Boiling Sap

We are boiling sap today. We got a new pan to boil in, from Uncle Eddie, so it looks kind of strange on our tiny burners. Here are some pictures.

By Wayne

Happy Easter

Hope you all have a wonderful Easter Sunday!

Maple Sugar Candy

Every once in a while, Wayne wants to make maple candy.

 We haven't made any syrup yet this year, so we used some left over from last year.

 This is the recipe we used (above) but we didn't shape it into leaves, we just poured it in a dish and cut squares.

 Heating any sugar to any certain temperature always makes me nervous. It's so fussy - miss the mark by even a couple of degrees and everything goes wrong. We've had that experience before and it's very disappointing.

 Luckily, everything worked perfectly this time and the results were heavenly!

Snowshoeing in the Woods

These pictures are from a couple weeks ago. Heather and I took advantage of a beautiful, warm day to get out into the woods on snowshoes.

 It was her idea to bring some snacks and drinks. She packed a backpack for the two of us all by herself. It was also her idea to head to the "fort" for our snack picnic.

 Heading back home we had to shed our jackets, because despite all the snow,  the temperatures were actually pleasantly springlike.

Heather Lost a Tooth!

She's been waiting a long time and it finally happened. On Monday, March 18, at the age of 6, Heather lost her first tooth.  Thank goodness, because she (and it) had been driving us all crazy for weeks. She'd spent a lot of her spare time wiggling it and gauging its looseness day by day, speculating when it would fall out, how much money she would get from the tooth fairy, and complaining that she was the last kid in her class to lose a tooth.  Mrs. Dudley said that it had occupied a lot of time and attention in kindergarten as well. So, now that it's finally come out, we can all relax and life can get back to normal. 

She had a dental check-up a week prior to losing the tooth and he gave her the keychain above. It's a little container for keeping the tooth in, in case it comes out at school.  She was actually laying on the living room floor, wiggling the daylights out of it when it finally came out. She wrote the tooth fairy a letter, asking to keep the tooth, but to please leave some money anyway.

You can see the big tooth coming in behind the space.  It's very big. The dentist even said, "Don't be alarmed when they come in..."  Dental x-rays show lots of huge teeth ready to come into a small mouth. Good-bye perfect, straight, little, white teeth. 

Hello orthodontist.

Happy Birthday, Jedi Joan

Jedi Joan

Joanie Wan Kenobi

Happy Birthday Joanie. May the Force be with you.

Creativity by Wayne.