Blue Yonder Ranch!

It’s been awful quiet here at the ranch this week, I know. It’s just that… well… it’s so dang gorgeous outside. We’ve been soaking up every last drop! Who has time for computer screens when there’s all this sunshine to be had?

We’ve spent a crazy amount of our waking hours outdoors lately, catching frogs and bugs, crawdads and tadpoles. Okay, one tadpole, but he’s the biggest one I’ve ever seen. We’re calling him Goliath.

I feel like a kid waiting in line for my turn on the ferris wheel. It’s just almost, but not quite, but kind of… SPRING. Any second it will be here in earnest and I’m about to explode with excitement over it.

So rather than trying to string together any coherent sentences, I’ll just give you my giddy little list of things we’re loving right now:

1. A boy who has learned to swing himself. He probably could have done it so much earlier, but why, when you have doting brothers to push you?
2. Grilling dinner.
3. The never ceasing sound of a cardinal vigorously claiming our yard as his very own.
4. The return of frog songs at dusk.
5. The butterflies, or at least some of them, are back! The Journey North folks say that the monarchs will be here any day too!
6. Flip flops and shorts have made a come back too. Not only is it wonderful to see all those bare legs and toes, it is SO nice not to find a million discarded (always singular, never matching) socks flung about my house.
7. Awesome new trail snacks, found via Knitting Iris. She’s right, they’re stupid good. We use pecans and add just a little bit of honey (more for binding than sweetness). We like them kind of cold, so we make them and stick them in the fridge.
8. Finishing our latest read aloud, Little House on Rocky Ridge, atop a quilt spread over the grass. (I’ll be sharing a monstrous list of our favorite springtime reads tomorrow.)
9. New fiddle songs played barefoot in the yard.
10. My daffodils are blooming!