Winter or Spring on Glenroy Farm

I thought I would share what is happening here on Glenroy Farm.  I noticed that I'm usually writing about the kids, which takes up most of our time, energy and love but our Farm is also our other passion.

This Spring (can I call it that?) or end of winter, was beautiful.  By the middle of March we were outside most of the time enjoying the really warm weather.  We began yard cleanup and even enjoyed a few meals on the porch.  I went to a home improvement store and tried to purchase a slide for our playstructure and it was too early - they don't even stock them until the middle of April.  This unseasonably warm weather spoiled us and now we are in the middle of some very cool temperatures and it just doesn't seem right, even though it is normal for this time of year. 

Ian and Cameron decided not to produce any maple syrup this year due to the warm weather and being able to work a little bit in the fields and getting machinery ready for some nice early spring planting.  The fields are still a bit too wet to plant but the guys will be ready when the time comes.  The biggest challenge right now is staffing for this summer.  The business will be expanding with 4 new Market Stands and finding enough great staff members will be difficult.  Every year it all comes together by the time we open in June but it would be nice to do our hiring right now when we have the time. 

Ian and I have purchased another farm - our first farm that we will own all by ourselves!  Our neighbours approached us in the fall about wanting to sell their farm and we are so grateful that they thought of us.  We spent many afternoons this winter sledding on our new hill - one of the exciting parts of our new farm!  Ian and I want to own a bit more land and this is helping us achieve one of our goals. 

The winter has been full of ups and downs - looking forward to a happy and productive spring! 

My Little Preschooler

 I spend most of my days with our youngest daughter, Jean.  She is an active 3 year old, ready to take on the world!  This photo captures her spirit - thanks Aunt Janie!
It is hard not to compare our kids with one another.  Grace, our oldest, needed a nap every day when she was 3 years old.  I got 3 to 4 hours every day of peace in the afternoon where I could do all the things we need to get done around the house and have a little rest.  I had Grace at 3 years old and Alex as a baby so you would think I would find it challenging but I didn't - as long as I had a break, I was good!  When Alex was 3 years old I had 3 small children to look after - Grace was 5 and in school part time and Jean was a baby.  He gave up his nap early as well but he entertained himself and had a big sister and little sister to play with.  Those days were so busy... I can barely remember them.
Jean, at 3 years old, is a handful.  I often wonder why. 
She gave up her afternoon nap long ago (I don't understand why anyone wouldn't want to nap), she is not very good at playing by herself and she has no one but me to entertain her (and that isn't good enough for her).  She misses Grace and Alex like crazy in the daytime... spends the day wanting to go and get them off the bus. 
The next few months are my last with a child at home with me during school days.  I wanted to take this last year and cherish every day with Jean but in her own way, she is smoothing the transition to having all of our kids in school.  She makes many days very frustrating for me and I find myself looking forward to her being in school and I feel so guilty about that.  She is soooo ready for school.  She loves any type of playschool I put her in and I am thankful for that.  It would be so hard to have a child with separation anxiety. 
So what do I do? 
I am going to try to embrace her personality.  I am going to see the postive in her.  She is lucky she doesn't need as much sleep as the rest of us.  We are lucky that she loves going out and doing activities with or without us.  She will never let anyone "walk all over her" with her strong personality.  I am going to cuddle with her when she lets me and treasure the moments when she is playing with just me.  I am going to engrave in my memory the times when we walk down the laneway together, on our way to the bus, and have our little chats.  I'm going to miss all of it. 

Parting with the Past

Tomorrow is a big day for me.  For most of the women I know, they don't hesitate when it comes to this, but I do.  My husband is the same, actually he is even worse - we like to hang on to things that mean something to us.  I know it is just "stuff" but it has sentimental value - it all represents a special time for our family and it is time to move on, turn a page, move into the next era in our life.

Tomorrow I have rented a table to sell our children's items.  Toys, clothes, books and items we used for our children when they were very young, will be part of this sale.  I have spent the past few weeks collecting "stuff" that I am ready to part with.  The other day I spent time going through every piece of little boy clothing I have... all the little clothes Alex wore.  It was so precious.  I remembered so many pieces and how cute he was as a baby.  When our children were babies it was a special time - so many cuddles, celebrating their little accomplishments, watching them grow so fast. 

Time keeps moving on though and I'm going to move with it.  We are really enjoying these times - watching them turn into little people with thoughts, feelings, opinions, and passions.  Having 3 children was not our plan; we wanted more than that but we also had no idea what it was like to raise children.  It seems now that having our 3 is enough.  Over the past 8 years of being a mommy, I've learned so many new things about myself.  I need to be home and available for my children, hence I resigned from my teaching position a few years ago.  I also know that I don't like to just stay at home with my kids - I need to get out and do things with them and Ian isn't always available to be with us so I can manage 3 children really well.  I am also learning that I yearn for "me" time and that means small segments of time without having to care for the kids but also time to have my own professional goals.  All that being said, my first and most important job is to be there for them and our business allows me to do that.  I am not sure where a fourth baby would fit into my picture, I know it would find a space but I don't think I want it to.  I am looking forward to taking the kids to their activities and playdates without a baby in tow. 

It is time to part with the past and move on - not without a few tears though.  So tomorrow when my table has customers crowding around it and I'm making lots of money (wishful thinking) I can part with our things with a good feeling and let someone else enjoy those items. 

By the way, if I happen to find myself in need of a diaper bag, I will go out a buy a beautiful stylish one!

Baking at Glenroy Farm

Today was a great day to do some baking.  Our children LOVE to bake - cookies, muffins, pizza - anything!  The wind outside forced us to stay inside today as we would probably get blown away if we went out and played. 

All I have to do is pull out my recipe book and baking dishes and they all come bounding into the kitchen.  I love our kitchen but one thing we neglected to do when we renovated was to accomodate 3 helpers!  I chose my baking/cooking area to be beside the oven but it is a tight squeeze for all 4 of us to work so I try to divide the duties.  Today I had a mixing helper, then I had a taste-tester and then I had a scooper and a presser (I'll let you decide what each duty was and who was responsible for each job... have a look at the pictures).  I have to go into our baking projecst with some patience and remember that everything can be cleaned up later.  We are making memories!

This kitchen at Glenroy Farm has seen a lot of baking.  Our cookies turned out perfect today so my baking angels were helping us! 

I'm learning something new... thought I would use some photos from our
vacation!