Summer Weekend in April!

what we found in the bird's nest on Saturday

what we found in the nest today!

This weekend, we've had weather that's felt like we're already in July--temperatures close to 90 both days and very sunny. We were busy with lots of projects (all outside, of course). The robin's nest in our strawberry basket is still doing well, and as you can see from above, there are three blue eggs in it now. The mom (or dad, maybe) has been sitting on the eggs a lot today.

Friday night Rob and I went out to dinner. Saturday, we went to a few yard sales and found 2 things for Ella--a Leap Frog ABC refrigerator set (for now) and animal lace-up cards (for later). Rob re-routed the sump pump piping outside of the house to take the water away from the house better (he did a good job technically, and also aesthetically for me by spray painting parts of the tubing black to blend into the ground.

Rob standing in front of the new tubing running along the side of the house.
If you are having trouble seeing it--great--it blends in well!

He made time to install my new project---a rain barrel. The barrel was free as part of Philadelphia's initiative to preserve local watersheds (our area is in the Pennypack Creek watershed). The idea is that the water from our roof during rain events will be collected from our downspout and stored in the barrel for us to use for gardening, car washing, and any other uses (except eating and drinking). I can't wait to see how it works.

rain barrel off to the side of the steps

closer look at the barrel

I was also busy this weekend with gardening (and, yes, pulling dandelions each day). Here are a few pictures of what's growing right now.

dwarf dianthus

tulips in the garden

top view of tulip with water droplets

orange tulips

pink tulip

side view of pink dwarf dianthus

purple salvia

another pink tulip

Ella helped by using her shovel, working the water hose (which she figured out on Friday with Baba), filling the bird bath, and entertaining us by playing and being silly.

Ella sitting at her picnic bench...check out that cute summery outfit!

trying to use the big shovel like Daddy

Then we bought Ella her own shovel

working the hose

We ended our weekend with dinner on the grill, a la Rob---teriyaki chicken, smoked cheesy potatoes, and salad with lots of fresh veggies from my new favorite produce place, SVS--yum!