Spring Fever

"It’s spring fever. That is what the name of it is. And when you’ve got it, you want — oh, you don’t quite know what it is you do want, but it just fairly makes your heart ache, you want it so! "

~Mark Twain

Spring fever - yep I've definitely got the itch.  I'm pinning and dreaming of butterfly gardens.  I'm making wish lists in seed catalogues and collecting supplies for toad homes, bug hotels, and butterfly feeders for my little wild man.  

Today's spring projects brought milkweed seeds from a friend at work.  Wildboy carefully wrapped them in damp paper towel and put them safely in the fridge to help the germinating process.  Then he anxiously marked the day on the calendar so he would know when we could plant them.  We've got to save the Monarchs don't you know.  Three weeks will drag by interminably without other distractions for him.  

Distractions though - thankfully we have a plenty.  We're counting down days until spring break.  There's only 8 days until break starts and 10 until we load up the wagon and head west to South Dakota.  So excited to go visit sweet friends who moved to far away.    There's other distractions to help the time fly by too.  

There's hyacinths to count

Sedum to find

Star Wars stories to write in the sun.  This one says, "The good sid is asom. The good guys all was (always) win." (Did I mention how much I love seeing my wild boy become a reader and writer in front of my eyes?)

There's swings to fly on. After all this year he is big enough to sit on the swing not on his belly "because he's not scared anymore".

All I can say is slow down time.  I love my little boy with dirt on his face and hands.  I want to absorb each and every moment so that when I'm old and he's grown I can pull out my memories and feel the sun and hear his voice and smell the dirty boy again and again.

Sounds of Spring

"Spring is the time of plans and projects." Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina

Finally the cold days of winter seem to be a thing of the past.  I always love the first few days of spring with their sense of promise and renewal.  It makes me want to clean my house and my heart and start everything fresh.  It always makes my heart dance with joy.  This weekend was finally an early spring weekend.  We've been cold and icy for so long.  It felt wonderful to spend time outside to dig in the dirt and clean the yard.  (Yep it even felt good to be outside cleaning up after our big beastie dog.)

Spring is also the time I start dreaming of gardens and seeds.  This year our biggest project is going to be creating two butterfly garden areas.  D has a subscription to Ranger Rick and this month had an article about the Monarch Butterfly.  Did you know their population has decreased by 90% due to pollution and agricultural run off?  Neither did we - but now that we do - D ever my little crusader is set to save the monarchs one garden at a time.  Actually Ranger Rick has a pretty cool thing going on right now.  If you take a picture of your child or yourself or your family making the American Sign Language sign for butterfly and post it to the National Wildlife Federation website and pledge to plant a butterfly garden and not use harmful fertilizers and sprays, they will send you a butterfly hero kit complete with seeds to attract butterflies.  

 Just click on this link and you can read all about it and sign up to be Butterfly Heroes

My little crusader in front of our future butterfly garden

It was so nice out today we decided to have dinner on the front porch.  It was wonderful to be outside and see the neighbors shaking off winter and venturing outside.  Our goal this spring and summer is to meet more of the people on our block.  I have this ridiculously outdated dream of living in the kind of neighborhood where everybody knows everybody and lends a hand where needed.  The kind of place where the kids run amuck in sprinklers and racing their bikes down the sidewalk and you know their safe.  I've spent the winter thinking about how I wish our neighborhood was more like that and I've decided that I can sit around a wish all day.  It's not going to change unless someone takes the first step - so I'm jumping in.  Just haven't decided how yet.  

The love of my life enjoying his collard greens. (blegh! It must be love if I make him that, right?)

Gloomy Sunday

It's a yucky Sunday here in northeastern Indiana.  We were supposed to be getting 2-4 more inches of snow, but Mother Nature decided to send us sleet instead.  Honestly I'd rather have snow.  Ice is scarier.  So what do you do with a gloomy disgusting Sunday?  You hit the kitchen with a helper chef.  After the 300th "I'm bored" from D - I decided to put him to work.

We're trying out two new recipes today.  Recipe number one is courtesy of The Country Cook blog and can be found here - Peanut Butter Rice Krispie treats.  We followed her recipe exactly until the very end when we got adventurous and threw in a couple of handfuls of chocolate chips because what goes better with peanut butter than chocolate? (Well besides jelly that is...)

Of course I had to take some pictures of the cuteness that helped me.

Licking the peanut butter spoon - don't worry we were done with that one. 

Getting messy smushing the treats into the dish

And finally cleaning up his hands when he was done

After finishing up the rice krispie treats I sent my helper in to watch the Colts football game with his daddy while I tried out a new bread recipe.   Amish White Bread found at Scratch this with Cindy's blog.  I've never tried this bread recipe before so we'll see how it goes.  It seemed a little dry when I was mixing it.  Hopefully it's good. Either way there's just something peaceful about making homemade bread.  

