New and exciting happenings from the farm

The girls got new Christmas dresses from my grandma this year. They even wore them on the 5 hour drive to Michigan because they didn't want to take them off.


Brian and Emily at Conner Prairie this fall. We got a membership this year and have enjoyed going a couple of times.
Elijah receives the lineman of the year award at the football banquet



Okay, so I really thought that I would be able to keep my blog updated even though we do not have internet at home, but I have grossly underestimated how difficult it would be to have free time with the laptop while I am in town and without child distractions, so... all that said, if any one still checks this blog for updates I am going to give you the last 3 months in a nut shell.

School got off to a great start. The kids are completely acclamaited to their new school and are enjoying going with their dad each day. Elijah played football--as in the real deal tackle football with pads and really thrived. The schedule was pretty intense and by the end of October we were ready for it to be done. Brian coaches jr high football and then Elijah's practice was after that, so three nights a week they didn't get home until 8:30 pm from school. Mary started riding the school bus home and I met her at home as soon as I could get there, usually pulling in right behind the bus.

Emily is still riding in to Lafayette with me every day and goes to the same daycare as before, which she just loves. It's been working well for everyone. So, it must be time to throw something new into the mix, right? Enter our big news...

I AM PREGNANT!! Yes, you read that correctly. Come June we will have the newest Greene Bean. It has been a pretty uneventful pregnancy so far, with the exception of getting the stomach flu the day before Thanksgiving I have been sickness free. I am tired all the time, but other than going to bed when the kids do, I've been doing great. I had an ultrasound a few weeks ago and got to see the baby moving all around so that made it a little more real. If you haven't done the math yet, I am about 15 weeks right now.

We had a great Christmas. It was our first Christmas at our new house. It's been one year now since we moved in. Mary got an American Girl doll, Julie. Brian and I, along with her two aunts, took her to the store in downtown Chicago to pick her out a few weeks before Christmas. It was so much fun and really special for all of us. Elijah is now in the world of video games. When he turned 9 this August we decided he was old enough, so he got some DS games this year and he was pretty happy with that. Emily is 4 now and she will tell you that she is old enough to chew gum. She doesn't swallow it. So, her most exciting gift was a gumball machine. We got to see all of our family from both sides and we still have several days to be at home now, so we are happy campers.

Here's whats up with us

We've been picking lots from our garden--broccoli, peppers, zucchini, green beans
AND...APPLES!! Our apple tree is full of great treasures. We've been juicing to make apple cider and applesauce. Super fun! Delicious and free!
First day of school. Elijah is in third grade and Mary is in first. The year is going great--Elijah's playing tackle football and LOVING it. Mary is doing some new things too-- like riding the bus home.

Greene family updates-summer highlights

Loving that Lake Michigan beach!
Elijah picked up his football pads just before we left for vacation. He's super excited about playing tackle this fall.
Fourth of July
Here we are at the beach-it is hot and sunny and wonderful, just the way Lake Michigan should be.
We went creeking at the big Pine Creek near our house. It was beautiful!

The kids got kittens this summer. The girls are carrying theirs' around in scarves 'baby sling' style.

chicken pictures!

country life

our new garden space is about the size of our whole yard at the other house
Mary decided that over spring break she was going to learn how to ride her bike without training wheels--it took her about 2 minutes to figure it out

tilling the garden space

The big news at our house has been the addition of 19 new chickies. They currently live on our front sun porch under a heat lamp in a box. I have been reading up on such things as when to move them to their outdoor home and how to wring their necks when the time comes (that will be Brian's job). We don't really know how many pullets (girls) and cockerels (boys) we have yet, but the plan is to have as many laying hens as we can and we'll use the males for meat.

We've been enjoying watching the landscape change around us and discovering what things are growing as spring SLOWLY shows its face. I've been digging some of my perennials from the other house (no, it hasn't sold yet) and transplanting them. Many of them were gifts for my 30th birthday and they have special value to me. I did start the garden with about 200 onions, spinach, lettuce and sugar snap peas over my spring break. I also started some blueberry bushes, blackberry plants, and a cherry tree. There is so much I want to get going. I bought a crazy amount of seed packets--leeks, green onions, 4 varieties of lettuce, green beans, strawberries, and asparagus. Those are just the things to direct sow. We'll get our plants from Brian's school, where the horticulture teacher started our things in the greenhouse in February.

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.

HELLO from the land of no internet! I don't even have any pictures to share so I am sorry to all you blog readers {ahem, Laura} who don't read posts without pictures. We hope to be getting an internet connection soon so we should be posting more regularly in the next few weeks. In the meantime we've been getting settled. The kids are enjoying their new school and our house is FABULOUS! We were snowed in for almost a week where we literally couldn't get out of the driveway, and even if we could the road hadn't been plowed anyway. So we just watched movies, played in the snow and drank coffee. We're enjoying a much slower pace of life.

