Maple Syrup Time

It's been several years since we made maple syrup.  So long that Paige and Allie don't remember ever making it.  In our effort to eat more natural and whole foods, we decided to make it this year.  We have about 8 trees that could be tapped, but my schedule is so crazy that we decided to just tap two this year.  I'd hate to have the sap go to waste because I don't have time to cook it down.

Last weekend, Mike and I tapped the trees and began collecting sap.

Drill hole about 2-2.5" deep at an angle.  Use a sharp drill bit to protect the tree and get better sap production.

The sap began running immediately.

We purchased our spile at a local farm store.  Some people make their own from piping.

Hammer into the drilled hole.

The sap should begin flowing down the center of the spile.

We added clear hose, so the children could watch the sap flow and so we could set the buckets on the ground.

We purchased buckets with lids from the Home Depot.  Mike drilled a hole in the top for the hose, then we washed and sanitized the buckets,

The sap collecting is underway.  It flows best when the daytime temperatures are in the 40s and the night time temperatures are in the 20s. 

Practicing Out Skills

We're nearing the end of our school year.  The girls worked really hard during the long, cold, snowy winter and only have 4 English lessons and 40 math lessons left for this school year.  Our school days are short, which leaves plenty of time for other activities.  I love when we are able to spend most of the day outside once the weather warms up!

For Christmas, Paige and Allie received bows and arrows.  It's been difficult to wait until they could use them.  After supper, Mike and I spent some time coaching the girls on shooting.  Paige picked it up quickly and consistently hit the target.  Allie struggled a bit.  Part of the problem is that she is trying to aim with her head a foot away from the bow.  The other issue is that her arms got tired quickly.  She persevered and was delighted with her progress.

 

Pollen and Seeds

Poor Madelyn and Paige have been miserable for the last several days.  Runny eyes and noses, head-aches, and sneezing has become their constant companions.  Friday and Saturday, Madelyn spent several hours in bed because she was so ill.  When I looked out the window this morning, I saw why they have been so sick.

The walkway and drive are full of seeds from our maple trees.

 All of our vehicles were covered with a visible dusting of pollen.  Amy had to use a brush to clean off her car.

Seed mulch is probably not a good idea.

The seeds remind me of snow drifts on the roof.

Tumbling

Madelyn has been working on her tumbling in the front yard now that we have areas of grass.  It's still a little muddy.  Occasionally, she comes into the house with a face full of mud because she missed one of her landings.  Here's some of her latest tumbling passes.

Spring Colds

Paige came down with a sore throat and fever on Tuesday. She's scheduled for surgery next Tuesday. I'm not allowed to give her any medications because of the surgery. Thankfully, she work up today feeling much better. I managed to get her virus too and haven't been able to shake it. My plans for deep cleaning and disinfecting the house before her surgery are on hold. Hopefully, this bug will get out of our home soon. I'm not sure if her surgery will need to be rescheduled. It would be nice to get her tonsils removed soon, before she gets strep again.

Relaxing Afternoon

My oldest children have headed off to Grand Valley State University to prepare for this weekend's robotics competition. The temperature was hovering around 70 degrees and the sun was shinning, so we decided to load up the SUV with all the kids and spend some time outside. After dropping the the high school aged children off for their journey, we drove to a nearby park and took a beautiful walk through the woods. Almost all the snow is melted and soon the grass will begin to turn green. The kids had a blast playing on a wooden boardwalk. The boardwalk was built over a swampy area. With every step, water shot up between the boards, soaking everyone's feet.
We had a great time.

Of course, there was a letterbox to be found on our journey, but the main reason for the walk was to get outside. At least that's my story and I'm sticking with it!

Spring

Madelyn and Joe went for a long walk this afternoon. Paige and Allie managed to spend all day outside when everyone else was doing school work. The sunshine felt so nice after the gloomy weather we've been having here. Madelyn and Joe grabbed their cameras to get some pictures of the returning animals.

