Happy Birthday, Essie!

Happy Birthday to our Sweet Sarah. Because you're the main one I continue blogging for, I thought you'd appreciate a post on your birthday. It's the least I could do (and I wanted to do the very least). So this one goes out to you, little lady.

I feel like we're living a life of days gone by, a winter holed up inside, playing, reading, doing school, being together by candlelight. This year has been like hitting pause on a busy life (well, more like the slow setting on the ipod). I felt similarly the year we were in Princeton. We haven't plugged in very well, and part of that's b/c there isn't much to plug in to. The whole pace of life here is quieter, and while this has been lonelier, I'm enjoying it for now.

I say this while three kids are trying to get my attention, and just before they were playing a very rowdy game and jumping all over the place, but you get the idea. Things regularly spin out of control, but overall life is a steady peaceful rhythm.

A little of our piddlings:

This is a game I found the boys playing; they  took turns in roles of  bad guy and  police officer. Here Harry is the bad guy using a stuffed earth as a bolder to crush the police officer (that boulder is supposed to teach them geography. Ha. Harry sleeps with it and calls it "worldy")

Jackson ready to jump, narrowly escaping death. Evil plot foiled again. . . and again. . . and again. . .

J demonstrating Harry's "guitar"

Painting ceramics

A blacksmithing demonstraion. . .

Spelling Lesson

"doing school"

Making meringues

We made the meringues b/c they featured prominently in a Paddington Bear story. Jackson is loopy for Paddington (he requested that we call hot chocolate "cocoa" from now on b/c Paddington does)

Hiking. We love this trail around Eagle Lake, and took advantage of a mild day. Behold the Daniel Boone National Forest. At the end of winter.

Look! A beaver sighting!

Little Red Riding Hood was also spotted.

Sarah, we took this for you, knowing you would appreciate how they've improved on the trail. Shiny new signs!

And this is my collection of different kinds of moss we found.