We're back!

 Joseph planted this flower "box" in the front.  We have 4 total and can't wait for the flowers to begin spilling over the edges.  Gotta be easier than the hanging baskets we killed last year, right?  (By the way, I just LOVE it when the boys match clothes by accident.  For some reason, it cracks me up.)

Charlie's little lavender plant.  He's very proud of it.

And happy.

It's May now, so the lilacs are blooming.  

Our back "serenity garden" was discovered by the deer in the early part of spring.  But it turns out, they left some for us after all...

In addition to flowers in the front, we planted lettuces, peas, and spinach in the back.  In cinder blocks.

I'm trying to sell my baby clothes.  The 24mo girls stuff sold (for enough to buy ice cream after we finish the climbing box--see below).  Nothing else sold.  Not even at the scout yard sale this weekend.  (Though to be fair, they actually had a pretty lousy turn-out and made very little this year.)  I'm beginning to think I may need to just accost people on the street, give them a bag of clothes, and run.

And yes, a climbing box.

A friend of Mary's gave us a slide, 2 swings, and a monkey bars.  My plan was to build a simple, little swing-set for it.  Ahh, me and my wishful thinking.

Here is the slide, sad and lonely on its side for the past 2 weeks.

Elisabeth couldn't take the excitement.  She didn't even make it home from (the 3hr trip) to Home Depot.

Here is Joseph, hanging out in the car with half (yes, half) of the supplies.

 

Let the drilling begin.

Here is everyone, half done, at 9:30 last night, when I begged them to reduce the plan and let this suffice.  (Puh-leeze!)  

They agreed.  It was planned for too much. (The plan was 2 boxes of this size, with a 10 "bridge" between where the swings would be.  There was also some talk of turning one of the box bottoms into a chicken coop!)  So I returned about half the lumber and bolts, and they attached the slide and went to bed.  (Side braces coming soon, as well as a ladder for the slide.  Swing/s to go up later.  Maybe monkey bars across the top and a fire pole down after that.)

Today, Joseph swung up some rope and began to play on the 8x8x10 box.  Lil'Nathan used more rope to make a giant spider webby thing.  ("It's 3D.")  We'll see about that.

But Peanut Pants loves it.