♥ Little Boys ♥

If you give a little girl sidewalk chalk, chances are she'll draw flowers, hearts, rainbows and such.

If you give a little boy sidewalk chalk, he takes a different approach.......he draws things like roads, stop signs, traffic lights, railroad tracks, and neighborhoods.   And so my little one did.  :)  He worked SO diligently.

Then a beautiful afternoon calls for getting dirty, of course.  He spent just as long playing with his construction equipment in the sandbox. 

And then what do you think he did?

He brought his mama "flowers" fresh from the yard. 

And of course, that definitely put a smile on this mama's face.  :)

♥ Tammy ♥

A Simple Country Pleasure

These days I seem to always have a jar of hand-picked fresh flowers, compliments of my kids.

And they make me smile. Who needs a dozen red roses when you can have these?  :)

Loving the Colors Outside My Window!

The simplest things can make me the happiest! One of those is all the color I'm beginning to see from my kitchen bay window these days. I can sit at my table and enjoy the view! (No curtains or blinds on those windows)!!

Just in the past few weeks, my azaela bushes have bloomed.





Then shortly after, my knockout rose bushes (love those bushes) started getting buds on them and some have already bloomed!




Not only do I get to see these sitting from my table, but we walk past them every time we walk to or from the car to go anywhere (which is alot, believe me)!



They are just covered with buds about to explode with colorful blooms!



I'm still waiting on my huge crape mrytle that frames the pool deck entrance to bloom. It doesn't bloom until a little later, but it really makes a colorful statement out there as a focal point when it does! Click here for a picture of it in bloom last year!

God really was creative with all the colors he designed for the flowers and bushes. I'm just so thankful for these little things....the beauty in the colors outside my window! :)

Have you taken a minute to enjoy the simple things and thank God for them?

In Full Bloom

Anyone that knows me well at all, knows that I don't have a green thumb at all! I've learned (the hard way) what I can grow (when it comes to flowers and shrubs). I've tried ferns on my front porch many times....keeping them spritzed and all, but our front porch gets so much wind that they end up drying out and looking spindly! I've tried petunias in hanging baskets on the front porch and they always look so bedragled! Now, I just head straight for the rose moss or spanish moss. They like me and I like them! They love sun, and dryness, and don't mind being neglected....they still grow! :) As a matter of fact, I have some rose moss in pots right now and usually also plant it in my flower boxes on the front porch too.

But, when it comes to bushes, I love my crape myrtles. I was beginning to think they weren't going to bloom this year! I think they were later this year because it was well into July before they ever began blooming and usually it's June. However, now they're in full bloom.....beautiful bursts of pink and fuschia and I am really enjoying them! I thought I'd share them with you today!

This huge one is my favorite.



It is visible outside my kitchen bay window! It is planted as the center of attention in front of the pool deck, near the stairs. I guess we did okay when we planted it there as we did all of our own landscaping. I can't imagine paying out the kind of money it costs to have it professionally done. We are do-it-yourself(ers) out of necessity! :)







These are in our front yard along our side of the driveway.



These are in my mama and daddy's front yard (next door) along their side of the driveway. We both have this same split rail fence lining the driveway.



And last of all, there's my Jason out there mowing our grass! I offered to mow it, because he was busy helping my dad tear out a bathtub for a bathroom remodel they were working on most of Sunday afternoon, but he wouldn't hear of it! He does such a great job taking care of us!



And thanks to everyone for the kind and encouraging comments on my bathroom! I really appreciate each and every one!

Have a great Tuesday! :)

Rascal Visits Again!

I was beginning to think that Mama Rabbit really scolded Rascal, her very curious and adventurous son, for coming to visit us so often and just maybe he'd been grounded, when Joy spotted him the other evening! He had grown up a bit in the last couple of weeks! He was out there snacking in the backyard! (In our badly need of mowing backyard...I might add...it's been too wet to mow until last night.) I slipped around the other side of the carport to try to get a shot of him!



Here he is a little closer....isn't he cute? Look at those ears straight up....I wonder what that means in rabbit language?



