Everything is sore!

We started the day with a plan...then within fifteen minutes the plan changed. Always. :)

John worked on getting all the edgers in the backyard the way HE wanted them. I worked on moving the large mound of dirt (was suppose to be support for above ground pool before we had nine cats) around the yard to make a more level area.

It sounds simple, but we were out there working on these two projects for at least ten hours. We are both exhausted! And the storm that came through last night waking all of us didn't help us recover all that well from yeterday's work.

I did get a few pictures taken though.

Climbing...her favorite thing.

I wonder what she has.

Jesse's garden.

Chloe found another snail shell in the yard.

Whew, I'm tired (you have to do the southern drawl on tired)

I don't think we stopped for very long today. We started the day at Lowe's, of course. We needed mulch for the front yard and some plant food. Chloe got her six-pack of marigolds (Jesse took the first six-pack) and one orange french marigold.

So, what was accomplished today:

second hibiscus planted
hydrangea moved to new location
mulched half of new hydrangea area (11 bags) - ran out of mulch
mulch on the up hill side of the house (in the front yard)
girls' hummingbird feeders out and filled
most of Chloe's plants planted (Jesse is finished, until early April)
all plants fed/watered
weed block/mulch in backyard (15 bags)
all weeds and kitchen scraps (able to) put into compost bin
two trips to Lowe's (one tonight to prepare for in the morning)

A think we accomplished quite a good bit of work today. The yard is looking great. Just need to finish up all the mulch and get the garden prepared for this year.

Also, we believe Morgan was in a pageant tonight (the text message was a bit vague). We hope she did great and are hoping to hear about the outcome.

Not as much as before

I was in the backyard tonight, unloading mulch from the van. I stood up on the hill looking down across the lawn and realized as much as we have left to do it is still much less than where we were last year at this time. Last year we had no yard. Okay, a front yard, but it ended where the house started.

Remember this?

Today, I am happy to report, we saw our brother-in-law, who had back surgery a few weeks ago, and he looks great! And we were very happy to see him doing well.

We actually did get out to do some yard work this afternoon. The girls have all of their plants in the ground. I have one hibiscus planted. (I had forgotten why planting anything in our yard is so difficult...roots! Tree roots between one-to-two inches in diameter everywhere!) John has his boards up at the base of the deck, to keep mulch in the garden. And we finally put the composter together and have started using it, though I need to do some reading up on the subject.

I unloaded fifteen bags of mulch for the backyard and we need a few more for the front yard. We also need about twenty-to-thirty more pavers for the front yard. I need to move my hydrangea (it does not like its current home). I have more leaves that need to meet my yard vac. There are weeds and a paver that need attention in the verbena bed. Grass needs to be removed from around my Japanese cherry and pavers placed around it, to prevent the grass from growing there again. Just a lot of small projects that add up to a lot more work.

Flower garden started

My rose bush has a new home...finally.

Ever feel like you're being watched?? Brownie!

Chloe watering.

Jesse planting.

Jesse with her daisies.

Chloe with the plants she completed tonight.

Here are a couple of my favorite pictures.

Drama!

Yep, today was the first day of drama class. Jesse won a prize for answering a question correctly, but she doesn't remember what the question was. {eye roll} So her. ;) They now have homework to create a character they will be for the remaining classes. THIS should be fun to watch!

Since we didn't get so much done on the flower gardens this weekend I am hoping we can go out there tonight and get some things planted. Fingers crossed!! If we do, I'll post some pictures. :)

So much for that thought

We were suppose to complete the girls' flower gardens today. But last night Jesse started feeling, kind of, icky. She was up and down all night going to the bathroom. Today, she slept most of the day. She still has not had much to eat, so we are watching her.

I hope tomorrow morning we can get out and plant some of the flowers/seeds. I still need to move my rose bush and hibiscus plants too.

Christmas Eve 2009

I am happy to report that Santa will be getting cookies from the Morgan children this year. In fact, they made the dough yesterday afternoon with the aide of John and last night they cut them out and put on the sprinkles. I did get to cut out a couple of them (everyone's favorite part).

John says I make him look crazy here, so I'm going to address that for those who do not know John like I do. John loves to "find" things to pick on me and the girls about. When he does find something (like computer use) he doesn't let go. He'll pick about something off and on for months! I can go an entire day without checking my emails but I sit down late to do it then John will find me and act like I've been there for hours. He's not being mean or demanding, but when he is in a good mood he loves to pick. Luckily, his mother warned me of that trait years ago.

The girls room is still a work in progress, but it has come a long way. We still have to work on half the room (where their beds are) but we'll get there by the end of next week I'm sure.

I still have not touched the classroom. I just need to rearrange a few things to make it work better. I also need to finish their grades for this semester. And I'm still working on the list of books I need to order, so when school starts I don't have to worry about "thinking" just doing.

