How can my boys have this much energy??

As usual we were out of the house most of the day.
First I was awoken by a very scared papa wren who was screaming at the top of his little lungs under our bedroom window. It was early but I figured something must have been going on for him to scream this loud. The cat was on his deck perch right next to the wren's nest and sniffing around. I ran outside in PJs, grabbed the cat and locked him in, got a piece of leftover chicken wire from the garage and zip-tied it to the deck railings so the cat wouldn't have access to the nest. Phew!
After breakfast, we mucked around the backyard and I was able to check on the cardinal's nest. She had a 4th egg!!!

and also, dandelions look really funny in the rain ... like little shaggy dogs.

We went to Brookside Nature Center for the Spring on the Homestead activity. It was drizzling still but that's never stopped us. We unexpectedly met up with our friends Abby and her boys Gus and Frederick who were taking the class as well. Turns out we were the only ones out of 15 who showed up!! It was awesome. We planted herbs in the raised beds next to the old pioneer cabin, the boys white washed a wall on the inside and the highlight of their day: they chinked the outside!! Dirt, water and straw, make a paste and go to town on the outside cracks to protect and insulate. They were spectacularly filthy, just the way I like them to be. It's only a proof of absolute fun when you get down and dirty isn't it? We met Nancy and Rick, fellow volunteers from Brookside Gardens. They specialize in living history and were dressed for the occasion. I had a blast talking with them today, how lucky were we to have them all to ourselves too :) I know Owen and Ty had fun as well since they haven't been able to stop talking about the "mud on the cabin" and they even got to carry logs for Rick to tend to the fire (in the fire pit) in front of the old log home.
We got to take home parsley and basil to plant at home as well. We got back to the car, changed a few of our muddy layers and took off again.

We headed over to Acorn Hill Waldorf Kindergarten and Nursery. They were having their spring fair today until 2pm and it was already 1pm when we left Brookside. I called my friend Deb, whose daughters Bayla and Molly attend the school, to let her know I was on my way. The food line was about to close down and we were starving. Wouldn't you know that my awesome friend bought us lunch!?!? The boys ran some more after a few bites of sandwich, played with a bunch of friends they met up there, played a few games, I downed all my fabulous food and even bought some in bulk for dinner. One less thing for me to worry about right?

We also got our new garden warriors while we were there ...

There they are, finally happy to be out of their glass jars

This guy was so lively after he got his fill of rain water from the spinach plants. He was biting me when I was trying to move him onto the pea plants!!!

There he/she is chowing down on a plump aphid

 The last couple of hours left were spent weeding the veggies a bit, observing the warriors (way better name for these aggressive little predators than ladybugs) cleaning up the pea plants and boys riding their electric motorcycles around the yard. I think I'll go to bed now.