Spring at the Homestead

We have been trying to soak up the nice days outdoors here at our new house. There's so much to do, so much to play, and we are loving it. We've had several windy days, several rainy days, several cold days...which is true to how Spring usually is here in the Great Plains. But we are ready ready ready for April, May, and June when we can be outside all the time before it gets too hot!

The other day, the boys were playing and the husband was painting the house so I grabbed my camera and took a "few" shots.

They were going through all the rocks in the "lane" as we call the little part of the driveway that connects our two driveways, and throwing aside the ones that didn't fit their standards.

You can see our half-painted house in the background. It's now all painted and there's an extra window next to the garage!

It had just rained and Renny found the puddles. This kid loooooooooves playing in water.

Then they moved on to their new sandbox. Daddy cut the tire hole larger and dumped in several bags of sand. Ren would be out here for hours and Sutton loves it too! The only problem is that Ren is too little to get in and out by himself. And also that you can't see them to check on them if you're any distance away because the tire is so tall.

A view back towards the house from the sandbox. You can see Adam on the roof in orange, painting.

We have had lots of spring things happening over here. The Bradford Pear tree in the yard bloomed and is now losing it's bloom to make room for leaves. But this day was towards the beginning of the blooming and it was so pretty!

Sutton saw me taking photos so he had to go grab his camera. :)

I figure when I'm old and grey, I'll love the photo below. I'll see how small this tree was when we first moved into this house. How small my 5-year-old was at this time. And I'll remember our beloved Diesel dog who surely won't be around many years from now.

We found lots of other signs of spring in the yard too.

So much green! Sutton loves looking through the many clover patches that dot our yard, searching for a 4-leaf clover. He actually found one on St Patrick's Day and was so excited!

We found a little grub on the tree.

Then Sutton found a worm in the rainwater in his slide.

And Ren found WATER. So exciting.

Our poor swing set is low on the list of priorities to put together. So the boys play in the pieces.

And a view of our house, as it was early/mid March 2016.

Our 1st Exploration

We came out to our house/land several times before we moved in to look around a bit, but shortly after we moved in, I took the boys out for our first official exploration after it was OURS.

I'm so glad my boys love being outside and think all the little things they find are "so cool." They will be full-fledged country boys in no time.

This was the image I used for I Carry Your Heart last week.

He's in between that cute baby and little boy stage. So cute and sweet to look at, but learning how to navigate such a big personality and opinion.

I liked it in black and white too.

Those lips pout out when he's concentrating really hard. :)

Zoning out...

Diesel had a rough first few days, getting acclimated. He didn't wander far from the house and would just go out, pee, and come right back in. This was one of the first times that he wandered a little farther away from us. Now, after being here for almost 2 weeks, he feels a lot more comfortable and seems to be loving it out here just like the rest of us.