Spring Break on the Farm

Two weeks of spring break felt like an overwhelming amount of time to kill with all 3 kids but it managed to fly by.  We didn't end up accomplishing everything on our spring break to-do list.  Ah well.  Summer's just around the corner.  At least it felt that way over the Easter weekend when the temperature hit 20-something...

The first week of spring break was still a bit cool and wet.  In fact one afternoon we even saw some snow coming down for a few brief minutes.  But despite the weather there was still plenty to keep us busy.  One cannot forget the episode of Patches and the new baby calf that provided some excitement.  After Cow #1 delivered, we knew that Cow #2 (Daisy) was not far behind.  Erik and I felt determined that we were going to witness the next calf birth so I was watching her like a hawk.  On Silas' birthday I could tell she was acting a bit different and after dinner she was in obvious labour.  We spent the evening outside sharing a set of binoculars but wouldn't you know she went into the far corner of the pasture and waited right until the point that it got too dark for us to see anything.  Really, who can blame the poor girl, but still we were disappointed to miss the actual event.

Since the first calf was named Bambi, we decided it was fitting to name the second calf (a male) Thumper.  Bambi and Thumper have been fast friends.  (Meanwhile Patches has been sequestered to a separate pasture).

(Cow #3 {Brownie} is not due for her calf until the fall but the kids are already brainstorming more Bambi-like names for him or her.)

Over the long weekend Erik and his dad started work on the next farm venture - a chicken coop.

The kids enjoyed the sunshine and the chance to don their tool belts and "help Daddy work".

Daddy's trailer is always full of fun tools to try...

After the forming was done it was time for the concrete.  The boys were filthy but Erik said Micah was actually super helpful - a future Alderidge Construction employee in the making we think...

Not sure when this coop will house actual chickens but I'll be sure to keep you up-to-date on the egg-production venture.

And, speaking of eggs...

The warmest and sunniest day had to be Easter Sunday.  What a perfect afternoon for an Easter Egg hunt.

Ahhh, Mom - it's too bright!

 

Little Miss Organized made sure everyone had equal amount of eggs.

There has been much too much chocolate and sugar consumed in this household as of late and it's time for this preggo Mama to go into a bit of detox mode.  (If only it wasn't for this baby girl making me SOOO hungry... All. The. Time.)

And now some exciting stuff starts to happen here on the farm.  The plans for expanding the current house to meet the needs of Erik's parents and our own growing family are finally getting underway.  There has already been some demolition happening around here.  When I got home this afternoon I no longer had any railings on my deck - slightly dangerous but I'm definitely not missing my concrete block railings (which matched the pattern of the blocks on the bottom right).

The view from the house is much more unobstructed and I can start to envision a much nicer looking deck in our future...

The rest of the current house will stay as is and we will be building an addition out to the west side (to the left of the house on the first deck picture).  Once the addition is complete, Erik's parents will move into the new part and our family will take over both floors of the current house.  We're looking forward to having another bedroom, another bathroom and another living room to spread ourselves out a bit.

The real digging starts tomorrow so stay tuned!

Easter

Easter weekend was sunny and beautiful. The first one that I can remember where we've been able to do our Easter-ish festivities outdoors.

In the days leading up to Easter, we opened the Resurrection Eggs that I made a few years ago. This was a highlight for the kids every day, and Micah and Keziah especially are starting to grasp the Easter story and the significance of Jesus' death and resurrection.

(Micah thought a "cross" pose was appropriate for an Easter picture...)

One afternoon Grandma set up a egg-decorating station in the backyard.



Silas joined the action straight from bike-riding. (And has some eye-liner "whiskers" on his face from playing kitty earlier that day...)



On Sunday after church we hunted for Easter eggs...




Silas sinking his teeth into his big white choc-wat bunny...


Then the kids got to do another Easter egg hunt when their cousins arrived later that afternoon...


Another chocolate bunny?

Score!


