Work Party

We had a work party to get some help with the front strip. I was feeling discouraged about getting it all dug out, but with some extra muscle, shovels, an axe, and a sawzall, we were able to get the whole thing done. It was exciting.

 We finished off the work party with a picnic lunch in the backyard.

Ezra's Birthday Breakfast

 We enjoyed birthday breakfast with the birthday boy and crew on Tuesday. It was a dinosaur party, so Ezra made sure we all put on dinosaur stickers as we arrived.

Four Years

Mary is four years old and continues to be a delight.

She is smart and imaginative, making up all kinds of games to play.

She has a great memory and surprises me frequently by remembering things that happened a long time ago.

Mary loves reading, playing with David, spending time outside, and doing things together.

She is independent and chose all her own photo spots for her pictures this year, but she still likes to snuggle and spend time together.

Mary is a hard worker and a good helper, but is also full of silly fun.

She is a sweetheart, and we are so thankful for her.

Blueberry Picking with Grandpa

 Dave came down Saturday; among other things, we enjoyed going blueberry picking.

Mary's Birthday

Mary turned four on Tuesday, and we had a fun day celebrating.

She requested cookies for her birthday dessert and was excited to pick the one she wanted.

A puzzle from Dave and Gayle and big kid Legos from us.

 It's hard to say who was the most excited about this gift. We had a fun day with our sweet girl.

Mother's Day

I'm so thankful for these two little ones. We had muffins for moms together at church this morning.

I got to hand Mary pieces while she created this dinosaur.

We harvested green beans and carrots to go with our dinner.

Sweet and Sticky

 David is usually not a particularly messy eater, but he sure got into his crackers with sunbutter.

Happy Anniversary

 Mary helped me decorate the cake for Mom and Dad's anniversary.

Yard Projects

Dave came down last weekend to help with the sprinklers. While he and Joshua worked on that project, Dad came over to help me finish tearing out the grass in the front yard. It felt good to get that done. 

Dave and Joshua got the sprinklers in the back yard set up and put in drip irrigation for the front and back beds. It was a busy weekend, but we got a lot done and finished things off with hand pies Saturday evening.

Easter

We enjoyed some last minute egg decorating on Friday.

Easter morning we had a great celebratory service followed by an egg hunt at church.

We had a fancy brunch for lunch after Joshua got home.

We found lots of goodies in the Easter baskets.

The Great Yard Project

We decided to get rid of our front lawn and replace it with something low maintenance and low water. Joshua kicked things off by spraying the grass to kill it, then the kids and I slowly started shoveling out the dead grass and weeds. Bare dirt never looked so good.

Living the Good Life

The kids have been enjoying lots of time outside. They were excited when we filled up the sandbox and play in it often.

David picked out his own clothes and got himself dressed for the first time.

Mary always loves to help cook.

David discovered his pockets and thinks they are great.