Gardening 101

 

Phillip went the extra mile this week. Sara (our neighbor) is building a retaining wall to manage the slope between our houses. She was working mostly on her own since Dusty was at work. Phillip saw her struggling so he willingly helped her for an hour leveling the base and setting the stones. That is service, that is charity. Excellent work Phillip! It is awesome to see your heart and mind at work. 

Most of our week was quite mundane and normal...what a relief! The kids play octopus on the tramp most days, their new favorite game. I had Phillip pull out the soccer goal so the kids could practice skills. The goal frame disintegrated so the kids took the net and spent the afternoon making up a crazy new game. All was fun and games until Amelia didn't quite make the jump over the net and landed on her nose/head/neck. The fall knocked her breath out for a couple seconds which scared her mightily. She is fine but that game was subsequently banned. The girls are loving the fun gravity cars I added to the garage menagerie. Justin put his foot down (again) not more wheeled items until three current items are removed. 

Evelyn is the queen of cute notes. Most days Justin and I get 2-3 cute drawings, letters, packages, etc from that sweet girl. She started drawing my curly hair and dressing me in elaborate ball gowns with a purse! She left me a package while I was showering of a flower wrapped up and glued together. She also reached halfway on her reading chart! Way to go Evelyn. 

Everett was very excited he finished his 100 book chart. He requested some Mexican food and planned for him and I to go on a solo date. I invited Justin to come along to our favorite new place with the best shrimp tacos. Everett was impressed. We enjoyed spending alone time with him. 

Everett completed the math portion of his state testing this week and Amelia completed math and science. The kids had to test alone in a private room, I am grateful we have the office with a door. Only two more days of testing for those two. Evelyn will end the testing in May with the IRI reading test. 

Soccer this week was fun. Josie stayed home with Amelia. Justin was also home working hard on accounting stuff. Amelia spent a couple hours deep cleaning the kids bathroom. She earned every penny of that gross job. The toothpaste removal was intense. Phillip and Everett's team won this week, Evelyn was completely bummed her team lost. All three goals the opposing team scored went right past Phillip as he stood there inactive while the ball rolled by. PLAY! Just try to defend the goal. Josie and I had a girl date Saturday afternoon to D&B Supply for gardening supplies. I needed plastic sheeting, PVC, and clamps to make a greenhouse over the garden boxes. I also picked up some tomato plants and sunflower seeds. Josie got to pet the bunnies, ducks, and chicks at the store. I *almost* came home with a chicken, but happened to stop and think about the repercussions. Instead I bought a wisteria vine, less poop. Justin or I managed to nick a water pipe in the sprinkler system while planting the forsythia bush. We found this out as Justin turned on the system for the first watering of the year. Off went the water for a new round of whack-a-mole. Justin and Phillip went to Home Depot for the one size of pipe not in Justin's collection. Phillip did a fantastic job digging a new hole for Wilbur's new home. Our cute peach tree is now planted and ready to keep growing. Everett helped me section off square feet in the garden boxes with twine then plant lots of fun seeds. Our favorite seed was the packet of carrot balls (aka Parisienne carrots). I will have peppers, celery, radishes, chard, lettuce, peas, beans, herbs, and tomatoes. Yum. I need to purchase some bedding plants like pumpkin, squash, watermelon, etc this coming week. The kids spent most of the day outside playing. We all went to bed with very tired muscles and a grin...on my face. The older kids enjoyed playing night games with some neighborhood friends!