Life in Cincinnati: School and Yard Work

Our backyard...I know. I KNOW. We are so lucky. I feel it every single day and I am definitely aware how blessed we are. It has taken me about a month to stop thinking every second "do I really live here?" It's surreal.
We had a nice week of spring break the first week we were here and then the next Monday, Eli started at his new school. He is enjoying his new class, although I think he misses some of the things about his old school. They seem to be quite rigorous for kindergarten here and I think he's getting a little worn out. It's less than three hours a day but they don't have recess, art, music, PE, or anything like that. It's all just work in the classroom and I think he's getting tired. He told me last week one day that he "just kind of got exhausted" at one of his workstations. :( Poor kid. I hate that kindergarten is like that now. But luckily there are only 3.5 weeks left of school and then we'll have a nice fun summer break! We'll have to see how first grade goes... Eli is also riding the bus home from school. Since it's half-day morning kindergarten, only the kindergarteners are on the bus on the way home, so it's pretty nice. He is the first stop off, so he has fun riding with Wilson and it's nice for me not to have to go pick him up! He has his first ever field trip this week, and he is very excited!

We've also been spending a lot of time playing outside! I've decided spring is totally the best time to move! We usually move in the summer and spring is way better. We've had a wonderful mix of rain and sun (I get lots done on the rainy days) and everything is getting so green! When we got here, the grass was very green, but there weren't any leaves or blossoms on any of the trees. Now it is completely transforming into beautiful leafy treetops everywhere and we are loving it! It's so nice having our own space to enjoy and it's something we definitely don't take for granted anymore.

Jeremy is also enjoying doing some physical labor again with all the lawn mowing. Our lawn mower was broken for a little while, so he wasn't able to mow until we'd been here almost three weeks, so it was very long. It took him over three hours the first time (!!) but when he did it again last week it was much shorter. I love how amazing the grass is even though nobody has sprinklers. Thank you rain! We're looking forward to planting a garden and are trying to narrow down what we want to do. We got a plot at a Community Garden right by Eli's school, which is just a few minutes away, and we're also going to plant some things at our house, so hopefully between the two, we'll harvest something!

In no particular order, here are a few pictures from the last few weeks...

Lovely tick I found IN MY HOUSE. It's the only one I've seen since we've been here, so I'm hoping we actually picked it up at Jeremy's cousins' house, where we were the day before I saw him. We were traipsing around their woods and playing with their dog, so it's highly likely that's where this guy came from. I've been much more vigilant since, though!

Go Cougars!

Anna has been really struggling in the nap/bedtime department since we got here, so it's a wonderful thing when she actually takes a good nap.

I Spy books for the win!

Above - Anna showing off her adorable necklace made by the 8-yr-old girl next door. So sweet!
Below - homemade pizza night is so much easier when you have two ovens and a big island! Don't mind Eli's scowl. Haha.

Everyone likes making their own pizza!

Another beautiful sunrise.

When we made the offer on our house, everything was completely covered in about a foot of snow, so we just hoped what was underneath looked good! Then when we moved in just four weeks ago, the snow was all melted but there was not a green leaf to be found, and now it has completely come alive! It is so fun to see the transformation. Everyday for the first week or so I would check the trees and see if any buds were forming. Spring is such an amazing rebirth. We are in heaven.