Santa arrives tonight and the girls are excited, kind of a sedated excited. Jesse is still pointing out to Chloe that it is giving and not receiving that is most imporant. We "gave" the librarians more treats yesterday. I think Jesse likes to give things that are baked/made so she can help. I don't think we could do enough for the people at the library. They are always so willing to help us every week with our homeschool selections and the "for fun" reading. I am very thankful for them.

Well, off to start a turkey!

A day in Charlotte...

The girls, Rosie and I went to Charlotte today, while John went to work. :(

The girls had a good time picking tomatoes and cucumbers with Grandpa. And Chloe's favorite passtime is helping Grandma stamp her Avon books. We were only there for a few hours but the girls made the best of it and tried really hard to wear out Grandpa and Grandma.

Jesse with Grandpa's tomato plants. I wish my thumb were that green!

This is about half of my Dad's strawberry plants. Some are red, but there are a lot of little green ones still growing. Can't wait! We did have a strawberry cake there (cake, cool whip, strawberries). YUM!

This picture really does not show you just how large this squash plant really is, Dad says it's three plants.

My Dad's fish pond he has been working on for a while. The top left of the pic, the bucket, is the top of the waterfall. The fish were hiding so I couldn't get a pic.

Yard work...

well, I finally got back to working on the "horror flick" weeds that had encompassed our deck. It looks great but I still have to get the weeds out from under the deck (one is growing through the crack between the boards). John is wanting to put up lattice around the bottom of the deck, but I don't know when we will actually get it done. I've been researching plants, again, to see what I can find that we both like. Believe me it is harder than it sounds. I was very disappointed yesterday morning, when I let the dog out, to find my Mexican Heather had died overnight. Two days ago, it was absolutely beautiful (yes, I've been watering). My verbena doesn't look too great either. I fertilized everything last night, including the Mexican Heather, and now I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

We've been bouncing ideas for the backyard back and forth for a while now. But we have finally agreed on what we are going to do with...the side yard. Did ya see that one coming? The dog next door, and it's people, are becoming issues. So, we are ironing out the details and hopefully in the next couple of months we'll have, at least the side between us and them, landscaped to solve a couple of those problems. Again, keeping our fingers crossed.

Update on the garden: PBBTTT. We now know for sure that our dirt is impersonating soil. The corn never got over a couple of feet and the tomato plants were trying to grow tomatoes when they were six inches tall. We've give up for this year, but know what we have to do next year. Amend. Amend. Amend. And figure out a better place for the garden. But we did get some great cucumbers from my Dad's garden. "Thanks Dad!"

It's alive...

We were out on the deck tonight, when I happen to look out at the tree I planted a few weeks ago. Leaves are growing back! I am so glad it is coming back.

Dog/Garden Updates...

Well, we've now had Rosie for a full day (a day that started at 4:43am when she told me she had to go out). She has had a couple of accidents today, which I fully understand with her being a puppy. I think she is starting to learn her name, but she isn't fully convinced yet. lol We went out tonight to get her a couple of chew toys (I can't seem to find Maggie's old toys she didn't play with). We were all kind of shocked by her reaction. The girls picked a pink, squeaky dog (wiener dog); when Rosie saw it she went kind of nuts. She took it immediately then ran to the door and whined and whined and whined. I took her out thinking she had to go. She did go but as soon as she came back in she took the pink dog and whined again. I finally let her out with the pink dog to see what she was going to do. She took it out, then plopped down in the grass and put her head on it. Humm. Not sure, but I know its related to the almost nine weeks of her life we know nothing about. I'm sure she'll adjust to playing inside with her toys...eventually.

The garden is loving the rain, well some plants are loving it. The corn is now about three-and-a-half inches tall. The okra is doing well. There is only one confirmed eggplant and all the lettuce and broccoli was apparently covered by the downward slide of sand during the rain (all gone). So that is where we stand with that. John is excited about the corn though, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed for him!

Garden update...

The girls are so excited about the garden now (not that they weren't before). We now have two okra plants popping their wee little heads out. A bunch of broccoli, many because I just sprinkled the tiny seeds out thinking it would be too late in the year, but they are coming up like crazy. We also a good bit of lettuce showing too. There might be one eggplant coming out or a weed, honestly, we don't know yet. The corn is growing like crazy its already about 2-3 inches tall. John told me to plant two seeds in each hole in case it didn't turn out as well as we hoped. So, now we have two plants in each hole! We've decided we are going to dig another "plot" and transplant half the corn, rather than sacrificing any of it...just in case. I, personally, still have big hopes for this garden. I'm hoping it will not only feed us, but teach the girls more about food and where it comes from and what it takes to get it to the grocery store. Let's face it, with us, everything is educational!