I am easing back into being productive in the house, and out first item on the list is spring cleaning, purging, and organizing. We usually do this in March, but since I was in South Africa during that time, we are doing it now. Better late then never.
Spring is in full bloom here in Germany, and it is absolutely breath taking, flowers, green, and colors everywhere. I love the visible change in seasons here. Did I mention how much a love the spring smell of new blossoms? I love how everything is growing new after a cold winter. It is refreshing to my soul.
We are taking one room at a time and sorting through everything (we got word that we will be moving at the end of Summer, beginning of fall) so I want to do a lot of things now to avoid last minute international moving stress. This is also an opportunity for me to take pictures of our little nest and document it before we leave. I do love my house, it might not be super fancy, but it homey and a place we call home.
We started on the balcony and decided to plant all our flowers. I needed flowers and color when opening the kitchen door onto the balcony. I wanted to introduce the kids to some plants, so that they would help me with the vegetable garden later. They loved it all, from potting soil in the pots, to loosing the roots, planting the flowers, and covering the surface with wood chips. I love watching them learn and grow, and encouraged Ian to play ten questions while we work. He had so many questions, and interests in the little things. I can't believe he is so big all ready.
While we were in the planting mood, I decided it is the perfect time, to get our seedlings going. I wish we could have made a huge garden like last year, but it is not worth it this year since we don't know exactly when we will be moving. We decided to stick with the basics, things that we eat all the time and a lot of like, lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber, red bell peppers, jalapenos, green beans, and basil leaves. Ian is my picky eater, even though he has improved so much, so getting him involved was every important to me. At first he was a little disgusted with the idea of veggies, but he soon got over it. Our veggie that are suppose to grow is all he talks about!! They put the seeds in the soil, and covered it all up. I am hoping this experience as well as cooking together will help him bridge into being less picky. Pictures of our veggie patch will come soon. Oh, I am also so excited I was able to harvest my first bush of lavender to dry!! So exciting.
Thursday was a German holiday, so it meant a down day at the fire station. With that they invited the kids and I to come out and cook out with them. It was a perfect excuse to get out of the house, see Nate while he was at work, and eat a whole meal with not having to lift a finger. We had a blast. Ian loves all things at the fire station, and I love how he calls everyone fire fighter, it is the sweetest thing.
The first part of our little house that I want to share and document is the balcony. I love the balcony especially on sunny days, sometimes I would go sit out there and read my book while the kids nap, or play cars and trains. I love the sun on my face, well that is when we do have sun. We added some flowers to all the pots to make it colorful and happy. Last year Nate made me a bird feeder, so that I have a place to put out bread and fruits for the birds, in addition to a little bird bath, and bird house with seeds. This year I added a butterfly feeder, and I am happy to announce that I saw a butterfly feed on it when I went out to take pictures of everything. Sometimes in the evening, Nate and I will make a small fire in the fire put and sip on some wine while chat and dream about our future. It doesn't get any fancier then that. We already had everything that you see on the pictures minus the flowers, we bought those new this year. I am trying to be thrifty.
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| Spot the butterfly, that flew over here when I went outside to take pictures, it was feeding on our feeder. |
I miss South Africa, and I miss my parents. But it does feel good to be home, to be productive and creative again. I am excited to finish all of our projects and to plan our last couple of trips before we leave here. I am also challenging myself to be more thrifty, and some weird loving everything antique bit me [it is probably from everything in my mom's kitchen] we will see how it all turns out.
Stay tuned for our last European adventures, as well as a tour of the rest of our nest.
Happy Friday!
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