Green!

Lots of green in our house, inside and out! I am so excited to see the signs of spring.

Spring is coming

"The faithful love of the Lord never ends. His mercies never cease. Great is his faithfulnes; his mercies begin afresh each morning." Lamentations 3:22-23

I love this verse, especially now that spring is slowly beginning to show itself. We have lots of buds on our tress and all kinds of things poking up out of the ground. It will be interesting to see what grows here at our Richmond house. I do miss my daffodils and my rosebushes in Harrisonburg, but I also look forward to planting some new things here. Just a few short weeks until the official first day of spring. I am looking forward to warmer weather and to being able to play outside without my coat!

Mark's grandma gave us an amaryllis for Christmas this year and it is the most lush and beautiful one I have ever seen. It has grown so tall that we had to stake it with a tomato stake. It's taller than Liam now!

Late spring photos

This nest of robin's eggs is in the tree by our garage. The mama shrieks at us every time we get in and out of our car. I had to balance quite precariously on a stepladder and aim the camera without looking to get this shot!

Meet Carol, the ladybug (named by Peyton). She lived in the bottom of a milk jug for about 30 minutes before being released back into the wild!
Celebrating Peyton's lost tooth with local bakery goods!
Quite excited by the gap in her mouth!
We had a two headed gerber daisy in the front planter
Just off the bus - only a few more days until summer!

We are gearing up for an incredibly busy summer. We'll be out and about a lot, so I'll probably not be updating this site very often. I am very much looking forward to the end of the school year. Peyton only has 7 more days and 2 of those are half days. Liam is done for the year and so we're finding time to visit the Children's Museum, the park, etc. We are also running errands, which is NOT his favorite thing at all. He is, right now in fact, throwing a small whiny fit because we are about to run out for gas and a few groceries!

Lazy Sunday afternoon

This past Sunday we didn't celebrate Mother's Day. Because of graduation and having family in town, we decided to postpone it until this coming weekend. So on Sunday we went to church and then spent the afternoon in the yard. Mark trimmed some trees and hung a hammock. Peyton and Liam were pretty excited about the hammock. They played with it and with lots of leaves and tree trimmings!

Signs of spring

Signs of spring are everywhere. It seems so odd that just a few weeks ago we were blanketed in about 2 feet of snow and now the daffodils are poking out of the ground and my chives are growing! I love seeing these little reminders that spring is here. I love hearing the birds chirping, seeing spots of green in our otherwise brown yard, and opening the windows during the day. I bought tulips from the grocery store this week and they are so pretty. Peyton wanted to plant tulip bulbs in the fall and I forgot, so we have to do it this fall.

I think after this very snowy winter, I am just feeling relieved that a new season is here. I am so excited about things that are happening in our church family and am so blessed to be a part of that. I am excited to share Easter with my children and to talk about what it means. They have been talking about egg hunts and Easter candy and we've been reminding them that Easter is first and foremost about the resurrection of Jesus. They are so young, but I desperately want them to be rooted in the church, in God's word, and to develop a relationship with Him. I wish that I had more of a relationship with Him when I was younger. I just wasn't at that point in the journey, the point where I am now.

I am grateful for reading my Bible each day, for having praying friends, for a husband and family that I love, but most importantly, for having a risen and living Savior! How awesome to think that Jesus walked the Earth, died for me, and now works through me. I can have an impact for Him if I just listen and obey. It just blows my mind, inspires me, humbles me, and breaks me. So this Lenten/ Easter season I'm focusing on Him, the one who forgave me and continues to forgive me. The one who just asks me to come, not to come to Him perfectly clean and on my own merits, but offering a free gift of salvation to me, a free forgiveness of my sins. It's awesome!

Spring

I love this picture of Peyton. Her eyes are so blue! Spring is here and we are expecting temperatures around 75 today and high 80's tomorrow! It should be a fantastic weekend. The other night we were outside playing and the wind started to kick up and the temperatures dropped. The dogwood blossoms were so pretty blowing in the breeze that I grabbed a picture. I love that you can see the blur. We're having tea at Mrs. Hardesty's with my mom, grandma, and the kids today, then library, then shoe shopping. Both kids need some summer shoes, crocs or sandals or something. I've pulled my sandals out of hibernation too!

Wishing for Spring

It is an extremely gloomy day today. I haven't seen the sun in 2 or 3 days now and it's just damp and nasty. But the rain has been great for the grass and our sprouting flowers. The grass is looking a little greener and the bulbs are pushing even further out of the ground. We also have lots of things sprouting inside in preparation to be planted in the garden.....radishes, cilantro, lettuce, spinach, etc. I think we're all getting excited about our garden. I know I'm ready to eat some fresh home-grown produce! Peyton, Liam, and I are headed to Richmond on Thursday to spend a few days. I have some stuff to consign at my mom's church this weekend and we're hoping to spend some time with friends too.

I need to plan a lot of mid-week trips through the summer because starting in late August we'll be at the mercy of Peyton's school schedule! It's still hard to believe that my baby is starting kindergarten. One of my neighbors, who also happens to be Peyton's Sunday school teacher, keeps telling me to relax and to listen to my elders, that Peyton will be fine. I know that deep down, but I also worry that she'll be surrounded by so many kids who have vastly different backgrounds and families than hers. I'm so glad that God goes with her wherever she is and that he'll be beside her. She is so excited about school that she can hardly stand it. I look forward to the changes even as I worry about them.

Another sign of spring

Another sign....the buds are popping out on our maple tree. I ran outside with my camera today to grab a couple shots. After enjoying some seriously warm temperatures over the weekend, it's only around 55 today! I knew it couldn't last, but I hoped it would stay warm. I did take the flannel sheets off of the beds and started going through the kids summer clothes. I'll consign some of them next week at mom's church, some can still be worn this summer, and some are going to cousins. I've seen JMU students in their shorts and flip-flops already, but I'm still waiting for some consistency in the weather before I bust out the shorts!

Spring...glorious spring

It is lovely here today. There is a slight breeze blowing and the birds are singing like crazy. It is supposed to be high in the 50's today and then in the 70's this weekend! After snow on Monday, the warm temperatures are welcome! I planted sweet pea seeds in this little purple bucket last week and Peyton noticed today that we have sprouts! I love that she gets excited about growing things.

Pretty soon it will be time to till our garden plot and plant our seeds. I can't wait to see what we'll be growing this year. I know tomatoes will be high on the list and probably zucchini and radishes again. I bought basil yesterday that we need to get into a pot. I don't think you can ever have too much basil! I can already taste the homemade pizzas covered in basil and tomato/ basil/ mozzarella salads...yum!

We were supposed to go skiing with Peyton this weekend, but somehow I don't think there will be a whole lot of snow on Massanutten Mountain. Our plans may have to change considering the warm weather.