Spring 2018 Bucket List Update

PLEASE NOTE: I am posting this post in full as it was written with 

completed items marked with a line through them and notes made in bold type 

where appropriate. Have added a lot of pictures, too!😊

Well...winter is officially over and it's the first day of spring 2018! I'm so thankful!

Normally, I'm content is any season (fall is my favorite, then spring, then winter, then summer), but, this year, once we got past that first good snow, I was ready for spring! Winter seemed to just drag on and on! I'm so glad it's spring! 

“While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease" (Genesis 8:22).

Here are some of the things that I'm looking forward to this spring and hope to accomplish throughout the course of the season...

1. Write my spring bucket list 
2. Plan my spring menus (these will be posted each Monday in my weekly Happy Homemaker Monday posts) 
3. Read the account of Christ's death and resurrection out of all four gospels 🕮
4. Dye Easter eggs 

5. Have an egg hunt for the grandlittles

6. Do a nighttime egg hunt

7. Watch Jesus of Nazareth 

8. Eat a Russell Stover's Maple Cream Egg with my oldest daughter on her birthday (it's tradition!)

9. Celebrate Resurrection Sunday (church and lunch with family and friends) 
10. Pick a bouquet of pretty yellow daffodils 

11. Celebrate spring birthdays with the grandlittles 🎂

Silly me (and I'm not sure how), but, with all of these grandchildren, not a one of them has a birthday that officially falls in spring. Isn't that odd? I didn't realize that until I purposefully tried to recall the dates and there wasn't one...so...no celebrating spring birthdays with the grands. Wow! 😲

12. Attend KCM's Victory Campaign 2018 in Branson

13. Celebrate Passover by reading the Biblical account and preparing (or attending) a seder meal 
14. Plant a tree for Arbor Day (I'm really wanting a sugar maple for the front yard - this might be a good time to look into it) 🌳

I didn't get to plant a sugar maple, but I did plant three sassafras trees! And, after the storms took down the redbud and cherry trees, I bought a baby redbud and planted it where the old one used to be. There are enough baby cherries that I don't need to worry about them.

15. See Indian paintbrush blooming on the prairie

16. Plant a vegetable garden 🌱

With the extreme weather our garden went in late, but it did get done. We planted potatoes, onions, tomatoes, green peppers, banana peppers, zucchini, yellow squash, green beans, yellow wax beans, romaine, and spinach.

17. Celebrate May Day with a basket of fresh flowers 🌷

Purchased a couple of flats of marigolds...shared several 6-packs of them with friends and family members and planted a row of marigolds along both sides of our front porch. So pretty!

18. Eat fresh strawberries

With angel food cake and whipped topping! 💗

19. Plan and complete spring programs at work -

     A) Lunch For a Bear (Library) 🐻

     B) Birds of a Feather (HS) 🐦
     C) Legend of the Indian Paintbrush (Library)
     D) Poetic Prairie (HS)

     E) Fox in the Forest (Library)

     F) Nature Weaving (Public) 🌸

     G) Let's "Stick" Together (Public)

The Children Enjoyed Playing 'Pooh Sticks' Off The Bridge

     H) Missouri Frogs and Toads (Library) 🐸

Frog and Toad Items on Display At The Library

20. Celebrate Mother's Day by sharing flowers with the ladies at church, my daughters, and daughters-in-law 🌺

As bad as it is, I didn't get to this one. 😞

21. Eat fresh asparagus
22. Listen to spring peepers 🐸
23. Celebrate Memorial Day weekend with a cookout 🍔

Our next-to-the-youngest son and his wife invited the whole family over for a cookout the day before Memorial Day and we had a blast! There was lots of good food, visiting, and rides on the four-wheeler with the grandlittles. A good time was enjoyed by all!

24. See a brand new baby bison

Baby Bison

Not up close this year yet, but from a distance. 

25. Plant sunflower seeds
26. Include fresh dandelion greens in our spring salads 
27. Go with my friend, Laura, on a Herceptin "date" (includes a trip to the cancer treatment center with lunch following)

Laura and I met at the cancer center in early June and I stayed with her during her treatment. We hadn't had a chance to really visit since September. After the herceptin treatment was over, we went to Wendy's to have lunch and continue our visit. It was great getting caught up with each other a bit. 💗

28. Observe a bird's nest with eggs in it and watch until the babies hatch 

Baby Robins

29. Attend Spring Training at Cuivre River State Park

One of Our 'Breakout Sessions' at Spring Training 2018 @
Cuivre River State Park - Camp Sherwood - Troy, Missouri

30. Hike all six trails at Prairie State Park

      A) Drovers
      B) Coyote
      C) Gayfeather
      D) Path of the Sky People

      E) Path of the Earth People
      F) Sandstone

31. Start going through those totes in storage that I didn't make it to over the winter months
32. See a prairie chicken
33. Put up at least one new birdhouse in our yard
34. Make at least two new shopping bags from 50# sunflower seed bags
35. Put out feeders for the hummingbirds
36. Get my herb wheel in place and plant herbs in it (this is an old wagon wheel that we had at the old place; moved it over here and forgot about it; it's still in storage)
37. Get a clothesline up
38. Get started on our moon garden 
39. Go camping with my husband
40. Take a walk in the rain
41. Put up a new birdhouse 

Actually, this birdhouse isn't new. I made it many years
ago in a ceramics class and gave it to my dad for Christmas.
He was so afraid of it getting broken that he never put it up.
When going through things after he passed away I found the
birdhouse and the ceramic, sunflower, bird-feeder
that I had made for Mom. Now they're both up. 🌻 

42. Get blinds put up on south-facing windows

I've bought the blinds, but haven't got them put up yet, so, nope! Doesn't count. 

43. Make jelly

Violet Jelly

Cherry Jelly

That's what's on my spring bucket list. What's on yours?

Until next time...
~Rebecca

Recent and related posts that you might enjoy reading...

Winter Bucket List 2018

Happy Homemaking Monday - March 19, 2018

Eighteen Things That I Want To Do In 2018