On a given day...

Nimuae, who discovered her love for flying around the neighborhood on her bike only last summer, is rocking some very flavorful biking attire. Notice the kneesocks and hightops, with the bikini, and of course the helmet to top it off. Safety meets fashion....

Fashion dive Nim and almost 13-year old brother prepare for a ride to the mailboxes.

While Gita hangs with "her girls." Lilikoi, Salome, Gita, and Kestrel love to share some girl time.

On a fine spring day..

curious kitties check out the swimming pool...

silly dogs with big black noses sniffing...

nephews in dapper hats snuggle with uncles...

and little ladies kiss frogs to see if the fairy tales might be true

City mice in the country

Last weekend we had a wonderful visit from one of David's oldest friends and her husband. Julie and Bill flew into Asheville from Chicago on Thursday night. We had a weekend full of great food, adventures, parties, neighbors, and catching up. The kids fell in love with the Julie and Bill the second they saw them at the airport. We spent on sunny afternoon hiking to and hanging out at some waterfalls just down the road from us....

Baby goats!

I am finally posting some pictures of the kiddos with the new goat kids. We had two babies born last Thursday (two girls) and then two more babies on Friday (one girl and one boy). They are all so sweet and healthy! Here are some pictures from the weekend ~

Thatch and mud

Down in the garden, in the old bean patch, Noah and his friend, Aurora, spent an afternoon creating the coolest little earthen home, perfect for a gnome family. One minute they were at the kitchen table beading and the next minute they were gone. I looked around for them and came across the two pre-teens (won't be saying that for long...next month = teenager. holy moly.) planning and building and creating in the garden. Mud and stone walls with twig timber framing? so cool. Thatch roof? heck yeah. Gravel paths and landscaped yard? wow. Very impressed (and proud!)

a little weekend excitement

#1
farm

Behind the barn door is a little bit of fantastic. Our doe, Windy, is ready to have babies any day now. We have been without fresh goat milk for a few months so we are really looking forward to these babies (and, or course, they are so sticking cute!).

Here is the mama getting a little lovin'

and the rest of the herd...

#2
house

Here is the northwest corner of our house. There are a few really exciting things about this picture: the living roof is feeling the spring and getting green, the closer chimney is venting our new on-demand propane water heater which is delivering hot water for bathing in our finished bathroom, and the door leading to the newly finished utility room! woo hoo! That is a whole lot of completion and a whole lot of exciting! The utility room is now housing the washing machine, water heater, and Noah's drum kit (not the ideal drumming set up but the space was there and Noah loves it!).

The water cycle

Our science lesson today focused on the water cycle. Noah chose an assignment to sit down by water and draw a picture or write a poem about the water. He gathered up his paper and pencils and found a nice place by the little creek. The girls were close behind...