spring is here

 spring is here

spring is here

it's my favorite 

time of year!

Anyone heard "Little Bill" sing that one?  

It's playing on my internal stereo system right now. 

 I like it better than the "Lemonade Mouth" song that I couldn't get out of my head yesterday (something about determinate?).  

Mercedes told me to sing "Popcorn," so that would be in my head instead.  I promptly told her that I wasn't in the mood to have "the popcorn song" playing just then.  Aside from "bubble guppies," popcorn is the kids' fave song to sing together.

On Wednesday the boys and I took a fun trip to Home Depot, which only included one trip to the public potty (Lincoln wanted to participate - perhaps it's his turn to be trained?), and where we purchased some fun plants for the front yard.

Last fall we ripped out all but two plants from our front yard.  It felt quite overgrown to us.  Here's a pic of what it looked like before we moved in:

Before

We kept the beautiful Japanese Maple, which Brent thinned and shaped, and one of the front bushes.  Out came the huge pine-something-or-other that was almost as tall as the house.  We ripped out the huge flower bed shown on the left as well as some gi-nor-mous shrubs.  It was pretty, but overgrown.  In fact, we didn't realize just how big the yard was until we ripped everything out.

Once we started on the yard we didn't know what to do - it was so very overgrown that I just wanted to start over.

So we did.

We soded the flower bed to the left, and now the kids have a fun little hill to roll down (which they love).

Eventually I'll put a current picture up, but we still have some work to do.

So far we've planted a Mandevilla, which will climb the (stage) right porch column.  Brent's not too excited about that - he despises vines.  We also added: some tall grasses (one red and one green), a gardenia, a pink azalea that is bursting with blossoms, two hydrangeas, a weeping lavender redbud tree (an online purchase, so it's bare and just looks like a stick in the ground right now), some beautiful vinca (ground-cover) and just two annuals - a yellow begonia and something else I don't remember the name of.

I didn't expect to enjoy yard work, but it's very fulfilling.

I love to make things pretty.  It's nice to have some color in front of the house.  We have a long way to go, which includes planting some annuals on Saturday, and finding a dwarf cherry or apple tree.  I'm excited to finish the planting phase and add some kind of border to the beds and then mulch them.

I dreamed about having our very own home for so very long and it's as great as I'd hoped.  So much fun to put my own footprint on it.

azalea

begonia

mandevilla - I think I'd like to get a white one, as well

periwinkle vinca minor

the hydrangeas will probably turn blue

weeping redbud - I'm sure it will take years to get this big.
Maybe by the time we move...?

Thanks, Dad for answering all of my questions each time I call.  I don't really know what I'm doing, but I'm having fun!  Here's to hoping everything lives...