And now we are...

And now we are.... seven, four and ready for spring!

I brought in forsythia branches a couple of weeks ago so that they could force bloom inside.

Here, in North Georgia, the forsythia is the first to shout "Spring!", and she isn't shy about it.

This is a picture of my smallest branches, poking out of an old silver mint julep cup, tarnished just the way I like all of my silver. It's much easier to say that you enjoy the tarnished look to avoid having to polish the silver every month.

The forsythia blooms have helped fuel our spring fever. Hans and I are already making our plans for the garden this year. I love this time when we dream up our next projects and almost itch with excitement to get back to our gardens.

And here we have the seven & four part of my life!

Ella's party was very exciting on Sunday. We had about 14 kids and their parents here to celebrate. Ella donned her party dress and showed true southern roots when she refused to wear shoes as well....just like her mama! We love to admire and buy shoes, just not really wear them so much!

There is a matching dress for her favorite baby doll, Coco. Coco also refused foot wear.

In a couple of weeks our crazy family will be heading to Germany. Finn & Ella will get to meet all of their Uncles and cousins, and we will somewhat follow the Grimm Brother's fairytale way as we visit some of the smaller towns.

Hans and I haven't been to Germany since 1995, when he asked me to marry him in Berlin.

He thought this through and waited until we were in a country where I couldn't speak the language so that I couldn't run very far!

Smart boy.

This trip will obviously be very different! We haven't taken a plane ride this long with the children before and I really hope we all handle it well!

I hope to have a Lumpling herd come up for adoption before we leave. Be sure to keep an eye on your email for the next amyrue.com announcement!