Summer may be here!

Here's a collection of photos from the past week or two.

Grace got a book of iron on decals, and we spent an afternoon embellishing all sorts of things. I got a hedgehog on my shirt sleeve!

Olaf got a city-scape

Julia got a lesson in using scissors

and a kitty on a bike

and a bird

we've been working a lot preparing a new garden bed. The old one was pretty shaded by tall pines, so little grew well.

This bed has a hoop house over it so we can start things much earlier. I looked at a few models and then winged the design using some extra scrap wood and some purchased pvc pipe and a painter's drop cloth of plastic. All my first screws were too short, and the thing fell apart when I tried to move it, so modifications had to be made, but it has held up fine since.

Some heirloom tomato starts, a gift to Mom from Dave

Some early peas!

Sifting compost with the chickens! We clipped one wing each to try and prevent them from hopping the fence into the neighbor's yard that is full of big dogs. It was a surprisingly easy process. No word yet on if it will yield the desired results.

Olaf is playing soccer. Games are rather comical.

Julia was much impressed with Grace's typewriter

I came home from class one day to find Joe playing trains with Julia. They were so engrossed, it took a good 10 minutes for either one to notice me standing there.

I bought Julia a play kitchen! She LOOOOVES it!

 

 

some awesome toddler fashion

a cookout! first one of the summer. it only rained a little.

Julia spends a good part of the day hanging out with the chickens. She updates us on when one is busy laying, and checks for eggs about 12 times a day. when she does see an egg, she says "oh! fund un" (oh, found one!)

chasing Loki a tad

And then the weather got gorgeous. We've spent the past two days outside as much as possible, gardening up a storm. Planting trees in the boulevard, planting seeds, digging new garden beds, watering everything, spiffing up the yard, pretty much anything we can think of to stay outside.

Julia hanging out in a hole. Turns out she's not a fan of worms.

the little pea plants are starting to climb their trellis.

here's the hoop house with the sides up, and plants starting to pop up! Julia calls them "baby plants" and says "shhhh, sleeping"

I dug a new patch for beans on the side of the front porch. You can see the trellis strings up along the front. Last year by mid summer the beans were so thick that they completely blocked the traffic and made a lovely shaded place to sit on the porch. This summer we'll have two sides blocked, making a green room of sorts. Two different kinds of beans are alternated with peas, so it should be tasty too! Other things planted: lettuce, spinach, radishes, carrots, kale, garlic, onions, zinnia, nasturtiums, morning glory, moonflower, oregano, thyme, and dill.

fresh mown grass, supper outside...

and fresh sand in the sandbox. the first days of summer weather are a lovely thing.