Will scavenge for treats

Tradition around here dictates that Easter baskets are hunted for by being given clues. At least if you're still of age, that is. This year we enlisted Pap to do the clues himself and they came home by courier (Thing One, who'd finished an extended visit). He did an outstanding job, ranging all over, inside and outdoors. Thing Three was delighted!

One in the mailbox out front, one in the tractor out back

One in the decade-ish old lean-to built by Thing One probably our first year here

One on the playhouse roof and one in the terrarium in Thing One's room. I should probably explain that the TP was a welcome home prank and that the bedroom is not normally decorated as such...

Haha, and in the STINKY pond still awaiting the most unpleasant task of leaf removal

Thing One cackling upon the realization that one of the clues was tucked near Triskal's ashes so that "she could be part of the fun."

On the grill on the deck and one on Bosley Underfoot

Basket acquired and devoured within three days. Glad we can keep our dentist in business. 😬

 

Carrie, Carrie, quite contrary...

How does your garden grow? 

Just kidding. She actually took the picture for me. 

My sweet friend Karen Autumn posts excellent and fun pictures on Facebook of older objects which she breathes new life and love into. I was thinking of her as I grabbed this basket which belonged to my great grandmother Frances before I headed to our garden. I love when pretty things are functional things and fun things! 

It makes me smile to think that my amazing Grandma Frances used this in her gardens- I am old enough to remember her cherry trees and her riots of flower garden patches- and now here it is, making my life easier so that I don't have to try to lug everything back to my house in my T-shirt.

Not that that would ever happen as we adults possess the skill called planning ahead. Ahem.

That would be our first watermelon, a sprig of basil which I accidentally snagged off, cucumbers on the top, multitudes of tomatoes including a Cherokee Purple one on the right, and zucchini in the foreground. We also have extraordinarily tall lettuce (I didn't know lettuce grew up but these ones do), golden beets, carrots, spaghetti squash, butternut squash, and holy cow basil and tomatoes out there. 

I must must must get back to blogging as my phone is out of storage: can't take any more pictures until I clear some stuff off, and the garden is CRAZY. 

Hungry? Come on down!

Dear me. Deloris better get busy making soup...

*Interesting tidbit: that basket belonged to my Great Grandma Frances and I am now getting to use it in our garden, wahoo!

Spring silliness

 

The last weekend in March brought a visit from Hinrew, Muggin and Zia. This is the only picture I got, because we were all busy being lazy. They joined us and participated in our Friday night home group, which was really neat. There's never enough time with these guys. Thanks for making the trip to come play with us!

 

I got to meet my new cutie friend Hudson for the first time. He's only 4 months old, and I hadn't seen his mom since last spring break. Talk about never getting to see people you love enough...

 

This is another of my cutie friends, Bella. I hadn't seen her mom since last spring break, either! Bella is an 18 month old firecracker, just like her mother. She's big into sharing right now, and was pleased to hand us our own belongings all through lunch.

 

Check out those ringlets! She just lives up to her name.

 

Here's her awesome mom, Mar. Or "the Mayor" as our kids hear when we talk about her, haha!

 

Our own cute urchin snuck a photo op in as well.

 

Handsome Hudson and his beautiful mom, Lisa.

 

It was so good to catch up with these girls. They've been lifelines for me since our girlhood and I really wouldn't be who I am today without them. Priceless treasures. And their kids are cute, too.

 

Grandma Barb and Pap came out for Easter. We had way too much food, went to church, and did our general goofing off, including the kids' hunt for their Easter baskets. This year said hunt happened at sundown and they used flashlights and glowsticks to find their loot. Our apologies to any neighbors who thought there was anything suspicious happening with all the lights bobbing around...

 

Carrie's clues ranged from the playhouse to the inside top floor of the "barn" (shed) to the top of the rope in the oak tree out front. More than one of the kids found clues in our "Harry Potter" room under the stairs (game cupboard) and in the laundry room appliances. One was in the bathtub, two were in our "secret" staircase, and Carrie's lean-to hosted a couple clues itself. They had a ball, though they were incredibly late to bed. Oh well, it's spring break...

Spring Concert and Art Show and Ice Cream Social

You know Spring is almost here when it's concert time. Liam's shindig was the same day as Damon's field trip, naturally, so after we rested up we headed back to school. Liam found his cat right away:

 

I don't mean to criticize, but I am puzzled at the huge differences between the school system we're in now and our previous one. At the old school, attendance and participation in concerts were (was? Mommee?) mandatory and you had to supply an excuse if you weren't going to show.

 

This school sent home a reminder about the evening and you were to return the bottom portion if you WERE going to show up. I know they were counting heads for the ice cream social side of things, but really?

 

It became more clear when we asked Liam if he knew the words to all his songs.

 

"Song."

 

"What?"

"Song. You said songs. There's only one."

 

...

 

So this is Damon, surveying the scene...

 

 

And this is Carrie, mulling over the fact that we're back at school and had to park at the strip mall and walk over for one song. One. Song.

 

 

It was a nice treat to hear the high school's swing band playing between elementary classes, though. They sounded great!

 

Liam spotted us right away. There were kids on the stage, and the ones on the floor like him were to perform inventive percussion using their bodies. I'm sure he'd be happy to demonstrate if you ask him about it.

 

 

Sadly, none of our raffle tickets that we entered to win (the ice cream supply basket, naturally, or the minion family movie night basket, for those of you keeping score) were chosen by the powers that be. But our soft serve with toppings was yummy, we bought a slice of triple chocolate cake for Dada, who hadn't made it home from his week in Miami yet, and we saw some of the same adults we'd seen earlier on our field trip, haha. I even got in a quick chat with Liam's teacher, whom I really like and admire.

 

And now we know better what to expect from concert night.

 

Pandelerium.

 

And ice cream!

 

Carrie is laughing with glee...

... and by that I mean she is practically howling. She let out this laugh that I'm pretty sure Nana could hear.

I walked her home from Jillian's house and I'm telling her about this dream I just had. See, I have this gift of drinking an entire can of Mountain Dew (which I don't do very often, so it's no cause for concern) and then promptly falling asleep. It doesn't matter if it's naptime or bedtime. I guess all that sugar and caffeine just causes an immediate system shutdown. So I had this lucid, crazy dream after my Mountain Dew and I'm telling her about it, we're walking, I'm talking, we make it in the house, and Carrie announces, "Mama, you let in a ladybug."

This is the second time she's interrupted me telling her about the dream, so exasperatedly I look around, the mail in one hand and my skirt in the other (it's the long, flowy, blue one so many of you have liked through the years) and I'm turning around, checking the front door for the ladybug.

She is starting to crack up, "Mama, Mama, you let in a ladybug!" I can't for the life of me find it on the door, so I turn back around to face her. She TURNS ME around again and there it is.

On my bum. Or rather, on the very edge of the hem of my shirt, which hangs down onto my bum.

Can you hear Carrie? She's still giggling and saying, "we have GOT to tell Dada about this!"

We found it after it flew around the house and she helped return it to the great outdoors, after telling me several times that, "a ladybug wants to join our family!"

...

Now I hear that Liam is up, and he told us, "I am using the laundry basket (that had clean kid laundry in it, folded and everything, alas) for my boat." Two minutes later it is, "Mama, I am using the laundry basket to be a ghost!"

Can you tell Halloween is fast approaching?

I just asked, "what happened to the laundry that was in it?" And he told me.

"I don't know. It came out."