Early Spring?

After our lovely, warm March, April hasn't been quite as nice. The poor trees, flowers, grass and animals are all confused. The dogwoods are blooming despite some cold temps that I thought might nip the buds.

The leaves are coming on the trees almost a month earlier than usual.

Geese on the muskrat den.

Mama and baby cardinal. (Not the best pic taken through the kitchen window) We've already had to cut the lawn. The daffodils are done for and the tulips are up but can't decide if they think it's warm enough to open and truth be told, most days it isn't. We've had snow, rain, wind, sunshine and occasional frosts. It's been crazy! In other news, our bowling season is almost over. Next Friday will be our "Fun Night". It's not going to be quite as much fun for our team as it could have been, sadly. The last night of bowling, position night, all we had to do was win one game and totals. Sadly, oh so sadly, it was not to be. To say we were disappointed would be an understatement. While the team we bowled against (two of our oldest and dearest friends) were good bowlers, they didn't even bowl all that well. Our team actually beat itself. We had a few rough games and very under-average numbers and that's what finally did us in. I think we only lost the whole thing by 11 pins. Yes, it was a very sad night. What really hurt is that we had been in first place so long, months, and for it to all come down to this one night was a shame. But enough, I'm over it, can't you tell. Showing our faces next week at the end of the night when they announce the winners won't be easy but hey, it's just bowling, right? It's so nice to see Scott getting up every morning and watch him head out the door to a paying job!! So nice indeed!! This last week he was actually staying at a friend's house dog/house sitting so we got a feeling what a true empty nest will feel like someday. It was nice. Don't get me wrong, sweet, dear, precious children! We love you all so dearly but it's also nice to watch you grow up and go your own way and make a wonderful life for yourself! So nice! Which brings me to more exciting news! In just under two weeks Tyler will be leaving South Korea and heading home!! We are all so excited to have him back home again! He's packing, selling and generally getting himself ready to leave his life of the last two years and head back to Michigan for a little stay before he heads out for his new life. Right now it sounds like he would like to go back to Hawaii but I don't know that that has been decided 100% yet since he would also like to have a job. Part of me wishes it would be a little closer and not so expensive to get there but Hawaii is closer than Korea, right? H is very busy today. He's been working for the last 1+ hour trying to install our new dishwasher. The other night I started the thing, went up to take a shower and when I got out of the bathroom a burning smell hit me and I spent the next 5 minutes running up and down stairs trying to find smoke! Turned out the panel in the dishwasher must have blown. There was a little brown spot on the panel and a horrible burning plastic smell that lingered for days. We knew there was no saving it so the next day I headed to Best Buy to scope out a new one and make sure it was going to be on the truck for Saturday delivery. H is swamped at work right now, in fact he wasn't even home for dinner two nights last week, including the night the dishwasher blew, so I knew he would only have the weekend to get it installed. It doesn't seem to be going all that smoothly right now but H always wants to do his own installation and not rely on someone else to do it. So, hopefully by tonight we'll have our brand new dishwasher working properly! Fingers crossed! (Update: it's in and working!!) I'm planning to go out to the garden sometime this weekend. I was hoping it would be a little warmer but I guess as long as it's not raining I will have to be satisfied.

The plot, ready for planting. (I worked in manure today. I only have to wait another month. Today was really chilly out there and super windy! Happy Earth Day!)

Garlic, coming up nicely after spending the winter sleeping.

Chives seem to be a perennial. Nice that I don't have to plant that again. And I think I saw some thyme or maybe oregano coming up too. I have to plant potatoes and carrot seeds. I've had the potatoes since last weekend when I was planning to go out there but then it rained so I had to wait. They are looking a little shriveled up so I hope they will be ok. (Update, I planted them today, Sunday). Two little pups are following me around, looking out windows, whining now and then. They really want to go run! Last weekend I tried to take them and there were 5 different dogs at the high school field! We settled for the junior high field but it's really not as nice. I guess I should give in and go take them. That's what a good dog mommy would do! (Another update: I took them to the high school and they loved it! Here's proof!)

