Happy Valentine's Day!

Snow!!

Well, it's certainly nothing like the blizzards they've been having in the northeast this week, but for Texas, this is pretty impressive!

Carl getting up close and personal:

Sheldon

Molly Wobbles, Maude, and Gertie

Relishing spring-like weather, if only for an afternoon

The other day it was actually warm enough to be outside for more than a few minutes.  Still a little chilly, as you can see from Kai's choice of attire (sweater + bare feet)!  We are getting cabin fever, and are ready for spring to get here so that we can spend some time in the garden.  For now, we settled for a little time at the picnic table visiting with the chickens. :)

A week in the life of us

The spring semester started a few weeks ago, and the new and improved Mitschke clan is adjusting to the craziness that comes with living on a farm, working full time, community, and avoiding traditional day care.  I thought it might be interesting to share what a typical week is like for us nowadays.

Sunday--We go to the 10 am service at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Oak Cliff, which we absolutely love.  We've been going this church for about a year now, and really feel like we've found a church community that matches our values and ideas about life in general.  We had a really neat child dedication service for Kai here in November, which was similar to a traditional Christening in other churches.  Here is a picture of all of us after the dedication at church:

After church we drive to Arlington to pick up Christina, who has basically become part of our family now.  I've talked a lot about Christina in previous blog entries.  She's now in her second semester at UTA and is living in the dorm, making lots of friends and studying very hard!  Sometimes we all go out to lunch together, then head back to our house on Sunday afternoons.  Sunday evenings are dedicated to studying with Christina--Aaron helps with her Math and Nursing homework, and I'm the tutor for Political Science and English.

Monday:  On Mondays Kai stays at home with Christina, while Aaron and I carpool to work.  Christina is really great with him, and he absolutely adores her.  Monday afternoons I drive back home from work (45 min. commute), pick up Kai and Christina, and bring them both back to Arlington because Christina has a class on Monday evenings.  Kai and I pick up Aaron and head back home.  The car definitely gets a workout on Mondays!

Here is Christina studying at our kitchen table looking very smart with her glasses on:

Tuesday:  Tuesday is Kai's day with Papa and Gran-Ree, my dad and step mother, who live in Granbury, about an hour from the farm.  He's the first grandchild, so he is absolutely spoiled rotten, of course.  Aaron usually meets them in Fort Worth to drop off Kai in the morning, and then I drive to Granbury after work to pick him up.  It's a long drive (about 2 hours total) and makes for a pretty late evening, but it's fun to visit and eat dinner together, so it's worth it.

Here is a picture of Kai with Lucy, Dad and Ann-Marie's adorable chocolate lab, on a recent Tuesday:

Wednesday and Thursday:  Wednesdays and Thursdays are VERY long days for everyone in the family.  Aaron takes Kai to Dallas with him both days, and they have to be in Dallas by 7 am.  While Aaron is working with his students at the community health clinic in the mornings, Kai stays with Caroline (Christina's mom).  Then, in the afternoons, Kai, Caroline, Aaron, and the nursing students all do community health outreach with refugees in Dallas and Garland until 7 pm or so.  I work in my office at school both days (working toward tenure!).  I also teach on Wednesday nights from 6-9 pm and on Thursday nights I have choir practice at church from 7-8:30.

Here is a picture of Caroline and Kai:

And here is a picture of Kai "working" with refugees doing outreach:

Fridays we usually stay home and regroup, clean the house, and do laundry.  Did I mention we live on a farm?!!! Every day we feed and water the animals, let them out in the morning and put them up in their pens at night, collect the eggs from the chickens, and chase the goats out of the yard.  Well, we don't chase the goats everyday, but they do keep life interesting.

All in all, we lead a very busy, full, and happy life as a family of three!

Kai meets the sheep.

Kai was clearly tickled to meet the sheep this afternoon as he sits atop a hay bale giggling with delight. We had to enjoy the sun this afternoon because it's supposed to get super cold over the next couple of days, with lows in the low teens and highs only in the 20s! That's some crazy weather for Texas.

What Christmas is really all about

This past Sunday we celebrated Christmas with our "favorite" Karen family, and had a blast.  One of my coworkers, Beverly, and her husband, Bob, brought gifts for half of the family, and we brought gifts for the other half.  It was so much fun decorating the tree with ornaments that our friend Holli donated, opening presents, and then learning how to use the presents they received.  We are constantly laughing because we do a lot of pantamiming due to the language barrier.  They were most confused by the nightlight in the shape of a soccer ball (hard to explain the purpose of a night light to a family who lived the whole of their lives until a year ago without electricity).  Anyway, it was a lot of fun and we realized that Christmas is a time to remember those you love, and we love them!

Aaron & Ta Paw

Hae Blu Moo

Top row (l to r): Caroline, Aaron, Diane, Ta Paw, Pi Pi, Aye Aye, Beverly, Bob

Bottom row (l to r): Moo Blu Htoo, Moo Kae Blut, Hae Blu Moo, Moo Moo, Kai

A new normal

I think we have found a bit of a routine after the craziness that has been the past couple of months.  We've had LOTS of parties and visitors because everyone is excited to meet Kai for the first time.  I am finishing up the semester this week, and then we'll both have a bit of a break until the spring semester gets started in mid-January.  Kai is amazing, and truly he must be the happiest baby in the world.  He is an absolute joy.  We are really excited to have some time off, and we're actually getting some work done around the house, which has been fantastic.  Life is good!