these days

These days have been filled to the brim. With the wonderful warming of the weather, we've been spending most of our days outside enjoying the sun, warmth, and green things. Spring really is so very rejuvenating. I love the newness of everything. The brown grass suddenly becoming green. The tight little cherry blossoms on the trees. The tiny bright green leaves of the birch trees dotting our property. The birds, the dandelions (oh yes, even those pesky dandelions), the ferns growing wild in the forest.

And all of these changes and awakenings make me feel like I've crawled out from a long, dreary slumber and am alive again. And especially this spring, when we've closed the chapter on a very long, cold, hard winter, do I appreciate this new season even more.

We are in the midst of spring soccer season so our Wednesday evenings and Saturday mornings are filled with practices and games. Brad and Ian have taken up kayaking recently and plan to spend time out on the water this spring and summer. I'm looking forward to trying it out myself.

The alpacas have adapted quite well to our little farm. They seem to have gotten comfortable with all of us. We do give our neighbors quite a show when trying to round them up to put on their harnesses to be walked. We must be quite a comical sight. Tomorrow is a big day for us. We take them for their first shearing. We will be taking two and coming home with two additional males. I'm looking forward to all of the wonderful fleece. I have a lot of research ahead of me, looking in to various fiber mills to process the fiber. Of course, my ultimate goal is to learn to spin myself when I can find a bit more time to devote to that.

Today, the two younger kids and I went for a nature walk in the woods behind our property. Ian led the way through the briers and brambles. He spends a lot of time out in these woods and declares that he knows exactly where he is going. I sat and crocheted in an old apple orchard that is literally smack dab in the middle of the woods while the kids climbed trees and studied different mosses and ferns. Then we followed a couple of deer paths and did some tracking. There is so much to be discovered and learned in the forest, and I'm glad that my kids have an appreciation for the wonders it holds. I roamed these same woods as a child, and it's a wonderful thing to see my children enjoying them now.