Abundant Recompense Copy

Nate invited us down for a little spring break visit to his work. The kids were excited to play on the dinosaur playground, and I was excited to see all the flowers. The gardens and trees are just breathtaking this time of year.

I am so glad to see spring again! Leah's hide and seek spot (notice the short sleeves!) It is wonderful to see all the birds returning! Here's a mourning dove checking out our bird feeder.  This year we've been delighted with this pheasant that has discovered our bird feeder. He is gorgeous - reminds me of some medieval tapestry. We've seen him several times. Peach blossoms. It's fun to go out and watch the honeybees working hard on our peach trees.

Tragedy No. 1 At least one or two people at a time in our household have been sick pretty much every day during the month of March. My turn started a couple weeks ago with a tickle in the throat and soon grew to a sinus infection of epic proportions. The day that I began to wonder if my teeth were going to fall out from all the pressure, I decided it was time to bite the blasted bullet and go to the doctor. This was also the day I started to consider drilling a hole in the left side of my face in hopes of some relief. So I made an appointment for the early afternoon and the time came to go. I loaded up the three youngest (two of whom were already on antibiotics, to give you an idea of the kind of week we'd been having) in the trusty old van and took off. During the two minute ride to the doctor's office, Bryn became alarmed by the presence of a fly in the van. She asked me to vent the back windows, which I did. To my dismay, the back window on the passenger side fell down off i...

I usually hate February. Weather is always terrible, skies are gray, and everyone ends up sick for at least part of it. But this year, Mother Nature smiled upon us and gave us the most glorious February ever known to man! Sunshine and warm weather abounded, and we were all healthy and itching to play outside. So Nate the Adventure Man decided it was time to hit up the Bird Refuge, which we've had on our list of places to go for long time.  Nate the Adventure Man We ate Subway sandwiches and chips and fruit from home on the drive there. We brought our binoculars (and made some for Leah) in hopes of seeing lots of birds. As we approached the loop that goes around the refuge, we came upon some bona fide cowboys! And girls! Herding cattle! They even had cowboy hats on! Nate downloaded a podcast (or something) to listen to while we drove around that explained what we were seeing, right as we were driving by it. It was supposed to, at least, but we kept having technical difficulties. But...

Addison + a block of cheese for the win.  Check out the elephant! By Bryn. Nate did Bryn's hair for school while I was at the dentist. While we're on the subject of hair, check this one out! I'm so proud! We call it "Coronation Day hair" because it looks like Anna's in Frozen on Coronation Day.  Luscious waves. Leah spilled her bowl of miniwheats at breakfast and made the best of it. A bus stop ritual. For sale! Finally! Asa meets cookie. A picture in which you can sort of see Leah's eyes! Nate ripped out the rotten bathroom floor, and thanks to a few friends it is now covered in beautiful tile. We cleaned out the shed. And found all sorts of treasures. (JoDee: if you're out there, I'm sorry to say we trashed it.) Five dollar fabulous! Our house has several teeny little closets that are just Asa's size. And he has thrilled to have figured out how to open them!

The first haircut for a baby boy is a kind of big deal. It is the turning point from baby to big boy. The time really had come for Asa, though. He was starting to look rather girl/mullety. So I plopped him in his high chair one afternoon and went to town with the clippers. He was very cooperative and ate the remainders of the lunch I still hadn't wiped off the tray, and also giggled a few times because it tickled. After a trip to the tub it was confirmed: we've got a big boy on our hands! Before  We took off quite a bit! Ta-dah!