Dancers

The much anticipated dance recital has arrived! 

Our little dancers have been practicing their cartwheels and backbends, passes and releves, first position and graceful arms for 9 months, preparing for the end-of-year performance.  They're getting to be quite the little experts with this being their third year of dance classes.

For this year's performance, our girlies are beautiful mermaids, performing a combination ballet and tumbling routine. 

We are so proud of Maegli and Hiwot!

Strawberries

We've done blackberries, blueberries, and apples . . . but each year miss strawberry season.  We live in a place that has an annual festivals and parades dedicated to the strawberry harvest, and yet we always seem to miss this season, which hits right at the tail end of our school year. 

Not so this year :)

We ventured to a local strawberry farm and got to learn all about the strawberry harvest.  These are not "you-pick" produce - with delicate berries at ground level, crowds venturing into the fields to pick would be too destructive to the crop.  The sweet ladies working the farm stand did allow us to (carefully) check out the field and taught us all about the business. 

The berries are newly planted each year, and planted early (February) for the May 1 harvest goal.  They're sprayed with water to prevent freezing and are planted over plastic to deter pests and weeds.  The variety is much different than what is found in the grocery store - they're incredibly tender, juicy, and delicately sweet.  Pickers begin their work at sunrise with friendly picking-speed competitions. 
The farm stand starts selling at 8am and typically runs out by 10 (we arrived at 8:15 and there was a crowd!).
The strawberry season lasts for about a month, then they kill off the plants and plant pumpkins to be ready for an October harvest.  They'll replant the berries next year. 

We initially purchased a single flat, but after tasting these berries, we bought a second - amazing!

We froze nearly half our berries to be used for strawberry jam and enjoyed later.  The other flat we've eaten through quite quickly - yummy fresh farm berries, such a treat!

Hopefully we can remember to make this an annual tradition.

Gone Fishin'

Spring is here, Summer is near . . . and the kids are ready to live outside! 

The kids work hard to finish their school early so they can spend the rest of their day outside.  The current fascination: fishing.  The boys grab their rods and a few buckets, dig for worms and grubs, and practice their fishing skills.  Practice makes better . . . and these kids are getting good at fishing :)

(*We're have just 5 days til our school year is officially complete!)

Not necessarily helpful to fishing, but splashing in our shallow lake feels so good! 

The kids catch a lot more than fish. 

The daily catches are collected in the boat, to be released before heading back inside. 

We are so thankful for our rich backyard and sibling adventures :)
Bring on Summer!

Oh Deer!

Borrowing an outdoor trail camera from a friend, we were able to capture some nocturnal wildlife in our yard.  We tried a few spots, strapping the camera to trees around the yard.  We were hoping to spy the armadillo that's made a home under our deck, or maybe get lucky with a shot of the neighborhood fox.  We did spot the opossum venturing out from under the slab foundation (that's how we figured out what was tunneling) and a few cats scampering around, but the best shots were those of deer, who seemed to like the camera . . . say "cheese!". 

Intruder

We had a critter decide to make a home under our home . . .

As much as we like our home, and love to welcome others, we didn't really want this guy making tunnels under our slab foundation.  So, we called Wildlife Intruder Removal to take care of our unwelcome guest.  We have had 4 traps set up for the past week - there might be as many as 7 opossum making a home with us!  So far, we've caught one . . . we'll see how many more there are - the tunnels are extensive! 

This little guy will be taken and re-released in a nature preserve, where he'll be much happier . . . us too!

Teeth!!!

 Little Miss Dabney Hazel is sporting SIX teeth!!!
(*Update: she cut TWO more teeth, bringing our total teeth tally to EIGHT*)

And she's pulling up to a tall kneel :)

 She's growing too fast.

Monopoly

4 boys make for a very fun and very rambunctious game of Monopoly.  Most afternoons are spent outdoors: building forts, catching critters, riding bikes, playing tag, shooting hoops, fishing at the dock, and kicking around soccer balls.  But every once in a while, they get on a board game kick.

Brothers are awesome :)

(Davis is looking so mature with his longer locks!)

Puppy

We're enjoying our puppy Banks. 

(5 months old and 40+ pounds)

Mr. Ben has been back to help us more in training our pup.  He's a really good dog!  We're working on leash training and yard training (to teach the perimeter).  Banks is already very good at the "sit" and "stay" commands, which he can keep even with children running around.  Our "conditioning" seems to be working, chaotic kids do not distract this pup :)

Garden

I always have grand garden plans, but have yet to see any real success with any backyard garden.  Maybe this will be the year.  

We expanded our plot and didn't plant nearly as much - we're keeping it simple.  We're hoping for some tomatoes, peppers, and squash . . . if we can keep the critters and kids away!

*Maegli's worm, Freddy, will be such a help in our garden :)