Magic Mushrooms

It's that time of year:  the birds are singing, the buds are blooming, and mushrooms are popping up all over the mountainside.  Yummy mushrooms - morels, in fact.  We have a short morel season out here, so we try to go picking several times.  We took our first trip up the mountain Friday night with Jordan's folks and their neighbor Jack.  Jack used to be a logger, and he knows the mountain well.  Along the way to one of his secret spots, we came across a HUGE bear along the road and hoped that he wasn't in on the secret!
 
The kids really got into the hunt, and it turns out that Annabel has a good eye for this sort of thing.

As you can see from the photos above, foraging for morels can be slow, painstaking work - but the rewards are well worth the effort.  Here's Annabel showing off one of our finds:

So far, we've used our mushrooms in a pasta dish and in gourmet scrambled eggs.  We can't wait to get back out and find some more!

Daddy's Boy

Thane is turning into quite a little Daddy's boy.  There is nothing that he enjoys more than hanging out with Dad - whether it's walking

rough housing

or watching intently as Daddy works.

He also enjoys eating, although you'd never know it to look at him.  He is one tall, lanky little man.

No matter what he is doing, however, he remains a happy, easy going guy that we all adore.

Spring Chickens

The ground has thawed and the grass is finally getting green.  Spring is definitely in the air, and we have baby animals to prove it.  Our chicks arrived earlier this week, and they are cute - and LOUD!

We also had a batch of bunnies, just in time for Easter.

 
Unfortunately, we had a rough year with our sheep, and we only have one surviving lamb.  This little ram is plucky, and he has survived despite some major obstacles (size, bitter cold, fire, etc).  In honor of our "anything that can go wrong, will go wrong" year, we have named our lamb Murphy.

Although not a farm animal, we did get to see several bald and gold eagles up close and personal.  This photo was taken from our house, where the eagles were helping themselves to the remains of a coyote.  It's incredible to watch these majestic (and huge!) creatures.

 
Finally, we are all happy to finally be outside.  The kids, especially, are tired of being cooped up indoors, and they could spend all day playing in the dirt and rocks if we let them.

 
Happy Spring!

Easter Sunday

Despite all odds, Easter Sunday turned out to be a lovely, sunny day.  The kids cleaned up, and we all headed off to church (hope you were sitting down for that!)

After church, we headed up to the Lentz' for our annual Easter egg hunt.  Dad got really sneaky this year and used some camouflage eggs.  And yes, we did need help finding them! 

Then it was time for a delicious dinner of lamb, ham and other goodies.  We also took a few minutes to get some four generation photos.  Not a bad looking crew!

Annabel

Annabel continues to be a study in contrasts - domestic diva one day...

...and a glamour girl the next:

There's nothing she won't do, including hauling wood into the house.  She works on her terms, however, and she has even created her own working wardrobe (note the cordouroy ruffly dress paired with jeans and muck boots):

At the end of a hard day's work, she loves to nestle down with Daddy and watch a movie (with lots of popkerns, of course).

Annabel also has a new love:  her Great Grandma Sue (a.k.a. GG).  GG spent a couple weeks visiting here, and Annabel was thrilled to hang out with her new pal.

 Come again soon!

Color

As cold as this spring has been, we've had just enough warm days to complete most of the exterior painting on our home.  Here's a before:

And after:

We've also lined the exterior of the house with a pea gravel pathway:
 

Lastly, it's been awhile since I've included interior photos of the house.  Here's a couple views of our pantry/mudroom: 

 

Stay tuned for more...