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...

Vernal Equinox Celebration

An impromptu spring equinox gathering at the neighbor's house was the perfect way to celebrate a beautiful day and the change in season. The gathering was full of....

drumming

family silliness
(Nene, David's mom, was visiting from AZ this past weekend)

great friends

and, of course, a little friendly arm wrestling

Lovin' the neice and nephew

We tried and tried to get the bathroom finished to the point in which we could take a bath Sunday night. But despite our best efforts and support from the neighbors, it is not done. Bummer. But we are closer than ever....
and really, what is another week without hot water or a bathroom?
So, to pull ourselves out of feeling funky and disappointed, we soaked up some lovin with Lilikoi and Eliseo ~ neice and nephew extraordinaire. And of course we had to capture the morning that Lili and I were seriously wearing matching nightgowns.

Last snow of winter?

The location of my work and Nim's homeschool enrichment program is either a 15 minute drive on the road or a 2 mile walk through the woods. We love walking, especially on the way there which is all down hill. When we get our weekly (!) snow storm we walk/slide all the way down. It's a ton of fun and incredibly beautiful! Our walk yesterday was so spring like ~ 50 degrees and sunny. I looked back at these pictures taken from a walk last week and wondered if that was our last snow of winter?

A weekend away

We were so excited to get away for a lovely weekend with some of our oldest and dearest friends, Meredith and Kevin, and their kids Banyan, Mullein, and Salome, at a sweet little rental cottage near Asheville. The weather was absolutely gorgeous ~ 3 days of warm, sunshiney goodness sandwiched in between weeks and weeks of freezing snowey winter. We enjoyed making and eating delicious meals (and raspberry margaritas), playing with frisbees and baseballs in the awesome open yard, chilling by the creek, and (of course) the hot tub! We did not have to travel far to feel the nourishment and realxation that comes from a little vacation.

gita and salome throwing stones in the creek

rub a dub dub, six kids in a tub

noah taking a break from golfing (?)

cuddle time with two of the fowler girls

swingin' gita

the bathroom is coming along....

We're making some serious progress on the bathroom! We have really only been able to work on it during the weekends and a few evenings which means progress is slllooowwww. But it is looking more and more like a bathroom and we can almost taste the finish line.

It is all painted and trimmed (yes, it has trim before some of our other rooms that we've been living in for years) and the tub is installed. We just picked up a beautiful cork floor which we plan to put down this weekend. Then we are onto installing the vanity and bidet, building the composting pooper, finishing the plumbing in the shower/tub which includes installing the on-demand hot water heater....

hmmmm, when it is all typed out like that it sure seems far away. One step at a time, right? Before we know it, we will be bathing in our own house, brushing our teeth in a bathroom instead of at the kitchen sink, and not needing to go out in the cold to get to the outhouse. Times they are a changing!view from the outside looking at the new entry (sliding glass doors)

from the new entry way looking into the bathroom
the colors are (love the names) "retro green" and "reflection pool"

just look at that lovely tub and the cedar above it...purrrrrrr