Unrelated note:  I apologize for my long absence from my blog.  I could not get pictures uploaded from my camera for quite a while, and Andrew was so busy I didn’t have the heart to ask him to look at it.  I finally asked him this evening, and he got it straightened out.

Ever since the first small bloom opened up in our yard, Hannah has been bringing me flowers to put on the table.

Every day we trade out the wilted ones for fresh, new, bright-c0lored full-blooming ones.  I don’t let her (or anyone else) pick the daffodils or tulips, but since our yard has little grass and an abundance of blooming weeds, Hannah can pick to her heart’s content.

I’m ashamed to admit that initially I thought, “And what do I do with this constant stream of “flowers” pouring in the door?”  Then, with her insistence, I pulled out vases and put them on the table.

Now, I have come to really enjoy the bright cheeriness her flowers add to our table.  They truly are beautiful, even if they are considered weeds.  Hannah gives me flowers “because I am married” she tells me.  I think she associates flowers with ladies who get married, and since I am married, I should have flowers.  That’s fine by me!

Hannah can spend hours outside, even all by herself, contentedly strolling the back yard and picking flowers, arranging them in a lovely bouquet, and bringing them to present to me.  Bouquet after bouquet, and I get out vase after vase.  Today was a particularly flowerful day, and when I knew Andrew would be mowing soon, I decided we needed to capture today’s large yield on camera.

In addition to picking lots of dandelions, Hannah also drew and colored a vase of flowers for me.  I thought she did a very good job on her picture.

After Andrew was done mowing this evening, and Hannah discovered the flower crop had been (at least temporarily) decimated, she was really sad.  I’m not that worried, because I’m sure that in the morning, new blooms will have burst forth.

Even if the dandelion crop wanes, I have several packets of marigold and zinnia seeds that I’m going to let the kids plant in a big part of our garden this year.  Unless I really miss my guess, they will have fun planting them, and squirting them with the water hose when it’s dry, and then they can pick all kinds of bouquets from those flowers.  (I am really careful to select flower seeds that are pretty much no-fail ones to grow and bloom.)

At this stage of Hannah’s life, I have had to wonder if she’s going to someday as a bride carry a big bouquet of dandelions down the aisle when she gets married.  Hmmm….

That’s what Paul calls it when we take a walk on the roads around here to see nature and animals.  I believe it was this past Monday evening that we took our most recent nature walk.  Marie gets really excited about it and talks repeatedly about going to “see the sheep” whenever she hears we’re going to take a walk.

Right now lots of flowers and bushes are in bloom, and the ones that are pretty untamed by the side of the road I let the kids pick blooms from and sniff them, and so on.

I am careful to remind them not to pick flowers out of other people’s yards and flower beds!

These white blooms were particularly fragrant.

After we had visited these bushes, we stopped at our neighbor’s so Paul could ask them some questions for one of his math projects (he was making a graph of how many people liked red or blue the best, and cats or dogs the best).  Only one of the children was home, but he was more than willing to give us a tour of all their critters.  The kids got to see and pet baby chicks, big hens and roosters, one of their bunnies, and even though they didn’t pet the pigs, they did get to look inside the pig pen and see their two pigs.  The low, dark, dusty shed all the animals were in did not provide a good opportunity for pictures.  Plus, I was holding Marie most of the time and helping her pet the different critters.  That was a big highlight of our nature walk.

We did continue down the road to the pasture where the sheep are.  Everyone delighted to see the sheep.  Marie wanted so much to pet one, but I don’t think they are tame.  None of them ever come over close to the fence when we visit.  The kids pretty much always sing “Baa-baa Black Sheep” to them every time we visit the sheep.

It had rained recently, and this nice puddle by the side of the road was top-notch entertainment for the kids.  They (and I too) wished they had worn their boots so they could go tramping through the puddles.

They found other ways to enjoy it.  Hannah stirred the water with a stick, Marie did the same with a pine cone, and Paul dropped pebbles into the water.

The sun had already set by the time everyone was enjoying the puddle, and we were at our furthermost point, so before they were done playing in the puddle, I had to pull them away and begin our walk home.

After we got back home, I pulled out the last of some fresh strawberries from the fridge, and they enjoyed them for a snack before getting ready for bed.

Ahhh…if this is only the start of a spring, summer, and fall of wonderful relaxing evenings, then I think we’re gearing up for the best season of our lives yet!