Spring is Coming!

While most of the winter, our view has looked like this,

 a few days ago, the view out my kitchen window looked like this.  Unseasonably warm weather had melted most of the snow and visitors flocked to our yard.  (Can you see them?)

The apple tree was obviously open for business. 

The apples I hadn't harvested seemed to excite the robins...I'd never seen so many of them before.

Weren't they beautiful?  Look at the bright red chests.  (The photos aren't great...they're taken through glass and plastic insulator.)

The robins obviously knew what they were about picking the apple tree clean, because the next day the yard looked like this again.

Still, I wasn't devastated...my feathered friends let me know spring is definitely right around the corner.

If I need a reminder that the snow is not forever, I'll just look at these photos.  They definitely make me smile.  Any signs of spring in your neck of the woods?

Finally!

Spring has finally sprung!

Look at the tulips that are filling our yard...  I asked the girl-child to take some pictures of her favorite ones because it is always neat to see what piques her interest.  Again, she didn't disappoint me.

Aren't these spectacular?  I love the contrast between the black and the red and the yellow border around the black just adds so much drama to these tulips.

I love this red and yellow one.  The blooms are smaller than some of the other tulips, but they look hand-painted...so pretty.

 This coral tulip is so unusual.  The color is deep and rich, but I don't know which batch of bulbs it came with.  Oh, well.

 
This pale pink is so demure.  You could overlook them in comparison with all the deep reds, but they're just so beautiful.  These are all in our yard, but Buttercup didn't stop there.  Nope, she headed down the street and kept snapping. 

Like many developments, the neighborhood we live in has a sign at the first street in the development.  The people who own the house with the sign don't care for the landscaping there, so the kids and I decided to take it upon ourselves to get some spring color there.  (Another neighbor has been weeding, too, so it is still a neighborhood effort.)  Last fall, the kids took a few bags of bulbs down to the sign and planted them all.  They've been waiting eagerly to see the results of their planted and finally see the payoff. 

They are just so cheerful, aren't they?

Sam doesn't seem too impressed, but then again, he's laying on fake flowers...maybe that is the problem.

Coming Out of Hibernation

Growing up in the Southern California year-round sunshine, it never occurred to me that I would be a hibernator. Moving to a place with a real winter, complete with gray days and freezing temperatures, has taught me that I do, in fact, hibernate.

Winter began early last year...we had real snow on the ground in October. Winter kept a firm grip on the land for six long months. We didn't see crocuses until the end of March and the tulips have just this week begun to bloom. Finally, the snows gave way to rain and freezing temperatures stopped being part of the weather forecast. The grass has really started to grow (and so have the weeds!)

As it held on to the land, so did winter seem to have a firm grip on me. Just like the flowers are stretching and reaching form the sun, I find myself waking from the deep hibernation of a long winter. The sun shone so brightly today...the blue sky so crisp. I felt my blood warming up as I threw open the windows before heading out to work in yard.

Now I sit here a bit sun-kissed, a bit sore from using muscles that took a winter break and keeping my fingers crossed that tomorrow will be another beautiful day...after all, I have flowers to plant!

Isn't it amazing what a little sunshine can do?

Dropping the Boy Off At School...

Obviously, someone has a sense of humor, as this is the sign that greeted us upon our return back to Charming's dorms.


The kids helped their big brother carry his stuff back up to the dorms. (You don't want to know what Buttercup said about the dorms...truly. It is a bunch of boys living together.)

See you later, Charming...have fun these last six weeks!

Making Your Home Sing Monday - Just Humming Along

It is 9:44 PM Monday night and I'm just now getting to my blog post...that should tell you how busy I've been keeping myself. It is still Making Your Home Sing Monday and I'm jumping in at the 11th hour! My sister sent me an email a few hours ago asking if my home was singing. It is, I promise.
Attitude is everything. I guess you can say that or hear it enough. Nan asks us to do this exercise of "Making Your Home Sing Monday" to remind us to stop to think about how you and your attitude determine/steer the attitudes of everyone else in your home. We try. I know we all do. Every week I read about the commitments to home that all of us make. Even so, sometimes it takes a little bit of sunshine to help you line everything up. The plague (okay, the really bad cold) has left our house. Everyone is finally feeling well and, to help us right along, this past weekend was beautiful! Absolutely gorgeous. Warm (in the high 50s and I heard rumors of low 60s) and bright. I spent hours in the greenhouse tending to baby plants. I heard the neighbors out doing yard work and I got the kids out with me to do some preliminary yard work, too. We even cleaned up the garage!

I was inspired, so I kept going: I cleaned out more stuff from the "black hole" and made a few trips to Goodwill. We had people over again for Craft Night/Game Night. (This week it was two moms talking while the kids played.) I even got out of the house to have dinner with Mrs. M and her kids last night.

My point?

A terrific weekend set us up for a wonderful week and we're planning on taking advantage of it. I woke up in such a good mood and nothing has shaken it. I think we've truly turned the corner with dealing with Superman's absence and have settled well and good into a new rhythm.

I've been able to stick to my "no yelling" challenge and the kids have responded so well. Me? Yell? I know...difficult to believe, but I do. I mean, I did. For the past four weeks, I've privately challenged myself to stop yelling. The change in our home is palpable and I feel badly that I've not challenged myself to do this sooner. Homeschooling is easier when I manage my frustration with intelligence rather than escalating.

Oh, and as I was heading to Goodwill to drop off even more stuff today, I saw a very good-looking young man standing on the street corner by the university. We thought, "Hey, that is a good-looking young man...I wonder what he's doing?" So, I had Valiant give his brother's cell a call and discovered that Charming (yes, he was the young man standing on a street corner!) was heading out to get his taxes done, so we picked him up and took him with us and then kept him all evening. Is it kidnapping if it is your own child you pick up off the street?

Friday night I cut out six pairs of pajama pants - yes, six! - and today I got them ALL sewn. Did I mention no one in my family is short--Charming has a 37" inseam, for goodness' sake. That makes for a lot of sewing! (Okay, I have to do the ribbon ties on the waistbands for two pairs, but I was able to send Charming home with his two pair.) I blame Andrea at The Train to Crazy for all this sewing. She has this Make It/Wear It sewing challenge going on and I didn't quite commit to participate, but I've been heading over to see what everyone else is doing and I just couldn't resist. My fingers were itching to get to the sewing machine. So, my back hurts, my arms hurt, and my neck is tired, but I have a huge smile of accomplishment on my face.

So what am I doing to Make My House Sing this week? Honestly? Nothing. Nothing is broken, so nothing is changing. We had a terrific day and we'll just be humming right along this week. Sometimes, you just need to stop and be grateful for where you are right in this moment. Life is good, even if it is not perfect.

P.S. I guess I wasn't the only one inspired by the weather...Momstheword's post is about Spring Cleaning! It must be in the air!

Sun-days!

Spring has definitely sprung in Eastern Washington (finally!). Mother Nature has finally relented and let winter head on out of town. Our beautiful day brought enough sun that Buttercup got those pink cheeks from a day of riding around on her bicycle. How cool is that? Let the sun-days begin!