Happy 4th Of July

Happy 4th of July.

Today we celebrate my son's birthday.

 Happy Birthday Chase!

Happy birthday to my son.

12

He is a firecracker.

Too much like his mother.

We butt heads all the time.

Neither of us is one to back down.

But

We are quick to say sorry.
Easy to make friends.


He loves bugs, frogs, snakes, turtles and anything that crawls, jumps and hops.

Make sure to stop over Saturday to Must Love Junk I am being featured in Susan's
Saturday Spotlight; Life Behind the Blogger.

I hope everyone has a wonderful 4th of July.

New Garden

Maximizing my time.

This week I am back to my normal work week leaving me with two days off.

I was finally able to fix the fire pit and plant the new garden.

This is the path to the fire pit.

It was originally red sand left over from a pool installation.

I hated the sand, it stained everything.

Today we will finish the far right corner and put the chairs back.

As for the kids having a place to play in the sand. 

 I think I have talked Mr. M. into building a sand box, seeing as that tree house has still not been built.

I washed the stones last night.

They look and feel like the pebbles from Olcott Beach.

I am glad I choose to go with the larger stone.

The left side of the garden was just planted last year.

Each year I will add a few plants until it looks like a full lush English garden.

No room for weeds.

This is the start of the new garden.

I have two flowering ornamental pear trees.

A Thuja Green Giant tree.

Two Limelight hydrangea bushes.

Several blue berry bushes.  That the birds have already discovered.

A Catmint plant.

 Some creeping phlox.

Boxwood bushes.

A pink rose bush.

Lavender.

Delphinium.

Foxglove.

One of my ROCKS.

I left plenty of room to add 6 of my arborvitae bushes that are in planters for the summer.

After two years of being in planters they are a nice size for my gardens.

Next year I will go with boxwood bushes in my planters.

I took these pictures in the morning so I wouldn't have the blaring sun, only problem, fog.

Oh well. 

At least my garden is planted and I can enjoy our 4th of July party/birthday party.

Thanks for stopping by.

I hope everyone has a wonderful July 4th.

A 4th Birthday

My oldest son turned 

10

on 

the 

4th 

of 

July

My little baseball player is growing up.

He played his last baseball game on Thursday.

This look says it all.

He really is a sweet kid.

They ended the celebration with sparklers.

A wonderful day for sure.

I have not been able to blog as much as would have liked to.

I feel as if I am on a speeding freight train, and I really wanted to get off, too fast for me.

Now that we are only going to be going to baseball two days a week and there are no more large events to prepare for I can start to relax and enjoy my days.

Don't worry though, I have been swimming with the kids and taking time to read a few pages of magazines here and there.  It's just that I am a stay at home, putter around the house and gardens kind of gal.  All this rush here and there is just a little too much.

I hope everyone had a wonderful 4th of July!

Dressed for Parties

I hope everyone is having a lovely summer!

I have been busy as I am sure many of you at this time of year.

Lots of baseball, swimming, gardening and birthday planning.

I thought I would share some photos of my home as I took them just minutes before my guests arrived for our annual 4th of July party and my son's birthday.

I literally cut these roses earlier that morning.

I love the combination of all the different colors of roses.

Look Sara, I made my 4th decoration.

The little piece of wood I bought while on vacation with my girlfriend and I had this final picture in mind.  I am so glad it turned out perfect.

The dinning room is one of my favorite rooms in my home,

 sadly to say it also one of the most unused rooms. 

 But, it still looks pretty waiting.

Here is the cabinet that I finally finished painting with the chalk paint.

I did wax it with clear wax but no distressing, daily life with three children will take car of that.

Here is a peak at the new fire pit area, it is just beyond the path leading from the brick patio.

We had a wonderful day!

The weather was perfect, the food was plentiful and the air was filled with laughter. 

Family parties just can't be beat!

I am happy to be joining Debra at Common Ground for Vintage Inspiration Friday.

 

 Cindy at My Romantic Home for Show and Tell Friday.

And Courtney at French Country Cottage for Feathered Nest Friday.

 Make sure to stop by and visit these lovely blogs for inspiration.

I want to thank everyone who stops by and have a wonderful weekend.