Oodles of Tenacity & Independence

I had every intention of waking the family up early this morning for a "before the work day" hike.  It is supposed to be freezing cold on Wednesday and snowy on Thursday, so today was the day.  When the alarm went off at 5:30 am, I bounced out of bed and was halfway to the boys' room when I thought, "Hmmm....I better just check the weather."  Google: "Good morning.  It feels like -20 C outside."  Me: "Nope."  I promptly did an about-face and climbed right back into bed.

Even though our morning hike was foiled, Seamus, Alistair and I did get out for a snowshoeing excursion once things had warmed up a bit in the afternoon.  Our lovely across the street neighbours let us tromp through their backyard forest for a change of scenery and it was beautiful.  

My only mistake was leaving Ali's backpack carrier at home.  I thought: "He's always stuck in that pack, I bet he'd like to walk."  Did he ever!  Alistair is as stubborn as Charlie and once he experienced freedom, there was no reigning him in.  His heart's desire was to stray from the path even though his tiny little legs could not handle the deep snow and he doesn't have the balance yet to walk any distance in his snowshoes. Ali: "Mama FOLLOW!"  Me: "Mama help?" as I gently tried to redirect him to the packed down path.  Ali: "NO!"  Me:  "Follow brother?"  Ali: "NO!"  And off he went his own way.

Alistair refused to sit in the sled.  He did not even want to stop when his boot fell off (which it did at least a dozen times).  His mitts also fell off too many times to count but at least they are attached by a string.  Why in the world someone does not make a toddler snowsuit with permanently attached mitts and even boots is beyond me.  This would be perfection.

I sure hope Alistair enjoyed his freedom march today because he will 100 percent be riding in the backpack for our next snowshoeing excursion.  My (ample) patience is no match for his oodles of tenacity and independence.  Lord help me.

Being Old Mother Hubbard

This morning I was greeted by two dozen ravenous ankle-biters (they are distantly related to velociraptors, remember) and a hangry Pecky Becky.   Thanks but no thanks.  

They are coming for me!

Just like Old Mother Hubbard, I went to the green bins only to find that they were empty!  I exaggerate, I knew that we were running low on both Charlie's oats and chicken feed but I was hoping that we could make it to delivery day this week (Wednesday).  Sadly, it was not to be.  I added a stop to the Farm Supply to my chore list.

Of all days, it was a good one to be out of chicken food since we had a grocery pick-up scheduled for this afternoon anyway and a book on hold at the library.  So, after homeschooling, including a backyard skate and outdoor play time for "recess", we were off.

This afternoon's pick ups were uneventful. Remember when we used to actually go into stores not just pick up things curbside?  At least now the kids do not even need to get out of the car for us to get all stocked up!

I am happy to report that the chickens' feeder is back to being full to the brim.  They attacked the food like they had been starved for days!  Spoiled dinosaur descendants.

https://youtu.be/yOrarDGzwVI

The best part of supply day is that we get fresh salad for supper!  Yum!

Rosy Red Cheeks & Very Tired Legs

Happy hikers.  
Ali is happy too (I swear).

Today we made of the most of our time outdoors.  Morning chores involved shovelling (again) as an additional inch and a half of snow had fallen since we did our first round of shovelling yesterday.  I also shovelled off the kids' pond rink and then flooded it for them.  Tonight's chilly temperatures should make a beautifully smooth skating surface for "gym class" tomorrow.

In addition to shovelling, we headed out for a family hike to enjoy the gorgeous snowy forest.  I printed out a map of the conservation area for Liam and encouraged him to plan our trail.  He found this responsibility very exciting and "guided" us very proficiently for the entire 4 km hike.  It is Seamus' turn to guide next time, though I suspect that he might delegate this task given that he usually brings up the rear on our forest adventures as the hiker with the shortest legs.  He rarely complains though, just keeps at it slow and steady.

Liam and Daddy up front.

Mr. Short Legs lagging behind.

Daddy's turn to lug our adorable sack of potatoes baby.

Even after all this time outside, Seamus still did not have his fill of playing in the snow.  He spent all afternoon outdoors tunnelling through his huge snow boulders and carving them into steps so he could climb up them more easily.

