Spring Planting

In the house we grew up in, we had a hill in our back yard much like mine. Maybe that's why I hate mine so much. Only, my parents had a retaining wall that separated the hill from our backyard. Still, it was my dad's responsibility to keep the hill weeded, planted, and pretty. My parents love to garden. We always had pretty backyards no matter where we lived. My dad always tried to get Becky and I to help him weed and plant. Especially weed. We would fight him every step of the way.

As you know, we've been on a home improvement kick over here this month. Today, our plan was to plant some spring flowers in preparation for Easter and to continue our beautification project. When we took the girls to Home Depot today to pick out flowers, Bella immediately said, "We should call Papa because he loves to plant!" Never shying away from gardening help, I quickly handed her my phone and had her call him. He would never say no to his granddaughter. Sure enough, they beat us home ready to help with the girl's garden.

One of the areas we have never addressed since living here is the side of the house. Yesterday at Costco, we bought beautiful lavender plants for that area. Well, like everything else, that area was full of weeds. Papa gave it the old college try and said, "Girls, come help me weed this area."
Olivia quickly replied, "I don't weed."
Bella replied, "I'm a reader, not a weeder."
It was like my childhood all over again. We laughed so hard.

So, we got down to business. This is Bella's garden right outside her window. She chose the flowers herself. On either side of her flowers are jasmine plants that are about to bloom any second. Her room always smells so good in the spring.
Olivia chose purple petunias. She helped dig the holes and told me exactly where each plant should go. Hopefully the bunnies will leave everything alone.

Oh, how are the lavender plants coming you ask? As with everything, it seems, we hit a snag. We discovered that there wasn't a sprinkler on the side of the house, so Andy went to Home Depot to get the supplies to add a sprinkler before he can even start planting. We started this project at 10:30 this morning. It's 2:30 now and he's still out there. Poor guy. He doesn't feel good, he hates gardening, and he hit a snag. I hate when that happens!! (He wasn't smiling when I tried to take a picture of him, but he looked too mean so I made him take another one!)

The best part, by far, is that we FINALLY got new cushions for our outside table. I should have really taken before and after photos so you could see how barn-ish our old cushions were, but I was so excited to get the new ones on I didn't even bother.

I think I am going to have to invite you all over for an outdoor party when our backyard is all prettied up!