It has been a season of busyness.  It has been a season of sickness.
These two combined have made it a season of bloglessness.

Kent had a bad case of the flu.  (Emily...aka Sparkle Pop has
had her second bad case of the flu, followed by a stomach bug,
and now followed by a secondary bacterial infection.  Poor baby,
she just cannot get well.)  But, Kent's case of the flu meant that
I got to play farmer a bit more than usual.  It was sorta fun to go
out mucking in the mud (and other stuff) while moving the cows
in and out of their hay pen.  It was sorta fun to be the main wood
loader.  But it wasn't fun having a sick husband. 

Papa Bob purchased a wood splitter.  It initially had some issues,
but now is fixed, and he gave Billy and Tyler a demonstration the
other day.  They were most suitably impressed.

We had a birthday party planned for Mike and Bill, but Kent's
flu made us put it off for a week.  It did come off though, complete
with shepherd's pie, cheeseburger in paradise soup, the last of the
frozen peaches from last summer, and German chocolate cake.
Mike and Bill are safely launched now to enjoy another year of
life.

There have been lots of comings and goings in Fernnook over
the past few weeks.  Bill and Stacey and the kids were down for
several days last week.  It was cousinopia. 

One of the days was gloriously warm and sunny...one of those
special 75-80 degree February in Missouri days.  We took advantage
of it by getting the mule and piling the 6 oldest grandkids in it and
going for an adventure ride.  The highlight of the ride is always
going over the log that crosses one of the paths.  The kids love,
just absolutely love, going over that log.  Their second favorite
part is eating marienda in the old barn.

You can see what a great time Wilbur had.  Wilbur's little brother
is coming in May.  Tyler and Jenn's Adeline Shirley is coming in
April.  And...a new little creation by Joel and Natalie is due in
September. 

Somehow, I don't think life will be getting slower and simpler for
us anytime soon.