Spring is Coming!

I've been working on cleaning out my flower beds and I found these.  Crocuses have always been a favorite of mine, not because they are particularly beautiful, but because they mean Spring is coming.  They promise that Winter is almost over.  They are that ray of sunshine that breaks through the dreariness.

 I decided to eschew housework today and instead work in the yard.  It was sunny and my bulbs and some perennials are starting to come through which means that the remaining leaves and such left from last year need to be cleaned out.

One of my first jobs however was to add the baby swing t the swing set so that the kids could all swing together.  Lily was good to push Gideon and Charlotte and after a morning of bickering it was so wonderful to see them play so well together.  I think that we all just need to be outside.

 This was Gideon's first time in the swing and he loved it, even if it was a pink swing.

The Garden is Finally Planted!

Well, it has been a cold Spring and so it has taken us longer than usual to get our garden planted. Everything is finally in the ground now, so if it will just warm up already they might start growing a little faster. We rearranged the garden this year, and expanded it a bit. I'm excited to watch it grow. We have already used some of our spinach. Fresh food out of the garden always tastes better.

My flowers are also starting to take off. This year I planted a lot of nasturtiums and they are just now starting to bloom.
My friend Holly sent me a few day lilies earlier this Spring. I wasn't sure how they would do after being mailed from Illinois, but they have taken root and are growing really well. I probably won't see any blooms this year, which is why I planted some zinnias and petunias around them, but next year they should be great.
And finally, I have the best husband. I mentioned that it might be cute to have a flower box below the window of the garage. Our house is very old (96 years-old to be exact) and the garage was added in the 30's and I'm pretty sure that these windows are original. Anyway, Tyson spent his days off building some new shelving units for the garage and used some left-over wood to build me this box. He also picked up some petunias while at the Home Depot. Isn't he great!
I'm so excited for July. By then the garden will be full, my flowers will be large and blooming, and hopefully it will finally be warm!

Spring Evenings

We spent this evening outside. It was a beautiful and busy day and when things calmed down a bit we went back outside to plant our tomatoes in the garden and a few more flowers in my beds. While Tyson and I worked Charlotte laid in her bouncy chair near us and Lily played in the yard. I looked up and saw her walking at me with two large tulips in her hands. She was so excited about them and she would not let them ago. I suppose that she finally figured out that the petals are prettiest on the flower rather than in a pile on the ground.

Here she is showing them off to her little sister.
Running around examining them.
A girl and her tulips.
She climbed up to the patio table and apparently expected dinner because she folded her arms for prayer.
Lily would not drop the flowers, not for anything. She wandered the yard the entire time that we were working in it holding on to her precious tulips.
My little Lottie just sitting in her chair watching her momma plant more flowers.
Tyson wanted to see how Charlotte liked the grass. She didn't.
Charlotte and daddy playing while I planted some more flowers.
This is part of the bed in front of our house. It is full of columbines (which have bloomed), daisies, poppies, hollyhocks, peonies, and a hydrangea there in the back. In the next month it is going to be full of blooms and I'm so excited to see it.
This is the bed running down the west side of our home. I'm working on getting a few things to put in behind the columbines.
Just a few of my many beautiful columbines. I love them. The shape of the flowers is just so dynamic and interesting.
I planted the bare root for this bleeding heart last year. It barely came up last year so I wasn't sure that it would survive, but it came in with full force this Spring. I just need to get a few things to plant around it so that it isn't so lonely.
I'm so excited to see how everything comes together over the next month.

Of Toddlers and Tulips

Oh, the joys of gardening with a two-year-old!

Yesterday we were outside playing and I ran inside to take care of something. I came out a couple of minutes later and found a pile of tulip petals.

I thought it odd that this cluster would drop all of their petal all at once. I turned the corner and came upon this little scene.
Lily gleefully pulled off yet another petal and showed it to me.
Lily, in just a few minutes, had managed to pull the remaining petals off of nearly all of my tulips. Oh well, it was near the end of the season for them anyway.

