Just us

The light at the end of the winter tunnel looks so much closer on this side of the holidays. Here is a little bit of what's been going on:

Playtime: They are busy playing with all their new toys from Christmas, as well as some old favorites. Em and Theron got this chalk/white board for Blain and they both like playing with it. I have been so impressed with Chloe, she spells out simple words like cat, Sam, mom, dad and pot with the magnet letters. She says the sound a couple times then says the letter that goes with the sound and puts it all together. She doesn't quite get the left to right part all the time but she is so proud of herself when she sounds out the word.

 Playing "spelling" as they call it

A little book pile I found in the kitchen the other night, courtesy of Chloe. She is so funny with all her little quirks and special ways of doings things.

 Making playdough cakes

Avenlea 4 months! Her appointment is at the end of the month so she'll have some stats then. But she is giving good smiles - especially when she's getting dressed in the morning or when getting her diaper changed - and she rolls from her tummy to her back!

 In her super soft and warm coat from Aunt Teresa

Snowman Snow: We finally have some snowman worthy snow so we made this little guy in the pasture the other day. It would have been bigger but they kept wanting to eat the best snowballs. I eventually gave up and just made a baby snowman.

 Chloe and " a nice green dragon", as he calls himslef when he's wearing his new sweatshirt from Em and Ted, sitting by the snowman

 Playtime with mommy while Avenlea naps

 Blainito the snow angel

 Riding the teeter totter swing

Dreaming of Spring: I know I'm jumping the gun a little since I can't really start planting anything until about March/April - and that's inside - but I've been so excited thinking about our garden this year I ordered our seeds! I pretty much ordered everything, except green beans because Nate and I both aren't big fans. It's gonna take tons of work to turn our grass into a good garden space but maybe having a later planting date is better because it'll give us more time to get the work done. I keep wishing we could get pigs this year to do the work for us, but we can only do so much... We also ordered 25 chicks and they will be coming February 24th. We got 15 layers and 10 red rangers for meat. The breeds we ordered were: deleware, light brahma, buff orpington hen and rooster, black australorp, barred rock, welsummer, ancona, maran (2), rhode island red, araucana (3), and silver laced wyandotte  We are trying to work out how we are gonna brood those little chickies with it still being so cold but I'm sure we'll find a good solution. Times like these make me wish I kept better record from last time we had chicks. My posts go from getting the chicks in march to putting them in the coop sometime in May. That gives me a whole month of uncertainty about when they went outside and with chicks even one week is significant because they grow so fast.But regardless of where they stay I'm glad they're coming and I can't wait to watch them peck around our pasture!

Chloe likes to look at all the seeds with me, especially after coming in from the snow sitting in front of the fire

I think she's gonna be a real good helper this year!