Happy May!

Spring has sprung and it is beautiful! We've had several wonderful weeks of fabulous weather and here is some of what has been happening:
- our shade garden has resurrected and currently the astibile, hostas, bleeding hearts, and lily-of-the-valley are up and blooming. Yesterday I saw one fern frond making it's way to the daylight.
- part of the garden was planted on Monday. Corn, Green beans, lima beans and lettuce joined the already planted broccoli and cauliflower. Just in time too...we had wonderful rains Tuesday - Friday.
- enjoyed hearing about Michael (former student) and Brenda Guilliams plans to begin ministry in Uganda during supper last week.
- the boys have discovered the joys of painting with liquid paint (not just the dried ones where you dip your brush in water....for little guys it soon turns into painting everything a muddy black!)
- Allan's K5 curriculum arrived this week and he's ready to go. I'm going to wait until the 11th of this month to start since there is some preliminary work that I'd like to get done before we start.
- am in the process of putting away long sleeved shirts and jackets and getting out the short-sleeved summer items.
- Stephen is rolling everywhere and rocking back and forth on all fours. Still not sitting yet though! I have a feeling he'll crawl before he sits which will be different.
- Monday they started to replace the floor of our porch and found that it needed to be totally torn down and replaced. See the picture. They're going to put aluminum railings up this time which are taller than the previous wooden ones making it more child-friendly (though not yet Daniel Proof).
- spent a beautiful evening at my in-laws yesterday enjoying the lush green scenery and mom's beautiful irises.
- One of Daniel's funny expressions: No way, Nozay! (No way Jose!)
- Allan: His daddy mentioned last night about meeting someone "in person" he said he'd rather meet them "in a house."
- worked on the character trait of wisdom (thinking God's way) last week and truthfulness (telling what I know without adding or subtracting from the facts)this week.
- filed samples of Allan's K4 work and realized how far he's progressed in this past year.
- Planted the large planters on the front porch today. (Spike plant, begonia, impantiens, dusty miller, sweet potato vine) What I wouldn't do to have access to the Mennonite Greenhouses in Curryville, PA. Wal-Mart has no imagination when it comes to plant varieties.
- planted a holly bush by the front steps

It's just been a very relaxing week. I've not had any responsibilities outside of our house and it's given me some time to get caught up and even forge ahead in some of the housekeeping areas. There are three days left before final exams then four days of finals before campmeeting starts.

Spring is here! And we're enjoying every moment!