I am an artist …

Grace LOVES to paint and draw and color and do anything artsy. She wanted to paint last weekend and so I indulged. And I took these photos of her (and her paintbrushes) …

I Found It!!

Doh! Some 1 of you may remember that back in March we visited Callaway Gardens and I {thought} that my memory card ate lost all my pictures … OR that my eldest daughter had somehow deleted them when I found her messing with my camera while we were packing up to come home. Well …  lo and behold while packing for our last camping adventure I cleaned out a backpack and there I found a memory card! I apologize to any family members {Lydia} I accused of accidentally deleting them while messing with my camera (don't mess with my camera!).

This is the Ida Cason Callaway Memorial Chapel at Callaway Gardens.  When I was taking pictures of this chapel I had been dreaming of making this dreamy … ♥ … and now I can … and I did :)

That is all …

{Happy} Mother's Day to me ...

Saturday my dear hubby took me shopping for Mother's Day. We went to a local nursery where he normally shops for his customers, but we went to buy flowers and plants for *my* garden this time :) …

Mmmmm … Jasmine!!! I am eager to watch this grow & smell it's wonderful fragrance and train it around my garden fence ♥

Gardenia bush … can you smell it? Oh, the glorious smell of Gardenias! ♥ 

I've always wanted a Hydrangea :)

Day Lilies … ♥ the color!

I have no idea the names of half of these, but I have an idea that in no time my garden will be brimming with color and life!

Just like these girls …

Grace smelling the gardenias :)

And later he took the girls shopping for these …

I've always wanted hanging baskets and it has taken me 6 years of living in this house to get them. I ♥ them - these are what the girls picked out that they wanted to buy for me. Hanging baskets definitely make it look and feel so much more homey ♥

I hope you had a great Mother's Day … I know I did!

Spring Gardening {bliss}

The veggie garden has been planted. Raised beds were in order this year due to my utter hatred of fire ants. I'm sure they will infest the bed, but at least I won't have to walk amongst them. I decided to pretend like I have never done this before and go small. The bed is 4' x 4' and containers are also scattered along the side. Tomatoes, peppers, zucchini, basil and marigolds. And corn and beans. I'm starting those from seeds. I have never grown corn before … we'll see how that goes!

There's corn planted in them there pots …

I surrounded my raised bed with chicken wire to keep the dog out so that she might enjoy another year of life frolicking in the yard. It's not the prettiest thing ever, but it'll do.

And blueberry bushes are growing CRAZY! I think these are my favorite things in my garden! I ♥ that!! Can't wait until they are ready for harvesting this summer … mmmmmm!! I'd love to plant an apple tree and some raspberries too :)

Here is Moxie protecting my blueberry bushes from the birds :) ♥

Oh, and the strawberries …

And my flowers … cannas are coming back in full force, lamb's ear is thriving, tiger lilies are growing nicely, knockout roses are also happy.

And my clematis. How I adore them. They are pleasantly climbing the lovely arbor that my dad built for me ♥ . Last year I thought one of them (the purple one) was dead. But now … they are lovely!

I'm hoping to fill in the remaining bare areas of the garden in the next few days (translation = shopping for plants!).

One other thing … I have decided that every time I go thrifting (which is often) I am going to pick up at least one thing that can be used in the garden to plant in. The last time it was this bucket:

Grace decided to plant Mexican Heather in it. I plan to fill this garden with whatever strikes my fancy. I think those are lovely gardens ♥ .

And our shed, affectionately called "The Barn" …

And my new wasp trap. It probably won't work, but it looks nice :)

so blah blah blah … my garden is growing … & I wanted to share the pictures with you :)