Spring part II

I just can't get enough of spring...and it changes so quickly one week there are buds then flowers then buds of another variety...This post of for you Donna...so you can enjoy our wonderful spring in case yours never gets there :) This one has a million pictures but oh well.

apple blossoms

honey bee mid flight in strawberry bed

The bee landed

Crimson Queen from the Japanese maple family

Dwarf Iris finally bloomed after 2 or 3 years of dormancy

Twin daffodils fading fast

Fringed tulip bud

Fringed tulip

I guess I really like these fringed tulips

My new fusia creeping flox

Budding Honey Locust tree

Hosta

Just seeing it I can almost smell the fragrance of lilac

Brandon's rhubarb

gonna be eatin' strawberries soon

No garden is complete without animals...or yard ornaments...I'll have to get me some gnomes

Bird Houses and Flower Pots

For Easter we got the kids each a bird house and some paints...they had a ball painting them...Hannah's is out on the tree and it's raining so there is no picture of her birdhouse.  The flower pots they each got to paint at Wal Mart for Mother's Day...They were so cute to watch while they were painting...so into what they were doing and nothing could rush them...I think Asher has 12 layers of paint on his...as soon as it dried he'd add another color he wanted to use each of the colors...didn't they do an amazing job?  Sorry some of the pictures are blurry I don't know what happened.

This is Asher's house and pot

This is Emma's house and pot

This is Ben's house and pot

This is Hannah's Pot

More hats

Well, I've made a few more hats...8 hats in all so far I think. I'm really liking making them...here's some new ones

A close up of the flowers I've been making for the hats

Almost 5 weeks old....

Well, it's picture time for the chicks again...they are almost 5 weeks old...Maybe I'm a biased chick mom...but I think they are the cutest chicks ever...but look for yourself and decide.

Again, I just can't help mentioning I'm partial to this one...she's just so beautiful...and so mellow and cuddly for a chicken.

The rhode Island Red possibly partial frizzle...still trying to decide...I can't wait for all their feathers to come in to see what they turn out looking like.

I swear she wants to be a "show chicken" it looks like she's posing like a dog would at a dog show...maybe I'm crazy I don't know.

I just love her feather pattern...I can't wait till they are all grown in.

Isn't she just soooo cute?

Our First Fishing Trip of the summer...so FUN!

So Brandon's cousin asked us if we wanted to go to fishing and then eat dinner with them...they were camping and we decided to go fishing and then have a hot dog and smores roast...well, fishing was fun...almost too fun...Brandon spent the large majority of his time getting the 2 new reels set up on the nice poles...so I got the kids started on the little Dora and Mikey poles...and instantly started catching fish....everytime I cast it out and handed the pole to a kid they started reeling it in and sure enough there was a fish...in all we caught somewhere around 24 fish...but only kept 15...the cool part is Hannah caught an albino trout...the first one I'd ever seen in person.  Emma slid in the reservoir trying not to let the fish get away she got all wet up to the waist and was cold...after finishing up fishing I went down to the cleaning station with Hannah and Ben and cleaned all 15 fish myself...Then today I scraped the scales off and removed the heads so we can grill and fry the fish tomorrow for dinner...I fell like Henny Penny...and I don't even really like fish that much...but I did all the work, all by myself :) I really don't mind though cuz I love my family and I can do the dirty work if it makes them happy. Well, here are the pictures...proof of the fish we caught...oh and for the record...1 was a 9 inches, 1 was a 9 1/2 inches, 2 were 10 inches, 5 were 11 inches, and 6 were 12 inches long . Not too shabby for our first time out this year...it's going to be a fun summer...It's the first time Brandon and I have both got a license so I will actually get to fish this year and not just watch kids and chase them.  It's fun that they are all of an age they can fish and have fun without me being so occupied with them.

Our catch of 15 trout...eat your heart out Grandma

Albino compared to regular rainbow trout

"Hello Grandma, I am a talking fish...there is such thing as an albino trout...note my pink eyes...a true albino. It was nice talking to you!"

I just had to take this picture...I don't really know why...it's just visually interesting I think...I even debated feeding the heads to the chickens...but in the end I couldn't bring myself to do it...just in case it gave a fishy taste to the eggs.