A Few Firsts

Almost two months ago we mowed our lawn for the first time. We moved at the time of year where there were basically no lawn mowers for sale. Thanks to Christmas for taking over stores so fast :( We waited and finally got one in later winter/early spring. The lawn was beautiful. Luckily with winter the grass doesn't grow very much so it wasn't grossly long, but there was definitely a difference after the cut. Love fresh cut grass!

We got our official first family pet! His name is Sirius (Black) and he is the best cat. I've been wanting a cat for a little while now and we designated the weekend after Valentine's Day as "the day". Well, I hoped it would be the day. And it was! We went to our local PetsMart and they were having a National Adoption Weekend and in addition to their usual cattery, they had another shelter from the coast there as well, another area for the dogs, and then another area for a different rescue organization's dogs. The shelter from the coast had a litter of five tabby kittens- so beautiful. AND they were get two for the price of one. We oohed and aahed over them for a bit, then went into the rescue cattery at PetsMart. Only one cat was being active and the boys immediately wanted to play with him, i.e. push him into a corner and overwhelm him. The cat didn't hiss. He didn't scratch. He played with them. And when he seemed like he would scratch, he would keep his claws in. I actually asked twice if he was declawed (which I am totally against- so bad for them. but that is just how much his claws didn't come out), I was so amazed at how well he was behaving! We found out he was born in August (so around seven months old now) and had originally been shy and they were just amazed at how well he was doing with three boys. He was so pretty too- a black and white tuxedo with adorable paws. White whiskers. Handsome guy. We went outside to weigh our options and decided that as much as we'd love a tabby, we couldn't really tell their personalities as much and it would be hard to say no to a cat who was doing so well with the boys. Tuxedo boy it was! We took care of business and brought him home where he basically lived under our bed for a week. Poor thing. But he slowly came out of his shell that next week and he is definitely feeling right at home now. The boys love him. He lets them hold them, still doesn't claw. He bites, but very little and gentle and only to warn or play. He's absolutely perfect for us. And man, is he affectionate. Can't even look at him without him going into a deep purr. It's been great for us to add a furry animal to our mix and we are all so excited to have him be in our family.

Saturday we planted our first flowers! It was feeling way too empty with other flowers sprouting up on the other side of the walkway. The picture above is where all our bulb flowers are coming up. I'm glad we waited to see where bulbs already are before we went forward with planting.

I'm so excited to watch them grow and blossom more. We weeded the whole thing and then loosened the soil a bit. Fun discovery- Gavin loves to weed. Like really loves it and is awesomely thorough. James helped for a bit, but wanted to have fun after a while. He kept trying to get Gavin to play with him and Gavin kept saying, "James, I'm weeding!". Very dedicated. He's my little work horse. Jack was pretty useless except for getting into constant trouble, like falling in our neighbor's pond and getting soaked. Ah, two-year olds...
I need to get a few more to finish it off, but it makes such a difference already. We got a combo of pansies, geraniums, ranonculus, and some filler laverndar flower whose name escapes me. Going to be beautiful!

With this great weather and new seasons coming, I'm excited for so many more firsts headed our way in our new home. Our first harvest (hello, plum, pear, and apple trees! raspberries! blueberry bushes! strawberry plants! rhubarb poking up! grape vines! plus all we'll be planting!). Our first barbecue. Our first backyard campout (yes, this will happen). Many, many more memories to make this year. Cannot wait.