things in my yard

life these days

Many of our friends in Michigan have asked about life in New York.

Here's a glimpse into some things we've been doing this past week:

My grandma loves doing puzzles, and we've been working on a 1,000 piece puzzle.

It's a lovely German castle in a very scenic location... and it's WRETCHED.

I've abandoned hope. All the foliage pieces will be the death of me.

We've spent time cuddling with Grandpa. 

We've woken up to sunshine most mornings.

One morning my dad called to tell me there were 4 wild turkeys headed toward us... 

You can just see them in the picture above.

Some of us have been spending a little time in time-out...

where we are NOT contrite for our actions. 

We go for a lot of walks.

Bo loves, LOVES the animals.

Every time we walk in the barn, he immediately starts kissing at all of them.

Today the weather was glorious and we spent a lot of time outside.

Sitting in the tickly grass exploring the gifts of spring.

And swinging! 

It's been a fun, low-key week.

Doug's job is off to a great start, Bo's adapting more each day,

I'm loving spending time with my family... 

life in western NY is good! 

contributing factors of a glorious weekend and a corresponding abundance of exclamation points

Blossoms! And green grass! And leaves! And blue skies! And warmth! And sunshine! And so much beauty that sometimes I think my heart might explode!

Watching Tangled on Friday night with Doug!

Going for a run Saturday morning with Doug & Zooey!

Celebrating Leslie's 7th birthday!

Cappucino Crunch ice cream!

More blossoms!

Playing in the park! With swings! And golf lessons!

Bike rides! And long walks!

Grilling hot dogs!

Weeding & working on the yard!

Lying on a blanket in the sun!

Sitting on the front porch eating ice cream!

Did I mention the blossoms?!

Talking to my beautiful, amazing mother and wishing her a Happy Mother's Day!

A teensy, rosy sunburn!

The smell of fresh laundry!

ee cummings!

(all the merry little birds are

flying in the floating in the

very spirits singing in

are winging in the blossoming)

Oh, Sweet Spring! Please continue to grace us with your presence!

**Edit:

This song! (Jeanette, I think you'll love this...)

do you see what i see?

Itty, bitty, baby buds.

sharing loveliness

Ever have one of those days where you're in the car, windows down, great music playing and you just want to drive until the car runs out of gas? That's how I felt this afternoon when my thermostat read 68 degrees, the sun was shining and the Avett Brothers were sweetly strumming & serenading through my speakers.

So I thought I'd share some other lovely things to encourage some good vibrations across the Internet.

1 - Um, yeah. Of course it involves chocolate.

You know you want some S'more Cookie Bars.

2 - Seeing Colden in 4 days!!

3 - Zooey.

(Thanks to Em for the suggestion!)

4 - New drink at Starbucks: Dark Cherry Mocha. WOW. I also highly recommend as a frappucino...

5 - Walks. This is the best time of year for walks. Finally releasing the tension of cabin fever, embracing the warmer temperatures, taking advantage of the longer hours of sunlight... pure bliss.

(Also, weird posture while trying to get the shot...)

6 - Hot dogs. Bear with me. Hot dogs = baseball = spring. Usually we wait until Opening Day to indulge, but yesterday the Tigers played a spring training game and it was so sunny we couldn't wait.

7 - Buds.

8 - Green grass. GREEN GRASS.

9 - Colorful mailboxes.

10 - Baby elephants.

Come on, you know you were hoping it'd make the top 10.

(Image stolen from somewhere in Google...)

What's lovely in your life these days?

**Edit: I had to change my blog header. The other one was just too gray.

seeing pink

Happy birthday, Leslie!

Not swine flu!

today...

gorgeous sunny day: check

playing in the dirt: check

cleaning up a playground with friends from imprint: check

walk around old village looking at yard sales: check

bocce with doug: check

doug tossed the white ball and it rolled into the old log, as shown. yellow ball is mine! however, doug won the game 11-9. 

lying on a blanket outside grading: check

ben & jerry's coffee heath bar ice cream: check

pink nose, cheeks & arms: check

little italy night with the girls: check

fabulous saturday: check!

i like:

1. stealing Victoria's ideas

2. 1/2 days of school

3. sunny Fridays

4. being on the verge of spring!

5. going for "wogs" (walk/jog).

6. hearing birds.

7. speaking of birds, this adorable little set that my dad bought for me when he visited:

8. date nights

9. having gift cards from Christmas that we still haven't used so we CAN go on date nights!

10. this clip of our boys basketball team winning semi-finals in double OT. Down by 1 with 7 seconds left, buzzer sounds right as one of our seniors makes a 3-pt shot.

mom & emily's day

We went home for Mother's Day and Emily's birthday - both on Sunday. I took a lot of pictures.

Doug & I went for a walk and fed the horses.

Robert's dirtbike provided a little excitement on Saturday afternoon. Ethan's driving in this pic.

We all took turns jumping on the rope swing - here's Jayne.

Dad ups the ante...

Jayne riding "Sugar"...

The birthday girl takes a turn.

Mom arranging flowers for Emily's birthday dinner...

Robert.

Delicious birthday/Mother's Day meal, prepared by Dad - steak kabobs!

A glorious weekend at the Bannister homestead!