He almost seemed to pose for me....sitting long enough for me to get my shots....
(Remember you can click on the pictures to get a closer view).



then off he hopped with that cute little cotton tail in the air!



I guess next time we see him, he'll be grown up!

And while I'm speaking of our backyard visitor, I thought I'd share a few photos of my knockout rose bushes back there too.



We set them out last year and they've done really well and I love looking out of my kitchen bay window to the splash of color!





Oh and one more thing.....I'd like to thank Angie (Sandals and Daisies) for thinking of me with this super cool award!



I love visiting Angie's blog every chance I get...I love the way she writes! She is one of the most creative people I've ever "met" and she knows how to do it stretching a dollar! Thanks so much for the award, Angie, my friend! :)

Now I usually ignore the rules because I hate to have to pick and choose and because so many of my fellow bloggers are award free, but today, I've decided to actually (sort of) follow the rules and pick four. (The rules really say three and to link back to the person who gave it to you). I know four deserving young ladies to whom I'd like to give this award:

My daughter, Joy, of Doodlebug

Amber of Patchwork Angel

Thoughts From a Southern Girl

Madison of Mad Crafts

I really enjoy reading these girls' blogs! Way to go girls, you all are super cool bloggers! I know you're not mommies, but it's coming to you from a mommy and you are all future mommies! Keep up the good work on your blogs!

**********************************************************************************

Have a great Tuesday, everyone! :)

~ Tammy ~

Welcome to our Home......(Our Work in the Yard)

Our family spent most of Memorial Day weekend, a few days after Memorial Day when Jason had days off, and then this past weekend, working around the house. Jason and Colt built a new privacy fence on the west end of the house. (We lost our old one on that side to a storm recently. It's been an eyesore, plus we wanted the privacy fence back up before we started swimming in the pool back there!) This fence was a design Jason wanted to do after seeing one somewhere in town. It's more sturdy and has more character than the old one!

Joy and Colt paused for a minute for a picture. I was accused of having the camera when they blow their nose! (Can you guess which one said that?)





Jason, Colt & Joy carried the old boards off to my dad's pasture to the burn pile on the 4-wheeler and got caught in a sudden "downpour"! They came home soaking wet! They all thought it was pretty refreshing after working in the hot sun all day! I wished I had gotten a picture of them....I guess I was too busy grabbing towels and taking wet clothes to the washing machine.

Here's a picture of the new fence:


You can see the style of the old one in the top of the picture (it's the fence on the right side of the house). The new fence is on the left.

While Jason and Colt worked on building the fence, Joy and I pulled weeds in the front and back of the house. I also planted some knockout rose bushes in the back. I plan on babying them a little. I really don't have a green thumb, but years ago, I had some rose bushes that I loved so I decided to give these a try.

Here they are...I planted two light pink and one fuschia colored double knockout rose bush:


I also replaced three of our verigated monkey grass plants that didn't do well last year.


Jason also built new landscape "timbers" to frame the landscaping around the house. He made the new ones bigger which give it more character and makes them stand out better from the road.

Here's my hubby hard at work:


Then he and I painted them all to match the house. Here they are finished:



This past Saturday (in the hottest time of the day I might add), we painted that privacy fence and put down 40 something bags of mulch and spread it! Whew! We were sure a dirty sight! And it was smelly!

So here it was after we got it all put down:



Oh, and Jason did build me new flower boxes too. I kept him pretty busy, didn't I? He whipped these out in no time though! They have purslane planted in them which close up in the evening time. I took this photo in the evening. During the day, they have big pretty bright pink blooms.


This is one of my hanging baskets of spanish moss (one of the only flowers that I can actually keep alive!) I think they look so pretty with their big blooms!


Sometime during all of this work, we managed to have a nice BBQ dinner and get to the movies. We went to see Indiana Jones. That inspired us to come home and watch the previous three Indiana Jones too over a period of days. It was nice to just sit down together and enjoy something and not be working!

