Garden Tour

One thing about the move we made this winter...I now have lots of flowers! They look really good, until a hard rain and some wind knocks them down. I am still proud. Colors are emerging all around. Madie is famous for picking me a bouquet, usually the first flower that has bloomed on that particular plant. Oh well, they grow more!

Perfectly Purple Dahlias

Amber waves of ornamental grass...

I am not sure what these are...

Dazzling day lilies

Not sure what this one is either. It has these iridescent green and purple maple-tree leaves.

Pretty in pink geraniums and some funky spiral plant I found...I rather like them!

Climatis

Vibrant lilies...I love the freckles.

This has been a busy week.

Monday: We took the girls to the local theme park. Madie rode all three roller coasters and loved the first 2, hated the last! Emma did the Silly Silo all by herself. Crazy girl! We stood at the top and watched! The weather turned out to be perfect and we had a great day! I felt guilty for leaving Matthew at the babysitter's but I am quite sure he had more fun playing with John Deere's than sitting in a stroller all day!

Tuesday: The girls had friends over the stay the night. The got along well and had a great time. Emma's friend got homesick and decided she wanted to bail at 9:30 which caused some commotion. After that all went well!

Wednesday: We spent the day recovering from out sleepover. I also tried to mow the lawn. It needed it VERY badly with all the recent rain. I don't have a good working relationship with our new lawn tractor. I am used to something a little smaller and not with jet-propelled blades that suck up everything within a ten-foot radius. I have been mowing since I was 10 and have not destroyed as many things as I have this spring. Lets see...1. I ran over a ground wire for the electric fence 2. I hit the center bar which holds the doors to the morton building shut...jarred it just a little 3. Somehow I must have caught a wire to the chain link fence. Split the thing right in two. I heard a "chink" and the fence split in two and rolled up. Not one of my finer moments. And then, drumroll please, Wednesday I decided to try it one more time. I was mowing along, being extra careful, when I hear a loud clanging noise followed by the machine completely turning off. Come to find out, the arm that holds the deck to the mower decided to snap off. Not my fault but still...really! Did it have to happen when I was driving the silly thing???

Anyway, I had cake class #2 with Betsy and her sister-in-law, Erica. We practiced making stencils with piping gel. This is how it turned out. So much fun! I am rather proud. Brandon and I sampled a taste but we had to leave the cupcake for the girls to see when they woke up!

Thursday: I took the kids to the swimming pool yesterday afternoon. They had a blast! I love that they are finally getting older where they can have a little freedom. I feel comfortable enough to let them go more than 5 feet away from me! Emma loved the water slides and was able to go by herself. Madie practiced putting her head in and jumping. Matthew, it took him a while to get the idea of what we were doing there, but once he did there was no stopping him. He was bailing off the side in no time. He didn't even care if I was holding on to him. My arms are tired today from hoisting him onto the side of the pool...nothing like 50 reps with a 30 pound weight! After a couple hours we were tuckered out and headed home for a nap.

A perfect 1st week of summer! Except for the rain!