Merry Christmas to all

I haven't been blogging much lately--you know the old saying, "If you can't say something nice..."
No, its not that bad, it's just that I don't want to sound whiny about our life.

Here are the highlights {insert cute emoticon here}

Emily is throwing up again (yes, again. She stayed home last Monday because she was vomiting so I didn't believe her when we were at the store yesterday when she kept insisting that she was stirsty and was going to strow up.) On the plus side when your child strows up in a store you don't have to clean it up.

We're shopping today, Christmas Eve, because we haven't had time or energy to do it. We move on Monday.

Photo tour of our new home

Front view
Side view
Two of the barns
Dining room
The cool sink in the downstairs half-bath


Well, it's official. We are homeowners. Again. I have been through the gamut of emotions this week, but I'm finally back to excited! After the closing today I felt better than ever that we are making the right choice. 2600 square feet, four bedrooms, a music room, an enclosed front porch, and almost six acres including a small orchard of fruit trees (apple, pear, and persimmon) and a walnut grove.

I wish it were getting easier

One of the great things about the kids' school is the IRP (Independent Research Project) done twice per year. The students spend a lot of time at school and home working on their project and then there is one night when parents walk through view their work and give positive comments. Tonight was the night. Mary interviewed a nurse (her grandma Susan) and Elijah's project was about the Shawnee tribe. He made fry bread to taste and it was a big hit!

It isn't making it any easier to say goodbye. Last week it was their big music and art performance. I really liked it! Their last day at NCS will be Friday. They will start going to the elementary school that is connected to Brian's school after that. We were planning on them finishing the year where they are, but for me the commute plus dropping everyone off was seeming a little long--especially to start in the dead of winter. So, this is it for them. I know it will be fine. It will probably be even better in lots of ways, but change is so hard! There are lots of things that we have really loved about this school.

It's a little hard to prepare for Christmas with so many other BIG things happening this week. Last night we met with the realtor who will sell our Lafayette home. It will go on the market in January. Any of you Lafayette readers who know someone who might love our house--let us know! Tomorrow is our closing day on our new house. We are feeling a bit like each day has some major activity to check off the list. Tomorrow I will have more pictures to share. Some people have seen the interior house photos on Brian's facebook page, but I will get some different shots and post them here.

Well, it isn't done yet

But we're getting there. At least we have water in the sink and the toilet is functional again today.

This is what I came home to today...

I will spare the details, but Mary got really sick with vomiting yesterday. That is a whole 'nother post...Brian stayed home with her today (of course she didn't throw up at all!!) and he started getting antsy. We are going to put our house on the market soon, and he felt like the bathroom is really the weak link in trying to spiff it up. So, he started ripping up flooring and pulled the sink out. O-kayyy. We are going to close on our new house maybe next week?? The 15th is our date, but the loan officer called and said we could do it sooner if possible.

Yay for snow on the first day of December. It has been a beautiful all day sprinkling. Not much accumulation, but a nice dusting. This reminded me about something I will be so thankful for in our new house: a mud room at the back entrance. Right now, at our current home, there is nowhere to drop wet shoes or boots that are out of the way of the door. So, either you walk into the house and leave wet footprints (and end up with wet socks soon after) or drop your boots right at the door in a big pile so the door barely closes (and trip over them soon after).

Thanksgiving Helpers

This year was very low key for us since Mary was still recovering from her tonsil surgery. Mary was shaking some heavy whipping cream to make some homemade butter. Elijah made the apple pie--as in he peeled all the apples and sealed the pre-made store crusts. It is great to have such helpful staff in my kitchen!

We got a lot of stuff cleaned out and organized at our house while we were home for a long weekend. We've started packing boxes so that we can organize as we pack. I really do not want to haul a bunch of stuff out to the country just to re-box it and drive it back to Goodwill.

We put up our artificial tree tonight. I so look forward to the Advent season and all the twinkly lights. It's a real conundrum for me to get all the decorations out just to box them back up in three weeks. I think we may just not put decorations on the tree, only lights. We want to have one last Christmas at this house, but we may set up a real tree at the new house because I am one of those people who wants the tree up all the way until new years.

It's Emily's 3rd birthday tomorrow

Playing yard sale
Chasing sea gulls at Lake Michigan
With her twin on our back porch
Playing with a scarf in the van
Being cozy and listening to stories on the heat vent
She is our spunky girl who loves animals especially dogs, loves to laugh, and loves to imagine. She is awfully independent and practically potty trained herself this year. She is fiercely loyal to her loved ones and has proclaimed that Jonathan is "her best friend." (totally unsolicited). This weekend she had us cracking up because she was happy about something and started jumping around and said, "I'm doing the happy dance!" She has us in hysterics all the time. It's a little hard to believe that she is only turning three. Tonight Elijah and Mary realized that we hadn't bought her a present and it was important to them to have something to give her. So they went shopping in the attic and wrapped up some toys for her. They were so busy trying to make the package look pretty. It was so sweet--we all love Emily so much.