We’ve had a beautiful weekend here at the Jay home.

With plenty of time outdoors.

Lots of sunshine and dirt under fingernails (hair, clothes and everywhere else).

This little chef was busy making dinner for daddy.

It always helps to have a sous-chef.

Dinner was a paté of mud with sauteed rose hips and a sprinkling of sidewalk chalk.

Little brother took care of dessert.

And at the close of this sunny day…

we cuddled up for bedtime stories on the picnic blanket.

This felt like Mother’s Day weekend all over again for me. My lovely family was so generous to wait in the car during errands while I “popped” into not only my favourite thrift store but also a yarn store (it took great restraint to stick to my promise to only grab the needles I was looking for). I enjoyed not one but two dates out with beautiful friends (one of which included my annual trip to my very favourite used book sale – my finds will be another post…). And the icing on the cake? A nap – by myself, with not a snack to prepare, no calls from the bathroom, no peacemaking duties required.

What joy is mine!

How’d you spend your weekend? Hope you found a pocket of time to soak up some joy yourself.

I’ve lived in this home for nearly nine years – Dan even longer. For each of those nine years we’ve talked about moving. We’ve looked, we’ve put down deposits, we’ve withdrawn deposits, we’ve renovated to sell, we’ve waited, we’ve hoped, we’ve trusted…and we’ve waited some more.

Before you get excited for us – we’re still waiting.

But rather than avoiding making changes to our space because we’ll be leaving soon (*cough*), we’re starting to invest in some changes that work for us.

Dan renovated the kitchen as our Christmas gift adding space that we can’t imagine how we lived without. We had our front window and door replaced to keep out a bit more of the elements. And this past week Dan dug out the long debated and deliberated vegetable garden.

Our yard is tiny and shared with two sets of neighbours but we’re excited to see what we can harvest from even this small space.

Dan worked so hard to dig up the grass and clay to prepare the space for a fresh load of nutrient rich soil. Everyone was very excited to see it delivered.

This weekend Dan and the kids planted the first of the seeds. Dan’s been perusing our favourite gardening book, The Garden Primer, for the best dates to start planting. We would have loved to have started many of these indoors but we don’t get enough indoor light to do much good. We’ll see how we do sowing them directly into the ground.

Oh boy, are we excited!

Dan’s inventive irrigation system with the few seedlings we bought – broccoli and brussels sprouts.

Dan also volunteered to grade the small patch of land outside the fence for a condo shared shed. The kids are excited to plant some annuals along the retaining wall.

Meanwhile in the flower garden we are seeing green.

Look at that – a bloom!

And what’s a day in the garden without mud pies?

It may not look like much but this is our space and we’re going to enjoy it to the fullest.

This is what it looks like outside.

Good thing we have birthday celebrations to distract us – although I think this weather is going to affect tomorrow’s birthday outing.

I’m going out on a limb here and announcing that spring has finally arrived here for us.

There is still plenty of snow to melt on our lawn (and likely another dump to come) but the sun is winning in the battle of cold versus warm.

We are breathing deeply of this spring air and soaking in the warm, healing sun.

Something about the sun on our faces feels so nourishing. We were missing all that vitamin D.

We enjoyed happy days outside this weekend, sharing with family and friends.

With a special nod to our old friend spring.

And all the things she brings with her like playground bridges…

…rubber boots…

…tummy slides…

…and gravel pies.

This may be a little late in the game but – Happy Spring, Friends!

We are loving every moment.