Summertime Flowers

One of the things I really enjoy in the summer are my flowers.  Although my flower beds often look as though they need some tender loving care, I do appreciate all the plants that survive my hit-and-miss attentions.  This year Luke and I built a flower bed in the front yard that I have been planning since we moved here.  First though, the ugly, smelly juniper bush had to go!  Thanks to Luke, Myles and the diesel, it's gone.

My flower bed

Here are photos of our work-in-progress.  Of course my plan included something much more elaborate, but this more realistic garden was the perfect suggestion from Luke.  I love the result.  I have many more flowers still to move, but it's beautiful just as it is.

Nicholas - my newest helper

Our beautiful Hibiscus

I stopped at the grocery store on Sunday and I couldn't resist buying one of the beautiful Hibiscus plants displayed outside.  They remind me of my Granny and I decided immediately that I needed a piece of Granny in my flower bed.  For all her attributes that were less grandmotherly than most grandmothers, she did have a green thumb.  (I truly missed inheriting this gift from her as my houseplants have to be drought survivors and very hardy to survive me.)  I can't wait to plant the Hibiscus and think of her every time I look at it.

But I think the thing I like the most about my summertime gardens are the vases of flowers that sit on the corner of my cupboard all spring and summer long.  They are always filled with the flowers (and sometimes just the flower heads) picked for me by my boys.  Everything from dandelions to lilacs to Queen Anne's Lace.  And every once in awhile, one of the flowers from my flower beds.

A Day of First's for the Little Ones

July has been a very busy month.  I can't say I was able to get anything much completed at the same time I started it.  Somewhere along the line I have begun a few blogs, but didn't manage to get them posted.  I was either interrupted and never got back at it, or simply needed to find a picture, but didn't.

Here is a blog from June that only needed to be posted....


June 25, 2011

Yesterday was a big day here at our house.

After lunch Evan loaded up in the truck with Daddy and off he went to Grandma and Granddad's for a sleep-over.  The only boy; no brothers to have to share his grandparent's or Daddy with.  It sounds like he had a great time!

Nicholas has been on the move for over 2 weeks now.  At first it was just a commando crawl going only about 6 feet.  In a few days he was the fastest frog crawler ever!

 

This was him just as he got on the move.

Yesterday he decided it was time to get off his belly and crawl like a big boy!  In the morning he was still frog crawling, in the afternoon he was crawling.   Just like that!  Up onto his hand and knees and off he went.

Child's Play

I love watching my boys play.  Their imaginations know no bounds or limits.  They are amazingly creative.  The three of them plan and discuss where things should go, how they should be piled, who should do what.  Sometimes they argue; mostly they agree.  Always there is a messy trail leading from the start to the end of their creativity.

Some days their favorite play is carrying around their teddies dressed in baby clothes that are now too small for Nicholas.  The teddies then join us for lunch at the table with their own tiny plates and food.

Sometimes our living room is a highway for trucks and building ground for blocks.

Some days the pillows, blankets, chairs and anything not permanently placed become part of a truck or a 'campsite' (that's what my boys call a fort).

Sometimes the cardboard boxes I piled up for recycling become airplanes complete with drawn on wings and are filled with the most bizarre cargo: a sock, blocks, teddies, some books, a blanket, shoes, markers...

And sometimes it's just the sandbox where the oddly shaped piles are actually pizza's or various parts to a spaceship.

 Today as I watched Evan put a small handful of sand in his mouth.  I said, "Evan, don't eat that, it won't taste good."  He immediately answered "It's tomato soup."  His very serious expression and tone made me wonder "how could I not have known?"!