Good Day Sunshine!

"I need to laugh, and when the sun is out, I've got something I can laugh about, I feel good, in a special way, I'm in love and its a sunny day". Oh its so nice to see the sun again. Our rain gauge broke somehow at AnnaBelle's party a couple of weeks ago so I can't really tell you how much rain we got. Let's just say it was a plenty! I finally have my mountain bike fixed and have attached the trailer to pull the kids so this week its do or die and my goal is to make it up and down the lane a few times. We'll see if these lungs and legs can huff it!

I missed seeing the big meteor (or whatever it was) last night. I went to bed a little after nine and by most accounts it raced over the east coast of Virginia between that time and ten o'clock. Some people on the coast reported hearing sonic booms as it entered the atmosphere. The National Weather Service, not far from us, was flooded with calls and emails from all over. A friend of ours in the adjoining county saw it while sitting in his house and thought it was lightning because it lit up the sky like day. Quite interesting, and you aren't hearing much about it from the national news, so who knows what it was.

Time to Trim the Trees

Asplundh worked up and down the lane yesterday trimming our pecan trees away from the power lines and once they got close to the house I turned Nathan loose on 'em. He was itchin' to go outside once he saw their orange lights at the end of the lane.
The first thing he wanted to do was ride in that cherry picker, but the kind man at the left told him it was against company policy for children to ride in it. He then explained to Nathan how the chipper worked and when he cut it on, well, you can see his reaction.......

Asplundh is a family run company known worldwide and has its "roots" (no pun intended) in Pennsylvania. A Swedish family whose name means "grove of aspen trees". The matriarch of the family, Carl, came to this country as an accountant and died unexpectedly leaving his wife with 8 children. The sons got into the tree trimming business and have built a company known worldwide as the leader in vegetation management. Now the guys working didn't tell me this....I was curious and did a little research on my own.

Happy Birthday My Sweet Little Girl

My sweet AnnaBelle is 1 today. I'm amazed at how quickly the year has flown by. Here is a pic of Nathan at that age.http://vafarmliving.blogspot.com/2005/11/happy-birthday-my-beautiful-beautiful.html The initial shock back in August of '07 when I found out I was pregnant again at 41 and then finding out in November that I was having a girl. Her name is a combination of my middle name and my Mom's name. She passed away from Mesothelioma in April of '07. She would have spoiled this little precious baby beyond belief! God I miss her more and more every day, but I try to remember how she raised the 8 of us and when I get in a situation where instinct kicks in, I feel her guiding me.

So today my little doodlebug is 1 and soon will be walking all over this house and farm and before I know it.......on to a life of her own! Happy Birthday my little girl. ♥

Run Forest Run

I got this one as Nathan was running through the wheat field next to the house. I love it when they plant this cover crop. It's so lucious and green when Spring arrives. We spent the afternoon down the lane. Nathan rode his 4-wheeler while I strolled AnnaBelle.

Dreams Fulfilled and Dreams To Come

My Beautiful Children!

A Rare March Snowstorm

We received around 2 inches overnight. It started raining Saturday morning and into Sunday. As cold air rushed in Sunday night, by 9:30 we had already received a coating and Nathan started to beg to go outside. I let him scrape some snow off the deck and bring it inside.

When I woke up early this morning the light from the snow lit the dark hallway. Nathan woke up and was ready to go outside but I had to convince him to wait until after breakfast. After we ate we bundled up and walked around the farm. George pulled Nathan on the sled behind the 4-wheeler. I think his grin in that picture is frozen permanently. It was so cold and the wind was blowing so hard out of the northeast we didn't stay out long before Nathan begged to go inside for some hot chocolate. It was a memorable day.