Said goodbye to another month!

It's gotten to that point again where I feel overwhelmed by the prospect of catching this scrapbook up to date so I keep putting it off! But here it is the 3rd of March and I've got a little time before loading up for the Friday town run. The kiddos are all still sleeping and I'm nestled in the recliner in our bedroom with my favorite friend right now (my parents' heating pad). My back isn't what it used to be! I keep forgetting that and tweaking it doing normal things like sweeping floors and lugging chicken feed and water buckets around. My dad was a super hero doing the animal chores FOUR mornings this week to keep me from doing them again too soon and I plowed through two Jasmine Guillory romance novels. 

So diving in...here's snippets of what the last 3 or so weeks around here have held for us!

Kali and Alida enjoyed a night out with Aunt Emily. They went to a high school production of Newsies and thoroughly enjoyed it. 

Some plans still had to be altered as we allowed all the germs from our home to dissipate, which meant delaying celebrating my mom's birthday with her. We sang to her from outside and delivered Smiley's ice cream but hope to celebrate in person tomorrow!! Celebrating in March also seems appropriate as a week from today will mark her 20th birthday (so very glad for the renewed life and health that her stem cell transplant gave her 20 years ago)!

Speaking of celebrations around here, Jason completed his first major construction job of 2023 last evening. He's doing the final clean up/putting tools away now and then that job is DONE! It was a bathroom remodel for friends and, from the few pictures I've seen, it looks like a space they will thoroughly love for years to come. I always get worried about how long projects take (especially when we are charging someone else for the labor time), but I don't think there will ever be any complaints on the artistry or quality of Jason's work. Before Jason dives into the next Sassafras Enterprises job on the docket, he's gonna take a bit of time to reset around here and prepare for his chicken breeding workshop coming up later this month. And, while I think he feels some satisfaction in a completed job with happy customers, there's still the longing to be using his gifts and skills full-time agriculturally. 

The bike shed is coming along just VERY slowly. Even with two enthusiastic helpers, it's slow going building a wall with stones from our woods. There's some mixed feelings about this project that makes it hard to talk about it with complete enthusiasm. That said, like most projects around here that take a long time, it will include a lot of learning, great homeschool time, some fun, some tedium and give us a space that serves us well for a long time. It's just hard to see our way to the end of it right now. With projects breathing down Jason's neck, it's been hard to keep it moving along at a faster clip. Patience is not my greatest virtue and I don't like the feeling of my partner having so many large projects looming all at once!

It feels like the hatching and growing season are creeping up on us at a faster clip than I feel prepared for. The first chicks will hatch in about a week and the seed shelf is expanding in what's started there (Jason will hopefully add peppers, basil and sweet potatoes to it today). 

I don't perceive that our kids are feelings the pressure building, for which I'm glad (though I have had to be clear with them on some occasions that I'm not upset with anyone just feeling a tad overwhelmed!). They've enjoyed some fun adventures in February, including a much anticipated return (for Alida and Terah) and first time (for Kali) trip to Lookout Cottage. When I look through the hundreds of pictures that Kali took during their time there, I get waves of warm fuzzies. The girls and my parents look so full of life and there is joy emanating from the pictures. It's such a gift for them to share these kinds of times puzzling, savoring nature together, hikes, marveling at sunrises (YES, our kids rose for one) and sunsets, game playing, magical mountain views and more. 

While they were gone, Jason and I enjoyed a rare evening with Jonathan and Christen (Luca was there but sleeping). I'm not sure the last time the four of us had a meal together without little people involved. I love both, but this was a treat.

Jason and I also enjoyed little pockets of time together, though I got more time to myself than with my hubby. He had to work much of the time. I struggle to enjoy more relaxed time to myself when Jason is busy working, but it didn't keep me from making my way through Glennon Doyle's Untamed in record time! I enjoyed it so much that I passed it to Jason, and he also finished it already. It's going back to the library today, so if you haven't read it and you live in the area I recommend you check it out!

I also got a whole Thursday time with Luca all to myself. It was fun and a different kind of time without the 6 extra hands I normally have around when he's with us. Let's just say that Jonathan and Christen didn't get as regular updates from me that morning because both my hands were fully occupied much of the time!

The girls' homecoming was magical for me and Jason. Due to a memorial service in PA for one of my dad's cousins, they moved their trip up and came home Friday instead of Saturday. That meant that the girls arrived home Friday morning after Jason and I had left for town for the day. We arrived home tired at the end of the day to a delicious home cooked meal. We might just make this a habit after trips - Jason and I clear out while the girls settle back in and make dinner. It was delightful!!

Circling back to time with Jonathan, Christen and Luca, we've been glad to restart weekly meals together and finally got to have our planned two day retreat at Tangly Woods earlier this week. The girls got lots of time to hang out with Luca while us parents tried to make up for lost time, conversing about a whole list of things we've been wanting to talk about together (grants, relationships, community living, and more). We also fit in some very important comedic relief, not to mention eating a lot of yummy food together. It was fun to enjoy a sleepover so that we could make use of the late evening and early morning time too. It still went really fast!

It was so sweet to see the four kids hanging with each other - Luca with his entourage!! And that sweet baby is ONE and WALKING!! And he normally knows where he wants to go and is still eager to find a favored finger to pull someone along with him for the adventure. He would come check in with us here and there and then he'd be off again for the next exciting thing. 

It was a special two days and we realized afterwards that we really needed a retreat day to process the retreat. Jason and I underestimated how tired we would be and how much stuff the conversations stirred up for us. We are mostly recovered now (3 days later), and can now feel more fully the gratitude that is there deep in us for such a sacred time of connection and sharing many of our deepest hopes and dreams and fears and insecurities with each other. Hoping for many more such times!!

It seems that the panda from Jason's childhood is Luca's current favorite stuffed animal.

It has finally happened. Alida has passed another person in height and she's not done yet!

In other news and in no particular order:

A rare moment:

Playdates with Ivy are part of the rhythm of our weeks. There's been some lovely weather for time together outside.

A recent get together included two additional cousins!

While the weather feels too warm, it's hard to not feel delighted by the bursts of color all around. These daffodils in Nora's garden are some of my favorites!

While we didn't have the views that my parents and the girls had from Lookout Cottage, we've had some pretty skies to soak up too!

The curly willow of Terah's turtle shell is turning to a light shade of green all over!

Kali's current project is checking ALL the screws on our roof. All the financials of that project are squared away with all the contractors and insurance (yay!), but I sure wish she wasn't having to tighten and replace so many screws. So it's not quite all over yet!

First walking iris bloom! Actually, it's the second (I missed the first one and only found it the evening it bloomed already closing up).

Among the things growing at Tangly Woods: the pigs!

The girls and I are attempting to fill the gaps on Jason's long work days. We successfully moved her flock of chickens from the red coop to the arch coop. Jason seemed just a tad doubtful of our abilities, so we just had to prove him wrong! Not one got away!!!!

Spinach! We are enjoying it so much!

The big seed sorting/organizing has happened! And I did a big grain grinding day where we now have a good supply of all our grains ground into flour for baking - wheat, rye, buckwheat, barley and corn!

Nothing like just letting this post drop off a cliff, but I'm at the end of my time and out of steam. So we'll just leave it there until next time! I'll sign off with my favorite chicken picture snagged last night during shut in. For some reason, the chicken roosting way up on the chains cracked me up. Seems like an unstable place to sleep, but she seemed quite comfy!