Holy Cow...

1.) I haven't updated my blog since last May!

2.) I haven't had time to blog because I have been so busy running here and there!

3.) The Children's Garden project is coming along, but I haven't updated my blog about it. I need to show you all the pictures I've been taking as it forms.

4.) My children are growing like the weeds in my backyard.

5.) We had a very fun-filled 'Staycation' this year.

6.) The kids' summer vacation is half over.

7.) I'm going away with my husband for 5 days without the kids for the first time in over 7 years!

8.) I am going tent camping for the first time EVER later this summer with my daughters, my experienced camper spouse and a family of highly experienced camping friends!

9.) This summer has been the most action packed since, well...since I don't remember when!

10.) It's all great! I may be insanely busy, but overall I'm a very happy idiot!

School's Out

School's out, school's out teacher let the monkeys out! Isn't that the truth? I'm thrilled the kids are out of school fro the summer, but it seems like that last school year just flew! What does that say about the upcoming summer?

This is probably the first summer as a family we have most of our time planned. Vacation days are set, the girls have most of their activities set, and I have what seems like an endless list of things to do. I feel like the Sandra Boynton song "BusyBusyBusy".

We have a lot of hopes for this summer: sleeping in once in a while, time for reading, enjoying the sunshine, finding respite in a pool, working and playing in various gardens, seeing beloved family and good friends, fun and thrills at parks, seeing new and favored places, and taking time to just be happy and giggly.

Here's to school being out! Let summer begin.

Coming along...

The Children's Garden project had a pretty good week of work from me. Moved soil for about 5 hours total and I'm beginning to see it taking shape. I also had a productive meeting with a fellow gardener interested in making arbors, fence and a building for the garden. Very nice.

My youngest daughter finally got accepted into a gifted and talented program at her school, so I'm much more hopeful that she will learn more next year. This past year she was bored more than 75% of the time. So maybe I won't have to home school her this coming year. ;-)

My eldest had a wonderful band concert last night and she and her group sounded much improved--even though the last concert was in March!

I'm so proud of both of my girls! We all seem to be coming along nicely with our projects.

Surprise!

Yesterday morning, I got a surprise while working with a few of my fellow master gardeners. The surprise was the information that The Children's Garden project received a $1000 grant for plants and seeds. There was even a photo-op in the afternoon when the President of our organization received the check. I hid in the background because I was dirty, hot and sweaty from working all morning and half the afternoon.

As far as recent work on the garden, I got lucky and a fellow MG tilled most of the paths so we could start removing 3-4" of soil from the paths and relocating it to assorted beds to raise some of the beds in the plan. Once the paths are cleared. then we will add mulch to the paths and the real fun can begin of adding compost, plants and lawn. I can't wait to see some other color than dark brown with polka dot weeds!

Now, if I could just get more than nine people signed up to help with and that can work when I can...I think I need to go on a sales campaign and get the group as excited about this as I am. I'm going to think about this a lot over the next few days. Perhaps, I should break the project down and see if I can get people assigned to more specific sections after the plan is clear from the soil excavation and path mulching. For example...someone to do an Alphabet garden gets this section, someone can do the Herbs here, someone can do the Butterfly garden here, another could do the Senses garden there and so on.

It might also stop this ridiculous "Cheryl's garden" thing. Ah, NOT. I have my own at home, thank you. I have wanted other MG's to come forward with their ideas and to incorporate it into the garden all along and actually I have informally assigned a few sections already. I wanted to see other people get creative and think about how they play with their kids and what they would like to see and do in the garden. So maybe if I could get a chance to really sell it at the next meeting rather than the backhanded version of "what's going on?" I might be able to get them more involved. That's been my hope all along, and I'm still hoping.

Red Letter Day

Yesterday marked a milestone with the Children's Garden Project. I completed laying out all the critical design lines in the 10,000 square foot garden. Granted it's just lines in the dirt, but meaningful lines. It took me less than 12 hours of concentrated work to complete this part of the project. I admit I was selfish and wanted to do this part by myself, but it worked out as most of the MG's were prepping for our fundraising Graden Expo. Even in shades of brown-black soil, I can see the components coming together.

Now, I must set up work days for everyone to come out and help move soil, rake, dig, lay mulch on the paths, and prep for the grass seed to go down in all the grassy areas. Once we start seeing the grass green up, the garden should start to look more defined.

So much to do and coordinate: building projects, plants, bog excavation and lining. The list goes on.

What's old and new

I have not updated my blog for over two weeks. It seems I drafted two entries, but trashed them--too late, too whatever. So to bring you up to date...I recovered from the vacation; my husband and I got our taxes done early this year to my amazement, and my wonderful spouse helped me to cleanup our fall debris yesterday.

The Children's Garden plans are starting to become more concrete with the layout beginning in the field. (I found myself thinking of it as the "Field of Dreams" the other day--"build it and they will come".) I am making lists in my head of jobs to be done by master gardeners and trying to figure out dates to proceed with them all. As for my own modest home yard/garden, plans are being sketchily laid in my head for the plan of attack this spring with a determination that the weather will be cooperative!

The family's summer schedule has been perused and tentative dates for vacation(s) and possible camps have been set. I hope we all will have the energy to do it all happily. It seems insane to me that already I am thinking about the next school year and how we already have some things on the calendar for August. Life is crazy like that here.

Family Vacation

I returned from my first Florida vacation last weekend. I am still not sure why it is that folks in the Midwest are so in love with Florida. It must be the palm trees, sun and the tropical feel. I personally like the frequently changing weather of the Midwest, and I think if I could plan a vacation any where in the world it would be to Maine, New England or to northern Europe. I know, many would call me crazy, but I love snow and rain and wind and I don't like temperatures above 90 degrees. Give me something in between and I love it! I suppose it's a plus, with my climate preference, that I don't mind going out in inclement weather. It's just fine with me. We all have our quirks.

I did enjoy the gardens at Disney, especially at Epcot and the Animal Kingdom. Epcot was flashy with bright swashes of color. Animal Kingdom was relaxing with it's savannas and forestry--a wonderful feeling of being immersed in nature!

The kids had a really good time on this trip, especially at Disney's Magical Kingdom. We spent 12 hours at the Magical Kingdom and when we were done with the rides and the fireworks we all went back to the hotel and crashed like a ton of bricks. I and my husband were sore for two days. I am still exhausted! But it was a memorable family vacation and I was happy that the kids and husband were happy.

The day after our flight got back to Indiana, my eldest daughter participated in the State Science Olympiad. We think her school did well, but we were way too pooped out to stick around another four hours to the end and find out. So I imagine she will find out the results today at school.

I spent the rest of the weekend doing chores like grocery shopping, film developing, unpacking and laundry--all for the sake of getting everyone back to the usual schedule for today. Today, I have done more laundry, had a brief nap and begun to moan over having to do the monthly bills and prepare for a tax appointment on April Fool's Day. (There are so many ways that is an appropriate day to take care of taxes! LOL Feel the irony?)

I also am having to turn my mind back to finishing the bedroom renovations, garden cleanup and planting of bare root stock in my own yard, and the Children's Garden Project with the master gardener program. So much to do. I think I'm going to need more coffee or another nap or both.