Apples to Apples

While the other two trees we purchased are more sticks then trees, the one we planted in front seems to be doing well. We even have blooms! Hoping to see some apples in 2 or 3 years from this one.

Going to have to get a shot of these side by side.. Raegan is almost TWO years older then Kael, and her hand is half the size... These are some of the awesome keepsakes the preschool made for the parents at the Spring Tea. LOVE!

A Spring Thing

SO proud of Kael's self portrait. He has never been in to drawing, he may scribble a bit but it is very rare for him to have any real purpose for the lines he puts on the page. Raegan, on the other hand....

Hers was the only self portrait with a story and style of it's own. EVERY other child had a stick figure. My head was enormous.

The kids' preschool has an annual Spring Tea for each class, and I've got to say, that was just crazy fun! Sitting next to Kael sipping my coffee and his lemonade, snacking on little chocolate dipped strawberries the kids prepared the day before.. It was just cute. We got to sit across from Kael's twin girlfriends which led to some great conversations amongst us moms, that's for sure! For Raegans, the kids did a sign language song which was a-dor-able. She was such the little lady, sitting with her feet crossed and lifting her pinkie for each sip. I really do love their preschool and am glad Kael will be attending again next year. It will be a bit of peace as I freak out about Raegan attending Kindergarten, lol! More about that later...

Oasis

It started out like this.. crumbly, muddy, hard on the feet.. ugly. The house was built on a mound of hard packed gravel, and that's what the yard is... grass seed sprinkled on top of hard packed gravel. No drainage means a muddy swamp half the time, and no soil, at ALL, means the grass really doesn't grow.

We popped a pergola in over the porch to make the outside room feel more intentional.

Matt managed to single-handedly move that giant play structure over to the corner of the yard where it helped camouflage the water access pipe we have to keep handy for the city. The yard was tilled up ( and my sprinkler system with it) in preparation for all the healthy nutrient rich top soil that was to come.

Smoothed out, the side yard is separated off and leveled out with gravel, and the play structure corner is separated off and filled with round river rock. Sprinkler system is re-placed and replaced.

And then he hauled in the sod....

We. LOVE. It. We've got a few more days till we can really enjoy it as the sod takes firm root, but we are just in complete LUST with how this has turned out. We've also decided the pergola isn't quite finished. We'll top it off with some lattice and some plexiglass to make it weather proof so we can enjoy sitting outside even if it's raining. I can NOT wait for more warm spring and summer days!

Spring Cleaning Salad

Emptied my veggie drawer and ended up with the BEST salad. Kids not impressed: more for mom!

third head of iceburg lettuce ( diced)
generous handful of baby spinach (shredded)
5 baby carrots (julienned)
stalk of celery ( diced)
handful of bacon bits
generous handful of blue cheese
6 dried cherries ( diced)
3 tbsp blue cheese dressing
3 tbsp Italian dressing

stinky cheese salad perfection!!!!

For Grammie

With the Cooper family.

And sweet baby Lilly

With most of the great grandkids.