It sure feels good to stand back and see alot of this work behind us. There is still the fence on the other side that has to be built and I'm working on some garden decor areas in the back and sprucing up around the pool. Maybe I'll show you the backyard on another day!


Thanks for stopping by our home!

A Walk Down a Country Road

Do you ever just take a moment to observe the beauty in nature around you everyday? Sometimes we see them as weeds, pests or down right gross (speaking of some critters here), but I think God wants us to appreciate these little things in nature around us that we see and take for granted.

For ever since my kids can remember, we've been taking walks down the little country gravel road close to our house. We've taken a snack or picnic lunch and sat under a tree down there to read. We've pulled them in a wagon when they were too young to walk it. Sometimes the kids would ride their bike while Jason & I walked. Then sometimes we would just go walking to see what we could see......a nature walk we'd call it.

Yesterday's walk was a nature walk. I always hope (and sometimes pray) that we'll run across something interesting just for learning sake. I've learned though to be careful about praying for those things because God has given us some interesting surprises....surprises mom doesn't care for...as in snakes sunning in the road! Most commonly we find flowers, turtles, frogs, and various insects.

Yesterday as Joy and I walked, I took the camera along for any photo opportunities. We didn't have any critter surprises yesterday.....just wildflowers. We picked some of each and brought them home so she could look them up in a field guide, press them, label them and place in her notebook. Here's a few pics from our walk. There were a couple we couldn't find in the guide book, maybe you can tell us the name of it!

Dandelion

Anyone know what this is?

Mayweed
>
Buttercup
>

Anybody know this one?


Honeysuckle


Sitting at our kitchen table, we also watched a family of rabbits chasing each other around our backyard. They were so cute with their little white tails. I wasn't fast enough with my camera to get a picture. It's ready for them next time though!

Try taking a nature walk with your husband, kids, or even alone and see what awaits you....but take your camera because I want to see too!

Happy walking!

Faux Geraniums

What's a girl to do that loves all the pretty, colorful & cheerful flowers but just doesn't have a green thumb?

Well until now, I just avoided certain flowers because I just knew that if I had the real thing, they'd look good for a bit...then the same old thing would happen....they'd either shrivel, quit blooming or become scraggly. (Ok, I know it could be called neglecting your flowers but I really don't do it on purpose!) Or maybe flowers just know if you enjoy the watering, talking-to- them, pruning-them-process. Maybe I just don't baby them enough. Or maybe it's just that there's so many other things I'd rather be doing at that moment.

It seems to be so windy around here that the flowers dry out so quickly. And yes, I know you should water them in the early morning or the late evening, but there's two problems with that. First of all, I'm not an early rise, remember? Second of all, the mosquitos also love the early morning and late evening! And our mosquitos.....well they can carry you off!

Anyway thanks to some online friends on the Country Sampler forum, I spotted the most realistic looking faux flowers (geraniums actually). I was so excited because they really fooled my eye! I was just sure they were real!

Now, I'm still a fan of the real thing when I can use them in a spot where I know I can realistically keep them alive, but I really love geraniums and I've never had that great of luck with them (same thing for ferns and petunias most of the time). Also these were going to be going on my sunporch that for the time being is not cooled. (We have a unit coming this next week sometime though.......yeah!)

Most of the ladies on the forum had gotten their faux geraniums at JoAnns. If you're lucky enough to have a JoAnns, and aren't blessed with a green thumb (or committed to real ones), you should really check them out!

I don't have a JoAnns near me, so I decided to try out Hobby Lobby - no luck there. Although I don't usually do as well in Michaels, I decided to pop in there real quick and just see. I was very excited to find their flowering bushes (including geraniums) at 50% off. They were regularly $9.99, so I got them for $5.

So...I bought the clay pot, styrofoam, and spanish moss to do my own arrangement (all this added up to another $5). I came home and talked Jason in to brushing some white paint over the clay pot since he was out there painting on the coffee table anyway.

I put it all together and I have to say that I'm satisfied.......no I'm actually very happy....with my faux geraniums.