Spring on the Farm

Personalities perfectly depicted!

The sun has been getting warmer and warmer, which means that we are airing out the house, spring cleaning like mad, and living outside as much as possible.
When we moved here in October, I transplanted all of my plants from the old farm, with some hope that they could come up again...I was sooooooo pregnant and it was late in the year and I did it all very quickly.  Well, I am happy to say that almost everything is starting to grow.  There are new signs of life all around the property and I am so anxious to see how everything looks as the seasons change!
Mom has been coming round just about every weekend to help me out, which I love, love, love!!  We get so much done and she is an expert decorator and so things are constantly changing and morphing and becoming new again.  It's a lot of fun.  Sometimes I look around my house or my yard and feel like I am inside a photo spread of Country Living!  We have some fun plans that are still to come to fruition too.  I really look forward to the weekends.
The veggie garden is coming along slowly, but surely.  I always feel like I am running behind or that I'll never get it planted, but in actuality it's still a bit too early to put many things in the ground.  So far we've got the beans, peas and cucumber seeds planted.  Different squashes and some cantaloupe seeds that are coming along.  For my kitchen garden we have spinach and swish chard boxes, mixed salad green boxes and herbs galore!  I plan to get in the peppers, broccoli and squash this week as well and see how the seeds fair.  It always ends up that we doubt our seeds and run out to get some plants and then the seeds surprise us and we end up having oodles of veggies!  We certainly have more mouths to feed so it won't be a bad thing.

Watching Dad work

We are all really enjoying the new property here.  Our strolls through the farm land at night are a blessing and it is so great to watch all the kids flourishing here.  Stella loves her new landscape and is often break dancing on the stone walls, climbing trees and singing and sitting ever so still to feed the birds.  She had a Tufted Tit Mouse land on her head and a sweet lil' Chickadee land on her hand for some seed.  She is an animal whisperer.
Jackson is settling into his time with us too.  We all went through a lot of transition this past year and I think it hits some people harder than others.  I think Jackson felt a bit overwhelmed, but now he is getting the hang of it all and is having a lot of fun.  We are big believers in a few things here in our household-rhythms, respect and nature.  Rhythms are so important for us all, but especially for children.  We aren't strict in the sense of "schedules" but we are very rhythmical so that the kiddos know they can rely on us, their time together and that they are safe and loved.  We also really find value in nature and we are all outside as much as possible.  We don't do any media in our house (expect for a very rare occasion) either, which just lends itself to even brighter imaginations!  The other day Jackson and Stella came to me to ask if they could look up on the computer about Pill Bugs because they wanted to learn all about them.  I suggested that they would get even more information out of observing them and they jumped on the chance.  They each got their nature notebooks, turned over some hay bales and began writing and drawing away!  It was beautiful.

River's Rolling Over

Wren's Rolling Over

When the weather breaks and the warm days are upon us the kids are outside from morning to night and let me tell you, it tuckers them right out!!  We have our meals out on the picnic table, they play all sorts of games and go on mini adventures all the time.  We really don't need to leave our property too much because it is so gorgeous here!  Right now, Stella and Jackson are loving the obstacle course they and Scott created, doing scavenger hunts and exploring the greater landscape here on the farm.
The babes are following in their older sibling's footsteps with all their outside time.  The other day it was so beautiful out, I put the babes down for a nap right under the apple tree!  They've gone to the beach a bunch of times, explored the farm land in both carriers and strollers, walked through town and watched as we've worked the land.   Every Friday my sister comes for a visit with her sweet Jasper and we go on some adventure.  We've had play dates at the house, gone to the beach and to the Audubon
Society's nature preserve in town.  It is so great for us moms and for the kiddos. I love raising my children this way!!

Ready for a nature walk (4 months old now!)