It was perfect weather yesterday, the warmest day of the year so far. We spent a lot of time outside in the yard. Charlotte is still getting accustomed to the breeze.
She'll be happy if I hold her hand though.

Getting Ready for Spring

We can't wait for gardening weather to get here. Tyson has been getting the garden prepped and inside we have been starting our seeds. I hate buying plants for the garden, they can be so expensive so this year we are doing everything but the tomatoes from seed.

My craft table has been taken over and is covered in trays and pots and I can't seem to stop myself, I just keep planting more.

Some of them are getting so big!

They are beautiful! I love this big table covered in green in my living room, but they can't stay here forever.

This is my favorite part, watching the seeds emerge. I planted more nasturtium last week and they have started to spout. Every time I look at them I see another one starting to pop through the soil and it makes me giddy.

Outside Spring is certainly here. My daffodils, hyacinths and tulips are blooming and my perennials are all popping back through.

I planted some hollyhocks and poppies last year and they are doing great right now. I can't wait to see them bloom along with everything else. I like the vegetable garden, but that is Tyson's domain. My real love though is my flower beds. This year I've planted dozens of new perennials and I can't wait to get them into the beds and watch them fill in over the next couple of years. Every year these beds are getting better and better.

Sidewalk Chalk and Sand

We had some nice weather again today. This spring has been pretty cold and wet thus far so we are taking advantage of these warm days when we get them. So after nap time we went outside. Lily loves to color, all of the time, all over everything, so sidewalk chalk is awesome. She can draw all over everything outside and the rain tomorrow will just wash it away.

I drew the star and started to color it in and Lily decided to take over. She is learning to match colors which is awesome. I love watching her learn.We then went out back. Tyson has been working on redoing our back pathway and he is putting sand under the flagstone. He isn't quite done yet so there is a small pile of sand sitting in our driveway. Last week when I had to run an errand he had Lily out there with him while he worked and got out her sand toys. So when she saw that pile of sand she ran and got the toys off of the patio and went to play.

She eventually started burying her legs in the sand.

She found her piggy watering can and ran straight to the garden.

And of course she had to go for a little drive.

She did not want to come inside so we had snack time (a frozen gogurt) outside on the front steps.

And this is how Charlotte spent our afternoon outdoors. Soon enough she will be big enough to play too.

Spring

My first daffodil bloomed today, therefore Spring is here!

We spent the afternoon outside cleaning up the yard and working in my flower beds. Lily played in her swing and loved it as much as she did last year.

Oscar also came outside to play with us. If the weatherman is right, the end of this week is going to be heaven!

Lily wanted to help me water a few things and went back to fill the watering can back up.

Since I needed my watering can back, I gave Lily her piggy watering can, an early birthday present from her grandparents.

She emptied it rather quickly so she grabbed my watering can again and tried to fill hers up using mine, since she couldn't get any water out of the hose. This girl is going to be so much "help" in the yard and garden this year.

Just a cute picture of Charlotte in her bear coat from our outing this morning, because it's cute.

Another Garden Remodel

This Springs marks our 3rd year planting a garden. It is also our 3rd garden remodel. Our first year we just tilled the garden patch, added some compost, and then planted. Last year we built our beds using some concrete blocks, and while it looked very nice the beds got far too hot. And while that was great for some plants, others burned so this year Tyson tore it all out and started over.
So this year we made some new garden beds using 2x6's. We made several different sized beds and about 2 weeks ago we got everything planted.
I really love the new look. Anyone who knows me knows that I love good solid lines so this new design really appeals to me aesthetically. Many of the the items that we have planted will end up trellised and those trellises will go up in about 2 weeks. It should be a lof of fun to see how that works.
This is just a fun shot. I love watching my plants emerge from the soil This a row of beans.
Of course, not everything fits in one space so this year we have a large container of strawberry plants on our back patio long with a cherry tomato plant. They should make for some easily accesible snacks all summer long.
And a final shot of my first fuscias of the year. So many more to come, I can't wait!