a very good friday

I drank my coffee in the garden this morning.  With all the rain we had in March, this is the best April garden I've ever had.  Everything is green and growing, and the only problem I can report is caterpillars.  Unfortunately, the caterpillars have gotten out of control and are beginning to wreak havoc on my lettuce and basil.  The lettuce I'm prepared to live without, the basil is a deal breaker. 

The only thing I despise more than bugs eating my plants is broadcasting poison all over my garden.  So, the kids and I came up with an alternative solution for the caterpillars. 

We've been rounding up the little buggers every day and placing them in the habitat the kids made for them.  This way we're not raining death on my garden and the kids get to observe the caterpillar to moth transformation.  Some of our bugs have already produced cocoons and we can see them changing. 

Our roses are getting ready to explode.  For every rose that's open, we can see five more buds. 

And they smell good, too. 

My pumpkins are absolutely gorgeous.  They're blooming and yes, I've even seen my first tiny pumpkin. 

Lovely.

Grace had an all day, girls day out, birthday party today.  As a gift for her friend, she sculpted a peacock from clay and adorned it with feathers.  She told me she just knew her friend would love it.  I'm so happy she's such a confident artist. 

Earlier this week we hatched two ducks, four guineas, and one goose. 

Two of the guineas are rare, silver guineas.  You can see one of their light, pretty faces on the left.  They love huddling around the big, soft goose.  The ducks are the kings of the cage right now.  They like to keep watch over all of the action. 

Today, we added eight chickens to our flock.  It was fun to have chicks popping out of their eggs all day long. 

This evening, after dinner, we took the kids to see Beauty and the Beast in 3D.  It was the first time any of us had ever seen it.  We all loved the movie.  It was a fantastic way to end a fabulous day.