounds like a baby yelling mom, which is so funny.

There were cats everywhere, and the kids were pretty much holding one the whole time. Addie didn't want to leave a cute orange one. August wasn't as interested in the cats, but loved running around the big beautiful yard and exploring next to the frozen ponds. 

The Bixel's make soap with their goats' milk and gave us a bag of soap ends to take home. They smell so good. We had a lot of fun, but it was pretty chilly! Next, we went about 30 minutes east to Hillman where there is an organic dairy farm. We planned to meet Rose, our CSA (Community supported agriculture) lady there and see if we could set up a farm share of milk and have her bring it into town with our veggie share. When we got there we were so surprised to see Adam, the piano player from church with a huge red beard, walk out of the house! We had no idea he was the farmer we were meeting. Addie and Chris got the tour of the farm and barns while the boys and I waited in the car. August and Alec were asleep most of the time. Asher and I watched the guinea hens and chickens free range around the yard, ate some snacks, and played bloons. After about an hour, Chris came back with a free jug of milk for us to take home, which everyone enjoyed trying, then everybody got in the bath and headed to bed. We all had a great time and it was such a nice afternoon in the sunshine and fresh air.

A normal day in the life

The kids had another snow day yesterday, and it pretty much snowed all day. Around 4pm it slowed down and we all went outside. Chris and I shoveled the driveway while the kids played in the snow and rode scooters. Chris surprised us with pizza for dinner which was delivered right as we finished the job.
Today, Alec and Gus and I took Jimmy Johns sandwiches out to the boys at the tower and Sara at her work, which is right down the road from the tower. We took them up to the cab and hung out for a few minutes, and when the boys got too noisy we left and got them Mcdonalds on the way home.
I am trying to get caught up on dishes and laundry for the weekend. I usually end up doing some chores on the weekend, but I like to have them caught up enough that I don't HAVE to do any. I'm going to put on some dancing music and get stuff done for about an hour, then hopefully have a little time to knit before Chris and the big kids get home.

Snow Day

Overnight, we got a few inches of snow, so school is canceled. The back roads are too icy for the buses. Since school is canceled, the kids don't have library programs or ready set swim or girls on the run. Instead of being the busiest day of the week, we have nothing going on! I don't think anyone is disappointed except for Addison, who wanted to see her best friend at GOTR. We will probably just eat and play all day, maybe watch a movie and do a craft. I have some more laundry to fold since I only got two loads folded and put away yesterday. I will definitely be doing some knitting; I'm almost done with a top that I had to put on the back burner for a gift knit. 

It's my second day of writing on here, and I'm trying to decide what sets it above having a diary as a kid. It feels the same, but I don't want to just brain dump whatever is on my mind and leave it here. I definitely want to pick subjects to write on or post about projects I did with pictures and helpful notes. For now, I will brain dump... 

Second Winter

We have almost made it through our second winter in Michigan. It has been less snowy than last year, but definitely still cold. We are supposed to get a couple of inches of snow today, but all the snow build up was able to melt over the sunny weekend. I feel adapted to the weather now, although I still do not enjoy driving in the snow and ice. We have had a few days where the ground was literally one sheet of ice from rain the night before freezing solid.
I can hear Betty the chicken being very loud right now. I think she's laying an egg. We got six eggs this morning, I think almost all of the chickens are laying now. It's fun to take the little boys down to check for eggs in the morning after taking the big kids to school. We give the hens scratch corn and mealworms, refill their food and water, and bring the eggs to the house. Since the water sometimes freezes over night in their waterer, I have a plastic bowl that I can fill.
Today is going to be laundry day since we don't have anything else planned. I want to brew tea and start my kombucha again. Its been in the fridge "sleeping" over the winter because we weren't drinking it fast enough and then the new bottles would pressurize when left to ferment too long, and explode when we opened them! I've been feeding the sourdough starter and its doing well. I want to try making a completely sourdough raised loaf soon, which looks tricky. It has to rise for 8-10 hours instead of the 2-3 with traditional yeast. I made some sourdough bread with Lora when she visited for Chris' birthday, but we used sourdough starter and yeast for a quicker rise, and it was not very sour tasting. It also had a close texture instead of the big bubble spaces you see in the San Francisco style sourdough.
Tomorrow is Wednesday and our busiest day of the week. Addison and Asher have a walking school bus about a block from school, so we drop them off a little early. They also need to have their running clothes (for Addie's Girls on the Run program after school) and swim trunks and towel (for Asher's Ready Set Swim program). Then the boys and I come home and get dressed and ready for the library. August has a 30 minute program at 9:30, and Alec has a preschool style reading hour at 10:30, so we spend the whole morning at the library. August and I spend the second session time downstairs playing legos, knitting, and reading books. They get homemade cookies from their teacher Ms. Mary afterwards. We pick out new books for the big kids, and lots of picture books. Sometimes we stop at Meijer on the way home for dinner supplies and lunch. When we get home, Bridget needs walking and we have lunch and usually need some quiet time. The boys probably need a nap, but neither of them will take one anymore.
This weekend Chris cut all the boys' hair and also the dogs. They look nice, although he left Gus' curls on top and I need to trim them a little. We also loaded up about 3/4 of the cardboard from the garage and Chris recycled it yesterday. I wanted to get the garage cleaned before it snows again, but it looks like that won't happen. Hopefully we'll have some nice weather next week and I can get the rest of the job done. I tried to fill Alec's bike tires the other day, and couldn't find the bike pump, so the garage definitely needs cleaning. Or the bike pump got left somewhere in the yard, hope not though. We also met some friends from church for breakfast at Connie's Cafe, our favorite breakfast place. They have enormous cinnamon rolls and we bought one for Dave and Sara because they haven't been there yet. We also took the kids to Dr. Seuss's birthday party at the library; they had a couple of crafts to do and some popcorn. Asher had a birthday party at the bowling alley for his friend Allie who lives down the road. After we finished at the library, we went back to the bowling alley and we all bowled and had pizza and root beer. It was a lot of fun! I definitely want to make it a regular thing; they have a family deal for $42 dollars with pizza and an hour and a half of bowling.
Chris started doing the ketogenic diet again this week for a 30 day Biggest Loser challenge they are doing on base. David and Sara are also participating. I am not doing keto with Chris which makes it a little harder for him, and makes me feel guilty so I might do low carb with him but not as strict. I packed him a leftover chicken breast with lemon cream sauce and broccoli for lunch, as well as some hard boiled eggs (from our chickens), roasted pecans, asiago cheese crisps, and some electrolyte water. He's doing intermittent fasting, so he will just drink his coffee and water until noon-ish. That puts him at about 18 hours of fasting depending on when he eats dinner.
I think thats all for now since I need to start some chores.