cozyblue

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a little pop of color in the corner of the garden

are you ready for the weekend?

well, i am!  by the time you read this i will be on my way to west virginia.  by.  my.  self!  



one of my very best buds in this world, emily, is getting married, and i am taking the whole weekend to myself to travel there, hang out with all of my very favorite people, and cheer emily on.  it's gonna be great!  i am so, so excited!



but, as excited as i am, i'm also a little nervous.  this'll be the first time in 7 years that i have been away from my little ones for more than a day...  and this will be three whole days!
i think it'll be great for me, and i'm so happy to be spending time with my friends.  but i know i'll be missing the kiddos like crazy, and probably will be crying before i hit the state line.



stig will be home with them for the weekend, and i know they will all be fine.  they'll have fun.  stig will probably let them watch tv all day, which they will love.  they'll leave toys, dirty clothes, and dishes all over the house, and will have wrestling matches on the bed (which drives me crazy! -- they'll fall off!).  but he'll read them bedtime stories and tuck them in, and maybe make pancakes in the morning (their favorite!) and give them tons of maple syrup.



and i'll be fine.  i'll have fun, and maybe even have an uninterrupted conversation!  i won't know what to do with myself without someone to keep track of, or someone to make food for, or someone who needs some mama-ing.
but i do need a reminder (that last longer than a few hours) that i am more than a mama.  for so long that's been my main gig, and it's one that i do pretty well and enjoy immensely.  it's familiar and comforting, and it's my most favorite thing to be.  but i think i will be doing myself good to get out of my comfort zone a little more, and reconnect with the rest of me.



so, i'm off!  i'll be back in a few days with an update and some pictures, and lots of fun memories.
and in the meantime, i've got one of griffin's hot wheels in my purse, and one of adella's tiny animals in my pocket.
xo



p.s.  the photos are some garden pics that i took this week.  everything is so pretty now...  there are more pics over on flickr!

let's talk green

this year, we're trying something a little different with our veggie patch.
we have never had much (if any) luck growing vegetables.  our yard is almost all shade, which is great for so many reasons, but not great for growing vegetables.  and the soil is hard, packed, and full of clay.  over the past few years i have tried to grow tomatoes and other veggies in a variety of spots in our yard, and in a variety of containers.  to put it simply -- most years have been a disappointment.

so this year, i decided to try straw bale gardening .  i did a little research and felt optimistic enough to try it out, in a small area next to our driveway.  this area (since it's the driveway) doesn't have as much tree cover as the rest of the yard, so i thought it might be a good spot.  also, it was just wasted space anyway.


here it is, just planted, on may 7th

so, we've planted a few things:  basil, parsely, cilantro, a few varieties of tomatoes, green and yellow squash, watermelon, and strawberries.  we started small, with a minimal investment of money, time, and energy.
i added a soaker hose to make it as easy as possible for me to give it enought water (but we've had plenty of rain, so we're all good there).  and i tossed in a packet of zinnia seeds to add a little color.
and now, we wait...  

and here are a few pics from last week:






so far, so good!  the plants are healthy and growing pretty nicely.  nothing has died.  the tomatoes have tiny blossoms, and we even have a small handful of strawberries that adella checks on daily.

on a related note, we have grass!  have you been to our house?  if so, you know what a hard time we've had with our lawn (again, the hard soil, the full shade).  

a few example photos here:




so early this spring, we got a wild idea to rent a giant garden tiller, dig up the yard, and start all over with fertilizer, lime, and grass seed.

and now, see here!  we have grass!  a lawn!





my flower beds are looking a little more fabulous this year too.  it still isn't the super-lush arrangement that i want it to be, but the plants are so happy!  they are getting so big and full, and are spreading and mingling very nicely.  soon the hydrangeas will bloom, and the black-eyed-susans, and the lavender.  i can't wait!  photos to come, so be ready.
it's good to be green.

just a little photoshop experiment

(adella says 'experience' instead of the word 'experiment' -- i love that.)

when you're an inchworm...

little (gentle) hands just can't resist picking you up.

the face that belongs to those hands probably looks like this:



and this:



and flowers probably look like this:



not bad, little inchworm.

and just for fun, here's another post (part I), from almost two years ago, featuring adella and another inchworm friend.

we ::heart:: spring

everybody say 'waterfall', originally uploaded by cozyblueliz.

we've been happily busy this past week, enjoying the beautiful spring weather. and i've just uploaded oodles of photos to flickr, so please hop on over and check them out.
click right here to see a slideshow -- it's fun!

(i think the pictures do a better job of summing up our days than i could, anyway!)

xo

just one afternoon at the park, part II - the plants

these last few days...

what a week!  i just posted a TON of photos over on flickr...  you should go there and see them!  

click!  when you do, you'll see lots of fun things, like this:



and this:



and this:



and some of this too:



go!  and be sure to come back tomorrow for a big super-exciting event...