Mother's Day Weekend so far........

My daughter is here for the weekend.  Yes, The Beautiful Redhead herself is in the HOUSE!

So far, only myself and My Oldest Baby have showered, the Overnight Creme Brulee French Toast is ready and waiting in the fridge, and My Oldest Baby has warmed up something called Buffalo Wings Pepperoni Rolls for breakfast, because he just can't wait.

I have my favorite old T shirt and a pair of the boys' old shorts on, with an ELASTIC band, that's right.  I did not shave my legs, either.  We are planning some shenanigans, good meals, working on the flower beds, and general lazy laying around.

We are also going through old pictures and trying to get them somehow scanned into a place I can download them with my limited technical "skillz".

I have no idea when that might be coming.  You know me.  *shrugs*

and in other news, the devil's members continue to rise.  I tend to think they are probably poisonous.  Ugh.

The stump with the transplanted Lambshire around it and an unwelcome guest rearing it's ugly head.  The first one wilted.  You can see the remains at the 4 o'clock position in this picture.

Get thee behind me, satan.  Is that an insult to poisonous mushrooms?  I'm not even sure.........

Treasures and Terrors.......

A few things...........

You know the saying about how "a watched pot never boils"?  True, also, with seeds.  I have placed the Sweet Pea along the fence, where it holds it's own but is not twining up the fence yet.  When The Beautiful Redhead was about 3, I called her "sweet pea" one evening and she looked at me very seriously, then wrinkled her adorable little brow and asked "Did you just call me sweet pee?  Thus began her floral and faunal education.

The Four O'Clock's have been springing forth and the Astors have their heads above aground, but there they just sit.  I clipped back some Panseys to make them bush out.  The Lavendar, well, I don't even want to talk about the Lavendar.  It's apparently not my thing.  Yet.  In fact, I am a little bit mad at Lavendar and sorely disppointed in my Lavendar specifically.  It could not care any less.  Oh, well.  Same goes for the Lily of the Valley, although I continue to watch hopefully, fool that I am.  How it can be so hard to get something that will take over started is, at present, the great mystery of my life.  Which reminds me, I have a very good life.

Digging around in the dirt of an old stump that I am going to plant Lambshire all around, I found this.

It about scared me to death, and, call me what you will, my first thought was "devil's, ahem, member".  I don't know if it's supposed to be a mushroom or if it's some kind of fungus or what, but I left it alone to find out.  Because I like to live without a safety net, I guess.  And I also am contemplating what my first thought reveals about the way my mind works, but that is another post, my dears. Anyway, if you know what this is, let me know.  My nightmares will thank you.

As if to make up for it, this afternoon I found this.  I just bent down to pull up a thistle and there it was, waiting for me.

This took me back to what seems, in retrospect, to have been many afternoons spent with my mother on a blanket in the yard.  I cannot be sure if we did that kind of thing all the time or I just remember the one time we found a four leaf clover.  Either way, my mother carried that four leaf clover in her wallet till the end of her days on earth.  It brought her back to me in a way that is becoming quite familiar.  When I planted the Morning Glory seeds along the fence she was with me.  I clearly remember the first time she planted them, and how excited she was when they came up, and it happened down here.

Part of her legacy to me is the fact that I am putting in lots of flowers, both perrenial and wild.  She loved the wildflowers, as I do, and I have spent many days recently slowly walking through my yard and transplanting the great variety into the beds.  Wild Phlox, Daiseys, Bachelor's Buttons, and Four O'Clocks will line the driveway and house. 

 Iris will bloom along the ditch in front on the street.  Just about any kind of flower you can imagine that grows wild will make bigger and bigger beds until there is hopefully little left to mow.

At least, that is my plan.  Next year, just more.  Maybe move 'em around a bit, but basically just let nature take over.  I plan to just pull it out and give other people starts every year.

Also available is plenty of ground cover, in the form of vines, including Trumpet Vine galore.  I planted a couple of Willow trees, along with Honeysuckle and a Wasillia Bush from Janine.  I don't know if I spelled that right but either I did or spellcheck doesn't know the difference either.  This is what the world has come to.

We will see what happens.  Despite the appearance of the Devil's member, we will just focus on the four leaf clover.

Tiny Dancers......

When my oldest pretend grandchild, Abigail, was about 3, she went through a phase where she was crazy about ballerinas.  I can remember her getting so excited every time she saw a ballerina doll that she would exclaim, "Mimi!  LOOK!  A balWEENa!"  I still, to this day, sometimes pronounce it "balweena", just because it was so cute.  Needless to say, there was a year or two there where everyone bought her ballerina dolls, and she has quite a collection.

Those days are gone, now, but yesterday we got to see our very own 'balweena' at her recital.  The 'balweena' dream stuck with my Abigail long enough for her to get to give us a performance.  The cuteness is hard to put into words. 

 

Getting ready

Would you believe that her mother had somehow, miraculously, found the ever elusive red lipstick?  I must admit, that red lipstick is just the thing if you are going to be performing on stage.  Seeing her with eye makeup almost made me cry, she is growing up so fast and she looks so much like her beautiful mother.

I laughed instead of cried though, when Rosie requested make up also and her mother declared that she must wait until kindergarten to wear makeup "like all the other girls".  This cracked us all up and had the two little ones looking at the grownup women and wondering what was so funny.  It's hard to explain to small children how much the world has changed.  I kind of doubt they would believe it anyway.

The cuteness..........I can't...........

I watched her walk into the auditorium with her robe hanging unevenly due to the tutu, and blinked back tears.  She was just a little nervous, but looking forward to her performance.

Anything anyone might need is packed in those bags.  That momma has it goin' on, yo.

Her mother, my bonus daughter, had worked all morning to get everything together and ready and despite the fact that she is carrying another baby, she never slowed down or forgot a single thing.  

Bright lights, maybe a little too bright........

Unlike myself, who had forgotten to bring my camera.  I used my phone, and this was the only shot I got of her on stage.  She is the one on the far left, and she did a wonderful job.

Rosie watches from the audience.

Those ballerinas had the entire audience mesmerized.  Even the 2 year old's were good, with all that bling on the stage Rosie was captivated.  She will have a performance of her own coming up, and can I just say that when the little ones come out you can hear the entire auditorium sigh?  Seriously, all the little ones have to do to get applause is follow a bigger ballerina across the stage like so many ducklings, and you just melt.  That is all they really have to do, just stand there with tutu's, and the world is their oyster.  

Pink sweetheart roses, perfection.

After the performance we gave our ballerina her roses.  Just look at that posture!  She already looks like a dancer, don't you think?

A real ballerina, living the dream.

I did not mention that her lipstick was gone.  She would have wanted to reapply and her mother would have killed me.  I like her lips better natural anyway.  

As far as other performances go, she said she didn't want to dance anymore.  Her mother told her that she had to pick one activity to be involved in and next she wants to do gymnastics.  I am unclear on whether gymnasts wear lipstick......I'm thinking not, so it might get 'lost' for good this time.

I guess she figures she has lived the 'balweena' dream and now it's on to new dreams.  It's getting a little hard to keep up, to be frank.  Six year old's move pretty fast, but whatever is next, I will be there, cheering and supporting and being so grateful this child came into the world and my life.  It seems like a lot longer than 6 years ago......can't wait to see what the next 6 hold.