And then there was June.

It's been a pretty quiet month for us. We leave tomorrow for our annual trek to North Carolina, so we've been relaxing and preparing as we count down.

We went strawberry picking last week. Then we hacked back the rhubarb and threw together enough strawberry rhubarb freezer jam to see us through until next strawberry season.

We finally started eating on our own leafy greens! I'm a little sad to be leaving the garden for three weeks just as it's starting to really produce. 

And there has been a lot of this corner perching going on while mama works on jam or kale chips. We recently got the Ramona audio books, and the girls will sit and listen for hours! It's been our new rhythm now that the more structured school days have faded out--everyone gathers round the kitchen to listen and cook. I can dig this for the next few months!

Now off to vacation!

Morning Chores

As the children get older, I'm more able to step in and help with the morning farm chores. I love that quiet half hour in the morning, especially this time of year when the temperature is perfect! 

Watering the garden comes first. We have added a few raised beds to the smaller plot we created last year while I was pregnant with Annie. We'll continue to expand the garden as our family grows.

The pony is next, getting fresh water and moved to our front pasture. She's a spirited little thing, but we're still working with her. I've enjoyed spending more time with her one-on-one.

And we can't forget those laying ladies! They spoil us, really. Some fresh water, feed, and fruit and veggie scraps is all we have to give them to get nearly a dozen eggs in return each day. 

Annie loves this time of day even more than I do. She'll often whine and cry when chores are over and we have to head back inside. I truly love this little bit of land to call ours and the little bit of farming we get to do here. Life is lovely.

Sometimes...

When life gets busy, mowing the lawn is not always on the top of our "to do" list. Now of course grass is a plant, so it of course must have a flowering part. However, we're often so dutiful at trimming it down it never makes it to the flowering stage. But when we let it go for a few weeks:

These little beauties (minus the one clover flower) appear. I call it a win-win! Less lawn mowing and cute purple flowers? I'll take it.

P.S. the buttercups and daisies are popping up in the pastures as well. Late spring, you have me wrapped around your finger.

After so many weeks in a row of sickness from the end of April and way into May, it has felt good to have a healthy family back!

This past week Dorothy has taken some huge steps in growing up. She will ever be a perfectionist, so trying new and difficult things is hard for her. She just wants to be able to do things well right away. But she put that aside and found enough patience to learn to ride her bike without training wheels! I'm still amazed how she went from wobbling and only balancing for a few feet to suddenly feeling where her balance is and riding round and round in circles. Watching children learn and grow is amazing!

She also surprised us all by eating grapes--and admitting she liked them! This sounds so silly, but if you know our daughter well you know this is a HUGE accomplishment. Fruit has been tough for her. She has trouble with the squishy wet feel in her mouth. Smoothies have been the only way she would eat it for years. I'm grateful for even the baby steps of a grape at a time!

We took a trip out to Old Sturbridge Village last week as well. I love that place! I always feel the urge to jump into one of the gardens or the kitchen and start helping out. I could just hunker down in the family farm area and stay put. I always joke with Marty that we could have him stop teaching and start farming--he never has any enthusiasm for that idea. He knows the reality of that life is HARD, ideal though it may sometimes seem. We'll stick to our hobby farming. 

Annie is cutting several top teeth these days (and nights!). Her little grin is changing--something that always pulls at my heart. I hate to see the sweet gummy baby smile be replaced, but I do love watching them grow and learn to enjoy more foods. This little girl is such a joy though, and has all of us wrapped around her tiny fingers with her sweet cheesey, now toothy grin.

Ezra is becoming more of a three year old every day. He is sweet as pie one minute and a little stink bug the next. He is entering a naughty phase of finding quiet places to make mischief--like dumping cups of water underneith furniture, destroying his sisters artwork where no one can see, and splashing his pee water from the toilet all over the freshly cleaned bathroom. My days are full of LOTS of deep breaths. It's a good thing he will daily kiss me and tell me I'm the "best mom in the whole world"! He knows how to make things better.

Lucy's room got a facelift this week as well. She chose a beautiful shade of purple that is very her--feminine and lovely. Now that everything is dry and aired out we can start hanging things back on her wall. She got a cute pink framed mirror for her birthday that she is looking forward to hanging up so that she can do her hair and such. She is my girly girl, and I love her for it! She also continues to draw daily what she calls her "fashion girls". She will be the child that tries to keep me from getting too frumpy. I suppose someone needs to!

Well, ready or not, here comes June! We leave for North Carolina in less than three weeks, and the days are quickly filling up! I need to shift my mind to summer mode. I think I'll start by stock piling the basement with the makings for s'mores.