We're part of the country club now!

Hi all!  Did spring come to you yet?  It was here for a day then vanished somewhere far, far away.  

One of the only cherry blossom blooms we got this year.  Another strike against this cold weather!

We spent that one Spring-like Saturday outside, finally starting to clear away the branches that fell this winter (and from last year, don't judge) and think about what our priorities are for the warm weather.  There are a lot and new ones keep jumping to the top of the list.  

You can't tell from the happy faces, but it was freezing when they delivered this!  

But before I forget, I'd like to introduce you all to our new addition, John.  John Deere, that is.  We finally bought a lawn tractor so we can mow our own lawn and, more importantly, plow our own driveway.  The previous owners had a lawn service (who actually cut our neighbors' lawns as well) and it was relatively inexpensive so we kept it going to put off the expense of a tractor.  But these winters keep getting worse and worse and we can't always shovel it or drive over the snow in our driveway.  And having someone come plow us out can cost up to $350!  Crazy talk! 

First we bought a snowblower, which wasn't cheap, but it was so short that Jon couldn't use it.  I mean, yeah, he's tall (6'11") but I couldn't imagine anyone taller than me using it comfortably.  It was a beast to handle, too.  It was self-propeller, but definitely needed a lot of man-handling to get it to do what I needed.  My arms were sore for two days!  Even with the cup of tea, hot shower, and love note from kiddo, I was happy to return the snowblower to the store and never have to do that again!  

I doubt I was smiling in this picture.  And if I knew it were being taken, I would have probably given the one-finger salute.  That hill was killer!

And after all that, we decided to finally bite the bullet and get a tractor.  As our neighbor said, "Oh you're finally going to cut your own lawn like we do in the country?"  Yes, we're officially part of the  country club now!  (Get it? Haha! I'm so punny!) 

We've had it for 8 days now and Jon's been on it almost every day, mostly joyriding with his mini partner-in-crime, but doing some actual mowing, too.  With all the rain we've been getting though I'm sure we'll be cutting the grass for real soon though!