New Blooms, Rain, and More Oranges

Suddenly, it is spring here.  I didn't know if we would really have a true, bursting-from-the-ground sort of spring out here.  Granted, it's not nearly as dramatic as cherry blossom buds after a cold and barren winter, but it is here: the trees are pale green with new leaves, there are new flowers bursting from the ground, the fruit trees are starting to blossom.  Flower are all over, and it's still novel to me to be in a place with native blooms that I surprise me from my own dining room table (above, bouquets from the girls, below tulips from Ben!).

For the past week and a half it has been raining.  Our kids are little enough that they have sort of forgotten what to do in the rain since we've been living in a drought ridden state for the past 8 months or so.  We used to be really good at rainy days, but it's the sort of thing you have to practice, you know?  A morning of rain is one thing, but we had many back to back days of solid rain, and Clara and Dorothy were looking at us like, "You mean I can't just stroll outside in what I'm wearing?"  So we had to teach them about all of the things you can do on a rainy day, like lounge around the house and do puzzles and read and maybe get around to sloooowly making something for dinner.  It's good to have a rainy day like that every now and then.

I adore baby Josephine.  Of course I adore each of our babies, but being the sixth child in the family does sort of make Josephine the center of a lot of love.  There's Josephine, sleeping right through snuggles, kisses, pokes, and jiggles.  We have our steady refrains for children who are interacting with Josephine, sung on repeat and hesitantly heeded, "With an open hand" (to prevent poking), "on the top of her head" (to prevent kisses on the mouth, nose, eyes.  We've seen it all, folks), or "Give Josephine a bubble" (which is our last ditch attempt to convince to give her a little room).  Luckily, she seems to adore all the attention, eagerly following her siblings with her eyes and increasingly smiling at even the sound of their voices.

Oh, and we're still picking oranges.  I remember when we first moved here, I looked in horror at oranges that had fallen from orange trees and were left uneaten (just right there, on the sidewalk, or in someone's yard, or their lawn waste).  But now I get it.  The past month we have gone from cherishing the incredibleness of having fresh citrus in our backyard to the grim reality of moldy oranges on the lawn.  We're harvesting those oranges every day and we are only about half way through.  As of this evening, we have newly harvested oranges ready to give out to any friend/potential friend/neighbor/teacher/passer-by ready to receive them.

I'm joining in with Like Mother, Like Daughter today!