Saturday, May 29, 2010

3,2,1...Summer!

Elena with her first crop of berries from the strawberry patch!

I picked up the cutest little inflatable turtle pool at a garage sale for Z-baby.


He likes it!


Yeah Baby!


This year the kids get a frog...I always save the one from the previous summer, but it never fails to have a mystery hole the first time I blow it up...so off for a new one we go. Kohl's often has them 40-50% off and with some Kohl's cash...almost free!
Enjoy the weekend!

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Fourteen Years

Yesterday Eric and I celebrated 14 years of marriage! We went all-out: had our friends watch the kiddos, ate at our favorite Mexican restaurant, Jose Peppers, and made a quick Home Depot run. Ha. Isn't it funny how a simple evening can be just as great together as an elaborate event sometimes?

I worked on the "Album of Us" that I started four years ago as a gift to him. It's now almost complete up to 2006. I did 5 years worth of scrapbooking (1 8x8 page spread per year) in 2 hours yesterday afternoon. For a non-scrapper like myself, that's pretty darn good. This photo is one of my favorites. It's from our 10 year anniversary trip to San Diego. We were out to eat at a pizza place in Little Italy with Jodi and Nate. Ahh, great memories.

Well, babe, here's to all the years behind and ahead. Someday 14 years will seem like a drop in the bucket!

Friday, May 21, 2010

Big, Beautiful Peonies!

I don't care what you want to call them: pee-yo-nees, pee-uh-nees, giant ant traps... whatever... there is just nothing like a blossom the size of your baby's head! This stem of two blooms and two buds is so heavy it tried to tip over my crystal bud vase! I had to cut the length down so it would stand. They smell heavenly, I haven't seen any ants on mine, and are simply beautimus. They make me want to sing "June is bursting out all over", of course, it's still May. Ahhh, spring!






Friday, May 14, 2010

May Flowers & Veggies

What a great picture to start with! This is one of my little helpers...he evidently likes to snack on dirt. Eeww. We were planting some lettuce in a couple extra "squares" of the strawberry patch plot. By the end of this escapade he had also dumped one of the red buckets of water on himself and was soaked from the waist down. It didn't phase him...he was enjoying every minute.

I may have already posted this beauty, but here it is again...my one and only columbine...it's full and lush this year. This was one of the first blooms to open and was taken at dusk. Ahhhh.


So I feel like a cheater with my square foot garden this year. It was either too hot, too wet or somethin', but my lettuce seeds just didn't sprout...only 2 plants out of the 25 or so that I planted...well, two per hole, so really out of 50!! A flat of lettuce seedlings from the garden center solved that problem and wah-lah, instant garden!! This was right after planting:

Oh, boy! More cuteness.


I made two Mother's Day bouquets this year, one for me and one for my dear friend Hether. This was Hether's:

This was mine:


This beautiful vista is at my Mother-in-love, Cheri's. You can barely see the pond just to the right of the ivy covered tree trunk. I think a lot of these iris actually were originally from my mom's garden so it was a double special view for Mother's Day for me. Iris are one of my all-time favs.


This was taken this morning, it's been super wet this week and things are coming along. The strawberries are going nuts (foreground), plus there are 3 peppers and a few lettuce in with them.

In the main veggie bed I have 4 squares of spinach, 4 of different lettuce varieties, 2 squares of beans (9 ea), carrots (16), a pepper, 8 sweet peas climbing a tomato tower, one tomato (we don't eat many) and a zucchini. The tomato and zucchini will grow up the tower I made a few years ago from electrical conduit and nylon netting (smile).







Guess what we're having with pizza tonight? Mmmm...spinach salad! Oh yeah, I have herbs planted too on my deck...hopefully they'll do well again!

Happy Gardening!

Monday, May 03, 2010

Another Week but...


not at my house! Click on over to Jodien for a view from the cheap seats at life in Hart household. In case you don't know, Jo is my BFF and just happens to be my sister. We're 2 and a half years apart and have always been close though we've lived 3-12 hours apart for the last 17 years or so (sad face). She's also a SAHM who loves Jesus and is blessed with three sweet daughters and a great hubby, Nate. I bet you'll like it!