Spring Happenings

Patrick and his babies.

Brennan watching over Kellan while I tried to get something done in the kitchen.

He's a pretty sweet big brother.

After Easter we started a few weeks of intensive yard work.  Here is Patrick bringing home a weeping cherry in the Civic.

Not to be outdone, the next day I made it home in the Prius with 2 children, 2 blueberry bushes, 2 rose bushes, 4 peonies...

...and a Japanese maple tree.  No big deal.  I McGyver'd the tree using only a quilt and a jump-rope.  The man who helped me load the car was a little worried, but we made it.  The tricky part was getting that sucker out of the trunk all by myself once we got home.  It made Brennan so nervous that he couldn't watch, but I had gravity on my side.  It had to stand in the driveway until Patrick got home from reserves though.
 

It was a busy weekend but I had lots of help.  The kids and I relocated the mulch bags, planted the roses and blueberries, transplanted a volunteer raspberry bush, mulched the berry patch, and re-stained and sealed the benches.  We also cleared and leveled a spot for a grill patio.  It was a beautiful weekend and we had so much fun working outdoors.

Brennan and Isla had a great soccer season and we finished up at the end of May.

We had lots of fun at the flower and garden show in Leesburg.

Brennan got some lettuce seeds for our garden.

We started May out with a few celebrations; first up was Grandma's birthday.

 

A little lounging in our jammies.

One of our landscaping projects was adding a section of patio for our grill in order to move it off of the main porch where it was sort of an eyesore.

Nice work Patrick!

A visit from Grams.

I got to accompany Isla to school for Muffins with Mom.  A good friend of mine was kind enough to watch the boys for me so that I could go.  Here I am with my sweet girl.

I think a haircut might be imminent so I keep taking pictures of the good hair days.

Yet another baby tooth gone!

Here is Isla during the Muffins with Mom presentation.

Waiting for the bus with Brennan.

Patrick took a day off and we were able to hit up the nursery with just one helper.

And he was loving having both parents all to himself!  The wagon was a big hit as well.

Our next celebration was Oma's birthday.

The Browns came to town!  Here is Chloe meeting GG.

Kellan and Chloe trying to bust out.

My sweet niece.

Some quality cousin time.

A meeting of the minds; Brennan and Uncle Tim battle it out with a fierce game of Abalone.

Celebrating Mother's Day with Aunt Dara, GG, Sarah and Mom.

We had a huge evergreen removed from this corner, and then we put in that little spruce, some peonies and other perennials.  You can see the Japanese maple and weeping cherry that we planted as well.  Note:  the "soil" here is mainly large rocks with some super hard clay mixed in.  This was all extremely labor intensive.

 

Side view with the rhododendron that we planted.  We rolled a lot of sod and dug up hundreds of pounds of rocks, and disposed of it all via Craigslist.  The internet is amazing.

Our Clematis starting to look beautiful.  All of this lush growth is still shocking to my system after that depressing Winter.

My sweeties reading.

I planted these allium last Fall and was very happy to see them come up.

Make a wish!

The Crowley's came for a visit!  It was so much fun having them stay with us and the kids were in hog heaven hanging out with their cousins.  Here we are taking a quick trip to the Air and Space Museum. 

Amazing!!

I ended up cutting those allium and they looked great in the dining room.

Becca and Chloe.

I took the kids out for a farm picnic during the next reserve weekend.  They had a blast. 

Enjoying some freezer pops out back.

Last day of school!  Isla is all done with her first year of preschool and she loved every minute of it.

More hair photos.  I know, but I just can't help it.

Someone else was having quite the hair day as well...

Isla with her best friend at school.

Her wonderful teachers, Mrs. Rodgers,

Mrs. O'Connor.