Spring Again

If you had asked me years ago what my favorite season was, my answer would have been fall. Hands down.  Although there are things I like about every season, summer takes the biggest toll on me and therefore I always welcome fall whole heartedly.  I hate heat. Humidity sucks it. I like gardening but after three months of it I am done. Actually after two months of it I am done.  Actually I usually try and talk myself out of it in April but then my hands override my brain and before I know it I am planting kale and laying weed guard. It's weird to love something you hate so much.  But there's just something about those first days of fall when the work slows down and the heat subsides and I feel like I can go outside again and breathe.

I'm beginning to feel the same way about spring.  It's becoming a close second.  After we've hunkered down all winter and spent endless hours planning entertainment and intentionally providing opportunities for our children to stay occupied, there's something liberating about watching them flee outside to play for hours with whatever is popping up or wherever the spring branch takes them.  It's fresh mint and hose water thoughtfully fused together for mint tea. It's secret forts Mommy isn't allowed to know about but somehow Daddy is. It's mud puddles, dirty bike tires, and piles of filthy clothes stripped off before you can come in the house.  It's as if we are suddenly living again.

 

Farm Feet...I love how dirty they get but I hate spontaneous baths.  I have been known to just put my kids to bed in socks.  Don't judge me.

 As of now we have two nests we are watching.

 

 We can't keep flowers around here.  My kids loooove picking them.  I let them.  Flower beds are of no interest to me.  They are pretty.  They are even prettier when I am not the one maintaining them.  I plant flowers so my kids will play with them.  Forgive them if they don't respect the flower.

 

 

Nest #2...Doves

 

The beginning of a bleeding heart puddle...

"Carrots"

Kiss my ass kindergarten...We teach our kids how to write in the dirt. Then we practice hearts. Then we decide how fun the letter "R" is and practice her a couple times.  Then we plant seeds and trample them.  Why?  Cause that's how kids learn.