Gardening like mad

Tomatoes, Lettuce, basil, carrots (hopefully), cucumbers, a strawberry plant, and sugar snap peas

This doesn't really show all the work that I've been doing. I'll post more pictures in a month or so and hopefully it was be full of pretty flowers!

I planted these daisies last year and they are super happy this spring!

Basically every Saturday in April, we have spent working in the yard. Keith built me a garden box. This is our first attempt at this, so we'll see if it works. I didn't really know what to plant besides tomatoes, so it's sort of a science experiment. Depending on how this goes, we might plant all new veggies next year. I planted all starter plants, except for the carrots. They came in a cute little seed packet and a day or so after I planted them, we had torrential rain. I worried that the little seeds washed away, but yesterday I saw a few little green sprouts, so I'm hopeful that a couple will come up! Any ideas of what else to plant in a garden box? I'd love input!

I've also been working in our front flower bed. My dianthus and phlox are trying to take over, so I might have to do some transplanting soon. I went a little crazy at the flat sale and planted all new flowers this year. So, I'm anxious to see what takes off! And I'm sure around July I'll be sick of this flower garden and all the work of dead heading and weeding, but for now it has been fun to get back in the dirt!

Computer Time

Andrew was having a little computer time the other day and when Jonathan got up from his nap, he climbed onto Andrew's chair with him and watched him play. It was so cute and there was NO fighting! Simply a miracle considering they were on the same chair and they both wanted to push the buttons. As I watched and listened, Andrew started teaching Jonathan how to play and telling him when to click. Oh, be still my heart! I really need to video this stuff!

Now if they could just learn how to share everything else...

Bagel Boy

This morning Jonathan requested hot dogs for breakfast. I didn't think that was a suitable choice and thought maybe he meant sausage links. But when I offered them as a substitution, he threw a little fit and went to freezer and pulled out corn dogs. Again, I didn't think that was a great choice for breakfast and tried to offer a pancake-sausage-on-a-stick instead. He wasn't going for it either. So I offered cereal and other standard breakfast foods, which were all rejected and suddenly thought of a bagel with cream cheese. This kid is a sucker for spreads. It was a big hit and these pictures do not fully show the mess he made with the cream cheese. But he ate it and we were all happy that he had a semi-healthy breakfast! (Auntie Jill - please note that he ate an Everything Bagel.)

Don't try this at home...

The first time I watched this happen, I held my breath. Then when there were no injuries, I ran for the camera. *

Test run

I'm not sure, but I think he was trying to land in the box.

Jonathan's turn

Notice the determination on his face.

Looks a little scared...

Crash landing with Jonathan close behind.

And the end of the box and the scary ride down the slide.

* No children were injured during this adventure, and their mother does not promote this behavior. Their father, when showed the photos, said, "Oh, I used to ride a box down the stairs." *sigh*

Preschool Birthday

Last week, Andrew celebrated his "preschool birthday." Each child can have a designated birthday day if they have a summer birthday. This concept was a little confusing for Andrew at first. He kept asking if he was still going to have a birthday in July, and I assured him he would with cake and presents and that this was just his special day at school. He wanted to know why he couldn't celebrate his real birthday at school and was a little sad to learn that there wasn't school in the summer. I wonder if he'll always feel that way?!

As the birthday boy at school he was the helper for all tasks, and he wore a birthday sticker. And best of all, he took brownies with sprinkles for a special treat. (The school has a no messy cupcakes or frosting rule.)

At lunch that day, he told me that we needed to sing "Happy Birthday" to him. When I reminded him that it wasn't his real birthday, he said, "But they sang to me at school!" And then we went back to reality!

Happy Easter!

Easter baskets!

Trying to capture a picture of the kiddos after church...

my favorite one!

just the boys

Cate, Andrew and Grandpa getting ready to take a ride.

Cate wasn't too sure at first...

Luke and Jonathan exploring

I don't know if you can see her face, but she was having a great time!

Ben and Luke's turn

Mr. GQ was too cool to take a ride

We had a wonderful Easter Sunday. We went to church, came home and took a couple pictures and then loaded everyone up and went to Hutchinson to eat lunch with the other side of the family. Mom made a wonderful meal, where we all ate WAY too much and then the kids ran around outside and looked at the cows. And they all enjoyed rides on the Ranger with Grandpa Paul, except Jonathan who wasn't in to it for some reason.

Fun with cousins!

Grammy reading to all the grand kids before bed.

Keith reading before nap time

Auntie and Jonathan

Jonathan trying out the slide at the playground.

Mr. Joe Cool took a 2-second break so I could take his picture.

Andrew and Auntie

Cate on the swing with Grammy

After our first busy day taking pictures, we relaxed on Saturday and took the kids to a playground to run off some of their extra energy! Ben ran so fast I never caught a picture of him!