Update

Spring has sprung here in Cincinnati and with it my favorite pasttime -- grueling yard work. We're putting in a shade garden to keep Cheddar from jumping on the fence and because the neighbors trees are killing my yard, but I am too soft-hearted to kill anything older than me. Unfortunately, the soil in the yard can be loosely described as "clay totally lacking any nutrients" and I have had to work in sand (from the sandbox, after some cat used it) and a ton of fertilizer. It's looking better but still needs a cubic yard of topsoil and some actual plants. In the front yard, meanwhile, the azalea needed to be saved from ivy the width of my thumb. Everyone knows the best time to pull ivy (because it can only be eradicated by pulling it up from the roots) is after a drenching rain and Mother Nature has obliged happily. Too happily, in fact. I also got the plants that were growing into the AC unit and electric meter -- I don't think they were particularly helping those items function.

Carolyn and I have joined the Queen City Rainbow Band. I'm playing quads again and she's playing clarinet. We were going to make Kate play but we need someone to take care of the babies and we're too cheap to pay a babysitter. Also, she's studying for the boards and has no time -- NO TIME. I'm constantly amazed that she finds time to shower, much less play in a band. I recruited Auntie Rose to play bass drum and it turns out she's really good at it. Unfortunately, we now have to find a babysitter for Dayton Pride (June 3) as it's two days before the boards. We're taking volunteers.

The boys are gorgeous and into all sorts of trouble. Nicholas is a climber -- he's figured out ladders and I project we'll find him in his brother's crib before too long. Tyler loves TV and food -- a lethal combination. Fortunately, both are quite willing to do their chores (carrying to tub to fill the birdfeeder, picking up their toys before going to bed at night, emptying the dishwasher, and putting their dirty clothes in the hamper) to earn their TV time. Nicholas is completely enthralled with helicopters and Tyler loves trains so we're watching Thomas and Friends and Jay Jay the Jet Plane.

The do something new and exciting every day. Today Nicholas played with the beads for a good ten minutes. Tyler loved popping in and out of their "fort" (a car seat box). I am truly the luckiest mom on the face of the earth.