coming up

It was great fun to see these iris' come up.
 They were given to me as graceful long leaves last spring, so I hadn't seen their color. I saw the unopened buds reach up, then a touch of purple peaking out, but I thought they would be all purple, so I was surprised when I saw the full bloom to discover just what has been sleeping in their beds all winter. I should have taken other pictures of the beds.


We bought some flowers for immediate results as we waited on the bulbs to come up. Peonies are still making their way (I think). Ferns and ground cover came up. I think I already killed a strawberry plant. For many days, it would look like rain, but then it wouldn't pour down, so I finally realized I need to water no matter if it looks like rain might come- it can't be depended upon!























I put my feet in here today. It's actually not as cold as I thought, so I need to find a time and get in already! But in the meantime, Ivan has an after school program Monday and I need groceries, so I'm going to take the girls into the city. We will do our errands and have some fun and not have to rush back to get Ivan.





It was totally gorgeous today, so Emora and I went to the beach for fun and to do a little project with a vase, sand and rocks. When we got there, guess who we saw?











Dominique and a ton of kids were their with teachers. They were having a scavenger hunt. The elementary school has 3 hallways in the shape of a U. Each hallway is made up of about 3 grades and are given the name of one of the lakes. Dominique's group is the Mission group including kindergarten, grade 6 and another grade (I forget). Throughout the year, they do activities together. Today they hunted, played and ate hotdogs. I got to visit with Dominique's teacher some. When the kids left, Emora played with another girl who was at the beach with her grandma. Then we speed walked here... to pick up the elder duo. We refilled on water (it was hot today- ok, not hot for Texas, but we are already wimpified).


We tried a day without screen time and OH the COMPLAINTS! You would think we were physically torturing them. To add insult to injury, we didn't let them have ice pops before supper or take them to the new ice cream shop. We just went a couple of days ago, and told them it will just be a special treat, but of course the kids figure they should be treated every day! Brian and I were ready for a walk after supper, but the kids didn't want to be outside anymore, so I got stuff done on this computer instead while they mostly fought. Now, just before bedtime, they are playing wonderfully. They become perfect angels before bed to lure us into letting them stay up longer, but then when we say to bed, they turn crazy a bit again. Ah well, some day they will not be little anymore and it'll be a whole new ball game with new techniques to learn. Looking forward to the weekend... soccer, a birthday, hopefully a destroyed kitchen, and that's just Saturday!