By Kailey Mentink,

What beautiful weather for the beginning of February! The weather is surprisingly warm and the geese have begun to fly. The unexpected weather gave us opportunity to clean up around the farm. At the end of January, we had a pig go into the locker at Brainard. After it was processed, we enjoyed sausage patties for supper. We were astounded at the marvelous flavor of the pork! The lard was a wonderful treat as well. Mom fried some homemade potato chips with dry ranch seasoning mix. The ranch seasoning gives the chips so much flavor!

On Tuesday we celebrated Asher’s second birthday! We played trains in the morning. Trains is one of his favorite entertainments. For supper Asher wanted hot dogs and ate at least four of them. Later in the evening, he was delighted to receive a Thomas train from Mom and Dad! For dessert he requested carrot cake and Aiden made it for him.

We are very thankful to be in the house. Mom has listed the camper  for sale on craigslist. After living in the camper for a year, we appreciate the space that the house supplies. Dad has started the floor in his and Mom’s bedroom. Asher got to help him with it! The house is gradually becoming finished. Dad has also started to work on the second bathroom.

On Friday, the weather was so warm and sunny! Dad had previously taken the day off to work around the place. Since it was also Annika’s third birthday, Alena, Caleb, Aiden, Asher, and I played “trip” with her in the morning. “Trip” is one of Annika’s favorite games. Her trips always include mammoth sized bags of supplies, and travelling to Grandma’s house, though this time we were travelling to the house of “Cousin Freddie”.  In the morning, Grandma Peterson called to talk to Annika. After Annika was done, Asher said hello. When Grandma asked him how old he was, the abrupt reply was, “Five!” for some reason he believes he is five now.  After lunch, we all went outside and cleaned up a large branch that had fallen in a recent ice storm along with other areas on our farm. We were all in tee-shirts and were glad to be able to leave our coats inside, though I think Aiden went a little excessive. He wore shorts and claimed he wanted to go swimming (even though there is still ice on the pond). In the evening, Annika had no bake cookies as her dessert. Saturday was also nice, though not as warm. We have been spending most of the afternoons outside. Mom is very excited about starting her garden and has started preparing it for spring.  Enjoy the weather!!!