Rock Garden memories

We have been so busy...so many things to blog...birthdays and parties and big events.....but I swear....I know in my heart.....that it's not the big events that always make the big impressions on your life. It's the little things....the unique memories that are the ones that stand out...and sometimes you know know when you are making a memory..and today was one such day. The sun was shining in a bright, bold way...and it was as if it whispered to me to come outside.

I worked in the garden and this year we made a path in the center of the plot so it would be easier to tend to the plants....we decided the center path needed stepping stones so it would not be so muddy when it was wet...so we headed to the creek to look for some. 

When we got there...I was taken aback my the beauty of my own little world...and how nice it was to be among the trees and the water. It is comforting to me to be down here...this is the childhood I had. There were no neighbors or  courts for bikes where I grew up...it was just acres and acres of this. I loved being here with my littles...and they just all take right to it..all of them...getting muddy and wet...in search of the perfect rocks for the garden.

I swear I could feel the memories being made...as they searched and picked the rocks....

We choose 11 amazing rocks.....and then carried them a few at a time back to the wagon that waited on the hill....

We pushed and pulled the wagon back to the garden...

and placed each rock with care in just the right spot...

and then every little tried out our new path!

 It was just something little....that we all did together....and we all smiled about...

 It was a good afternoon....and one I know we will all remember.....I just know it in my heart....

fresh from the garden

Our garden has been so much fun....but the yummy tomatoes have been by far the best part of the garden experience! They are delicious...truly there is nothing like a fresh from the garden, vine ripened tomato!

Garden gifts & tiffs

All the littles have enjoyed the garden and our flowers but especially the girls. They love to walk to the back and all around the yard and see what treasures await us! Today we were greeted by the first of the sun flowers.....and many other beauties!

The highlight is seeing what is in the garden....what we can pick! Today we found squash and zucchini...but as quick as the excitement came that there was something to pick...it immediately set into who gets to carry what treasures! A true garden tiff!

As sassy as Lila is...SK still has the height advantage!

In the end she won the whopper zucchini!

Garden delights!

Our garden is growing so beautifully! Tonight we enjoyed the most wonderful lettuce in our salad with supper...and it tasted so good just knowing we grew it in our own back yard!

things are blooming

In my garden there is a large place for sentiment. My garden of flowers is also my garden of thoughts and dreams. The thoughts grow as freely as the flowers, and the dreams are as beautiful.

 ~Abram L. Urban

 

I feel very connected to the Earth right now. I am planting, and watering. Weeding and fertilizing. Watching in awe at the beauty around me. It is so satisfying to grow something...

If the littles are outside then I am outside too....so I am present with the littles but I try not to hover and be close every second. I find they need time to talk and be siblings with and without me and my flowers provide me with that opportunity. I love to be dead heading the flowers while observing a game of kick ball or a scooter race down the drive way. Oh the conversations I hear...and I see them figuring things out....and deciding what to do next....

There are times when I am uncertain...and my life seems so full of chaos. I tend to get  my heart so wrapped up in the hurt of those around me that I overlook what might...if I let it..hurt me. Yesterday while weeding I prayed for Stephanie Atkins who just lost her mom.....I prayed for Mandy who was just having a rough day...I prayed for the family whose 18 year old son was killed at the bottom of our hill in a wreck last week, I prayed for Alicia Gillespie whose neighbor had killed himself...she was so sad about it...and for that family too.  I prayed for a couple I know who longs for a baby. I prayed for two friends fighting cancer and their families.  And the whole time I prayed...I weeded...getting the bad things out of my flowers that can strangle them and take away from their beauty and ability to grow. It does the heart good to see a pile of weeds that you have removed from your garden.

I can't control my life or the hurt around me but I can watch my children, and pray, while I take care of my flowers and my garden...and the beauty of it.... is that if I weed, water and fertilize..they flourish and bloom and grow for me...and they are happy and beautiful. No matter what is going on around me....I seem to have a bit of control with the things that grow in my back yard...and that feels good.

The garden is really coming in..and I can't wait to take the first bite of something that I grew.....from the soil that I tilled....

looks like it will be a tomato!

I am hopeful for my garden and my flowers....and the people hurting around me. I am hopeful for the hurt deep inside my heart too.  But for now I am thankful for all my flowers and for all my garden gives me...beauty, satisfaction, a sense of a cycle that I am a part of, and a beautiful way to be with my children both in sharing with them the wonder of growing something...and in being able to be with them outside while they play together...creating sibling memories and growing their closeness and their bonds as brothers and sisters. Plants and people grow. But sometimes they both need a little extra something...water, fertilizer, love,time.....here's to happy growing...and beautiful blooms in your gardens and in your heart.

the feel of the dirt

Dirt feels good...sometimes it just feels good to roll your sleeves up and get your hands dirty...maybe that's the Country girl in me and then again maybe it's just the way it is......

Today Lila and I planted some bulbs in a pot of soil...she loved it!

 She could not believe it when I handed her a spoon and let her do the honors of digging the holes and dropping the bulbs inside.

 Her hands got dirty but it sure felt good...and I can't wait until she sees the green...that she planted...popping up out of the soil...and then later the beautiful flower. I decided right then and there that I wanted to grow something...and share it with the kids...to let them see somthing come full circle from seed to fruit...to water it...take care of it...weed it...and eat it...and see how good it tastes with the sweetness of the work you put into it....

So the next day I went to Home Depot and rented a tiller and fertilizer and prepared a small plot of soil for a tiny garden...we'll start small and see how it goes! It was so much work removing the grass and making this square, but I am so excited about planting and sharing this with Jeremy and the kids!

Me and my tiller...sk snapped these...she really loved my pink boots...you have to be pinkalicious to garden she said!