Spring cleaning

Now that the snow and cold weather seem to be (hopefully) a thing of the past, we're ready to welcome some spring weather. And there's work to be done around the homestead.

First order of business: Remove the debris caused by weakened tree limbs and severe wind storms. Levi was undaunted by limbs more than three times his size. For a one-year-old human, he makes a pretty good beast of burden.

Next up: Pick Mommy some flowers! (Which is really a much better motivator than "Hey, pull those weeds.") Caleb's always first in line when it comes to picking flowers for girls. And just like that, the weeds are gone.

And finally, no day in the yard is complete without the finding of some slimy creature. The kids were thrilled with their capture of this rare black salamander. Upon learning that it is a somewhat threatened species, they were happy to return it safely to its home. But not until after they had sufficiently poked and studied it.