Going green

It's been so beautiful out lately that we've been spending a lot of time outside, and have many different landscaping projects going on! We have finally planted another tree to replace the one we lost about 2 years ago. Here's a picture from that next morning. Yikes - what a big mess that was! It still looks bare there, but the new tree helps a bit. It will obviously take many, many years to grow as big as the other one was, but it's a start!

Our other environmentally friendly project is moving right along as well! Our garden now has a border and Calvin put in a fence today. The fence is mostly to keep out the pests - the pests being Jocelyn and the dogs. We're hoping to plant everything on Sunday. We have many different seeds we bought, so we'll see what ends up growing. I'm so excited to have a garden! Eau Claire is awaiting approval on a city ordinance that allows 2 chickens per house in the city limits. Calvin thinks this is a great idea and, I think, is seriously entertaining the thought. Now, we eat a lot of eggs, so in theory it is a good idea. However, I'm sure our neighbors wouldn't share the same opinion. Someday when we have a house with a bit more land then we can have chickens. For now, I'm fine with the dogs, even if they don't lay eggs.

She did NOT want me to sit by her - she wanted to do it all by herself! I tried a new hairdo - isn't it cute? I think it looks like Cindy Lou Who, and Kailee thinks it looks like Boo from Monsters, Inc.

The garden with the border up - it's about 30' long - go big or go home!

Here are just a few other cute pictures.

Playing in the hose again. Just wait until it gets warm out and she discovers she can run thru the sprinkler all the time! I'll never get her back inside!

Talking

Here's a video of Jocelyn showing off some of the words she knows. I had a way cuter one, but the file was too big to post. She's up to about 20 words she can say now (obviously didn't get them all here) and I think learns a new one almost every day!

Sand, Dirt and Bubbles

Well, now that the nice weather has arrived, so has arrived nightly baths. It is amazing to me how dirty she gets! And then I get dirty too! I think I need to buy stock in Shout. But, I'm very glad she likes to play outside and get dirty, it would be hard to be inside when it's so beautiful out.

Playing with the new sand - last years was icky. Her butt is going to be exfoliated every day from all the sand that gets trapped in her diaper!

She's an expert at climbing up the ladder on the swing set. I of course still stand right there, but she's pretty good at it, and way too brave!

Her new favorite thing is picking up pine cones. She will go around the yard with her little pail and drop them one by one in the pail! It's a good thing we have two big pine trees in our yard, so there's no shortage of them! She's very particular though, nothing else goes in the bucket. No rocks, leaves or sticks.

Dirty baby toes!

She loved the wheelbarrow rides. I still remember getting rides from my dad in our wheelbarrow! That was the best!

Time to get clean!

I figured she could use an extra soak, so I gave her bubbles. She thought they tasted good - she wouldn't stop eating them!

Really, Mom, do you think this is funny?

Becky & Ayden's Visit

This past weekend we had visitors! My good friend Becky from college, and her son Ayden came for a visit. She's a teacher, and had spring break, so they made the trip up. It was so good to see them and Jocelyn and Ayden played so nicely together! He was very patient with her and her not wanting to share some toys. Overall, they got along great and it was so good to spend time with Becky and catch up. It was a gorgeous weekend, so we got to spend a lot of time outside!

Easter Weekend

Jocelyn and I traveled over to my parent's house for Easter this year. Calvin always has to work (they have a big Easter buffet) so we're on our own! Mom co-hosted a baby shower at their house on Saturday, so it was a busy weekend!

Snoozing on the way over with her zebra

Jocelyn and Grandma at the shower - she's wearing a new skirt and looked so big!

Jocelyn and her friend Brooklyn. They played pretty well - Jocey was pretty sensitive to all the new people and cried a lot.

She's a little unsure what her Grandpa is doing playing with that other girl....

Skirts are fun!

One of her favorite books - Brown Bear, Brown Bear

Easter Sunday we went to church and then headed over to Aunt Mae's for brunch. They had decorated the ground outside with some plastic eggs that Jocelyn had to borrow. She loved doing an egg hunt, and did a lot better than I thought she would!

Jocelyn and Great Great Aunt Mae (she's 92!) waiting to be seated for the brunch

Since it was about 100 degrees in the old folks home, she had had enough of the picture taking -this is the best we could do!

We got home Sunday to see Calvin, and Jocelyn wanted to have another Easter egg hunt! I didn't even think about it - but hid this one in the rose bush, and she got a scrape on her hand. Poor thing! The scab is almost gone, but she's been talking about her owie ever since, and wonders why it's only on one hand but not the other!

She loves getting sprayed with the hose. It was a bit chilly - probably in the upper 50's, and of course the water was freezing! But she had the best time.