Today I ordered our first chicks!!!

Happy Spring Break to me! In some ways having 2 separate spring breaks is a drag; we can't really go any where warm or even go do something as a family. However, this past week the kids and Brian were off school so I didn't have to make any lunches all week, I only had to get myself ready in the morning and drive straight to work. I got to sleep in until 5:45 every day.

Brian surprised me with an iPhone on Wednesday. I took Thursday off and we hung out and shopped at Rural King for 2 hours with the kids and bought a bunch of seeds, plants, and chicken feed. Friday, he was sending me a bunch of cryptic text messages and finally showed up at school around 3:30 and said, "come on we're going to Indy." He had packed our bags and gotten a hotel room downtown. We had all kinds of fun staying out late, sleeping in and doing whatever we wanted.

Next week: my spring break!!

Got an iPhone today!

tv room with gas log--the best seat in the house
front sitting room
The man room
dining room--I love not eating in the kitchen anymore!
one of many delicious pizzas from the throwdown

Sunset in front of our house

Greetings Blog readers! We are borrowing my parents miFi wireless card for the weekend so I am going to catch everyone up on our lives over the past two months. We have tried a couple of options for rural internet and so far everything is pretty expensive or not very fast for the expense so it seems we will continue to be internet-less for a bit longer. I am able to check my email at work if you want to contact me that way.

So, what have we been up to? I'll start most recently and work backwards. My dear friend Melissa and her toddler aged daughter came to stay with us for a few days last weekend and we had such a delightful time. While they were here we ventured out to the town of Rockville for a maple syrup festival. When I was Mary's age my parents made maple syrup, so it was a special visit for me to see it being done again first hand. We also had a pizza throwdown between Brian and Melissa (both claiming the title of best pizza maker). Who won? Well, there weren't ballots or anything but it's clear to me that I was a winner. YUM!!

The weather is starting to warm up here so we've been out walking around our property in the late afternoon sunshine and we are again grateful for such a beautiful space to call our own. I can't wait for everything to start greening up and blooming. I think it will look like a totally different place. We are enjoying all the wildlife that we see on our road or in the yard. We've got lots of deer, skunks, opposums, and possibly a woodchuck? living under the generator shed. We haven't seen him yet, but are suspecting. Brian heard the coyotes howling the other night and it may become a problem once we fill our henhouse. We'll see.

Other than that we are just really loving life. The kids can spread out a bit more here and we're seeing lots of growth in our new space. Brian's been able to really use his gifts in his school community more now that we live closer. He touches the lives of so many student and staff members. I know it is a great use of his abilities. We have taken a step back in time in some ways. We don't have a dishwasher so we spend a lot of time washing and putting away dishes, we don't have internet so we read books and play games. I've started writing hand written letters to people instead of emailing. It probably won't be this way forever, but the pace is just so nice.