there's a first time for everything

It's April Fool's Day, but I won't try to fool you because I've never been able to pull off any good April Fool's Day jokes.

Instead I'll just tell you some highlights from the week so far.

We've taken advantage of the beautiful sunny weather the past few days and have been busy doing some fun stuff, which is why I haven't blogged in a few days.

We purchased our first home last year, and I'm all about the outdoor flowers this spring. I've always loved the idea of having your very own flowers and plants in your very own yard. Now, that's a reality for us, so of course I wanted to run out and buy flowers. My mom has always had good luck with impatiens [side note: I've always thought these were called impatients, but according to the faithful Internet, that's just an incorrect spelling. Lesson learned for the day.], so I've been waiting impatiently (no pun intended) for the stores to get them in stock.

Matt and I checked out this cool nursery/florist/gardening/everything place in downtown Gastonia called Ford's Seeds. It was awesome, especially because they had impatiens! A flat of flowers was $10.99 (nice price!), so we bought salmon and hot pink colored impatiens and marigolds (had to let Matt pick out something). We also bought a few more vegetables for our garden.

Matt is my official carrier when shopping, so he kindly carried the flowers to the car.



When we got home, we planted our new vegetables. (The flowers waited until the next day.) Matt loves when I put him to work. He's very cooperative as long as he gets to sit down on the job. Here he is looking mighty busy (cough cough). Hey, at least he's still smiling at this point.




I had to fulfill my wifely duties and lay down the law with my shovel when he wanted a break. This is a break-free zone, Matt! Back to work!



Just kidding! I'm not THAT hard on him.

This week, we also checked out Martha Rivers Park. I asked Matt, "Hey, doesn't Martha Rivers make flour?" He said, "No, that's Martha White." Guess I can't keep my Marthas straight. This park is huge with a walking trail, several ball fields, a picnic area, and a big fort area where children can play. Matt planned to push a small boy to the side and take over the fort castle, but I stopped him from entering the play area before all the mommies had a chance to start glaring at him. (Ok, I may be getting a little far-fetched now.)

Anyway, we started walking around the trail when I noticed a large patch of clover. I mentioned how there must be some four-leaf clovers in an area of that much clover. Matt said he had never seen (in person) or found a four-leaf clover.

WHAT?

Everyone must have this experience at least once in their life (and this is a good excuse to be lazy at this moment). We stopped walking, plopped down on the ground, and started our search. I found two or three first and showed him but told him he'd have to find one on his own for it to be official.

Sure enough, he found one.



Conquering the world. One four-leaf clover at a time.



Something else I learned on our little outing: these things are gum balls from a sweet gum tree. Matt, of course, was my source of information on this (as always). He's the true human encyclopedia.



The weather is going to continue being gorgeous for the next several days. Makes me so excited. Bring on the vitamin D!