Grace Like Rain

Thursday, May 28, 2009

Happy Birthday, Tyler!

This past weekend, Emily and I went down to Dallas for my nephew Tyler's 4th birthday party.

Party in Pictures ...

And a little video for your viewing pleasure ... Tyler playing with one of his birthday presents.

Since I am off work the rest of the week, Emily and I decided to go to the park this morning. Emily is a pretty good little negotiator and she asked for a guaranteed 12 minutes of play time. But we actually stayed way longer than that.

Finders Keepers

When someone leaves stuff laying out in my yard, I automatically fill it with flowers. I wonder if someone will come looking for their boot? Hmmmm ...

I sure hope not because I won't have a place to put my hibiscus and my mandevilla and my other little plant. And it looks really nice next to my red garden wagon.

And speaking of the wagon, I finally got some plants to go in it. I went with a red theme ... red caladiums and some other kind of red "star flower" along with a bit of snake plant and a couple other things.

I think the wagon turned out really cute. I just hope I can keep the pots watered well this summer. They are a bit on the small side so I think they'll take daily watering to stay alive.

I also found this little plant in the discount bin at the garden center this weekend. I call it the squiggly plant. Any idea what variety this might be?

And one parting shot ... one of my favorites ... Wave petunias spilling out of a hanging basket. And they smell so sweet? Don't believe me? Wish I could put them on smellovision for you all.

A Check, A Check, A Big Fat Check!

I got my Big Fat Check from Ebates in the a mail today. Woo! I was so excited to open it and see how much money I got back. It was over $50!!!! Mama's gonna have her a little shopping spree!

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Wet Weekend and Who's Dancing Their Way Home

Last week, I predicted that we would have - yet - another - wet weekend. So did it happen?

No! We had no rain on Saturday or Sunday. We got out a did some Garden Center shopping both days. I didn't take any pictures yet, but I will try to do that later this week. We got some really neat and interesting things. And the daylilys are just blooming more and more every day.

Who's Dancing Their Way Home

My sweet mother-in-law gave me this week's Dancing With the Stars spoiler. If you don't want to know, then don't continue reading. Anyway ... apparently, the TV Guide on some cable providers indicates that the finalists are Shawn Johnson and Gilles Marini. That means my personal favorite - Melissa is dancing her way home.

So what do you think? Are Shawn Johnson and Gilles the best dancers of DWTS Season 8?

Do you see what I see?

Yep, it's the first daylily blossom of the season. I am overjoyed by this little fellow.

And it looks like we'll have new daylilys tomorrow. There are two bright orange buds on this one. The flower in this bottom picture is one of the late-comer daffodils. I probably have 20 daffodils in bloom right now.

And look at home many buds are on this one plant! I mean it is just overloaded! All the Stella D'Oro daylilys are just bursting with buds like this one. A half-dozen other varieties are budding out right now too.

The daylilys must be loving all the rain we have been getting. (And ... in case you were wondering ... we're supposed to get more rain later tonight ... and tomorrow ... and maybe NOT on Sunday.)

April Showers et al

April Showers Bring May Flowers.

Something about this classic saying is not working right this year - at least, not in Oklahoma. We had a dry April, but a very wet and rainy May. Someone told me the other day that we had 16 out of 17 days of rain. I don't know about anyone else, but this rain is really wearing me out.

Mother's Day

We had a really nice Mother's Day last weekend. I'd already gotten my presents - my red garden wagon, wind chime, and topsy turvy tomato planter ... along with lots of plants. We went to lunch at Outback Steakhouse with the fam. The food was yummy and we had a good time visiting. We missed Pops though. He was home sick.

After lunch, we went home and took a nap and I'm pretty sure it rained. (See note above.)

Emily probably told me "Happy Mother's Day" 50 times that day and at least once or twice every day since then. She's just the sweetest little girl. I'm soooooooo lucky to have her and I love all her sweet hugs and kisses every day.

All good things must come to an end

Tomorrow is Emily's last day of pre-school this year. They will be having a pizza party. I know she will miss seeing her friends. Her teachers made a book of some of her artwork and papers that she did throughout the year. The book turned out really cute. I'll have to take pictures of some of the pages so that you can see what all she's done.

I hate to admit it, but ...

I hate to admit it, but Emily and I went to see the Hannah Montana movie at the theater a few weeks ago with Nanny, Madison, and Aunt Cherry. I thought it was going to be a bunch of young girls screaming, but I didn't actually hear any screaming or anything. We actually had a pretty good time ... even though it was Hannah Montana. Sad to say, but Emily knows the whole HM theme song and she knows the name of all the characters. Sad ... but true.

Beauty, if only for a day

All of my Stella D'Oro daylilys are full of buds. A few of them will be blooming within the next day or two. I can hardly wait! A few of the other daylily varieties have buds on them too, but none are close to blooming like the Stellas. I am looking forward to documenting my flower garden in pictures this year.

Daffy Daffs

The belated daffodils are still blooming. It's been nice to have such a long season of beautiful sunny yellow blossoms.

Thumping Thieves

Someone or something has been stealing some of the flowers out of my flowerbeds. I mean the whole plants ... just gone. Nowhere to be found. I'm pretty sure it's the bunnies that live under the shed. I just can't figure out why they are not eating the strawberries this year. Maybe they are waiting for the strawberries to ripen!

A Bowl of Fun - Saturday - June 6, 2009
Mark your calendars and stay tuned for more details ...

Silly Goose

I think this picture needs a name ... what would you call it?? Leave a comment and let me know.

Sweetly Springy

Since I've been away (read: lazy and tired) for a few days, I thought I would post some Easter/spring/4-year-old pictures for your viewing pleasure.

I also wanted to mention that Kim had her baby on Wednesday morning. Brynlee weighed 4lbs, 12oz and was 18 1/2 inches long. Mom and baby are still in the hospital but doing well. Congratulations to Kim and Duane on their beautiful new addition.

Praying for Kim

Mike's cousin, Kim, is in the hospital in labor with her baby girl, Brynlee. Pray that everything goes perfectly and that mom has a easy time of it.

We can't wait to meet baby Brynlee!

I Know I ...

I know I named my blog "Grace Like Rain", but this is getting a little ridiculous. I have seriously lost count of the number of rainy days in a row we've had here in Oklahoma. And I'm sure it's no surprise that more rain is forecast for tomorrow.

I wish the rain would hold off a few days so that I can get back outside to my beautiful flowers.

Hanging baskets full of Wave petunias

And a flat of multi-colored Wave petunias that need to be planted

New daylilys that were planted a couple weeks ago

Stella D'Oro Daylilys already beginning to show buds - Can't wait to see all these in bloom

Pink azaleas with beautiful blossoms but very few/small leaves

On Sunday night, we went to Madison's children's choir program at church. My awesome niece had a speaking part, a couple solos AND she played a piano prelude. She did a great job!