these two brothers used to like to play with GI Joes...and play with toy guns.

there was just no stopping it.

as a first time mom- i really didn't want my little guy (eric) having guns.

i preferred the fisher price shopping cart full of pretend groceries.

but, 

there was just no stopping it.

i have funny memories of making eric a piece of toast and turning

around to see him biting off pieces till it was the shape of a gun.

or checking on him playing out side and he would

inevitably find a stick shaped like a gun and would be shooting

imaginary prey.

well, they both grew up and they took gun safety classes and headed to the 

woods and there's just been no stopping them since.

(little sister joined them about 5 years ago too. i'm the only

smart one, in the cabin were it's warm...snuggled up reading).

see them sneeeeeaking around the corner of the garage?

below were the two turkeys they'd seen. 

not a tom turkey to be had though, so nobody got to shoot.

& it was back to maple sap collecting.

it's weird, but maple syrup starts clear. at first we thought we just had water in our pails~

but then you boil, and boil, and after about two straight days, 

you are ready to jar it up! 

we got 4 whole pints this first year- just enough to wet our

appetites and know we'll try again next year.

i was in a playful mood and dressed duke up~ just to see if he'd let me.

he's such a good dog. after a day of running around he's so tired at the cabin

you could probably put an elvis costume on him and he'd sing 

"love me tender".

cole started stripping bark off pine logs last fall and every chance he gets he

works on them. a lofted pine bed is in his future.

big brother decided he'd make one too~ he already has an awesome log dresser

for his "someday" house.

 

i spent a long time trimming these prickly barberry bushes in the photo above one day. 

then i dug out all the flower seeds i saved from last years garden and

started sorting them out, seeing how many there were and plotting

what all i need to buy for this years gardening. i want to grown more

viney  things, like pumpkins, gourds & squash.

my brother todd surprised me with this 

cool antique thermos last time they visited.

it's glass inside. i'd never seen one like it.  :  )

on Easter sunday we drove to town and visited this little church.

it was filled to the rafters that day, but the bulletin said 

that the prior sunday, attendance was 29.

*gotta love a small town. 

i really fussed and made the boys these paper sack bunnies filled with candy.

well, one of them had candy in it, the other one power bars.

haha...they have very different eating habits.

the sun set was beautiful on Easter evening.

********

and today driving down main street the temporary greenhouse that my

jeep just knows to stop at, said 

OPEN

there are pansies and basil on my porch,
and my first Cottage Journal magazine arrived in the mailbox today,

happy MAY day to you all!!