Better View

We had this holly tree in the center of our flower bed that blocked the view of the roses (this picture is from the fall, so everything looks a little dead, but I realized I forgot to take a good "before picture" this morning.)

A little trimming and chopping (courtesy of Uncle D., who is back for a visit, and being put to work), and now we have an unobstructed view!

I think we'll add an azalea bush in the hole. We have a couple on the other side of the yard:

But seriously, how can you have too many of these?

Our neighbor, Mary, has about 10 spread through her yard and I love them!

The Tree Elevator

The kids were absolutely determined to make this work.

It took a little help from Daddy-o and Uncle D., but they got their elevator! Now all they need is the tree house to go with it.

Another homeschool day at the Latta Plantation--this one focused on the spring sheep shearing and crop planting. I was surprised at how entranced my two kiddos were by the sheep shearing. We were easily there for an hour.

My favorite line of the day--about 5 minutes after the men had pinned the sheep down and started clipping, a little girl who was about 9 asks, in a very polite voice, "Excuse me sir, I want to ask a question. Have you cut off his head?" Guess the little nick they'd made on one leg and the fact that one of the guys had the sheep's head pinned down left her wondering.

What We've Been Up To

I wish I had some exciting reason for being so sporadic lately with the blog posts, but really, its just a combination of nice weather, our pictures still being on our old laptop which is insanely slow, my distraction by a lot of TV shows being added to the "Watch Instantly" option on Netflix (Bones is my latest distraction), and my laziness.

So the quick list for what we've been doing the last week or so:

*spring homeschool day at Latta Plantation

*hosting playgroup at our house, on the only cold day of the last few weeks, so our outdoor plans didn't got quite as I'd hoped

*lots of playdates with friends

*sanding and staining the deck--its not finished, but I'll have before and after pictures once it is

*hosting a big cookout (as opposed to BBQ, which in NC implies a pretty specific menu)

*running an 8K (I broke 10 minute miles in a race for the first time since having kids! Only by 11 seconds, but its a start!)

*planting the beginnings of our garden--tomatoes and zucchini are in

That's about it, other than the normal working, cooking, cleaning, crying, whining, complaining. . . normal life for us out here.

How's Your April?

We've had insanely warm weather this last week and. We hit 93 yesterday, which, without the humidity, is still really warm, but not totally uncomfortable. The kids had a blast playing with all the water toys with friends and stayed nice and cool.

Today has been a little cooler (high 80's), so we headed to the Latta Plantation for some hiking and nature drawing with more friends.

(These are the moments I love in homeschooling!)

A little boat building,

We love playing with friends. This week is spring break for all the area schools and preschools, so we've been trying to squeeze in as many playdates as possible while everyone is free and the weather is gorgeous.

I'm so far behind on blogging, but with all our nice weather and playing, the daunting task of sorting through all the pictures from our 1.5 weeks in CO keeps getting postponed. I'll try to get the trip posted soon.