Hope you're all safe and warm on this gloomy day!

A new year ... a new plan

Well here we go again - I do miss blogging and I do need to get better at being organized when it comes to meals so here's my new plan.  I'm going to start posting the week's menu plan on here.  Boring reading I know, but I figure I can link all the recipes I need here and that will help me be able to find them easier.  My pinterest boards are getting out of hand.  I can't find anything because I have so much pinned.

Plus today's a good day to go back to blogging.  We've had two snow days in a row.  Well technically we were home yesterday because it was so cold.  Today was due to blowing and drifting snow.  I have to confess while I'm ready to get back to a schedule, I did enjoy sleeping in and puttering around our house.  I spent time getting laundry done and cleaning the house.  Then I made time to move some things around in the playroom and the living room.  It's nice to start the weekend with the chores done.

So menu plan for next week....

Sunday - Country Fried Pork Steak, collard greens, mashed potatoes


Monday - Salmon Patties, mac and cheese, green beans (This is one of our family favorites)


Tuesday - Grilled cheese and soup (Hubby plays cards on Tuesday nights)

Wednesday - ,Crockpot Sloppy Joes tater tots (David has WOW)


Thursday - Diner night - either leftovers or I scramble up some eggs and call it good

Friday - Pizza

Saturday -  Crockpot Mississippi Pot Roast, potatoes, carrots


So there's my plan for the week and bonus I don't have to go to the grocery store.  I may also get adventurous and make some of this bread this weekend too.

Amish White Bread

I'm looking forward to tomorrow night.  Chicken and Noodles and games with friends.  Should be a good time.

 Now back to my snow day - I've got zoos to build and a book calling my name!

Sunday - a Day of Rest

Still counting my blessings today.  We had a nice easy lazy day.  We started with breakfast at the diner down the road.  Followed it up with church - which was all about relationships.  Then spent the remainder of the day puttering around the house watching Netflix and just being a family.  Wrapped the day up with chili simmering on the stove and coloring my hair.

(nope the picture has nothing to do with today - but this smile makes me happy)

4.  finding a church family where we belong

5.  Miss Amanda loving on David like he's her own at breakfast

6. Lazy Sundays on the couch

7.  Chili simmering all day long

November - Counting My Blessings

I've decided to spend this month being intentional about counting my blessings everyday.  (Yes I know I need to be counting my blessings daily through out the year, but maybe if I am intentional this month it will be easier to stick with it and make it a habit the rest of the year.

So November 1....

1. Wonderful friends with kids the same age to do holidays together with.

2.  Making memories daily with WeeMan

3.  A good deal on warm snow pants for WeeMan so he stayed warm and dry while trick or treating.

Yep that is not rain falling on my Ninja Turtles little green head - that was some serious snow.  If the ground had been a little closer we'd have ended with an inch or two on the ground.  Brrrrr!!  

Weeman and his friends were quite the little troopers.  They lasted about an hour out in the cold, snow, and wind.  What can I say I guess they take their candy collecting seriously!

Fall Vacation

Two weeks ago our family was able to take a mini break.  The fates aligned and hubby was able to get a long weekend the same time we were on fall break.  We had a magnificent time for not too much money.  We drove 3 hours east to Columbus Ohio.  It was the best vacation we've had in a long time.

Our hotel was perfect - it was one of those suites ones with a full kitchen, sitting room, and bedroom. Weeman bedded down in the sitting room on the couch bed which helped everyone rest easier and gave mommy and daddy some privacy.  The price wasn't too bad for what we had and they served a great breakfast buffet every morning.

The main reason we went was to visit the Columbus Zoo.  We spent the entire day on Friday and didn't see everything.  Seriously this is a fantastic zoo.  We were lucky that they are a reciprocal zoo with the Fort Wayne Zoo which means we were able to get in for half price.  So our admission fee total was only $20. We were even able to leave and grab some food off site and then come back in the evening for the Halloween Festival without paying anymore.  We just had our hands stamped before leaving.   We've already promised David we'll go back.  They have a huge water park attached that he wants to check out in the summer.  Plus of course we have to finish visiting all the animals.

Obi Wan Kenobi at the Zoo Halloween - costume thanks to Goodwill

He would have stayed in here watching the fish for hours

Best part of the trip - petting Stingrays

The whole zoo was well kept and the enclosures for the animals were nice and large

There were many signs and information shared throughout the zoo about conserving our resources and saving our planet

Checking out an astronaut suit at the Neil Armstrong Air and Space Museum

First trip to a Lego Store equals happy boy

A spur of the moment stop at a find on the way home - Neil Armstrong Air and Space Museum in Wapokaneta, Ohio