Apparently Blogger has a new format. In some ways I like it better. You can put your pictures in the text where you want where before you had to move them from the top. However when I look at my "preview" post, there aren't spaces between different topics though I have them in the draft. I hope the final product looks better but I just wanted to let my two readers know, it's not me, it's Blogger! Guess that's all the news for this week (or the last couple weeks). It feels like we are in waiting mode, waiting for Tyler to come home, waiting for the weather to warm up, waiting to plant the garden, waiting for school to get out, waiting for summer. Have a good week!

Happy Easter!

Spring Break is officially over and it went by so quickly! We stayed home the first few days to try to catch up on a few things and get a little rest and to get ready for our road trip.

We left for Virginia on Wednesday morning and took the shortest route which I really dislike the most. The Ohio Turnpike is bad enough, full of construction barrels and very little construction and the Pennsylvania Turnpike is even worse. I'm always so glad when we are finally able to GET OFF, 8 hours later! We made really good time and arrived at Amber's by 5:30.

We were so busy I didn't even remember to take any pictures really until Saturday! I think I might haven taken a few pictures with my phone. Thursday Amber and Andy headed off to work and Grandpa and I stayed home with Quinn. We took her to the park, the library and then to Chipoltle for lunch. She had so much fun showing Grandpa around the park and library.

On Friday Amber worked from home and H spent the day putting new doors and drawer fronts on Amber and Andy's kitchen cabinets. They are thinking about selling their house and Amber scooped up a neighbors old cabinet doors which were just like hers but in better shape. The kitchen looked great when he was finished, just like new.

On Saturday morning we headed out to the Farmer's Market to look around.


Quinn enjoyed some freshly made doughnuts! The azaleas were in full bloom so we took the opportunity for a family picture!

Then it was off to the Easter Egg Hunt!!


A picture with the Easter Bunny was first on the agenda. We really lucked out because Amber and Quinn were like 3rd in line and after the hunt the line was probably 50 long!
The area where Quinn was looking was for 3 and under and the directions were no parents, just kids. Immediately all the parents jumped in running around with their children helping them pick up candy and eggs. I swear the whole thing was over in 5 minutes!





Quinn was a bit shell-shocked but I think she had a good time.






From the Easter egg hunt we headed back home to color eggs and make some deviled eggs.




Last night we went out to dinner and then Amber and I went to see The Hunger Games. The movie was good but the book was so much better.

This morning we had time for a quick Easter egg hunt but then Grandpa and I had to get goin' hitting the road and Quinn and family were headed off to church.


It was a long day of driving but we were happy to have good weather and not too much drama and we were so happy to get home! Scott took good care of the pups, the house looks no worse for wear and it's back to work tomorrow.

Happy Spring!

It's officially Spring and all that usually means around here is that its spring as far as the calendar says. However, this year it's truly SPRING! The tulips and daffodils are blooming,


The Goldfinch are just starting to get their yellow on!





the grass is green and the trees are blooming (those that flower) and are starting to get their leaves. It's been a week of truly warm temps. On Thursday my car thermometer said 84*! That's unheard of around these parts and in fact several records were smashed and new records set. All of these wonderful things would be great except for the fact that sometimes Mother Nature can have a very wicked sense of humor. Tonight and tomorrow night we are supposed to have a freeze and that means all the tender little darling plants that are sprouting up will probably turn black! Not good. The flowering dogwood will probably have the flowers drop off and we'll have to wait a while for the leaves.

My rose bush and Japanese maple are way ahead of schedule. The trees are almost 6 weeks early. Usually it's May before they even begin to bud!


Besides Spring arriving early, I have more exciting news. Scott got a JOB! Not only did he get the job, he started the job on Thursday. It's a 90 day contract but could go permanent if things work out. We are so excited for him! It's quite a drive to get there so we are keeping our fingers crossed that his car can hold up these next 3 months!

Zoe & Charlie enjoyed some deck time today. Scott took them up to the high school field earlier and they were properly relaxed all afternoon!







