Spring is in the Air...

...and boy-oh-boy are we ever ready for it.  This winter was long, but honestly I enjoyed it more than most of the winters in recent memory.  Having active little boys who LOVE the snow can really change your perspective.  But anyway, it's April now, and while we could very well end up with a few more cold days, we are loving all of the signs of spring that are popping up all around us! Including the daffodils that are smack dab in the middle of the yard.

We have high hopes for our garden this year, and our seedlings are looking quite lovely.  We did leave them in the playroom overnight on one cold night (dangit!) and ended up losing almost all of our cabbage seedlings.  Lesson learned.

We are planning on building a few larger raised beds, along with a specific planter for potatoes, so the two tiny raised beds that we had built last year will no longer be so cramped.

Planting some onion sets

I've found that I still don't really like to grow decorative plants very much, so our landscaping is still mostly thistles and weeds, but I LOVE growing vegetables.  I love seeing my boys happily chomp into a tomato that they picked out of their own backyard, and I love seeing them play 'farmer' with their little shovels and rakes.

It has been such a HUGE treat to get outside and just really breathe, you know?  We also managed to take our first little fishing trip of the year.   We aren't serious fisher-people, so the state park right up the street is pretty much perfect for meeting our fishing needs!

Luke got his first first big boy fishing pole as a gift from Grandma and Grandpa this year, and it is so fun to watch his little fingers reel in his line.

Jack has been practicing his casting with Matt, and it is so cute to see his little face when his line plops into the water.

Oh yes, we are happy that spring is here at last! Has spring sprung where you are living?

The Bathroom...Befores

Today marks one year living in our little place, and I still love it just as much! Maybe more now actually.

About three weeks ago we started our real bathroom renovation.  I say 'real' because we had previously done some work in here just to make it into something we could live with until we could really DO the room. This is involved ripping out the old carpet (yep. carpet), tearing down a very moldy wall that previously housed a stackable washer and dryer unit, taking down as much paneling as possible, painting the vanity top with the leftover paint from the kitchen, and putting down a temporary floor in the form of the cheapest sticky tiles we could find.  The end result?  Well...she still wasn't pretty folks.  You know how on some of those home reno shows they will show a snobby couple walking into a perfectly fine, if dull, bathroom and they turn up their noses and say something along the lines of "this is a total gut job!".

I want to smack those people.  Now this?  This is a gut job, mmmmkay?  Remember, this is AFTER we had taken out some of the scarier components...

 Ahem.  Yeaaaaaah.  To be fair...the gunk on the wall was a result of me slowly chipping off some old tiles, so it didn't look like that the WHOLE time.  But look, the room has a window, which is nice! We've never had a bathroom with a window before...

And hey...that old vanity DID have a lot of storage going for it...and (being 100% serious here) that mirror was actually really cool. Oh the red lamp...the overhead light worked when/if it wanted to, so it was there as backup.  I don't miss the red lamp.  At all.

There were these weird holes in the wall...we never really figured out why they were there.   It uh....well...it wasn't my favorite room in the house.  

But you have to start somewhere right? 

RIGHT?

The Nuggets

We have been growing our household in a new way these days...

Peep peep!

Have a Seat

Do you remember our little sofa?  The tiny little guy that we had at our first apartment?  

Well.  Six years, two kids, and one dog later, that little guy wasn't looking so hot. The dog had chewed the arm of the sofa back when we was a puppy, and the kids had spilled more things than I care to count on the poor thing.  Not to mention it was so cushion-less that our rear-ends would fall asleep if we actually tried to SIT there.  

Here it is in our current home, and yeah...it really doesn't look as bad as it was. At one point Luke crawled out from underneath it with a three inch bolt that he had taken out.  We never did find where that actually went now that I think about it....

Well anyway...long story short, we finally decided enough was enough and bought new furniture.  

It took us both a few days to get used to seeing normal sized furniture in here, but the bosses?  

Well...they approve.   And judging by the amount of naps Matt managed to squeeze in on the new sofa this weekend - I'd say he approves as well! 

Special Delivery

I've been thinking a lot lately about the split seconds that occur in our lives when we can impact others.  When we are their 'one chance' at something.  Maybe it's just a smile at the grocery store or kindness to a neighbor, but if you have one tiny moment to impact another person's day, are you taking it?

I think I fail at this more often than not, but today?  Today we seized our moments and battled the elements to deliver some Valentine's goodies.  Because of the crazy amount of snow we got yesterday we didn't make it to as many people as we would have liked, so some belated gifts will be heading out later this week, but still! We tried!

Yesterday during the snow storm we hunkered down inside and make our little gifts, which are just simple heart bird-feeders.

They are simple as can be, just plain gelatin, hot water, and birdseed.

But the smiles on faces when these two showed up with flowers and a gift?  They were priceless.   I hope the boys always remember how much they can brighten someone's day by just investing a little bit of time and effort in them.

Happy Valentine's Day dear readers! Take advantage of all of the chances you have to be someone's 'happy' today!

PS: Family members - if we didn't get to you today, pretend to be surprised if you are suddenly given a crumbly heart shaped bird feeder!

PPS: 2 packets plain gelatin, 1/2c hot water til dissolved, 1.5c birdseed pressed into molds.

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