Before April is Over

So Spring is happening all around us and it has been keeping me busy.  The trees flower in a dull red and then the yellow/gold leaves start to bud out.  Soon we will have young green leaves and maple seeds every where.  The maple seeds from last year are causing me some trouble this year.  Among all the flowers and weeds are tiny maple trees growing fast hoping I don't find them and pull them out.  

Last weekend was Baylor's last swim class for this session.  I had invited my parents to come over for the weekend.   I really needed help putting a new fence on my garden, and as an added bonus they we able to join us for the last class.  It is not the most spectacular event because the preschool class is not independently yet.  But it is still fun to see him with the other boys learning the basics.  

He has come a long way from last session in his bubble blowing.  He would not do that last year.  

He passed the preschool level (face in water, float on back, kick for several body lenghts, get in and out of the pool with the ladder, jump in the pool, and I sent in his application for level 1 that runs daily for four days for two weeks during the week.  Lori will be able to take him to the classes as she is off Monday through Thursday.  

Like I said Dad and I had to put new fencing on the veggie/raspberry garden.  We had to buy the fencing and electrical ties to put it on the posts and rails.  I did not want to nail or staple this fencing because it was a lot of work to remove the old fencing and the wood is old.  I was afraid of splitting the wood if we tried to use nails. I was happy with the results as it was easy and quick to put up.  I am afraid it goes against Lori's visions of what fencing should look like, but I am not going to change it.  

Baylor has been having a few run ins with splinters in his foot.  He has been fairly brave with the splinter extraction and as an attempt to get the rest of it out we have been soaking his foot in warm water.  It works for the most part.  One morning, it was a chilly Spring morning, he needed to soak his foot but he also had to put on his hat and a blanket to warm up.  He also scraped his knee in a fall at the park.  Lori put two bandages to cover them up.  I wanted to take them off to make sure the wound was clean.  I put him in the tub and tried to talk him into letting me take them off.  He was in near hysterics about the whole idea because he was afraid of the possible pain.   I would move my hand to try and he would scream it was hurting him.  All the while he was keeping his keeping his knees in the water.  They were good bandages too, the kind that do not stick like the ones we had growing up or the kind the pediatrician has now.  They stick forever!   I was getting so frustrated because I just wanted to take them off, clean the scrape, and apply new ones.  I had to call Lori in to try to help out.  Finally I asked him to get out of the tub and I straight jacketed him in his towel.  I set him up on the sink and Lori held on to him.  He was freaking out, crying and screaming but he at least could not swat my hand away.  I grabbed a hold of it and they pulled of easily.  In the middle of his, "it is going to hurt me!' freak out he stopped, looked down, and said "that did not hurt a bit!' and went on to tell me all the things we could do now.  Like all the stuff I wanted to do, wash it, spray it, and put new ones on.  Now whenever we have to remove a bandage he tells me to do it like it did it that one time.  

I love my gardens but the weeds in the spring are just about the death of me.  It has taken three weeks of weeding in the evenings when it was warm enough or not raining and weekends between other projects and events.  This is before the weeding three weeks ago.  

And last week after I was done weeding.  It is a bit hard to tell because the perennials are growing also but it does look much better.  

This is the path to the neighbor's driveway.  We do use it often and they do to.  

Spring has some beautiful flowers such as delicate Epimedium flowers. I used to work in the perennial trade and know flowers by their botanical names more than the common names.  

The violets reseed freely in the side garden and they hang out from early spring until the heat of summer.  Then they come back in the fall when cool weather returns.  

The house came with an established pink Dicentra (Bleeding Heart) and I bought the white one a few years ago.  It is one plant I have coveted and was so happy when I found it.  

I love the blue belles and we have several shades of blues through out the gardens.  These light blues bloom a bit later than the other blues.  

The Myosotis (Forget me Nots) are a beautiful shade of spring blue.  They reseed also and keep coming back every year.   

So that is our spring round up. More to come soon as we have been very busy and not with the computer!  

Peep Show

Yesterday after swim class Baylor and I followed the Browns to a local feed and tack shop for Peep Days.  But while we were waiting for them to get home: 

We found a toad. He is down there in the opening between the leaves. 

 

Smelled some flowers.

 

Clung to a tree.

 

And played in the leaves. 

 

And about five minuted down the road we arrived. 

 

 

The bunny table was the first we came to.  They were soft and fun to pet. 

 

He had really soft, velvet like fur.  And he was cute checking out the other compartments while the lid was off. 

 

Then we came to this goat.  Baylor called him a moose which had everyone laughing.  The goat/moose had a trick of butting a ball with his horns.  The kids were able to toss the ball to him also which they all loved to do. 

