our first sap of the season

We took the kids out on Saturday to collect the sap. We got 7 gallons for this first collection. A pretty great amount for the first gathering. Ivar was very involved this time around, as was Elsie and Vernon the cat. It was fun to look at these pictures from tapping our trees last year and to see how my kids have changed in one year!

Now today it is cold again, snowing on and off. But this is fine in the world of sap collecting. The fluctuating temperatures is great for sap flow, which makes the crazy spring weather not feel quite so disheartening when it gets cold again. It means more maple syrup in the end.

We're celebrating April Fools day around here. At breakfast I told Ivar he should tell me, "good night" because it's silly, and April Fools day is silly. He thought that was hilarious. And then he added some potty humor that got him into trouble. But then we found this site and made these April Fools juice cups with jello for dinner tonight. And, the kids made them with me. So the joke will have to be on Rory. :)