Playing In The Dirt~

Been a bit MIA lately.  We've been busy playing in the dirt!  We recently had my brother resod our backyard, moved our garden and established a new one (that meant moving over 100 of those brick concrete stones used for landscape walls), regraded the side where the stone path was (that meant removing the steppings stones, grading, then moving them all back), moved a few perennials around to make room for more grass (rather than pinestraw beds), sprucing up our planters with new spring/summer annuals, and oh...we had to rebuild our entire arbor over our hot tub due to the feast some carpenter ants had! 

All while under a time crunch...our daughter's graduation party is this Saturday!!

Okay, I won't bore you with words any longer...take a look around.

The new herb/vegetable garden.  We used Greene's raised garden kits from Home Depot.  Super easy!!

Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme!

Pizza anyone?  Fresh Oregano and Basil, YUM!!

I purchased plant markers from my local nursery, and using my handy dandy label maker I printed out labels for each herb/veggie and applied it to the marker.

One of my all time favorite herbs to cook with!

Our hydrangeas are in full bloom!

The new lawn!

Landscaping around the pond.  Our hostas are huge this year!!

A view of the pond.

The waterfall feature.

These guys will eat you out of house and home!  They swim to the edge the minute they see us and expect to be fed.

The bar we built a couple years ago. We have plans to paint the concrete posts in the near future.

Our hibiscus.  It is beautiful when it blooms.  However, the darn caterpillars LOVE it!!

Lilies we added this year for Mother's Day.

More hydrangeas.  This picture doesn't do the color justice.  They are the deepest purple.  Funny because the plant right next to them has blue blooms!

Outdoor candelabra.

This year I planted several of our containers with foliage only and LOVE them!

Hope you enjoyed the backyard update!  We are in the midst of getting ready for our daughter's graduation party on Saturday, and it is crazy around here.

Proud Moment~Graduation 2012

Our baby graduated on May 24th, 2012.  We couldn't be more proud of her and her accomplishments.  Despite missing 27 days of school this year (no that was not a typo) due to migraines and the flu, she graduated as an International Baccalaureate Diploma candidate, I.B. Middle Years Diploma Recipient, Honor Grad, Community Service Award Recipient, Principal's Cord Recipient (5 or more AP/IB classes) and with her highest GPA to date!  She is truly AMAZING!!  She will honestly tell you that she owes it all to the Good Lord above.

She will be attending her college of choice this fall on an academic scholarship!  She will be joining an unbelievable group of young men and women, and she couldn't be more excited.

The graduate, her sister, and her sister's boyfriend.

The graduate with my parents (she didn't get her height from them! LOL)

And, our oldest surprised us earlier in the day...she has been accepted to grad school and will be pursuing her Master's in Health Administration (and will be attending her dad's alma mater's satellite school here).

They are both amazing young women and it has been such a joy and pleasure raising them!!

(sorry for the poor quality on the pics...I am still learning how to do everything in Picasa now that Picnik is gone and I have yet to figure out how to use Iphoto on my new Mac so they are all unedited!)

She Did It!

Despite the odds, 27 days of school missed due to migraines and the flu, she will graduate with her highest GPA ever!

The only thing I can say right now is, "I am so stinkin' proud of her!"

She didn't let anything stand in her way, she never whined, never complained, never said, "why me?"

I will try to keep my composure tomorrow night as she graduates as an IB Diploma candidate, Honor grad, with her highest GPA to date!

All I can say is, her university of choice had better be ready for her!!!

Love you baby girl!!