Backyard projects

In between bouts of racking coughs, we have been working on some of our outdoor projects. The list is long and will not be completed before Joe's Confirmation Open House next weekend. It would be wonderful to have everything completed, but it isn't realistic. Here's what we have accomplished:

* Hung tire swing on large tree and placed playground mulch underneath.

* Installed tile sidewalk from driveway to back patio

* Painted flagpole that hangs from porch.

* Painted second coat of paint on front and back doors.

* Filled 10 pots with flowers to place on front steps and on patio.

* Replaced a Rose of Sharon bush that Mike accidently chopped down.

* Attached slide to swingset.

* Moved swingset to better location.

*Installed fence posts on portion of property. We still need to purchase more fencing, but will get most of one side of the property fenced before next weekend.

* Treated lawn to remove dandelions.

* Trimmed tree limbs that hung over roof.

This was done over the last 4-6 weeks. Mike has been really good about working on projects on his days off from work.

Weekend Update

Friday and Saturday, the girls and I froze 20 quarts of strawberries and made three batches of jam. The strawberries were $1/pound. Why are the local berries always so much more expensive than berries from California. The kids and I plan to pick some local strawberries when they are in season, but it's nice to get some at the lower price!

My mom gave me 12 young lilac bushes. I've always loved the look and smell of the purple variety. My mom shared some of her white lilacs, which have much less fragrance, but I still enjoy having them around. We planted them along the fence line where the one neighbor sits on her back porch and stares at us when we are outdoors. She seems like a nice enough person, but it makes us uncomfortable to be watched constantly. The lilacs should provide just the right amount of screen between our properties.

On Friday, Amy streaked her siblings' hair. Katie, Steve, and Madelyn got platinum blond streaks. Katie's was heavily streaked, and I thought that the difference in color was too extreme. Her hair was dyed blond on Saturday. It ended up being a strawberry blond color.

What time does school begin?

Katie and I went down to the local public high school to register her for classes for the rest of the year. The school personnel were surprised that I wanted her to begin classes now. They thought that it made more sense for her to begin next school year. After explaining my reasoning and expectations for the remainder of this year, the scheduled an appointment with an academic adviser next Monday. The appointment is for 7:40 am. The adviser explained that we would miss the big morning rush at that time. Surprised, I asked what time school began at the high school. Classes start at 7:30 am.

Boy are we in for a rough time! My preferred time to begin "school" is around 9. Since we moved here, it's been closer to 10:30....sometimes as late as 11:30. Katie is the person who has the most difficult time getting up in the morning. Her schedule has gotten really out of hand. She's lucky to get to sleep before 3:00 am. Only one week to reset her internal clock, so that she's able to get up early.

I'll be getting the kids up at 7:00 for the remainder of the school year. It will be good to get back more of our morning hours. We will enjoy completing our school work by lunch time again. Tomorrow, we will all begin our day with coffee. Lots of coffee!

Easy Wind Socks

The kids and I are enjoying the wonderful spring weather and decided to do a craft in honor of the warm breezes. These simple wind socks only take about 20-30 minutes to make and are weather proof enough to handle gentle rain.



1. Place a rectangular piece of foam with the long side parallel to the table. Use foam stickers to decorate the foam rectangle. It's important to keep the sides empty approximately 1/2" from the short edge. If desired, foam pieces could be cut out and attached with glue. Glued on pieces to set for up to 12 hours.



2. Place Velcro adhesive dots or squares at the top, middle, and bottom of the short edges. One side of the Velcro should be placed on the decorated side of the foam, the other group of Velcro tabs should be placed on the non-decorated side.
I loosely folded the ends together to match where the Velcro tabs were placed.



3. Poke two holes opposite each other on the top of the wind sock. Cut ribbon or elastic to desired length (mine were about 10") and knot into each hole.

4. Poke 4-6 equally spaced holes in the bottom of the wind sock. Cut ribbon to desired length and attach with knots to holes.

We stapled out windsocks to our porch roof. It may be necessary to take down the wind socks in extremely windy weather.

