Enjoying Nature

On this lazy rainy day I would like to take a look at what this rainy day will bring.

Glorious Blooms of vibrant colors.

Small little miracles.

And little boys that run around looking at flowers so that they can find "wady bugs".

Seeds for next season.

Hello Sunshine, on a day like today I like to look at you.

Dainty little fuzzy flowers. The colors are just drop dead gorgeous.

Ah but what is this?

That annoying little electrical box, so happy to have you at Halloween and Christmas, but now you are just an eye sore among all the pretty colors.

It is huge, but I have a solution!

Ah, much better! Maybe I should dig out some Christmas lights and make the star glow too! Yes! Yes, indeed...next week I think I will find the time.

I wish I could be that little frog among all the pretty flowers and the pretty smells.

And I think next week I will find some time to make this view a little prettier too. It needs some help! Some flower boxes, hanging baskets, and bird houses are what I envision...some definite bling is needed!

Some inspiration for the fence.

Stayed tuned to see what I actually come up with.

Diaper Cakes How-To

So yesterday I had the privilege of helping a good friend throw a baby shower for another friend that recently moved here. One of the tasks I took on was to make a diaper cake. I had already purchased diapers for the couple as a gift, so I figured how tough would it be to create it into a beautiful center piece for the co-ed shower.

Some of things you will need to reconstruct your own diaper cake:

Some sort of platter/cake plate

Around 100 diapers

Large rubber bands

Clear rubber hair bands

Ribbon

Double sided tape

Baby bling/toys

Ribbon

2 Baby Bottles (I have also seen Sparkling Cider used)

You start with one of your baby bottles and your cake stand/platter. I also ended up putting a diaper inside of the bottle when I knew I had enough to fill out the cake.

Next you start rolling all those diapers. You start at the waist band and roll them tight.

They should end up being about the size of a spring roll...ummm...spring rolls! Have I told you yet about some yummy spring rolls that are in the freezer section...sorry back to topic!

So this is what the package of clear hair bands look like, you can use the teeny tiny ones for the rolled diapers.

Neat little rolled diaper with the clear band on.

So easy N thought he would give it a try too...what a little helper!

Once you get a bunch you break out one of those larger rubber bands and circle them around the bottle.

On the bottom tier you will do 3 rows of the rolled diapers like so.

Then you start the second tier, and do two rows of the rolled diapers.

Now you can use some double sided tape to secure the next bottle on top of the first one, or not. I didn't because I wanted to be able to remove the top tier for transporting it to the party.

You will do one layer of the rolled diapers.

Next you can use some of the double sided tape to use the ribbon to cover up the rubber bands.

Next I attached the baby bling/toys using more of the rubber bands and tooth picks.

After letting it set over night I thought that it needed more, so I added the second thinner ribbon to break up all the green one.

The happy couple with his mom and sister at the party. Many of the guests thought that the diaper cake was real until they got real close. I think for my first time it turned out great. I know that there are other ways to make it, but this seemed the easiest/quickest for the time I had. In all I think I spent just over in hour creating it, and spent around $50. So what do you think?

Garden Tour

So I've been busy in the front flower bed for the past couple of months. Since our house is new construction the plants they provided were babies when we moved in at the end of last summer. This spring there were 5 known plants that didn't make it, and even then the bed seemed sparse and not too colorful.

This first shot are perennials that made it, there were 2 more bunches for 5 total. I think 5 of these were a little over kill, so I put in a different flower.

Hello sunshine. I put in 2 of these in those empty holes and then squeezed in another for good measure. I always like to do plantings in odd numbers, 3 or 5 for the most part depending on the project size of the plant.

A close up of a pretty bush, I think a false spirea, and its purple fuzziness.

I also added some Lavender right next to the door/window. Every time I step out I can smell it.

We have a little bench in the bed with a side table, perfect for sitting on when the boys are playing out front.

The spoon was a gift from our dear friend Stacy, check out her blog. "It all began in a garden" is stamped on it, a perfect little message with a dual message. I'm still waiting for those "moss roses" to really open up...I had to move it the cute little caddy to a different location as it was leaving rust on the glass. I will probably have more updates throughout the season as the flowers bloom (or die and are replaced) and I find more little treasures to add.

A couple of great friends brought me this pot for my Birthday last week...it fits in perfect with the rest of the flowers/colors I have going on.

This long planter sits right below with my cute little frog chillaxing in it...

allowing the gnome to do all the work with the flowers.

One of my huge pots, I planted two identical ones, that welcomes you up the sidewalk. The second one unfortunately didn't like all the water it was getting. Our sprinklers go off twice a day for 15 minutes each...so does our neighbors...and my flowers were buried at sea. I am still looking at a soggy mess, some were salvaged and were welcomed by sister planters, but some are still soaked in while I come up with a better plan.

Well this ends today's garden tour, stay tuned as I continue to enjoy the sun and making this temporary house our home.

Flowers from Mother's Day

I was very lucky this Mother's Day. J returned from his "trip" the Friday before. He got in early, 3:30ish and we were home in time to eat supper together and happened to be home when I got a delivery from FedEx.

These Pics are from 2 weeks later, they arrived in bud form and also had blue iris that looked fresh when they arrived. I just threw out the last of the Stargazer Lilies yesterday...they were beautiful and smelled wonderful!

J ordered them from proflowers.com, I also order flowers from time to time from them for my family. We have always had good luck with them and are reasonably priced.

Birthday Surprise

So on Sunday we celebrated another Birthday, mine. The power was out in our neighborhood for repairs, so we headed to Roseville to see a movie and check out the Galleria Mall. We took the boys to see Rio, which they enjoyed and headed to the food court of the mall. The boys were being nothing less then a handful, I think they left their listening ears at home...so we ate and left. However, we stopped on the way home at a Verizon store and I got my Birthday present of the new iPhone 4.

Later that afternoon my good gal pals came and kidnapped me for a movie, Bridesmaids, and brought me these wonderful flowers and a gift card so I can (and did) buy more flowers.

After the movie they dropped me off and unknown to me they had made plans to "fork"our yard.

"Yard Art"

The boys thought it was hilarious that adults would do this to each other.

N was excited to help mom out and pick up all the forks.

They are still in the bucket in the garage, because I like to recycle...and I know where my friends live...duh right. So don't be surprised if there is a post coming up with my own "Yard Art".

Sneak Peek of Flowers....

So I have been busy planting some flowers around here to replace those that were provided, but died, and to add some more color compared to those they provided. We were semi-lucky that they at least put our larger bushes in the back, some houses ended up having bushes in the front and little plants behind, remind me not to hire the landscapers they used :) In all about 5 of the provided perennials were dead come springtime.

I found these Lilies at the Bx (kinda like a Walmart for base), for super cheap. I think they were $4/pot and off base they were selling for $7. I ended up not knowing what color they were since they were in bud form, but I ended up with 2 orange and 3 that remind me of a sunset, multi-orange.

These pics were taken pre-planting and they have been in for over 2 weeks now and have lost most of their blooms due to their age and the wind we have been having, but I will look forward to them blooming again next year. I am now working in putting some creeping phlox for some ground cover in the same beds. It seems like once a week or so I have to go and check out what they have and work it into the flower beds, pots and baskets. I am still toying with the idea of making some hip high elevated beds for behind the fence to put veggies in....by the time I actually get around to doing it I might not end up with anything, but then I would have them for next year :)

My Lil' Funny Man

Thought I would share some great recent pictures of N.

And back to drinking some sprite, which caused all the funny faces.