1.
Kim has convinced me that you are, indeed, interested in the goings on of my life, despite my hesitation to get back to blogging. :) The last few months of the life of my family has been a whirlwind and a blur of activity, much of which I will update you in this post. Regardless, I am glad to type again and hopefully can keep a nice record of our activities. So, hello again to all of you. Thank you for stopping by!
2.
We recently moved a bit farther out into the country. I have spent the last few months packing, moving and now unpacking. We are in a much smaller, more manageable place with quite a bit of acreage. The kids are enjoying the pond, creek and woods in general. Since it has been so long since I have posted, I will include several photos to catch up a bit. :)
The pond and one of many fire pits.
The creek that runs through the property.
The pond is chock full of snails. The girls go outside often and fill their buckets with snails, only to set them free a while later. We have been wearing rubber mud boots almost constantly since moving in.
3.
I am expecting a baby girl, due in about 2 1/2 months. I had been hesitant to announce the news as I lost a little one this time last spring and because this pregnancy did not appear to be starting on the right foot. However, I have recently regained the weight I lost in the beginning and have gotten good news regarding my little girl's health. She is due sometime in July. I have wanted to keep a photo record of what my tummy looked like but, honestly, I only started showing a short while ago. I will try to get a belly shot up here on the blog as soon as I get a chance. In the meantime, know that I pretty much look just as I always do only with a basketball under my shirt. :)
4.
I am so grateful to my friends for all of their help and support during the last few months. I have never been particularly good at accepting help from people and rarely ask for it (maybe it is the only child in me) but I have become humbled by the amount of love and support sent my way while moving and working through this pregnancy.
5.
We spent the morning today pulling bushels of invasive garlic mustard from the property. It is actually an edible plant, valuable to foragers and has several medicinal uses as well. But it is taking over everywhere so we spent a couple of hours yanking it. Counts as Botany, right? :) Here is a picture for those of you who don't have it locally.
It has a strong garlic odor and can be cooked up, similar to spinach, if you choose the small leaves from the plant. We won't be having it for dinner tonight but you are welcome to come take a basket or two if you'd like some for your salad. :)
6.
Also, this morning, the kids and I read from the Handbook of Nature Study about red winged blackbirds. We have quite a few around here because they live in marshland and on the edges of pastures, both of which are fairly prevalent out here. I haven't cracked open that book in a long while but I always enjoy it when we do. It is just a treasure of information. I don't have a photo of a blackbird at our feeders yet but here is a stock photo. You can tell the males from the females as the males have the striking military feathering, glossy black with the red and pale yellow shoulders. The females are plainer, with brown and mustard colored speckles.
7.
Ben made pancakes this morning for breakfast. We love the recipe for Weekend Pancakes found in Leanne Ely's book Healthy Foods. We've been making them from that recipe for years except this morning we enjoyed them with some homemade maple syrup from my friends Anne and Nick (who tapped their own trees this spring).
Well, that's all from me. Stop by Jen's for more Quick Takes. Thanks for visiting today. :)
