A Sweet Weekend

Last weekend, the Whites came up for sugaring.

Friday afternoon was gorgeous for snowfort building. 

Working on their fortifications

A tired girl

Heading out to feed cows

Dad wandering around in his short sleeved shirt in the snow

The evaporator tenders

Smoke going up the hatch

Penny worn out by all the exuberant children

We had some friends from Canada for lunch and then we made sugar snow. We being the guys. I just took pictures. 

All that amber goodness!

Abilene was a fan

It was sticky stuff!

Then a hotly contested game of authors happened in the living room. 

There was a lot of passion and competition. 

Especially from this kid!

Lincoln made himself a sword in case things got out of hand. 

But they calmed down. 

Until Marilyn started being nefarious and taking Lily's cards that is...

Coloring after supper

On Sunday, we did a quick, cold, family picture. 

It was a cloudy day, but all the snow made it bright, so we are squinting AND shivering. 

The kids were grumpy about the situation for some reason. 

But they survived. 

Hoyt wanted to be in a picture. 

Running back inside

Poor lilies. 

We had a lovely, springy week or two in February and the lilies popped up looking for action. Snow and cold was not the action they were hoping for.

This girl and her Harry Potter. 

Brownie sundaes

A new ticket to ride board! The Wild West. It was pretty fun. A few twists that I did not master the first go around, but I am feeling pretty confident about making a second attempt!

Silly-kins!

Love that Rilla girl!

Sugaring and February Break

As I mentioned, we did a lot of tapping over our break. We decided to do a different system this year, more tubing and larger collection tanks and a pump, which means collecting is much easier for one person. That was our struggle last year--collecting was way too labor intensive for the man power we had. 

So there was a lot of tubing, discussion of sap flow, and time spent in the woods. 

We really couldn't have had better weather. I think it was 40 degrees this day--warm enough to not have to worry about keeping warm, but not so warm the snow was all gone yet. 

Orianna hollering to someone

At this point, I got busy tapping and Lily and Gilbert had free reign with my camera

Spring sky!

Vacation haired baby

My Lil-billy

The three younger spent most of their time making these snowmen balls

I love this boy, snot and all! 

He is a colorful character

Elsie Junie

Our highly technical tapping team

I love this grainy picture! 

We are at that stage where she is not always looking as though she enjoyed talking to me. So I notice and love the times when she does! 

Foreboding

She is getting so grown up!

I drilled the holes and Orianna hammered (gently!) the taps in. 

Silly girl on a mossy, snowy rock

Justin laying line

Our messy entry way. With all the outside time over break, our entry way was almost always overflowing with STUFF. 

Gilbert obviously had the camera again...

Uncle Owen sold a tractor, so he was feeling pretty pumped! Since his kids were in Maine for a few days, he bought the kids a few toys from Dollar General. Gilbert and Elsie were enamoured with these walkie talkies. 

A paper chain Lily spent a lot of time making

Me being a bad mother and looking at my phone while the table is messy.

This girl is almost always moving

We are not indoor animal people, so letting the cat into our house is a bit of a new thing. She lives in the basement mostly, but comes to visit for a few hours here and there. 

Her name is Dandy (short for Dandelion) and the kids adore her. When she isn't trying to nip them that is.....