Tackling Grass

 When we moved in our yard was full of tall, ornamental grass that has run wild for years.  Our yard was crazy.  Joel's parents helped us get rid of most of it.  They also hacked down Mulberry bushes in the front.  We weren't able to get the stumps out though.  We've been trying for two years with no success, so I finally paid someone to remove them.  It was money well spent.  They had 4 guys that all dug around and popped out each root together.  It was impressive to watch.  With the roots finally gone I planted a flowering bush.  I went with a rhododendron.  I accidentally over fertilized it, so it was a bit droopy, but all the rain helped to wash away the fertilizer.  Oops.  I had been all worried about making the soil acidic, and I didn't realize you're supposed to only sparingly fertilize rhododendron plants. 

We have one last huge patch of tall grass in the front corner of the house.  It is now full of other random plants within it.  After planting the bush I started tackling the grass.

I didn't get as far as I wanted to, but a couple days later I got a sizable chunk done.  I even found a sprinkler head in the middle of it, so I know just far overgrown it was.  Sadly, another Mulberry bush has sprung up on the side of the house that I have to deal with, but the grass is almost gone.  Can I get a Hallelujah?!

Meet Ashley!

Little Lady had her first cello lesson in-person in over a year last week.  Her cello teacher took one look at her playing and said she needed to move up to a full-sized cello.  It's funny how he honestly couldn't tell over Zoom, but it was pretty obvious once he saw her. 

We swapped out her rental.  She's named her cello Ashley.  Now comes the decision about how long to keep renting versus buying her a cello.  We always said we'd wait until she had a full-sized instrument, but I never expected it to be when she was only ten years old!

Final Projects

Little Lady had a big project she's been working on for a couple of weeks.  They had to pick a book, and read it at home.  They had to create a box with a bunch of different requirements for it and then present it to the class.  Of course, Little Lady wanted to add some bedazzling to the box in organized rows.  

BB has been loving his recent art projects. 

I love that he wrote his name twice, because he's in a phase where he wants to write everything in cursive.  He's been teaching Little Guy how to write all his letters in cursive. 

It's a Wrap

 Little Man had his final meet this week.  He had a great 1600 meter run.  His coach was really happy with him, because his split times were within 6 seconds of each other, so he paced himself really well.  

His coach retires this year, so it was his last time working with Mr. Murphy (who was also his Social Studies teacher).

Mother's Day

 I still enjoy the cute homemade gifts from the kiddos.  It's probably the best part of the day.  Well, and not having to cook or clean anything at all.  That's rather nice as well.

Preschool Fun

 Little Guy's days in preschool are numbered.  He's been having so much fun.  They had a Z is for Zoo week.  They had outdoors only days.  They had a couple of "messy" days that Little Guy loved.  

His favorite day was the 5th birthday party.  They celebrated that all of them have turned 5 and are headed to Kindergarten in the Fall.  The playdoh birthday cake was a particular favorite.

Endangered Puppets

Our HOA hosted a puppet show for the kids in the neighborhood.  It was all about endangered (and some extinct) animals.  The kids loved it!

Real life side note: Joel had them walk to and from the puppet show that was hosted at the neighborhood pool.  The show was lovely.  The kids enjoyed themselves, and then Little Guy had a full and total meltdown on the way home, because he needed to go to the bathroom.  The bathrooms at the pool aren't open yet, so he had to walk a half mile back home to get to a toilet.  He didn't take that very well.  Oh, the joys of life with children! 

Camping

This kid spent his first night away from home.  He went camping with his youth group.  Joel stayed long enough to help him set up his tent and then Little Man was on his own.  I thought he would struggle with being around all the boys without alone time, but Covid regulations actually helped him.  He was required to sleep in his own tent.  He biked 10 miles in the morning.  His only comment was, "It was long."  They're trying to work up to 50 miles for their high adventure trip that takes place in June.  I was pleasantly surprised he enjoyed himself.