Marching In

Jill's birthday is March 4th ( as in march forth!) but Tuesday will be a work/school/scout meeting day and so we celebrated on March 1st. 

When we asked Jill what she wanted to do for her birthday, she said she wanted us to work in her yard.  Like the house she recently purchased, the yard had once been quite well cared for, but had gone through a period of neglect and abuse, so we have a job to do getting it back in shape.

Of course I'm not much good for anything yet, but Tom and Jake are quite handy.  Tom and Isaac worked for a while on the smallest tree that needed pruning.  Isaac bailed out and Tom continued on until Jake arrived.

 Jill lent a hand when she was not running kids around.  Irene had gymnastics in the morning and Isaac had Lacrosse in the afternoon.

I was in charge of lunch and Jill drove me to make a Subway sandwich run after having taken orders from the crew.

After lunch Jake and Tom got the power tools out to dramatically reduce a wayward tree.

 Then they began cleaning up, reducing the big mess into controlled piles.

There will be some firewood for the fireplace and we will ask the aid of a friend with a pick up truck to haul the rest to the transfer station where it will go to composting.

It was pretty much an inside day for me, but I kept track of the comings and goings and the progress.  I put a bow on the china hutch that was part of Jill's gift, and decorated with flowers.

 The planter bowl will go outside on the front porch after serving as a centerpiece, and eventually get planted out into the yard.

 The cats kept me company.

 Tom and Jake got done early enough to go home and get cleaned up and rest a bit before we all met up at BJ's for dinner, where Jan and Ann joined us.

After dinner we gathered back at Jill's house for gifts and dessert.  

This will be fun to play with when the yard gets cleaned up and the spring/summer weather arrives.

Jill loved her new Sounders hoody, a gift from her Mom and Dad.

 The Sounders Soccer season kicks off next Saturday.  Jill is set.

Jill requested cherry cheesecake for her dessert.  I guess I forgot to take a photo of my homemade creation, but I can attest to the fact that is was yummy and enjoyed by all. 

And now we have officially kicked off the month of March.  Today it is cold and non-stop rain, just nasty.  We got the housework, laundry, and grocery shopping done.  It's just about time to settle in for the Red Carpet.

Yep. I'll be watching the whole Academy Awards extravaganza, and having seen many of the nominated best pictures and acting roles, I have opinions!