Work and Play in our "warm" February

Play and Work: The snow is all melted now and the ground is thawed so that means work for the adults and more outside play for the kiddos. We spend a good amount of time outside these days as we've had some days in the 50's and it's usually around the mid 40's so it doesn't get too cold too fast, especially in the front yard with the white house reflecting heat. Here is some of what we've all been up to.

          Mud: Blain is the ultimate mud finder and whenever I loose sight of him for a minute he's usually in some mud puddle. They like to play "filthingham" one of the backyardigans' episodes where no one is allowed to take a bath and everyone is dirty. They brought Avenlea into the mud this time so I let them all get as dirty as they wanted then wisked them away to the bath.

 Avenlea in the Mud                                                                             Chloe making mud soup

 

  Blain the "sheriff of filthingham"                 

          Inside fun: Chloe and Avenlea like to play tickle fights, coloring and dolls, while Blain has been very into his feathers, new dragons from Aunt Wendy, and sword fights. Blain also really likes to use the hose on our new vacuum so I let him do the corners after I've vacuumed the floor.

 Tickle Time

 

Mommy and Chloe

 Blain using the hose - he asks about every 2 minutes if I'm done vacuuming yet so he can use the hose. He's getting better at actually picking up crumbs and dirt too.

          Homestead: Of course there are plenty of chores to do with the warmer weather coming and spring on it's way. I've been researching which berries and trees we want to get this year, digging the holes for the trees, and planning out our big projects for the coming year. With such a tight budget this year we know we will have to plan wisely and Nate has been awesome at finding things around the farm that we don't have to buy to save money. 

He took his past week to build the new stanchion/head catch for Betty and did it all out of material he already had on hand, including taking apart a couple pallets and reusing a couple old hinges and locks. I am so proud of my builder. It looks awesome. 

 

 

 I've been working with Betty every day to try and get her used to the barn and stanchion. It was going good at first but she is VERY reluctant to go in the stanchion and I think I forced her a little too much, because now instead of meeting me at the barn for her treats she runs when she sees me with the bucket and rope. I'm going to try a new approach this week so hopefully we can get her back on track. Fingers crossed.

In other news Siri has started laying!!! and gave us 7 delicious eggs last week! I was so proud of her and I'm so happy she is alive and healthy and laying again. We plan on getting new chicks in a month or so so she won't have to be so lonely. I've also let her out to free range now that most of her feathers have grown back and the weather is warmer. Her eggs have changed quite dramatically from day to day, getting bigger and darker. It's kind of fun to see.