Bouncing with Friends

Our family agreed that today was a nice day . . .

. . . to head to the temple . . .

. . . for a little picnic on the lawn.

While we were there, we bumped into our friends Frank and Autumn . . .

. . . who decided to come over and help us set up our trampoline.

The air is still a little chilly, but we're pretty sure that snowy weather is done for a while,

so it's time to get bouncing again!

Once the trampoline was all set up,

our friends helped us test it to make sure everything was in working order . . .

. . . then we pulled out our bows and targets to practice archery together.

Ah, the delights of spring!

Raspberry Snake

Daddy and I met up for an appointment at one of the kids' schools today . . .

. . . and as I walked back to the parking lot, I had the thought:

"His ride is cooler, but my ride is warmer."

Nine months out of the year in Massachusetts,

warmer wins in my book.

In other news, our cute little dwarf irises are blooming right now . . .

. . . and I spotted a gartersnake on my way to the berry patch today. 

I encouraged it to smile for my camera . . .

. . . but it just blew me a raspberry and slithered away.

I'm used to that.

A Noble with a Rose

What has Joy been up to lately?

I'm glad you asked.

In the past couple weeks, she has . . .

. . . dressed as a very colorful noble for the Latin Club's Roman banquet . . .

. . . looked epic while searching for diamonds in Minecraft

next to her big, flickering candles . . .

. . . performed with her high school choir (she's on the left, wearing a black button-up shirt) . . .

. . . and been inducted into her school's chapter of the National Honor Society,

whose goal is to promote scholarship, leadership, and service.

The new inductees were each given a rose,

and encouraged to present it to someone who has helped them succeed.

Joy decided to give the rose to herself,

since she did all of the work to qualify for NHS.

Can't argue with that logic.

UPDATE: Joy later informed me that she ended up giving the rose

to her Young Women president, and they shared a very nice chat.

Too Much Mulch

We need a bunch of mulch around our yard this spring,

and I recently heard that our local light department will deliver it for free

after they grind up fallen trees around town.

I arranged for them to deliver some a few weeks ago,

and when they asked how much I wanted and where they should put it, 

I said, "Put the whole load right there on the lawn,"

because I didn't want to block our driveway.

As they drove away, I realized I had two big problems:

1) I was now the owner of a lot more mulch than I expected.

2) The grass under that mulch mountain was going to die

before I used all of those wood chips up,

because I still needed to weed and plant things around the yard

before the mulch could be applied.

For the next few weekends,

our family outdoor chore time involved moving

load after load after load of wood chips . . .

. . . onto the driveway (you know--the one I didn't want to block).

 

. . . it was really tiring work

(even if you are wearing fabulous pants).

Sometimes, after the kids finished their chores,

I would pay them to come back and help me move yet more mulch.

This past weekend, I FINALLY moved the last few buckets of mulch onto the driveway.

That patch of lawn looks pretty sad . . .

. . . and Daddy can barely pull his car out of the garage

without hitting the mulch ridge . . .

. . . but the boys like climbing around on it, so there's that.

As the saying goes,

"Good judgment comes from experience,

and experience comes from bad judgement." 

Planting Rosie

My mom planted roses in our front yard when I was a teenager.

They were pretty, but high maintenance.

She had to spray them with a bunch of products to prevent rust, thrips, etc.

I determined never to plant roses, because I don't baby plants.

I already have four kids and six birds to keep alive,

so I figure anything growing in our yard has to fend for itself.

Well, never say never.

Last year, I noticed a hardy red rose in several people's yards,

and I decided to plant one and see how it fared.

I also bought a couple lavender plants to keep it company

(and hopefully deter deer with their strong aroma).

I drew up a simple plan of where I wanted my new little friends to go . . .

. . . and then I made a ridiculously complex plan

for moving some existing plants and amending the soil.

(I only stuck to about half of the plan.  'Cuz that's how I roll.)

A few days ago, I marched out to my future rose bed

and set to work yanking out grass and weeds.

It took me over an hour to even get this far.

Why does weeding take so long?

Maybe I'm doing it wrong.

Anyway, I kept at it all through the weekend . . .

. . . and finally got Rosie and her new friends planted this morning.

Wish them luck!

Oats for Chickies

We're halfway through spring,

and our chicken tractor hasn't moved an inch from its winter parking spot.

It's so heavy that I can't work up the will to wrestle it across our lawn again.

Plus, I kind of like having four highly-efficient composters

living in a coop on the side of our house.

Anna worries that our chickens are bored in their stationary coop,

so she occasionally lets them out for field trips

to the bug buffet that is our front yard.

Anna also likes to pick the chickies up and snuggle them . . .

. . . but they aren't super keen on cuddles . . .

. . . so she has started bribing them with all-you-can-peck oats.

It's a win for all parties.

Want Blue Milk with Your Falcon Cake?

Today is May the Fourth, one of our favorite holidays!

We celebrated by watching the Phineas and Ferb Star Wars Special . . .

. . . and enjoying our Star Wars-themed feast:

Han burgers, Obi-wan Kebabis, Sarlacc hummus with veggies, and Millennium Falcon cake.

And yes, I still have to spell-check Sarlacc, after all these years.

We also sampled some limited-edition blue milk in lieu of our usual "Vaderade."

I assumed the company had just added blue food coloring to appeal to Star Wars geeks this week,

but they also added so much sugar and vanilla that the milk tasted like melted ice cream.

No one in our family liked it, so I guess we're going back to Vaderade next year.

Better flavor + Darth Vader pun = Win