Needless to say, we are ending the weekend with rosy red cheeks, very tired leg muscles, and lungs full of fresh winter air.  We are indeed very lucky and I expect that all of us will sleep very well tonight.

Yoo-hoo Ali is Two!

Today was a day of celebration and shovelling here on Gael Glen Farm.  We started the morning off with a Little Blue Truck-themed breakfast birthday party for Alistair.  He turned two today!

We ate waffles.

Got dressed up.

Coloured pictures.

Listened to Liam perform a live reading of a Little Blue Truck story.

Played Pin the Hat on Little Blue.

Opened gifts.

Ate cupcakes.

And, of course, played outside in the fresh snow!

We might have also done a wee bit of shovelling.  

 It was a wonderful day!

Bring on the Blizzard

Today's shout out is to everyone who spent the day making sure that their farm family was fed, watered, and tucked in warm and dry before the incoming snowstorm.

After home school, boys and I mucked out all the barns.  When Grandma arrived, we filled up the hay loft with the thirty new bales delivered this morning by Farmer Bruce.  Our snow shovels, big and small, have been located and are ready and waiting in the garage.  The snowblower is on standby.  Bring on the blizzard!

Alistair's "hay horsey".

Throwback Thursday

It was an uneventful day here on Gael Glen Farm full of homeschooling, laundry, and dishes.  Despite the very grey weather, at least it was warm.  I'm not sure if the snow will come eventually but, so far, we have had a very mild winter, with very little precipitation.  

I notice that the days are getting longer and I am able to put the animals to bed almost a half hour later.  Even so, I am missing the sun and the green of summer.  Come on spring!  I want to plant my garden!

Thursday throwback to August.

I Might Be a Little Bit Nuts

I am not sure what made me do it. Maybe it was the looming "enhanced" lock down that starts tomorrow?  (Though really, this will not require a change in our behaviour at all).  Maybe it was the threat of sleety, depressing weather all afternoon?  Maybe it was the dream that I could exhaust all my children upfront and then have the quietest afternoon ever?  

Whatever it was that spurred me into action, I woke up my entire family at 5:30 am this morning with the announcement that we were going on a family hike. Now. Before Ian's work begins, before we do morning animal chores, before we start school work.   Completely crazy, right?

To their credit, my family is a bunch of troopers. Either that, or they have just been waiting for me to finally lose the rest of my marbles. They all got up, got dressed, ate breakfast in record time (no complaints, either), and put on their winter gear.  

By sunrise, we were hiking through the gorgeous winter forest.

Heading in.

Beaver pond

Beaver dam

Frozen creek

A beaver's beginning.

Almost all the way through!

Waiting for the "TIMBER!"

Peek-a-boo!

Best buddies when they are not fighting.
Luckily, it is hard to fight when you are hiking so a win for the parents!

We were back home by 9 am on the dot, invigorated and full of fresh air.  We did our farm chores and school work, Ian did his paid work, we made meals and did dishes.

Seamus and Ali were almost comatose by lunchtime and both begged for afternoon naps.  Liam, on the other hand, saw an opportunity for solo time with Mama and decided to stay up to complete a hands-on Science assignment without inference from his little brothers.  Liam baked Russian Tea Cakes following the directions precisely from his school book.  Baking is Liam's thing so truly not much of my help was required, aside from donating the almonds from my Christmas stocking to his cause (Daddy ate all our baking nuts) and operating the oven, of course.  I supervised from behind a pot of tea.

Re-reading the ingredients and instructions.

Measuring 2.5 cm balls spaced 5 cm apart. 

Taste testing

Adding the finishing touches. 
"Confectioner's sugar" is a hard thing for a kid to say!

Liam's Russian Tea Cakes.
I think he aced this assignment.

On the whole, we had a very full day for what was supposed to be a very typical Wednesday.  Do I regret getting up before dawn to make everyone trek through the woods?  Nope.  Was it a little bit nuts?  Admittedly.  Might I do it again?  Absolutely.

Did anyone else have a more adventurous Wednesday than anticipated?  Tell me about it.