May updates

The month went very quickly. The boys enjoyed some time at the park. One of the neighborhood parks has had some recent equipment additions, the boys are never afraid to explore and burn off a little energy.

Quentin's Kindergarten Class visited the Fire and Police Department. Of course, my son was the one who asked the officer to put the handcuffs on him. He thought it was really funny until the officer had to look for his keys to unlock them.

Quentin with his friend Fallon.

Peaceful weekend

The weekend was wonderful. Jamie finished his finals for classes and we were able to spend the whole weekend as a family without any homework to be done. I realize this will come to an end too soon, as Quentin is wrapping up his Kindergarten year... there are many more years ahead. We spent Saturday doing a bunch of odds and ends in the afternoon and watched Nim's Island together in the evening. It was refreshing to see a movie that did not cast adults or parents as bumbling fools. Quentin wasn't feeling well Saturday evening, I suspect he got some bad food at some point earlier in the day. Deli meat is a mysterious thing....
Sunday morning we lounged in our pajamas, played with kids relaxed. We had a family outing in the afternoon to celebrate Mother's Day. The Winzer Stube is minutes away from home and had wonderful food. The kids had onion rings for what I believe was the first time for each of them, they loved it. Lars liked the breading, then he discovered the onion inside. There was an accordian player for entertainment. The kids were enchanted with the costume and the music... perhaps even more so, with the sight of their parents singing along! We had a lovely weekend.

Spring Fling

Quentin was chasing giant bubbles outside at the church Spring Fling today. He had so much fun!
Lars had his face painted. He pretended he was a cat most of the day. The face painting included a little tail coming from his mouth. He said it was a mouse tail.

rhubarb

The Rhubarb is large enough to pick and make a cake! Joyous day!!!!

Spring updates

The boys and I were goofing around for the camera. Not much else to say about this one, pretty obvious we were playing it up!

Jamie reading to Lars on Sunday evening. The little guy was so tired he fell asleep in his Daddy's lap....

We had a some much needed rain and the flowers came to life. (Ignore the dandelions...)


Quentin refuses to smile nicely for the camera lately. So, as any good mother would do... I took a few pictures to use as bribery in future years... this one may resurface at some point when it will serve me well. Got to love the kid, he was getting tickled relentlessly and still refused to smile with his tongue in his mouth. Charisma?!

Lars has been absolutely insistent that we spend every possible waking moment outside. He was able to spend some time at the park with me this week.
Broccoli Cream Soup
Cream Soup Base:
¼ cup chopped onion
¼ cup chopped celery
¼ cup butter
¼ tsp sea salt
1 ½ cup chicken broth
1 (12oz) can evaporated milk

For Broccoli Soup:
2 cups frozen or fresh broccoli, cooked and chopped
¼ tsp garlic

(We have made this twice and loved it. The last time we doubled the broccoli and added a cup of left over mashed potatoes as well. I intend to try this cream soup with variations of vegetables throughout the summer. I think it would be great with asparagus too.)

Loving this Weather!!!!

Gardening and preparations have officially begun at our house. The whole family gets in on the fun. The boys have spent a lot of time outside playing in the yard, digging in the raised beds, and picking the "bad guys" otherwise known as dandelions. We start seeds indoors in January every year, in the past two weeks all of the seedling have been moved to the three season front porch and are being hardened off with the breeze and the temperature variations. The picture above is of a Rosa Bianca Eggplant that is doing well.

This is the prizewinner so far, this lovely tomato has been growing wonderfully and seems to have a great start on the growing season.

We start saving our plastic and metal containers in the fall every year in order to use them as pots for the seedlings. We could use the same every year, but there is something about saving a yogurt container in December while thinking of the wonderful plant that will take root in the spring.

Lars outgrew his puddle jumpers from last year, and managed to blow a hole in one he wore them so often. We repurposed them into planters for a few sedum varieties, and some pansies for the spring.

This old metal pail had actually rusted spots through in the bottom. Lars and I decided to use it for a planter in the flower garden. We added and Hens and Chicks, I suspect they will tolerate the summer heat well. It is hard to spot, but Quentin found a bird feather in the garden and stuck it next to the rock too. Perfect.

The Tonka jeep was a garage sale find last fall, Quentin decided it should house a pansy for spring. The only way Lars agreed to give up a toy, was knowing that when the heat became too much for the pansy in the summer, we would clean the jeep out and he could play with it again.

Spring Monday

I spent a some time today wondering how I was going to get list of household and yard tasks done, sort of rushing through the tasks instead of savoring the spring day, birds, new flowers, etc. Then as I was reading this evening this jumped out at me.
“Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.” (Mt. 6:34)