Sod removal

Ahh, the time of year for sprucing up the yard and removing sod. Of course, here in central Indiana, we've been mowing our yards since early March. I should have been working on the yard too, however, I kept telling myself that for this season, while husband is deployed out of country, I could let the yard go. I was just lying to myself. I can't let it go. There is something about fresh edged beds and fresh mulch laid down that just says, beautiful! So, today, I had an hour to kill. School for Elijah was done, laundry was done, Bible study work was done. So, off we went, in our working outside clothes, ready to play in the dirt. First goal, to re-edge the area around my vegetable garden and lay down more mulch. If you ask my older two what comes to mind when you mention removing sod, they will probably tell you that it brings forth nightmares of their time in Wisconsin, when their mom had them working very hard to remove sod in our yard to put in a vegetable garden. Well, our youngest still hadn't had that experience yet, so it was time to show him how much fun it is to rip up sod. Interestingly, he is a worker. It brings him joy to think that he is being useful and helpful. I was surprised to see him lifting these small chunks of dirt and putting them into the wheelbarrow. I told him a few times, how strong he was and he offered to let me feel his muscles. Which of course I did and told him, "yup you are strong, just like your daddy". I told him over and over again how helpful he was to me, "especially with daddy away right now" and how "daddy is going to be so proud of you when he hears how you helped momma in the yard." Am I feeling the work of my labor, absolutely, and as stiff as I am right now, I wouldn't change anything for the time I got to spend with our boy today, teaching him how to work hard like his daddy.