saturday: in pictures

In between a week-long business trip last week ... and another week-long business trip that will begin tomorrow morning, today we embarked upon some yard work.

This is the scene, in photos...

We have a tremendous amount of yard debris that we are burning in our little fire ring. This pile represents approximately 1/100000th of the total amount.

Not all the pieces of wood are small enough to burn, so we need to cut them up in to pieces that will fit within the ring. Here's Henry in his uniform. This is what he wears during all waking hours. Red footie pajamas and a super hero cape. He calls it his "Super Suit."

I love our fire ring. It almost makes like yard work feel like a camping adventure. The roasting of marshmallows undoubtedly contributes to that sensation...

Why cook two when you can cook three?

We didn't burn all of the branches. Some of them we fashioned in to walking sticks. Every so often, I'll come up with an artsy idea like hand painting branches and for a brief second, I feel so dang crafty.

We interrupted our painting party for a discovery in the debris pile...

The children immediately swung in to rescue mode.

Much like they expect that by holding out a finger and whistling a song, they'll summon a bird to perch ... they were expecting that the little frog would just HOP in to the bucket when they whispered, "Here froggy, froggy, frog!"

Alas, with a little nudge, that's exactly what he did.

I'd suggested they name him Jeremiah, but the kids opted for Freddy.

"... and we will call him FREDDY. Freddy the Frog."

They sprinted down to the creek for Operation Freddy Release...

The sprint turned in to a walk when he almost flopped out of the bucket.

They carefully navigated the steep bank...

And then questioned, "If we kiss him, will he turn in to a Prince?"

Very carefully, they flipped the bucket over...

Gave it a little shake...

Filled it with a bit of water ...

And poured Freddy to freedom.

High - Five!

We retreated back to our house. In between washing what felt like 15 loads of laundry, we burned more wood. We cleaned out the garage. We swept and shoveled and folded. I thought about the things I'd need to pack for my upcoming business trip. Charlie thought about all the things we need to do around the house.

Instead of doing any of the things we felt like we needed to do, we sat down and mentally prepared ourselves for everything on our Master List of Things To Do.

This is us, mentally preparing.