New things (and the basement)

We had these "African dwarf frogs" that I had bought for Benjamin from the School Box store and they came in a tiny container that was supposedly their perfect ecosystem.  The only thing was it was, tiny.  TINY.  I always felt sort of guilty but then told myself, the people at the store said this was best for them.  Silly old me, right?  I had two frogs in probably a pint of water.  My mom mentioned something about them when she came over and I began to wonder, could I just buy a bigger container for them?  They literally had given me the impression they wouldn't thrive in something larger.  But I googled it (don't you love google!) and low and behold I found out they need 1 GALLON of water per frog!  So I quickly went out and bought this 2 gallon tank from Petsmart for fifteen dollars and I bought a "moss ball" which is the coolest thing and it helps keep the tank clean and oxgynated for the little guys.  Now they don't swim around a whole lot but tend to be stationary little creatures, but they do swim around some and it is so fun to watch.  I think their natural habitat is shallow little pools and puddles, so this little container is just right.  They are so easy to care for and I truly think they are the perfect little pet.  And do you see we added a snail to the tank as well!  They even said we could buy like a small guppy as well, but I haven't done that yet.  We used to have a larger 10 gallon fish tank with all sorts of fish and filter and all that, and it was just too much work.  This is perfect for us!

I planted a butterfly garden!  The first two beds I couldn't grow veggies in b/c we used pressure treated lumber and I forgot to line it with plastic to keep the chemicals from leaching into the soil.  But I wasn't too disappointed to plant butterfly bushes and lots of other fun flowers to attract one of our favorite insects!  The last bed is our vegetable garden and I'm keeping it simple this year since we are leaving for 2 1/2 weeks at the end of May.

(this parsley was planted for the sole purpose of attracted swallowtail caterpillars!)

Isaac becoming quite the Irish whistle player....I love hearing him play.

We moved our school room downstairs again to our "dining room" and Steve moved his office upstairs to one of the unused bedrooms which used to be the school room.  He had been in a finished bedroom in the basement but with us completing a large playroom for the boys down there, he high tailed it and ran to the upstairs :)

We had our deck extended to the length of our house and had this patio poured underneath it.  The original patio was smaller and had to be broken up and replaced because of drainage issues.  My friend Marietta----her husband did the concrete work and he did an amazing job.  Thank you Matt!  :)

Ahhh, lots of changes, and hopefully we will settle down.  (Although I recently heard that house prices are on the rise and maybe in a couple years we will have equity again and can sell and buy a farmhouse!  woo-hoo!)