SOCCER time again!

After our cold and snowy winter, after our week or two of rain, the skies cleared just in time.



It's our first soccer practice of the season.



We have several new team members, and our homeschool rec league has a record 300+ soccer players this season.



It's going to be another great spring!

Brush burning

Springtime is finally here, and along with spring comes brush burning. Most of this was from last year, but it was too hot to burn. I guess we normally would have done it over the winter, but fires don't burn well in SNOW.

There are few hard and fast burning rules. Based on the time of year, you can burn during certain hours. Before burning, you are required to notify the sheriff's department--that's easy, it's just a phone call. I like the flexibility; however, it also leaves a lot of room for idiots. (I'm happy to say that he moved and is now renting his house to a very nice family.)

There's a large clearing down there, where our house was initially going to be built. I'm glad it wasn't. Our driveway would be twice as long, and this winter would have been twice as bad.



Even this early in the year, fires are banned before 4 p.m.



Our fire burned long into the night. I stayed up until after it went out; I'm paranoid that way. Oops, on the next day, I read that fires are supposed to be extinguished by midnight. Now we'll know for next time!

Pardon me, your slip is showing

It may be wise to order only items that you can pronounce.

Back to the Glazed Bisque-It

Ever since our afternoon at The Glazed Bisque-It a few weeks ago, Trevor and I had been looking forward to returning to pick up his ceramic piece. We had already planned to meet our friends for lunch again, this time at the popular Food Court in the City Market Building.

Trevor and Kurt had steak sandwiches; Judy and I chose Greek food. It was fabulous; I must have it again, and very soon! The boys topped off their lunches with ice cream.



We walked down a block to the pottery shop. The fired dragon pieces were gorgeous.



It was another lovely afternoon shared with good friends.

Note to self: Must find more excuses to have fun days like this.

My wonderful husband . . .

had this waiting for me last night when I came home from work.



Deeeeee-li-cious.

It was something out of a bag that he cooked on the stove. I don't know what it was, but I'd eat it again anytime. It was almost like having a birthday, except I didn't have to get any older.

Trevor's upside-down art

Take one Arabian King.


Turn him upside-down.

You have one Henry XIII.


(Don't ask me about the mirror writing; something to do with latent genius, I'm sure.)

Back to Sunday

It's long past, but we had a lovely weekend. The weather was beginning to warm, and after church, we drove out to Lynchburg to shop at Kohl's. I had a 30% off coupon--it was hard to pass up.

Robert decided we'd wait to eat lunch until we hit Lynchburg. We thought we'd seen a few good restaurants where we were shopping. We were wrong and couldn't find anything, so we headed a few blocks away to Cracker Barrel. As we pulled into cracker barrel, we saw *=*=*TA-DA*=*=* TEXAS ROADHOUSE--a longtime favorite from Colorado Springs.

I must have known the restaurant was there, but I'd completely forgotten. We've been to one since we've moved here, and that was in Christiansburg two years ago.

To make it even better, Texas Roadhouse currently is running a $6.99 lunch menu. It cost us less to eat here than it did when we ate at our other favorite, Chili's, back in November. We finished up our time in Lynchburg with a little shopping at Kohls, followed by a very nice two- hour drive home.

It's a beautiful morning!

We've had several days of highs in the 50s to 70, and now we're looking at a few days of light rain.



For the past two nights, we've left our bedroom window open, and the heater has not kicked on. This week was the first time I've heard the sounds of snow melting. It's almost entirely gone, with just little bits at the road sides where it was piled two and a half months ago.



I woke this morning to birds chirping and turkeys calling in the woods. I LOVE mornings like this; we've had none that I can recall the entire winter. The earthy smells . . . the sounds . . . the feeling of the mist on my skin . . .



The curtain of this depressing winter has lifted. I love it here again.

Donuts

Crunchberry, s'more, chocolate eclair, lemon filled, caramel, and nutty buddy.

Delicious.

Clutter

I hate clutter.



I hate things on the floor.


Papers end up everywhere.


But I'll take it over an empty house, any day.


Totally off topic, but the neighbors' dog spent the day here again.

Wednesday

Trevor and I went downtown in the afternoon to meet up with friends. We stopped met for lunch at the Roanoke Wiener Stand, the oldest restaurant in the city.


We sat at the counter in front of the window, eating our chili dogs and catching up.


We walked across the street to The Glazed Bisque-It. My friend and our boys chose pieces to paint. I was thrilled to have a few hours with NOTHING to do. We had the place to ourselves for several hours.


The place is fantastic. The staff is so accommodating, so helpful. Our group spent three hours painting, and we had a wonderful time. We've already decided to wait an extra week to pick up the finished pieces, which will give us another great excuse to go out to lunch and hang out together.


Both boys said it was one of the best days ever. As a mom, it doesn't get much better than hearing that!

Weekly menu

ham, mashed potatoes, corn, asparagus
tacos
breakfast burritos?
quiche, salad, bread
Emily's Tortilla Soup
Husband Delight
dirty rice, fruit, Caesar salad

to have on hand: Giant Breakfast Cookies

Cake of the week: Linda's Classic Coconut Cake (she just made this for Landon's bday and posted on FB)

On the back burner:Easy Peanut Butter Fudge, thanks again to Heather
Bobby Flay's fish tacos, and sweet and spicy kettle corn
Pumpkin Bars
more chicken thighs
boneless chicken

Spring snow

I was a little nervous about this one and left work early on Monday after it had been snowing for several hours. The flakes were heavy, wet, and huge and clung to everything.

It was the most beautiful snow we've seen in several years. (I took these photos Tuesday morning.)



We still have snow on the ground from earlier storms. It's melting, and there are bare spots.



The snow from this storm had melted away by noon yesterday. That's a definite sign that spring is almost here!