Family life, around the projects.

In the blink of an eye our babies are now first and second graders.  They met their teachers on a Tuesday night, and started school two days later.

It's been several weeks since then, and they are both doing well; happy to go to school every morning, and happy when they get home each afternoon. 

This is morning #1:

And coming home that afternoon.

Annaliese reverted to the private little girl who has a social life that is none of our business.  It takes 15 to 30 minutes each day for her to come out of her shell.  This year she's started to share more about her days over dinner, possibly to compete with her chatty brother who talks about his days non-stop.

Alexe was at a food-safety class in Oxford on this first day of school, so they chilled in my office and yammered about their day until we were ready to go home.  

Sunday brunch at Addriene and Taariq's house.  In a house full of friends and food, this is where mother and son were hiding out, full plates on their laps.  

Annaliese is happy at school but not particularly challenged.  (The gifted program just started up, and the reports of sitting with 5 kids and doing extra work while classical music plays sounds promising.)  Annaliese is self-supplementing, and turned this book report in to Alexe.

She's also periodically packing the school lunches...

With the end of summer laissez faire, we're having proper sit-down dinners each evening.  

It's priceless time.

These are home-hatched chicks that this little hen sat, and is now doing an excellent job raising.  That makes for home-born chickens, pigs, and cows.  We have a couple goats that are ready to burst, and the others are being very friendly with the billy.

She's always figuring out new tricks on the rings.  

The airstream with power and water, just waiting for u.c.Nick to come for a fall stay.  He's back from Moscow and finding projects in the North East, but we have hopes he'll turn up soon.

Annaliese often times has her homework done before we have time to sit down with her after dinner. 

Caspian has been loving a full social day, followed by a cooler farm that he can race around.  He's always on the periphery of what I'm doing, sometimes helping.

Collecting flowers from Alexe's garden.

If his sister can do something, he'll figure it out momentarily.

I love it when the crew is out in the front pasture when I come home.

I don't know what this started out as, but eventually they had little cars and were building a village.  It's not where I thought it was going at first.

In Oxford for a birthday party; somehow I only took one picture, of Caspian fueling up before running back to the pool.

Alexe and I were having a lovely moment relaxing on the porch during a rain storm.  The kids stopped by mid-naked-rain storm game of tag.

Pressure washing the tractor.  Eating an apple. 

The new garden, before I put up the final side of fencing to keep the chickens out.

Annaliese decided we needed some decorations around the homestead.

We don't know where this talent came from, certainly not from her parents.

And with the end of the summer we said goodbye to our favorite young adult.  She headed back to school for her senior year of college, after helping us all summer at the store, the hotel, the farm, and a couple stints as a babysitter. She's an amazing young lady, who is more aware and capable and interested than any of her cohort we know.  

She hand-stitched that apron for Alexe.