Plowing these fields in the hot summer sun

We planted our first family garden over the Memorial Day weekend. There was lots of planning, lots of dirt, lots of sweat, lots of pride! It's a first for me, so I'm especially excited to see what happens with all of our little seeds....

Kenny Chesney's She Thinks My Tractor's Sexy

All In A Day's Work

Here's what work looked like for the boys in the last few days:

Guess who they are studying?

Jack's clues (the colored one): discovered electricity, first fire department, first library, one hundred dollar
Harry's clues (pix and abbreviations): Poor RA= Poor Richard's Almanac, le = lightning experiment, sftl = started first (t?) library, he started ffd = he started first fire department

Harry brought home several 'for a grade' activities and seems to have had a stellar week...now, if he can just remember to put his name on the papers, he'll be sailing!

Here's what work looked like for me today:

I about died of embarrassment when a friend visited Sunday and I realized how overgrown the yard has become. We never go in the front door and it's a mess, but I'm hoping to let people think we spookified it as part of Boo Day decorations ;-) The rose bushes are dangerous, so I suited up and only got one scratch this time.

The trees are in desperate need of attention, so I attacted them with some borrowed tools (thanx for the long lops, C&B). I still have a few days' work, but it's a good start

Styx

Secret Agent MEn

They are all about the chasing, overtaking, and ninja lately. Sweet, silly boys!

Johnny Rivers' Secret Agent Man

(and, oh yeah, look at the amazing improvements one season can bring - that yard was all hay last summer!)

But singing works just fine for me

Is there anything better than a rainy day forecast that is wrong? Especially in Spring?!This is that beautiful, overgown, tree that always heralds Spring at our old house...there are even a few tulips blooming, and I saw the first hostas poking their shoots out from under the leaves this morning. Something about digging in dirt just rights all sorts of things!

It's been a creative time around here - both boys are making up songs constantly, some of which are better than others ;-) This is Harry's roll-up keyboard that he bought with some birthday money - he's picking out tunes and putting his good ear to use.

Jack has also been building lots of lego creations with Dean. This was his first complelty solo attempt at one with more than 4 pages of instructions, and he was so proud to finishi it all by himself!

Our house is a series of projects in process - every surface is covered with a half-read book, portions of lego sets, stacks of drawings, etc. It feels good....well, except for my stack of half-sewn mending and half-changed-over winter/summer clothes...all in good time - there are some plants that need attention on this bright sunny day.

A great big Thank You goes out to all the people who work hard to make others' lives easier, better, healthier and safer.

James Taylor's Sweet Baby James

I see tree of green....er, pink

It's amazing what a little weeding, a lot of snow, and a few months can do for a yard
Back in October, I had no idea what this tree was, but realized it needed a good pruning

This week, it turned into one of my favorite trees - we have this tree in a lighter color at our old house, and it was blooming when we lost our babies. It is a bittersweet reminder that life goes on - it's always one of the first trees in our old yard, and now Spring is a richer color at our new home.

Louis Armstrong's What A Wonderful World

'Til I'll be tying on my flyin' shoes

Spring has sprung!
And they've been put in charge of dressing themselves LOL :cringe:

We met some friends for splashing fun after they both had great days at school - it was a lot of fun, C&C, and we'll have to do it again soon :-)

I was checking out the yard at the old house today (we have a showing tomorrow, fingers crossed) and saw this crocus poking its way out from under the pitiful ground. I don't ever remember seeing these before, so maybe it's a good sign. Again, with the finger crossing, I never realized how superstitious I am!

I was thinking about how I love this song and a similar JB tune Barefoot Shoes....if you're a fan of Jimmy Buffett, you may want to check out tomorrow nite's Crossroads with JB and Zac Brown Band.

Lyle Lovett's Flyin' Shoes

Nip It In The Bud

It was a blindingly glorious day, and the only good thing about not selling our old house yet is that I get to watch my favorite tree bloom one more time. There are about three buds ready - hopefully it will be in full blossom in time for the Open House.

B52's

Ain't Nobody Here But Us Chickens...er, turkeys

The animals are scrounging for food, and we have this little rafter (or gang) of turkeys in our yard. And, yes, about 1/2 of our yard is still dusted with snow more than two weeks after the last big blast....there is more in the forecast, but we're hoping it ends soon. Spring is just a few weeks away, don't ya know ;-)

BBKing

Here Comes The Sun, little SNOWSTORM

This is my favorite moment of any snowstorm....

how different things looked yesterday!
Our little snowmobile

a couple of the boys' favorite rides - this is what happens when you don't put away your toys - who knows when they will ever thaw out....you can't see the iceberg in the one under the deckThere have actually been some sweet (quiet) moments, like what I think is the first time they grabbed a game to play together, all on their own

And if you're superstitious...maybe I should take this snowflake out of the window? I took it off a gift they gave to a teacher because I couldn't figure out how to wrap it and thought it fit in the window....now that I think of it, it was the week of the first snowstorm....hmmmm

Jack is a little concerned about the trees - 'it's beautiful, but it might hurt the trees'

So far, we've been lucky at both houses

Enjoy, stay warm and safe!

The Beatles

Candy coated raindrops

Sprite's Keeper's weekly Spin Cycle is about Halloween this week, and um, yeah, we've been doing a LOT of BOO-ing lately. Tonite was all about the candy and the rain and the new neighborhood! It's the first time the boys have really trick-or-treated since we live WAY out in the country, but our new neighborhood makes a real party of it, with several trailers full of cute kids, people gathering to party and hand out candy along the way, and kidsKIDSkids having fun...the perfect Halloween!

And they're off...
Candy (or picture) overload, before it even begins

Game faces ON

Their candy chariot

And then there was rain....

which made for some cool pix for the boys...

and some dedicated (soaked) mommies!

Jack and I riding in the hay...and our new neighbor making silly behind me ;-)Entering our new cul-de-sac....they know how to do Halloween, even in the rain!

Harry getting his BOO on

and cracking himself up - it was a LOT of fun!

Jack and Grayson in a serious lite saber battle

We headed back to our old neighborhood, where there is an amazing Haunted Trail - Dean usually takes the boys after our Halloween party, but since we didn't have one this year, I got to check out the awesome setup. They start working on it in August!

Harry's favorite scene (of about 10) - pirates...surprised?!

Done! Jack filled his pail and both of his gloves....sorry, teachers, but I don't think the extra hour is going to be enough to balance out all that sugar ;-)

Happy Halloween!

Soul For Real's Candy Rain

I made up reasons to go down the road

We're loving the new house and yard - my friend Colleen came over yesterday and mentioned how similar it seems to our current home....we've had some neighbors over and gone walking to visit friends. I forgot how nice that could be! Here the boys are posing near their favorite rocks....they are getting so tall!

I hadn't seen any deer in our new yard until yesterday afternoon when there was one in our new driveway and three in our old. Today as I was driving out of our new drive, these three ladies were chillin in the front yard. It feels ever more like 'home' now!

Kenny Chesney and Mac Macanally - Down The Road

I could see the light began to shine

A little lopping really can work wonders ;-)

but I'm really worried about THIS hot mess....feels like MY first mistake with this new house! I started pruning the burberry in between the shrubs, then nothing was salvageable...ugh.

(Thank you again for our (second) house on the hill, babe!)

Lyle Lovett's Her First Mistake