Now we have a bit of chocolate overload happening around here. And paska that still needs to be eaten... But it's all good :)

"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead"

1 Peter 1:3

Little Bit of Easter Fun

My time has been otherwise occupied lately (work, kids, life - yeah, nothing much) and I feel so sad when the blog gets left out :( So, here's a quick catch-up post with some shots from the Toews cousins Easter Egg hunt the other weekend.

Keziah sporting her Easter dress and showing off some good finds:

Grandma advising Caleb:

Silas' first time participating in Easter Egg hunting!

I like the flurry of activity in this picture:

Silas scoring some smarties - his favourite!

I know, taking pictures in front of a window was probably not the best idea (and I didn't have time to do any edits to lighten it up). Hopefully you can still see their cute little cherub faces... Or maybe it's better if you don't. Getting a good shot of 5 small cousins is nearly impossible...

Yay for chocolate!!

Paska: Better Late Than Never

I had really wanted to bake paska (aka "Easter bread") before Easter and then I just didn't get around to it. I kind of felt like I lost my chance after the Easter weekend passed, but then I thought, Hey, I can make paska whenever I want!

So I did.

I've never made bread or buns of any kind before (other than in the bread maker, but I don't think that really counts). It's always seemed a little too intimidating. So, I half-expected it to turn out weird or wrong or burnt or something. But, it actually turned out beautiful and delicious and perfect!

I used a paska recipe that my friend Rachel posted on Facebook last week from the blog "Mennonite Girls Can Cook". The Paska Post opens with the statement: "There is no other recipe that has found me more friends than this one."

So, from the get-go it promised to be a gooder.

And it definitely was.

Yummy :)

Easter

Easter seemed more meaningful this year. Now that the kids are getting a little bit older, we're being more intentional about explaining it all to them and I suppose it naturally makes us reflect on it more ourselves.


I wanted to start some Easter traditions this year. So, I decided to make a homemade version of the "Resurrection Eggs". I did a quick online search and found this simple website. It gave me instructions for what what to put in the eggs - most items were things I could find around the house - plus Bible verses to coincide with each item. We opened one egg every day for 12 days leading up to Easter Sunday. On the last day (yesterday) the egg was empty to signify the empty tomb.



We've also been reading a fantastic kid's Bible. We're borrowing it from our church library but I'd really like to have one of our own because it's so great. It's basically the entire Bible summed up into 52 short stories. There are pictures on every page and just the right amount of words. Plus the stories are written in a way that's really easy for kids to understand. This past week we read several of the stories leading up to Jesus' death and resurrection. That, along with the resurrection eggs (which Micah also did at his preschool), seemed to reinforce all the truths of the season of Easter for the kids and for us.

(you can't actually click to look inside here, but you probably can if you go here)

Of course there's all the other fun stuff about Easter too. Keziah got to make this cute bunny craft the day we visited Micah's preschool.


And don't forget Easter egg decorating.


And Easter is the season of tulips and daffodils. We've been enjoying these tulips picked from outside our front door. Of course, the kids are under the impression that dandelions also deserve a place of honour on the table...


Here are the big kids dressed for church and squinting in the Easter morning sun.


Silas was looking quite dapper too :)


We did a little Easter egg hunt in the house after lunch (can't wait until we have a nice big backyard for this someday!).


Easter afternoon turned out to be the perfect windy weather to fly our new kites. Micah got the hang of it quickly and both kids were pretty thrilled to watch their favourite Disney characters dancing through the sky.



A picture of myself just to prove that sometimes Erik takes pictures too.


Keziah made a bee-line for this dandelion patch as soon as she spotted it.

I wanted her to take off her red fleece for some "prettier" pictures of her in the grass, but she was not to be convinced.




Oh, and I have to share my favourite Easter day quote. After we came home from the church service, Micah asked if we could sing the "Up From the Gravy" song again.

I love how a 5-year-old's mind thinks :)