Nature Imitating Art

This is one of my favorite trees. It's a red leafed redbud. We had a crazy late season snow and it knocked off the beautiful redbud flowers before we could even enjoy them. The leaves are really just as pretty as the flowers. They start out folded in half the way a child would fold paper to trace and cut out a valentine. Then they open to a perfectly heart shaped red leaf. Nature is putting on an amazing display for us to enjoy this year.

Spring Fever

Emmie planted a flat of beautiful petunias in our front planter strip. She made sure they were watered well and had fun doing it.

April Showers

We've had crazy weather all year but especially this spring. Yesterday was in the 70s. Today it actually snowed a little! Then it cleared, warmed up and the fog rolled in. The sun was setting and coming in like a lazer beam through the fog and created this pretty rainbow. We could see the entire bow from one side to the other. In fact it was a double rainbow. It disappeared as the sun went down in Sacramento.

Oak Trees

The kids helped me collect buckets of acorns last fall and plant them throughout the lawn. We planted hundreds. A few days ago we noticed they were coming up. About a dozen survived, just enough to give the lawn a nicely spaced out blanket of shade that we'll be able to enjoy in 50 years. They are so short right now we had to flag them so we wouldn't mow over them. They aren't actually as tall as the grass but we don't want to drive the tires over them.

Emmie's Yard Sale

Emmie collected a bunch of items from her room that she was willing to give up. Without our knowledge she set up tables of merchandise, made a sign and set up her cash register in front of the garage. We bought some of her things from her and she charged fair prices. We had to shower and get ready to leave for the evening after the sale. We came out to get everyone loaded in the car and Emmie was still manning her yard sale. She had been there for an hour sitting in a folding chair and reading a book waiting for customers. It was so cute and heartbreaking at the same time. We don't live within view of any streets so no customers were going to just pop in. She closed up for the day and then brought it all back out the next day. She was really determined to make some sales. She made $4.87 off of us.

Grandma Dora's Irises

Grandma Dora gave us these iris bulbs last year. They came up right after the daffodils in the area. They are so bright and pretty against the green landscape.

Dog is Dog's Best Friend

This is Oliver and Jake. They love each other especially when they are sharing a patch of shade on the first warm day of the year.

Jake

This is Jake, our chocolate lab. We were at the Feed Barn a few weeks ago and they had volunteers walking dogs from the shelter in the parking lot. Scott spotted this guy as soon as we pulled up. He made the mistake of asking the kids if they liked the dog before he fully decided if he even wanted to add another dog to the family. Done deal.

He was given up by his owners because he barked too much. That was a worry. Since we brought him home we've only heard him bark a few times. His previous owners would leave him for days at a time with a bag of dog food. He was lonely and fat.

He and Oliver get along great. They play tug of war and hold one toy between them as they run around the lawn. Oliver's new name is "no bite". He bites Jake constantly, not trying to fight but play. Jake just needs to haul off and bite him back. Jake would win.

A customer at the Feed Barn said he raised chocolate labs and thought Jake was a pure breed. He could tell by his huge block head. I was worried he had some pit in him but apparently he's a block head.

He is very smart, so smart he has already learned some really bad habits. He jumps up on the counter and eats what he can reach before anyone notices. He loves to fetch, swim and unfortunately visit the neighbors. We really need some gates soon. Oliver has grown out of following us to town when we drive off. On Easter Sunday Jake spent the entire day in Fiddletown chained up to a tree in someones yard. He must have followed us while Oliver turned back. Oliver, however, chases the neighbor's llama and cows but when we call the dogs Jake will return and Oliver will run circles making us look like fools as we try to catch him. I don't know who's smarter. Is it the dog who obeys simple commands immediately or the dog who ignores simple commands to keep doing what he wants? Well we have one of each now.

Hunt at the Minnick's

Ready, set, go! Emmie and Clay were instructed to go slow and let their little cousins, Maggie and Chloe get a head start.

Looks like Maggie and Chloe did just fine by themselves.

Clay shared with Emmie. He gave her a few of his eggs because he had found more than she did.

The best eggs were the ones that jingled.

The Easter Bunny Visited

Last year all the bunny had to do to get in was squeeze in through the cat door. We took the door out but the bunny still managed to get in through the same window. We could tell because there was fur all over the window and stuck inside the window frame.
The Easter Bunny was good to the kids again this year. Just like last year there was bunny fur all over everything.
Clay and Emmie played a joke on the bunny. They left a paper carrot above the real carrots. He bit it a bunch of times but couldn't eat it.
Emmie loves her whale.

Clay loves his Lorax.

Here is Dad trying out an Easter Bunny toy.

Here is Dad repairing the Easter Bunny toy.

Cheese!

Pioneer Easter Egg Hunt

Ready, set, go!

Have you ever seen so many eggs with so little competition before? The kids needed way bigger baskets then they could have gotten more eggs.

Grandma and Grandpa joined us for the fireman's breakfast right before the hunt began.

Clay found a Golden Egg! He won a special prize from the firemen at the hunt.

Snow in April

April Fool's! No fooling this is April 1st. What a crazy spring we are having. By afternoon it was in the 50s and sunny without a trace of it ever having snowed.

What a great way to spend a day of spring break.

Clay had to throw a snow ball at mom.

What a surprise to wake up to in the morning.

This is our new dog Jake. He doesn't love the know that much. He prefers a good swim in a pond.(The neighbor's pond!) He does love having his picture taken. He went wild as soon as I pulled the camera out and pointed it at him. Just before this he wasn't very happy about his cold feet.

Oliver loves the snow. It makes him go crazy.The grass was already a foot tall. For weeks it's been springlike and warm. Then it turned back to winter suddenly. The grass helped create a fast sled run.

Here is a view of downtown Sacramento from our driveway. It was cloudy here and sunny there. The falling snow from the middle of the night made the sky so clear. If we had a better camera this would have been an amazing picture.

Daddy Daughter Dance

Dad left work for a few hours to take Emmie to the Daddy Daughter Dance at Pioneer School for the second year in a row. Dad even stopped to buy Emmie a pink rose. Emmie was really embarrassed. But she did keep the flower in her room for weeks after. Emmie was so excited for the dance. She dressed up in a new skirt which she wore to school that day, the dance that night, to a slumber party at Nonni's the next day and to visit Grandma Dora the day after that! Emmie danced with Chloe, Lenore, Riley and Kaya but not really with Dad. The dads stood around and talked and got to know each other.

Let's Make a Tent

Is there anything more fun than building a tent out of dining room chairs and blankets? This was up in the middle of the family room for nearly a week. It didn't take much to knock it down so we rebuilt it many times.

Thank goodness for Dad's medical skills. Without his forceps we wouldn't have had any walls.

The tent started out as a wrestling ring. That's usually how most things around here start or end with the kids in charge.

Getting ready for bed. Gotta have a flashlight just in case.Ollie sneaked in sometime after the kids went to sleep. Mom found him with his paw resting on Clay's head. He really did not want to come out of the tent.

"Wooops! Did I do that?"