Spring Tea

My Mom put together a lovely tea for some friends!  It was a wonderful time of fellowship and fun, and the kids got to come along too, so much fun for them!

Switching out clothes, part 2

So, I just realized I never updated ya'll.  I did switch out all the clothes for the kids, about 3 weeks ago.  It is always an all day job for me, and then some.  The kids were a big help this year, transferring clothes up and down the stairs for me, folding clothes and putting it away, and just generally doing whatever I asked them to do.  It has been sooo warm here that the summer clothes have been in constant use, although I left out some cold weather clothes too, and they have been used some.

These are all our bins of clothes.  I have two for next seasons clothes, and 1 for clothes that we're keeping but which won't be worn next season (ie: next summer, etc.).  I also have a small bin of baby clothes for each gender, not much because I got rid of all the boy clothes that I was so tired of, and I don't have much girl clothes because, well, I've only had 1 girl!  I also have a small bin for off season coats, and one bin of shoes.  It's always sooo much work to haul these out of the crawlspace and go through it all!  I'm so glad it's done!

Lilacs!!!

The weather here has been so warm and wonderful!  My lilacs did in fact bloom this year, for the first time ever!  I love the smell of them and seeing them out my window!  While they didn't bloom a lot, I look forward to more flowers in years to come!  :-)

Flower Bed

I was able to spend some time outside this week working on my flower bed, it was so nice!  The weather was great and I actually ended up getting a little sunburned on my arms it was so warm!  I usually leave my flowerbeds in the winter and then clean them up in the spring.  It actually doesn't bother me at all, I can look out the window and remember how beautiful everything was and imagine how good it will look in the spring.  When I do clean them up for the winter I think they look depressing, all empty and brown.  Just my personal opinion. :-)  So, here's the before shot.

And here's the after shot.  I think it looks so much better!  I only got half way done but am looking forward to finishing it up soon.

Spring is here!!!

I'm so happy, Spring is finally here!  The weather is warming up nicely and things are starting to green up!  I know we're still in for a snowstorm or two, but for the most part it will be warm from here on out!  Yay!

Here are some pictures of my plants:

I don't clean out the flower beds until spring, so this bed looks a bit messy.  But it's so exciting to see the flowers popping up!  These are iris', I think.

Here's my rhubarb.  This is it's second growing year, so 1 more year till we can harvest it!  I'm not sure how it's supposed to look or whether this is right but I'm just so glad it made it through the winter!

My lilac leaves are budding out.  I'm not sure when the lilac flowers come or if I will have any this year but I hope to have some eventually.

And finally, my strawberries came back!!!  So excited about them and looking forward to a good crop!

Outdoor Fun!

It has been cold and rainy here all week, fine for being inside but not so good for the kids who have boundless energy... Fortunately, the sun came out this morning for a brief time so the kids could go outside and play!  Yay!

Brothers!

Easter

Our Easter was lovely!  We started out the day by giving the kids Easter baskets.  This was the first year that we did this and they seemed to enjoy it.  Mark has fond memory's of Easter baskets when he was growing up and he wanted to give the kids the same good memories.  We bought all the "filler" at the dollar store or we had it on hand already, so we didn't spend much at all, always a nice bonus!  :-)

Grandma's House!!!

On Sunday we took the kids out to my parents house and they spent the night there.  We picked them up on Tuesday.  They all had a great time!  It was so great to have a break, I think I'm getting a bit burned out on life in general.  On Sunday Mom made tea for us and on Tuesday when we picked up the kids she made dinner for us all, a major job!  I am so blessed to have my folks so close!!!

Our Week in Pictures

We had a slow and quiet week here, not a lot going on for once!  It was very nice!  We went to a birthday party on Saturday but other than that just enjoyed life!  It was great to have an easier week for once!!!

A school project, we are learning about the American flag...Yum!

3rd Birthday party, what fun!

Hot Potato

Flowers from Mark, how sweet!

Spring is here!  My flower garden is looking lovely!

And again for the week, my favorite picture is of Micah! 

I used my new camera for some of the pictures, I'm willing to bet you can tell which ones!  :-)

Lunch and Airplanes

Yesterday we had a picnic lunch near the airport and watched the airplanes.  It was fun, although there wasn't much air traffic.  We hope to be able to go again soon.  :-)

Some of the kids weren't quite as "into" watching the airplanes...