Spring is here!

I am so thankful for the arrival of spring!  I love the excitement and refreshment that spring brings with it.  We are enjoying warmth, sunshine, rain, and fast growing grass.  Last weekend Mack and I made a Mother's Day stepping stone.  What a fun project.  Though Mack told me to try to forget what it looks like because I can't have it until Mother's Day.

gardening

Let our gardening adventures begin.  Last year my dad helped us fence in our backyard and we sectioned off an area for my "garden".  He built these amazing garden boxes for me as well.  Well, we are officially getting started this year.  Mack and I worked in the garden last weekend.  We dug, raked, and planted 2 boxes.  I truly have no idea what I am doing - so this first year shall be an experiment.  We are attempting to grow a little of everything.  If our excitement counts for anything we should be very successful. Wish us luck.

 

Mack helped seed the yard.
He is really helpful these days.

We finished up right as the rain began. Of course, Mack had to play in the rain for a bit.

Random...

Tonight I made chicken and steak fajitas.  I modified Mack's meal and pulled his meat out before I added all the seasoning and peppers. (Note: We eat a lot of chicken and steak at our house - just not usually together.)

Check out this dinner table talk:

Mack:  "Mom this black chicken tastes awful."

Me:  "Honey, that's not black chicken - it's steak."

Mack:  "Oh, ok. Where's the steak juice?" (sauce)

End of story:  clean plate!

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My FAVORITE tv series: Justified

Scott and I both love this show.  We watch it on Amazon Prime.  We have watched the first four seasons and now are waiting for season 5.  I highly recommend it.

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Friday is our annual first grade field trip to the St. Louis Zoo.  I don't know who is more excited...me or my students!  Can't wait!

Easter

We spent Easter weekend at the lake.
We shopped, dined, played, hiked, & relaxed.

Mack was concerned about the bunny finding us there... he had nothing to worry about. :)

 

We also enjoyed meeting with family at the Bloomfield city park Sunday afternoon.  It was great to see everyone. :)

March

In March we enjoyed a beautiful weekend at the lake.  We went to a St. Patrick's Day parade and just enjoyed our weekend away together.

Presidents Day

Today is Presidents Day and we have no school in honor of this holiday.  Hmmm... the concept of no school has become VERY interesting.  When we moved back to the midwest three years ago we looked forward to the opportunity of some winter snow days that would allow us to stay home from school.  Our first year here we had no snow days.  Last year we had a few.  This year...whew, we have had a lot!!  We love each and every one of them!  It is unexpected, quality time that we get to spend together and we love it!

Here is our most recent weather summary:
-about a week ago we experienced extreme cold temperatures of -10 degrees which felt like -25 with wind chill.  Friday (Valentine's Day) school was cancelled and we got about 6 inches of snow.  Saturday we got about 3 more inches.  No precipitation Sunday.  Ice/sleet this morning and now it is snowing and we could get 2-4 more inches this afternoon.  Wow...it seems never-ending.  Our temps are supposed to rise into the 40s for the rest of the week - which will result in a slushy, sloppy mess.

I am finally catching up on pictures and blogging.  In order to get the blog updated successfully and pain free for my readers I have created many photo collages that help to shorten my posts.

Christmas 2013 trip

We drove cross-country for Christmas to visit friends in Las Vegas and family in Reno, NV.  We love to travel!  I know this sounds crazy to many people, but we especially love to (over) pack the car and drive to our destinations.  We have always enjoyed driving long distances - it is such a fun adventure. We find that once we cover some miles it is so awesome to detach from everything else and just enjoy one another!

We loved seeing the mountains when we got to Colorado.  However, driving through the Rockies at rush hour was not so amazing.  Scott has told this story a million times...Most flat interstates have a 75mph speed limit.  Well so does I-70 through the Rockies with a 7% down grade.  Hmmm...all of the locals drive this with no problem (in their audi, volvo, subaru, etc).  It was a harrowing experience for Scott (in our ford expedition filled to the max with family and luggage).  Still a fun and memorable part of our journey.  We also really enjoyed scenic Utah.  Absolutely breathtaking!

Our trip consisted of lots of singing, ispy games, Starbucks, jokes, reading, movies, & some napping.