Is That Princess Spring I See??

Today turned out to be a pretty day! The sun was shinning, the snow is melting and we are seeing signs of Spring all around.

The buds of the little tree are starting to sprout.










Ryan is out with short sleeves playing in the mud. Ahh the joy of playing in spring time mud. This is the time of year,when mud is tracked into the house daily. Soon we will have lots of mud pies to eat -yumm.

Its hard to believe just 2 days again this yard was covered in snow!







My neighbor has been paying me to let her 2 pointers out in the afternoon and I usually bring Heidi with me so she can have a playdate in their yard with them. There she is with not 1 but 2 of their bones. Not only did she take their bones, she stood guard over them and chased Luke and Mary away if they came near her!! Who knew she had it in her - the leader of the pack.







Luke and Mary - the neighbors dogs
My neighbor says this spring he is going to build a new fence with a gate between our yards so that Heidi can visit and the boys(and mom) can come pick blueberries! It was so nice, last year we had an endless supply of blueberries.








THE POWER OF THE WIND!!! Spring also means I can start hanging out the clothes. Hurray, not only do I hang out the clothes for Eco-friendly reasons, but it will nice to not have to pay for the electricity again for running the dryer! Now I have to remember to watch the weather and only do laundry the night before a sunny day so I can hang them out in the morning.

Knitted Booties for Ella

I made my first set of booties! I am so excited
and they came out so cute! This yarn I hand dyed myself last summer using Madder Root and made my Niece Emily a sweater.

These I made for my cousin Johnny's new daughter Ella. I hope they fit!

Jamming with Grandpa

This is a very short clip - Grandma has the uncut version!

We said goodbye to Grandma and Grandpa today. We had such a fun visit and we miss them already. My Dad is an awesome guitar player - he was in a band when he was younger called the "Electric Terradyctlys". It was nice for RYan to be able to play along side him. Right now he learns through imitation so he was able to see how a guitar is supposed to played! I'm learning, but no where near ready to be a teacher. My cousin Johnny gave us the guitar that my Dad is playing - He is another amazing guitar player in the family. Looks like RYan might follow in their footsteps.

Here is an Encore :

Maple Sugaring and Snow

Yesterday morning we woke up to a few inches of snow!! I know that it has been a very,very,very long time since my parents have been in the snow. So this was a treat for them - well more like torture. They have been good sports and we all are having a good time. The snow stopped and the sun was out by the afternoon so we went duckpin bowling. Dad was remembering the good old days as he shoveled the sidewalk. We were very lucky that our neighbor has a truck with a snowplow who came over and cleared our driveway! I made him some muffins.

MAPLE SUGARING:

Today we went to the Common Ground Farm High School for their maple sugaring demonstration and pancake brunch. It turned out to be a pretty day and it is always fun to attend the maple sugaring demostrations. We have been to several the last 3 years and we learn something new everytime we go. Of course the best part is the samples they hand out. The boys favorite here was the hotdog boiled in maple sap. I prefer carrot dogs, but I did taste the hotdog and it was good!

This is the maple sap at different stages of the boiling process. One of these years we are going to tap a tree ourselves and make some of our own syrup.

the buckets collecting sap out of the tree. It takes 40 gallons of tree sap to make one gallon of syrup!! That is why it is so expensive to buy.

At the farm they have chickens,turkeys,a sheep and 2 goats. We love the chicken coop beacuse they are free roaming and we can walk around with them. They keep the turkeys seperate though. Here is Tom with his ruffled feathers.

A cute duck!

Sage is 13!!!

I am a few days late posting this but on Feb. 28th Sage turned13!! I can hardly believe he is a teenager ! What a special day he had. His Grandparents came up to CT for this special day and are staying with us until Monday. Only a big event like this would bring them out of Florida and to CT in February. Sage stayed home from school that day and they took us all skiing - what a special treat for all of us.


Here we are arriving. Sage is a pro at snowboarding but the rest of us head to lessons first.

Here he is at the top getting ready to go. Believe it or not I made it up the ski lift without any injuries and was able to take this picture.
A view down the mountain. Going skiing during the week when everyone else is in school or at work is awesome! We pretty much had the whole place to ourselves. I also found out that there is a group of home schoolers who ski at the mountain every Wed in the winter. I will have to remember that next year for Ryan.
Sage heading down. That is me off in the distance trying to keep up.
Ryan felt better here on the deck. Poor guy is sick with a cold but he did his best. I think next year he should take a children's class instead of hanging out in the old grownups class!
Heading to the lift
Lets see - Tony is the skier on the far right. Sage is the snowboarder crouching down on the left and Grandpa is on the left of him. Yep - thats me in the back again. I am a very cautious skier. My mom had to stop after taking a spill and spraining her wrist. Fortunately nothing to serious but her wrist is pretty swollen.
Ryan and I

We had a wonderful time and it was so much fun to go as a family. I had never been skiing with my parents before, so it was a special treat for me too. AFter that they took Sage out for a lobster dinner and we came home for choc cake (with a secret ingredient of beets). To top it off he received a Wii game system from us all. He and his Dad are very happy. Personally I do not enjoy such things, however he is 13 now and is having fun playing it with his dad. *Alittle note for those who know me - yes I did wrap it in white paper with pretty watercolor paintings attached - with the rounded corners of course-lol


HAPPY 13th BIRTHDAY SAGE. I LOVE YOU>

Sewing

First thing this morning Ryan wanted to sew up these wool mittens and make oven mits for his kitchen. He was getting frustrated with his sewing until I suggested that I video tape him so that he can teach his friends - he was all for that - what a ham!! Here is a sewing and felting tutorial by Ryan.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GREAT GRANDMOM!!

WE LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!