Two Things...

First:

I love this time of year! Spring is coming! March is almost here! There are so many things to look forward to... flowers, gardens, leaves on the trees, baby animals, chickens laying again!

Even though the kids have been pretty sick, they are all enjoying the sudden rise in temperatures outside. Keep in mind that they are out with their rabbits and mini horse everyday, rain or shine. It's so nice that they don't have to get all bundled up just to go out to do their chores. I've even caught them sneaking outside, math books in hand, to sit out on the trampoline and soak up the sun while they do their home work!

I am looking forward to our move too! That was supposed to happen this week, but a bout with pneumonia has kept me in bed this week, hence all the recent posts and blog changes I am sooo looking forward to getting our pasture up and getting our horses on our property!

I have finally reached the point to where I feel comfortable posting pictures of the house. I figure you all know it's a work in progress and I hope you won't judge me to harshly on the house. We bought it for it's potential, not for it's current state.

At the risk of sounding like a sappy movie, I am... blissful. I am happy and content. Okay, so I'm not really content because I am so full of anticipation for what this new season has in store for my family that I can hardly sit still.

Second:

With Every Drop of Blood

James and Christopher Collier

We just finished a fantastic historical novel about the Civil War era. It tells a story from from the perspective of a 14-yr-old southern boy, right at the end of the war. He is helping to haul supplies to the Confederate Army when he is capture by a black Yankee Private. There was enough action to keep all of my children drawn in, but it was still mild enough that I didn't feel like I was corrupting young minds. I read it out loud to all of my school aged children; 7-12 yrs old

*NOTE*
Some of the language made me quite uncomfortable because I not only had to say the "N" word out loud but had to explain to my children what it meant (racism is beyond their comprehension). There is a very well worded forward about the history of that word and why the author, though uncomfortable with it, chose to include it in the reading.