I didn't grow these tulips but I am really enjoying them. It brings a little bit of spring time inside too!


I'm still ELPA testing, at the high school all last week and that will continue tomorrow and possibly Tuesday. We are slowly winding down though and then the process will begin to start checking, double checking and then ship them off to the State!

We are so looking forward to Spring Break. We plan to stay home the first few days and then head over to Virginia toward the end of the week to see our little sweetheart,

oh and Amber & Andy too!

Have a good week!

Happy Birthday Tyler!!

Just yesterday, or 27 years ago that seem like just yesterday, I was getting ready to deliver my second child. We were all packed up and ready to leave for the hospital first thing in the morning.

This picture was taken when you had finally stopped being so fussy and you were starting to explore the world. You were about 6 months old.



In this picture you were 2-1/2 years old. It was taken at your preschool. You don't look too happy about it. It was about this time, maybe a little after, you went through a terrible biting stage. We think you were just frustrated because you couldn't express yourself too well yet but thankfully it didn't last long.


Here you are at about 5. You had that cute little window in your mouth where your first tooth had fallen out. We had already moved to Michigan but were back in Florida at the beach. Your hair was so blonde and you loved the beach so much.


Now you are all grown up and this is your third year away from home on your birthday. Happy Birthday Son! I hope you enjoy your day and have a bite of Korean birthday cake for us!!

Tyler in Bali

Crazy Good!!

The weather here is Crazy Good... It started last weekend and has lasted all week and is expected to run through this week. I can't quite talk myself into believing that winter is really through with us but this weather is incredible.
I spent last weekend out on the deck reading and Scott joined me for a few minutes to soak up some rays.


This was what the pond looked like a few days before that. The ducks have been hanging around despite the ice and now it's paid off because the ice has all melted and the pond is full of quacking ducks. Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night and hear them quacking.


Two pups have sure been enjoying themselves. Scott has been taking them for walks during the week and on the weekend they get to take a nice run at the high school field.


Here's Zoe waiting oh so patiently for me to throw the frisbee. Charlie is off checking his peemail but as soon as he sees her going for the frisbee he's back!


These little beauties popped up this week. The grass is greening up, trees are getting their buds ready and the tulips and daffodils are pushing up and will probably bloom later in the week, way early!



But the absolute best thing that has happened this past week is that THE PEEPERS ARE BACK ON THE POND!! I've been listening to their bedtime lullaby every night! It has been amazing and a full month early! Love it!

In other news, I upgraded my cell phone a couple weeks ago! I bought this absolutely amazing phone!



All I can say is, why the heck did I wait so long??? Oh yea, I waited because I had to wait for my upgrade time and that time is NOW! I absolutely love it! It has so many useful apps. Today I used it to figure out where the heck I was and how to get from there to the mall. I also use it for my grocery list. I just tell it what to put on the list, thanks to Siri, and it makes the grocery list for me. Amazing! I can't say enough good things about it!

We had bowling last Friday night. We were still in first place by 4 points. We bowled a team that we only had to give 60 points to, yea only 60! We took the first game, lost the second (I bowled extra terrible that game) and then the last game we kicked their butts so we took 3 games, two plus totals!! Yea us!! I think we will still be in first place by 2. We only have one more bowling night and then it's position night. Next time we bowl a tough team but the good part is that one of the best bowlers on that team recently had shoulder surgery so she can't bowl and yet she will still have a 160, that's taking 10 from her 170 average! It's not going to be easy to hold on to first place and with several teams so close we could easily slip out of it but we won't go down without a fight!!

I am in the middle of ELPA testing. I've finished my main school, helped with another elementary and supposedly tomorrow I will begin helping with testing at the high school. We have two more weeks to go, then Spring break, then another week before it's all over. It's been a busy time.

It's going to be a beautiful week, weatherwise, so I'm going to try to enjoy it while it lasts. I'm just hoping April doesn't bring ice storms or weather that kills all the beautiful flowers that are trying to bring Spring along.

Have a great week!