Well Spring certainly took it's time getting to Pennsylvania. It was much appreciated when it did arrive. In fact, I realized how much you take warm weather for granted when you grow up in Florida. We have tried to make the most of every sunny day that we've had. I wanted to do a quick post showing some of the projects we accomplished this Spring and how we've enjoyed the weather.
Chris and I loved that our yard was full of vegetables when we moved in last summer, but knew that we could not keep up with all that the previous owners had going on. We decided to focus on just two types of veggies in a contained space. Chris (and Brady) built this garden box and we are patiently awaiting our tomatoes and green peppers! We also still have a peach, plum, and pear tree in the yard.
Our yard has been the crazy Jurassic Park yard in the neighborhood for quite some time. There were so many trees planted in such a small space, that it was time to do some cutting down. It pained me to have to remove trees (it didn't feel very "Go Green" of us) but the trees were all competing for nutrients so none of them were growing like they should. We hired a service to cut down a big Evergreen in the back corner of our yard and the "crew" was Amish! I did what you're not supposed to do and took pictures of the Amish guys working in our yard.
Chris has been working so hard to un-do all the gardening that the previous owners did. That included tearing out all of the shrubbery that was in our front yard. Here's a before and after. We are still waiting on grass to grow around the plants, but for now, less is more and we are happy to be rid of some of the jungle!
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| Before...B-Man could have gotten lost in that shrubbery madness. |
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| After...you can actually see the porch. And a fresh coat of black paint on the shutters! |
Another perk of Spring was outside fun. No more hanging out in the yucky basement!! The sprinkler and sand box were two of Brady's pastimes, but his absolute favorite thing to do is mow the lawn. We are hoping this love of yard work continues into his teen years...
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| This is how Nolan chills while Brady is playing outside. Love the mini swing! |
One of the perks of being a toddler is how the simple things in life can be so amusing. I can't tell you how many "yellow flowers" (dandelions) Brady picked for me. It was completely precious, as well as productive weed picking.
Spring came and went pretty quickly, but we hope summer lasts for a long time! Below is a link to a video showing a typical Spring/Summer Saturday morning activity at the Smith house.
Click here for the video>>>
Daddy's helper!
