End of the school year

it's the end of the school year here. It's so hard to believe that another year has passed , my children are growing so fast . my mother always told me that time seems to pass much faster after the kids are in school , she was so right .

    Justin , our oldest is going into third grade. I vividly remember third grade. Who my friends were, who my crushes were on . I feel myself excited to watch him grow and so sad at the same time. I'm very aware that these days of my life are the best. Even when u feel I'm pulling my hair out with frustration , I wouldn't change a thing. 

Spring!!!

It's been a while since I've blogged . life has been busy as usual  with children , work, and life in general . unfortunately I was sick for most of the winter with liver and kidney issues. I feel much better now and after being stuck inside I was very eager for spring !!
this year I decided to try start seeds under a grow light system . I checked out the web and various blogs I followed determined to find a DIY version after seeing these systems can cost up to $500.00 . my husband built me a very simple system using shop lights . the difference in my seedlings was huge versus just starting them in a sunny window like I had always done .
    as the ground thawed I started to think about getting truck loads of soil and manure like I had in the past . I wanted to expand my gardens and figured I was going to have to spend about $400.00 . I started talking to friends and was lucky enough to have a friend who had horses. She delivered a huge truck load of composted manure for me for free. I don't know anyone who gets as excited about free horse poop than me lol.
     my daughter lily and my son jayden ages 8 & 4 are my biggest outdoor helpers , we shoveled and trucked wheelbarrows  full of manure to our new garden areas . we've had a lot of rain so far this season but my gardens are still doing great ! I'm going to make it point to post updates this summer on the progress.

Shining star

Recently I found a little project for my husband , I like to keep him on his toes :) I got this fun easy idea over at this blog , here's a link http://www.littlebitfunky.com/2012/11/20-minute-crafter-make-giant-star-for.html
such a cute idea , I love how simple and cheap it was to make !

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Creativity

 After gardening season ended , I found myself sad and missing a hobby to keep me busy , something to help me unwind after kids were all in bed . So after not painting for about 10 years , I started again . And with most things that I start with passion , I sometimes painted three paintings a night . Here are a few :)

Home sweet home , even for fairies

Recently we spent a beautiful summer day at a local camp ground visiting with family and enjoying nature .
 They were having a fun class on Fairy houses , I decided to video tape some of ours. Click the link below to check it out .

Lily's fairy house video

Neat and Tidy

I've never been a neat and tidy person . Sometimes I feel like I crave chaos , it feels comfortable in an uncomfortable way .
  I dream of being one of those moms with a large family whos' super organized having everything labeled and put away right where it belongs . So , I'll go crazy and clean the laundry room for four hours only to have it all piled on top of the dryer two weeks later . I've gone through stages when my house was kept really clean but I found I didn't have time to play with the kids , and do the other things I enjoy . By the time I was done cleaning from floor to ceiling feeling anxious the entire time , I was exhausted .
  Lately I have been scouring other gardeners blogs , I'm especially interested in seeing photos about the process in which their  garden grows .Its so interesting to me to see others artistic talents .It helps me to look at things a different way . Are you a " neat and tidy" gardener, does everything have a place , Is it well planned out ahead of time  ? Or are you more like me , I'm a spur of the moment gardener . I see something in a greenhouse , store , or online and decide I have to have to have it , Get home find an empty place in my garden , plop it in and hope it flourishes. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't .

   I don't always have a ton of extra cash for gardening and I suppose I could be planning things out better , But the impatience in me wins out most of the time .Maybe someday when I'm retired and my kids have grown and moved out  ( insert crying jag here ) my house may be clean , It may be well planned out , But I'm kind of hoping I'll be one of those quirky , artsy grandmas . Slightly unorganized but fun .