A lovely sabbath day!

Today was glorious!  The sun was shining and the temperatures soared above freezing, making it just right for working together outside.  With Jason's focus going primarily to the bathroom project, we have not had a lot of time working in the same area together.  So what a treat to have him stationed at the picnic table doing some much needed chicken coop rehabs, while the girls and I loosened stacks of frozen leaves to put on new garden beds.  I think they were about as happy as I was to be working out in the cool air and warm sunshine.  It was fun to hear Alida's giggles as we pushed her over into the big leaf pile and to see Kali now able to give Alida wheelbarrow rides.  I also let the chickens out early to range so they could be traipsing around us.  We all had plenty of energy after a delicious brunch of fresh kale (see photo below for our picking conditions) and pork sausage, both thanks to generous neighbors, and some coconut flour waffles (still trying to make something that isn't dry with coconut flour - that stuff is incredible!).

It's been nice to have a bit of a breather from the bathroom project while the concrete cures.  I took the opportunity to "reclaim" our floors yesterday, thereby enjoying a full day of walking around without grit under my feet.  I know it will be a mess again soon enough, but I've relished this short stint of cleanliness.  Below you will find a smattering of photos from recent days.  The second round of chicks is due to hatch early this week.  I'm quite impressed by the first mama hen that has kept all 9 chicks warm under her feathers, even with our 2 degree night this week.  They are getting their little feathers and Jason has seen them undertaking flying practice!

I'm wrapping this post up so we can turn our attention to a family meeting.  Three out of the four of us want to have one, but the littlest in the house is not into sitting still to do much of anything right now so we'll see how it goes!  Kali is still finishing up her dinner, and I'm still wrapping my head around the fact that she just consumed an entire spaghetti squash with lots of red sauce over it for dinner (the quantity of food is impressive, but even more so is her much more adventurous palate).  It's coming at a great time as I'm getting more adventurous as our standard and easy go to's are gone and we are digging deeper into our reserves (which is exactly what we should be doing in January).  Seeing our little onions sprouting, reminds me that spring is not so far off!

The only jack hammering casualty: what I came upon when coming back from upstairs where I had stationed the girls with a library movie to get them away from the noise and whole house vibrations.

Jack-hammering progress!

So grateful for Jason's brother, Ethan's, help on the plumbing (both the thinking and doing parts)!

And the Myers-Benner gals were all happy to have Kathy's company while the men worked - this puzzle has been put together at least 10 times in the last few weeks.

Alida and I went next door to glean the last of the kale before our 2 degree night.  Let's just say it was crunchy as I picked it, but Alida was munching on it - snow and all!

Filling the cavity, as much of it as possible, that was under the tub.  Unfortunately, we discovered that the cavity goes partway across our bathroom and kitchen floors.

Future shower location!

From today: Alida's favorite game was trying to steal the leaves we were trying to load into the wheelbarrow until we would push her back into the leaves.

Chicks showing off their new little wing feathers!