Yes, it is not officially here yet but the kids are out of school and the days are warmer so the feel of summer is in the air minus the humidity (it shall arrive soon though). We have been busy out in the backyard this spring working away on jobs and just getting the backyard to a place where we can really enjoy it. I think that we are headed into the years with the little ones where we will be spending much much time out there.

I had a small garden last year just to try it out and see if it seemed doable and this year I decided to go a good bit bigger. After planting about a month ago I felt super stressed out and was feeling a little done with the garden. . .I know not good to feel that way at the start of something. After a lot of work and weed control this has been the first weekend where I feel like it is at a place where I like it and can really enjoy going out there to pull just a few weeds and check on everything. For now no bugs are eating away at anything and the weeds are under control etc. It is a happy place! For now we have Carrots, Tomatoes, Cherry Tomatoes, Sweet Peas, Jalapenos, Green Peppers, Yellow Peppers, Pimentos, Squash, Zucchini, Cucumbers, Yellow Beans, Green Beans, Okra, Sweet Basil, Cantaloupe, Watermelon, Honey Dew, Sunflowers and some other flowers from seeds. Whew, we shall see what of that actually grows well but so far the squash and cucumbers, peas and green beans are all coming in. A few others have begun flowering so it is exciting!

Another purchase this spring were our rain barrels. I am super excited about these!!! It just takes a good rain for them to be overflowing so I am sure that we will add more in the future but for now I am very happy with two! They are very handy and hopefully they will save us some on the water bill when it comes to watering the garden this summer.

Last but not least yesterday Brad and his dad worked hard to install some post (set in concrete) in the backyard that we can attach hangers on for bird feeders. We have had one feeder for a very long time but we have all (even the kiddos) greatly been enjoying watching the birds come so we decided to add a few more. It has been fun to pick out some new feeders and I am hoping to plant some flowers underneath the feeders as well. We hope to add a few more plants to the backyard as well but for now it is all coming along. It has been so much fun to make our backyard our very owns space and bring a bit of restoration to it!