landscaping and cooking

We had a beautiful Saturday. The kids woke up early, and were so happy to see blue sky. They ran around outside for most of the day. Helping Tim work on the bus is always a popular weekend project, but the kids are ready to garden. They wanted a gardening project really, really bad. So, I gave them permission to dig the ugly (mostly dead) boxwoods out of our front yard. They were so dedicated to the project. Most of the boxwoods are lying in a heap in the front yard. Hurray! We are planning to plant lots of flowers out there as soon as the chance of frost passes.
When digging up boxwoods no longer held appeal, Clover came inside and helped me start a batch of kombucha. She loves to use the ladle. The boys were on their way to do a little more seed-shopping and bus supply shopping with Tim, so Clover and I had some time together. We finished up starting the kombucha, and went grocery shopping for a few dinner ingredients.
Aunt Katie and Uncle Neil were in town, and we were all so excited to have them over for dinner. As usual, I had lots of little kitchen helpers. Nova and Willow helped with making the pound cake.

I put the cakes in the oven with the baked beans, and started on the potato salad. Nova had lost interest in being a kitchen helper by that point, but Willow hung around for the thrill of chopping pickles and celery with a sharp knife. We made some really good potato salad. Willow kept tasting it and saying that he couldn't wait to dip his barbecue chicken in potato salad!
We had such a nice meal. The kids did not like my baked beans, but they ate pretty well otherwise. The big treat came afterwards. Pound cake was cooling on the counter while Clover made some maple cinnamon whipped cream and the boys chopped strawberries. We have done really well at eating seasonally for about the past year, but when I saw those strawberries at the grocery store I just could not resist. And it was worth every single bite.