Spring!

Spring must be here, because I feel energetic again!  I wake up knowing it's going to be a good day when the sun is shining and I'm not cold.  If I'm not cold, I feel like I can do just about ANYTHING!!

Including taking my kiddos on a trip to Traders Village!  Where we went off Tommy's diet and got soft serve ice cream...

And I bought the kids umbrellas for only three dollars each, and they've had more fun with those things than any expensive toy we could have gotten!!

And I took a picture of Mary Susannah, and she says I'm 'learning' because somehow, I got the focus behind her instead of on her, but she's pretty anyway!

But the REAL reason I went to Trader's Village that day, was for this:

I have had this insane urge to buy a singer canary.  I have been thinking about it all the time.  They are so expensive, but you can usually find cheap stuff at Traders Village, so we made the hour's drive with my main goal being to buy a canary.  And I found not one, but a young matched pair.  I am a tightwad, and it hurt laying down that money, and it especially hurt because it was early in the day, and I was afraid if I didn't buy them, they would be gone when I came back, I was afraid if I DID buy them, I would be sure to find others cheaper somewhere else, and I was ESPECIALLY afraid when the Lebanese men who hardly spoke English told me that they didn't have any receipts, but I could trust them...

SIGH...

So I paid them, and left as they were putting my two birds back in the back of the little shed.  I kept looking over my shoulder, for what, I don't know...

The rest of the day was eventful, to say the least, when a young girl passed out right in front of me and I caught her head before it hit the floor while her terrified mother caught the rest of her.  That girl looked very sick, in fact, almost like she was dying.  The store was so small, we finally walked out so there would be room, and before we left, we heard she had come too, but was not alright.  We prayed, and I would love to know the outcome of that.

We shopped, bought sunglasses, ice cream, bowls, those fourth of July things that pop when you throw them on the ground, a watch for Luke and Tommy,  a little purse with the word "Angel" on it for Angel-Leah, and she got a Chinese fan that she said she had 'always wanted!'  Funny, I never heard that before...

And then, when my energy suddenly left me, we trudge back in the heat to the bird store, where my birds WERE waiting for me still, and then we trudged to the car and came home...

The next week found us shuffling when Bill's car broke down and we had to work out who would drive which car when.  I didn't have anywhere to go really this week except homeschool co op and the feed store, so it wasn't so bad, and even kind of nice to stay home.  Because, like I said, Spring seems to be here to stay.

At the feed store, I splurged once again - although not quite as much - and bought a magnolia tree.  I have had yet another irresistible urge for a magnolia tree since last spring, and the feed store had one for just $35, so I got it, and Beau planted it for me.  A long time ago a friend told me that if you bury a dead chicken under a tree when you plant it, the tree would grow like crazy.  And since the dogs just happened to have dragged a dead chicken up into the front yard, it was handy to see if it was true.  I think Beau was skeptical a bit, but at the same time, he's still young enough to believe his mom 'might' know what she's talking about (which in this case, she didn't really know, she had just heard this strange thing) so the dead chicken went under the tree and Beau got it planted.

And to Tommy's great delight, there were WORMS in that there dirt!!

Spring also brings lots and lots and lots of bluebonnets to our farm, and the three little kids tried their best to pull up the 'thousands upon thousands' that Angel-Leah said were out there.  After a talk about leaving some of the bluebonnets in the ground, I filled a vase and let them play with the rest.

I have to say this picture shocked me a little bit.  My little girl is growing up...I just hate that...Where did the time go?

I guess we just enjoy springs so much, they fly by...

And the last sign of spring?  Well, I'm going to be a grandma again.  Now the number of my grandkids will equal the number of my children, ten of each!

Congratulations to my oldest daughter, Rachael, and her husband Eric!

Last I heard, her siblings were rooting for twins, one of each!  That sounds good to me...