My Strong Man!

I love this little boy so much!! Here he is doing his "strong man"!

Climbing High!

Joshua can officially reach the top of the rope swing! He tried it the other night when Neil was home to spot him. For those of you who have seen our rope swing, you know that it is a long way up there! This picture doesn't give justice to how far up he is, but I liked seeing him up in the tree! He is so strong!

P.S. Last summer, the rope swing was tied off on a lower branch, which Joshua could reach. This spring, Neil re-tied it to a much higher branch!

Chocolate Bunnies

Against my better judgement, I let the boys eat half of their chocolate bunny last night. They've been begging to eat them all week. I have been hesitant because I don't really want them to eat that much chocolate in one sitting. I have to wonder why I even buy it in the first place??!! The results weren't as bad as I had anticipated, and they didn't go crazy on me. Maybe I'll let them finish it tonight so that they will stop asking about it. :)

I had a hard time with Easter this year, not the true celebration of Jesus' resurrection, but the traditions that surround the holiday. I love being with family, and celebrating in that way. But the easter bunny, easter eggs, and candy just don't make sense, though I know that the boys enjoy it. In retrospect, I don't feel like we went overboard with the extra stuff (except for maybe the chocolate bunnies!). And I tried much more than in the past to talk to the boys about what we are truly celebrating. We read from our Children's Story Bible from the time Jesus was in the grave until after the resurrection and had good conversation about it. I guess as I get older, and my boys get older, I realize how little time I have to be intentional in training and teaching them!

Our Garden

Here's our garden! Neil built a nice fence around it for me this year. He also built the trellis and planted a grapevine, which is pictured above. I am so hopeful that the grapevine will do well! He put in an herb box up front in which I've got basil, oregano, parsley, cilantro, and thyme planted. Rosemary is in the big pot at the corner! The basil has popped up, as well as a couple of others. We planted the vegetables 2 weeks ago, and they seem to have a good start. We planted tomatoes, bell peppers, jalapeños, cucumber, zucchini, summer squash, pumpkin, cantaloupe, watermelon, sunflower, carrots, and radishes. We are also trying blackberries again, and blueberries, though we're not so hopeful about the blueberries. And, we planted morning glories for Micah. Whew, that's a bunch. We'll see what happens. We've had so much rain that now we need sunshine! :)

Jumping Tree Stumps

Here are the last of the pictures from our adventure last week. These tree stumps are at the head of the trail down to the creek where we saw the copperhead snake. The boys love to climb from stump to stump! Maybe next time we'll spend more time here and less time down in the creek. :)

Exploring the Creek

Here are the boys exploring the creek before we discovered the snake. They hunted for frogs and tadpoles and then searched for the perfect rock to skip. The other little boy is Micah's new friend. They have a great time together, exploring, playing, riding bikes and racing on their scooters!

The Snake

Here is what we saw on our adventure last week. We were tromping around in a creek, just off of a major trail. We had some friends with us and my friend was the one that spotted the snake. We were all a bit surprised! I was fairly certain that it was a copperhead snake, but decided to take a picture and check when we got home. We gathered the boys a few feet away so that we could show them what it looked like in it's natural surroundings, and then we got out of there! :) I looked up the snake when we got home and confirmed that it was broadband copperhead snake. Yikes! That was enough fun for me for one day!

King for a Day!

The boys and I went exploring today with some friends at a local park. This nifty little seat, or shall I say throne, was along one of the trails. We've passed it many times before, but never when I had my camera. Today I was finally able to get some fun pictures of it! We had quite an adventure. I'll share the details in my next post! I'll give you a hint, though...it involves a snake!

The Sycamore Trail

The boys and I had a fun adventure yesterday. While visiting a nearby nature preserve, we were able to go on a trail that had been closed in the past. There is an enormous sycamore tree on this trail. Look closely at the last picture and you will see the boys near the base of the tree. We had a blast exploring, crossing streams, making a new path around some fallen trees, and trying to catch toads. We even found a "rainbow" tree! ;)