Post Easter...

Heidi and family spent Easter over here, the kids had a blast searching for the 120-some plastic eggs hidden all over the yard. There were a few missing at the end, but Jalen discovered one of them this morning....with a dollar bill inside! He's a happy camper right now.

Yesterday, he woke up and promptly slipped his puddle stompers on and traipsed outside without a word. I watched from the kitchen window as he hung from a branch on the Dogwood tree that we inherited by purchasing this house. It's very large and positively exploding with blossoms right now....quite a dramatic site in our otherwise mundane backyard. He wandered over to the firepit area, swinging on a dead vine hanging from a black lotus tree. After a bit I saw him laying in the tall grass below our deck, at one with nature. Caught him on film too.

I joined him outside, working on various planting projects. As I worked on planting my gorgeous semi-dwarf apple tree, a wee man quietly stood next to me and asked "what will this grow into?" He helped pat the dirt around the base and we discussed all the yummy apples, blueberries, blackberries, brocolli (what is it with "b" plants?) and such that we'd be eating one day. It really gets him excited to grow things we can eat.

Later, he found a plant tag that had blown out into the yard. He took my hand and said "I need you Mom, come with me". We walked to a cluster of potted plants Markus has up by the house and he pointed to the Yucca plant and the tag and said "Is this going to grow into this?", correctly matching them! It surprised me because the Yucca plant is just a tiny thing and the tag shows a huge plant in full blossom. But he knew exactly which one it was.
He LOVES matching plants to tags and talking about what the plant with "grow into".

We had a perfectly timed rain shower pass through, negating the need to haul buckets of water up the hill. Thank you mother nature!

Tried to take a crew of kids to the Hands-On Museum yesterday but it was closed. We did a run by the health food store, Barnes and Noble, a park and Sonic (for some greasy snacks) instead. Jared stayed over at John's house, thrilled to get away from all the noise and hang out with one of his best friends. They can hardly WAIT for LeaAnn's tribe to get up here next weekend. They're family to my kids and moving away from them has been torture!

Mary sent me home with more plant starts than I know what to do with! Planning to visit Lowe's tonight for garden bed supplies. We're going to have zucchini and pumpkins and peppers and tomatoes this year...YIPPEEEE!! Thanks Mary.:)