Weekend: Garden Work, Grands, and Chickens

Saturday afternoon, Tim, Sarah and Kyle helped me weed, then we mulched the cottage garden.  We haven't mulched for five years because of the chickens.  They like to scratch it all out of the beds, but I seriously need help controlling the weeds.

It looks gorgeous.

Several of my rose bushes developed black spot - losing a lot of leaves, so I trimmed them way back. When/if they bloom again this season I will treat them with a fungicide, and try to kill the black spot.  I'm still learning so much about gardening.


Here is how the garden looked Sunday evening.

 The chickens have scratched a lot of mulch onto the sidewalk.  I should be able to just sweep it back into the flower beds, but this will be an ongoing issue for the summer.  There's Watson our big black cat.

Kamryn was over after church, but then left because she was going to stay the week at my parents house.  Its their church's VBS week and Kamryn always goes.  Nate and Kay took her to the opening event, and on their way home they dropped Klaire off to hang out with her favorites - Papa and Ahwah.  She calls Kyle Ah-Wah.  

She got to collect eggs, her favorite thing to do, and play.  She's enjoying having me read her books, and so I read a few Madeline books to her.  She says, "Moah, Moah!" (more, more!), when I finish a book.  So cute.

She sat here in the tree for a long time.

Then she saw a bird she wanted to 'get'.  "Get Bird."

Sarah went down to SC to the youth conference she loves.  Family friends took her along with them, and she'll be gone all week.  Thankfully, so we are not too lonely without her, our friends Rick and Jane arrive later today with their trailer.  This is the beginning of their summer camping season.  They spend all of July in New Hampshire at a lake with their daughter and grands.  They visit other family, and friends like family along the way, and they usually head home at the end of August.  We love that we are on the list of friends like family.

With Rachel up at WOL camps for most of the summer, and Sarah at her youth conference this week, we are getting a taste of what it will be like with just one kid living at home.  I'm thankful that God eases us into our empty nest.

Tim and I both read and had naps Sunday afternoon, but we had friends here, too.  After Kamryn left, our friend Denny came bearing snacks.  Wes dropped in for a visit, and when Nate and Kay dropped Klaire off he got to see Kaidence.  We love friends who are family.

I hope you had a good weekend.  I do have a prayer request.  Sweet friends from our homeschool co-op have three young daughters who are medically fragile.  One of them spiked a high fever on Friday, and because she has a central line, they headed straight to the hospital.  Little Ada has a BAD infection and is septic. Will you pray with us?