Proverbs

We were reading in Proverbs tonight and the following one seemed very "warm & inviting."

Proverbs 24:3, 4
"Through wisdom a house is built, and by understanding it is establised; by knowledge the rooms are filled with all precious and pleasant riches."

If I could be...

...a flower I'd like to be a lily-of-the-valley. (At least for today.) They are sweet smelling, delicate and love the shade mostly.

We just bought some little plants last week and planted them out by the deck in back. Last I looked they were doing well. : )

If you could be...

...a flower which one would you pick? (No pun intended.) ; )

I don't have an answer at the moment. I'll have to think about it. But here's a rather inspiring picture to help you along. : ) Taken by dd.

Noticing

Spruce buds.

These lovely little flowers belong to the prolific weed, Creeping Charley. It's another of dh's "favorites." The only thing I like about it are the flowers. If you click on the picture to make it bigger you might notice the butterfly shapes on the flower. That is so cool! Something to praise God for in this hardy weed.

Birch buds. These are actually about 2 inches long and maybe 1/4 inch around. When I first saw the picture I thought they were huge. I asked dd to show me where they were, that's when I discovered they are relatively small.

I'd say we're enjoying homeschooling at it's finest. : ) BTW, dd took all these pictures in her noticing quest. The ladies at the Noticing Project blog have invited guests to send "noticing" pictures all this week. http://noticingproject.wordpress.com/ DD and I have pictures on day two.

Ash buds

Thursday, April 24

Tuesday, April 29

Weeping Cherry

Here's a close up of the weeping cherry. I'm so excited that I can see it from the workroom window! Thank you dh!

Spring Snowflake

Thanks to help from "anonymouse" (cute name BTW) I was able to track down this flower.

http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/2632/

Columbine

We bought a pot of these at Lowes last night. It was a nice date-night treat. We also brought home a couple Stella D'oro plants, a pot of Daisies, marigold and lobelia seeds. This morning early, dh went to the garden center and bought three trees (they had 30% off between 6:00 and 10:00). He came home with my requested pink weeping cherry, like the one we had at our previous house, a peach tree and a nectarine tree. He had a great day working in the yard! He mowed the lawn for the first time this season and planted the three trees; he found four other little sapplings that he planted; he fixed and cut down a couple other trees. Since yesterday was Arbor Day, I guess he was right on the money. I'll get pictures of the trees and post them here soon.

Ash tree

These are buds on the Ash tree. We still have two of them and hope we don't lose them to the ash borer.

I have been amazed by the buds on the trees this year. I've never taken notice of them before. God's creativity fascinates me; everything (trees, birds, bugs, flowers, people, etc.) is so detailed, so different from each other within a type.

I keep finding more.

This picture isn't great because the wind was blowing, but there are little parts of it that are focused. These are hanging from a maple tree. It's neat to see the stages the tree goes through.

These are little tiny leaves to some weed, probably. They are growing in the sand by the pond.

If you know what these are, please let me know. The flower is probably double the size of a lily-of-the-valley flower.

Emily at Molly's birthday party

Yesterday was Molly's birthday, but we were gone all day, so the party was today.

Apparently, Molly needed coaxing to leave the house, so Emily encouraged her. Emily escorted Molly to where the party was being held out be the big trees.

Molly was completely surprised to find all the girls waiting for her. "Surprise!"

Emily had a big day. She's sleeping soundly as I speak...er write...or is it type? : )

Emily's horse back riding

Today was Felicity's birthday, so dd gave her a party. (Yes, that's two in one day.)

Emily's job for the party was to teach the girls how to ride side-saddle.

First, make sure the saddle girth is tight.

Climb on the horse.

Bring foot over the horse's neck.

That's all there is to it.

Demonstrating the ride.

She tells the horse she's done a good job.

Thanks to dd for the Emily fun.

As you can tell, we've had a lot of fun. We're taking the week off school, so the parties were a fantastic diversion for dd. She love's doing these things with the dolls. My fun comes when it's time to post the pictures. ; )

A few more flowers at our house

The Azalea's bloomed while I wasn't looking and all of a sudden here they are.

The Grape Hyacinths are just now starting to bloom. We do have quite a few of those so they make the flower beds pretty.

This one is dh's "favorite." ; ) I, actually, love to see a yard full of their cheery faces. Add in a few purple violets and it's even better. : )

Flowers at our house

We just bought a little Forsythia bush yesterday. The weatherman in Columbus always used to say, "Three snows after the Forsythia bloom."

The pansies I picked out to sit on the deck so I can see them from the kitchen.

The daffodils make a great addition to the front yard.

DD's picked out these pansies who she named Rojo and Ruby.

DD discovered these Hyacinths in the front flower bed by the street. You can't see it too well from the house, so we didn't know they were there.

Flowers at Blandy Arboretum

All these pictures were taken a year ago when we visited dh's parents in VA. They took us to Blandy Arboretum for a nice walk amongst all these beauties. I've been scrapbooking these pictures today, so I thought I'd share them here.

http://www.virginia.edu/blandy/Tour1.html