Spring weather and work

The warm weather arrives today! Our temperatures have been in the 30's and 40's for quite a while now, but today that begins to change. Balmy tempertures will be in the 70's and 80's for the next 4 days, then high 60's for the next week! My neglected children have been playing outside in shorts (I have to confess that the 4 year old keeps going barefoot) when it's only 45 degrees. When I force them to wear jackets and shoes, the proper clothing ends up under the trampoline or hanging on lawn furniture or lost in the sandbox. My children are as anxious for warm weather as I am.

After the paper routes get delivered, the children and I are going to remove all the kitchen doors and take them outside and sand them. Tomorrow is designated Paint the Kitchen Day, so the older kids will be keeping an eye on the younger children while I paint the cupboards. When I last painted the cupboards, I matched the paint with the ceiling paint in my family room, called toasted almond. In the family room, the color looks like a warm beige. The family room walls are a color called golden brown, but looks like pumpkin pie. The kitchen cupboards ended up being a peach, which I really didn't want, but didn't have the money to repaint. Now the paint is chipped and needs to be redone, so my conscience is clear. No wasteful painting for me!

The paint I purchased is called Prairie Brush and looks deep celery green. Hopefully, I will like the end results!

Enjoying the Warm Temperatures

We have had almost a whole week of spring-like temperatures. Every morning we wake up to a hard frost, but before noon the temperature is in the low 50's. The children have had so much fun playing with friends and being outside for long hours again. My youngest two have a hard time deciding what are the correct type of clothing to wear outside. Allie wanted to go barefoot today. After being told that it is still to cold to be barefoot, she went outside dressed like this.


Paige and Allie spend a lot of time digging in the sand/dirt underneath the sandbox. I'm so thankful that the ground has dried enough so they aren't playing in mud.



The kids were doing a lot of Wii Fit before the weather cleared up. One of the favorite "training exercises" was to walk the tightrope. When the rain and snow ended, Steve decided to tight rope the top of the swing set. After applauding his balancing skills, I found him something more constructive to do.

The Robins Return

Spring is almost here. The robins are returning and are joyfully seen from our windows as we try to concentrate on schoolwork. It's been really hard to force myself and the kids to do school each morning. I've called several Sunshine Days which we have instead of public school Snow Days. This morning, during yet another Sunshine Day, the kids noticed that two robins are getting quite close to them. The birds are about 18"-2' away. Joe and Steve are sure that the robins are Bob and Bobbie who received care from the children in past summers. I don't know if it is the same birds. How long do robins live? But, the children are so excited to see them again and the reminder that spring is almost here!

Balmy Temperatures and Sunshine!

God is so good! We had the most beautiful weather this weekend. Friday, the temperature was 44 degrees. Just walking to the van as we ran errands and attended classes felt good. The sun was warm. Saturday, We hit 50 degrees. All the kids played outside almost all day. Allie (who hates to be cold) played in the melting snow. She got drenched and came in the back door with her teeth chattering. I asked her to change into dry clothes and socks before I snuggled with her on the couch to read a story together. Twenty minutes later I couldn't find her. I called her name, looked in the playroom, in her siblings rooms, and checked in the yard. She was eventually found in her bed, under 4 comforters sound asleep. She napped for 2 hours.

The kids had a great time outside yesterday. The spent several hours scooping up the water that had melted at the end of our drive. They poured the water into huge buckets that they dragged on sleds to the middle of the yard and dumped. Don't ask me what they were hoping to accomplish. They were working together with 2 neighborhood children to empty our drive of melted snow.

Today, was another sunny day. The temperature only reached 40 degrees, but the kids played outside with the puppy and cleaned up the assorted snow toys and shovels that were strewn around the backyard. Buster got extremely dirty and the boys rinsed him off in the bathtub. His fur was so soft when he eventually dried.

Madelyn met a 9-year old girl who moved into the area before Thanksgiving. She seems like a nice girl and Madelyn enjoyed playing with her. There aren't many children in our neighborhood, so Madelyn was thrilled by a new friend.

We're supposed to enjoy decent temperatures until Wednesday, then the cold returns. I'm planning on spending as much time outside as possible while we have the opportunity to taste spring.