 

Of course Baylor just had to be crazy and play on the bales of wood shavings for animal bedding.  We also took the time to eat a hot dog for lunch.  He won't eat them at home but when we are out I guess they are fair game. 

 

We went inside to see the ducklings and peeps.  There were women in there to help the kids pick them up and hold them.  He did well until they moved too fast and I had to be there to catch them if the helpers were occupied with another child. 

 

A yellow one.

 

And a black one.

 

Then outside we saw a miniature horse.  She was so cute!

 

But the alpacas were even cuter!  They hummed and were shaggy and dread locky and just cute!

 

He ate another hot dog, pet another rabbit, and a goat, feed the moose/goat, walked the stone wall, and hopped on the bales again. 

 

And then he got punchy and we headed home. 

Easter Part Two

The week after Easter Baylor's sniffles turned into a sinus infection and then worse still.  Tuesday Lori called me around 3:00 to tell me he woke up from his nap with his eyes pasted shut and they were just running with eye goop.  She made an appointment for that evening at 6:30.  We took him to see Dr. Barnes who said it was pink eye.  He could not confirm it was viral pink eye but most likely the sinus infection went into his eyes. He gave us eye drops and an oral antibiotic to use if they drops did not help by Friday. Baylor usually does not mind eye drops but he got into a panic about these eye drops.  He needed to lay in bed, holding Lori and Meme's hands with my trying to get the milky thick drops into his wiggling head with clamped shut eyes.  We warned him his eyes may be stuck shut in the morning but when I went get him in the morning I asked if his were shut.  He told me no he got them open with his fingers. We repeated the routine until Lori put him on the oral meds because she panicked at the color of his snot.  Until it all cleared up his little face and eyes were swollen. 

 

 

I swear he grows every night.  He barely can stretch his legs out in these jammies. 

 

Saturday was a beautiful day and after swim class we went home to work in the gardens.  Spring has finally arrived and it is already ahead of me.  Baylor was a good helper until I needed water.  Then he was off to his first swamping of the season.  

 

While he was swamping I worked on removing the rusted fence from the veggie garden.  Dad and I are going to put up new fencing in a few weeks but I wanted to get the old stuff off before the raspberries were growing too much.  We also planted four broccoli plants we picked up at the store.  I weeded and raked the first bed and the horseradish and rhubarb gardens. There is still plenty to weed but it was at least a start. While Baylor planted some violets in the flower garden I did a bit of weeding there also. 

 

In the afternoon I worked on the fish tanks.  I had bought two more panda cat fish for the small tank a few weeks ago and wanted to catch the three in the big tank. Which is not an easy task with all the plants, rocks, and huge piece of wood.  But I did catch them even the little baby they made! He is so tiny but has grown a bit since I initially found him. 

 

There were five adults but earlier this week we lost the one that was sick.  I have been treating his fungus infection that had eaten off his tail,  He was doing well until this weekend and when I added a bit more sand something happened to him and I don't think he could handle it.  I found him Tuesday morning on the bottom.   

 

Everyone else is doing well with their betta friend. 

 

Baylor did not nap that day and after swamping he wanted his bath and into jammies.  As you can see it was still light out when he feel asleep sitting up watching a movie on the computer. 

 

Sunday Mom and Dad, Heather and the kids and I and Baylor celebrated Easter together.  It was fun being able to shop for Easter stuff after Easter at at least 50 % off!  The buckets were pretty cheap and great for hunting eggs. 

 

 

I had the boys hunt for eggs outside the fence so Brigid could hunt in peace and have a chance to find some. 

 

After they were done then went to help Brigid who had done a really good job on her own. 

 

And then they all went off to see if any eggs were missed.

 

Sweet Brigid will be two this month.  Her first Easter here she was two days from being born.

 

Heather hooked into the laptop, I hooked that up to the TV and she was able to show us her photos from her vacation in Chili the week before.  The boys were playing outside.  Brigid received a tiny doll potty in her Easter basket at home.  She had just told me she needed a diaper change but right before she would lay down for me she opened her little potty for a practice wee.  We all laughed as it was so cute! 

 

 

We had a really nice meal of good old Pennsylvania Dutch foods: hog maw, the best I have ever made, pepper cabbage, the first I have ever made, green beans, salad with hot bacon dressing (I made the dressing), corn relish, chow chow, bread (a no knead awesome recipe), asparagus, and a pickle and olive tray.  I made baked chicken, green beans, and cucumbers and carrots for the kids.  Then the adults had chocolate cake with peanut butter icing and the kids had ice cream and candy.  It was a good day!