Spring Fling

Springtime is in the air, and I couldn't be more excited about it. Did I ever mention on this blog before that I really enjoy holidays? Well, I do. And, Easter is right around the corner. However, I must admit that as much as I love Easter, I've never wished for it to come as quickly and as hard as I have wished for it this year. The reason being: Dave and I gave up meat for lent this year. That's right. I haven't had a burger, a turkey sandwich, a bite of chicken or pizza with meat on it for 2 and a half weeks. I'm not gonna lie- it's been hard! I have literally had dreams about eating fried chicken, ya'll! I haven't had fried chicken (except for in my dreams) in over a year. But nowadays, I can't stop thinking about it. It sounds more appetizing than a cookie. It sound more appetizing than a bowl of cookies with ice cream on it dredged in chocolate syrup. It sounds better than anything. So, needless to say....I can't wait until Easter. On Easter, our family of four will be eating marinating pork tenderloin. I was planning on having mashed potatoes, asparagus and lemon cake to go with the tenderloin, as we have had in years past. But, this year, I may be swapping those sides for fried chicken. Pork tenderloin, and fried chicken....how's that for an Easter meal? ---Delicious!!
Anywho....let me share what our family has been doing (besides dreaming about meat).

Enjoying the WARM March air by drawing with chalk on the driveway

Happy Easter!! See Julia's writing above mine? She's doing so well!

Here is one of our beautiful flowers we have growing in the front yard



Our little orange trees are blooming.

  We have two orange trees and a lemon tree. Plus asparagus, edamame, a zucchini plant, a tomato plan, cucumber plants, a strawberry plant and a watermelon plant growing in our backyard. The four of us have loved gardening more than I ever thought we would. (Lydia is still a little disinterested at this point, but sometimes she helps water.) It is very exciting to plant something and watch it grow though.

One of our edamame's that recently poked through the earth to drink in the rays of the sun.

Did you know that asparagus are perennials? You're supposed to dig a hole 12 inches deep, put the roots in the hole, cover the roots with only 3 inches of dirt, and then wait for the buds to sprout through the three inches. Once you see the buds, you cover them up again, and wait for them to grow the rest of the way. Isn't that amazing? I noticed a few days ago, that we have one little bud to cover already! Woohoo! If I do decide to have asparagus for Easter, hopefully it'll be from our own garden!

Some of our little asparagus holes.

Some of our herbs. This is cilantro, rosemary and some dill. I have some basil growing in the garden as well.

 Yesterday was fun. We got to go to a little Easter celebration that our community had, and go to a friends birthday party. Julia got to hold a piglet. Lydia held it too, but she got scared and dropped it. She didn't hold it long enough to let us get a picture snapped. Poor little piglet.

Lydia mostly enjoyed looking at the animals in the petting zoo. She petted just a few of them. She's not an animal lover like Julia.

 While we were in the petting zoo, Lydia was looking around and petted the baby deer for a few seconds. (You can see the deer behind her in the picture above.) Obviously while petting it, she was looking down, and sort of moving around to pet different parts of the deer's back. When she looked up, she looked right into the face of a sitting llama. You can imagine her surprise!! At least she didn't scream or freak out. She just jumped back in wide-eyed amazement and quickly moved on. Julia wasn't always an animal lover. Maybe Lydia will grow a little more used to animals sometime too.

An early Easter Bunny hug!

Well, that is what we've been up to lately. I'm pretty excited and proud of my garden. I am happy to say that I hope to take after my Grandma Daiber and continue to have a garden for years to come. It is very rewarding. I'm also very excited to eat meat again, and for Easter to be here. Isn't spring just a wonderful time of year? I feel like the world around me anticipates the celebration of Christ's resurrection just as much as or more than I do. That makes me very, very happy! I hope that all of you are very, very happy this Spring too! With love, Amber

P.S. Don't you just love how my blog looks like an Easter egg barfed all over the screen, and left my page running with colors? Me too!