February showers bring march flowers...?

I'm sure if you live anywhere in the Midwest you're getting sick of hearing people talk about just how insanely beautiful the weather has been.  I mean c'mon, it's bee in the upper 70s to low 80s and its not even spring break!  All of this warmth and sunshine has me in the mood to garden, but I'm a little wary of doing any real planting at this point, especially given that it's suggested that planting should begin in early May for our area.

Well, I *did* go ahead and plant one measly little packet of rhubarb swiss chard seeds...  figuring that it's a cold weather crop, so it *should* be fine.  Hopefully it survives if we happen to get another frost (which I'm praying we don't!).  I also got a bunch of seeds started, some to be transplanted into the garden and some in pots, all of which can be brought inside if we have to.

There's a whole bunch of stuff here...

radishes, mustard, two kinds of swiss chard,

arugula and tom thumb lettuce!

Again, there's lots here...  buttercrunch lettuce, 

cucumbers (the "regular" kind and some for pickles), 

three of four different kinds of tomatoes and eggplant!

Yesterday, I got the kids outside for most of the day (again) and this time I remembered to bring the camera!  I didn't manage to get any good pictures of my baby plants (swiss chard, arugula and buttercrunch lettuce are all coming up!), but I *did* get these...

All three of these pictures are plants that have surprised us...

this is our first spring in this house, 

so it's fun to see what kind of flowers are coming up!

Yay, springtime!  We tore a bunch of bulbs out of our garden and moved them to another area, not expecting them to flower (or even survive, for that matter) but the crocuses have blossomed and the daffodils a budding (again, no good pictures of those yet)!  I also managed to get the kids to help out with cleaning up the leaves and sticks around the fire "pit" (it's not really a pit, it's more of a fire thingy....  I'm not sure what to call it).  The idea of yard work has been a lot more fun for the kids since we got our compost bin a few days ago, for some reason they think it's lots of fun to watch things decompose.  Oh, who am I kidding?  It *is* fun!

Moo hard at work.

Our pretty pile of sticks and logs that we 

cleaned up from around the fire "pit."

Obviously, the kids have gotten a lot of play time in as well...

O and Rye chasing around soccer balls.

The girls had a friend stay overnight,

so this was a good chance to get some

quality cops and robbers in.

O in Daddy's truck.

Getting all of that energy out!

Now, I know I'm going a little overboard on the pictures, but it was too gorgeous not to take tons of them!  ....so what's my favorite part of being outside?  

Robins were my favorite bird when I was a kid...

I *love* that rusty orange color on their chests.

So regal.

I think I might have to embroider one soon.

I *think* this is a downy woodpecker, 

please correct me if I'm wrong...

This guy (or girl, I'm not sure)

was hanging out for quite awhile

and, of course, as soon as I put the camera down

it was joined by two more!  

I didn't manage to catch all three of them together...

But I *did* get this video of the first one!

(sorry it's shaky...  and please ignore the screaming children in the background)

Of course, after all of that nice weather, today is dreary and rainy...  which I don't mind.  I'm enjoying my coffee that much more.