Mother's Day

It was so nice because Ethan didn't have to go to his mom's until lunch, so I got ALL my boys for a walk.  There are great trails out at Fleming Park.  We don't use them enough - I mean it's been four years since we were there last 
(look how little Ethan is!)

Matt promptly reminded me- uh, Mollie, we had a baby.  Oh, yeaaaaaa, that's right

So when he said we could do whatever I wanted, I wanted to go look at flowers and bugs and birds and hike down to the lake.  I love that Charlie is old enough to start doing this stuff.  Now, if he would only pee pee in the damn potty...

Just like the boys...

He did so well climbing and keeping his balance.  He learned very fast not to run (face plant) and to follow behind dad

Isn't it gorgeous out here?  I can make fun of Missouri all I want, but it's such a different landscape from even 100 miles west of here.  Very rocky, full of bluffs and foliage.

This was a plant with wide palm like leaves that was very close to the ground (this is probably 4-5" off the ground)  They were everywhere and only by lifting the leaves can you discover the flowers.  They were just gorgeous.  What in the world are they?

Happy Mamma's day to all you mammas, good big sisters, crazy awesome aunts and sweet stepmothers- love ya all

Flowers for Mother's Day

My dad sent me flowers for Mother's Day  *sniff*

One of the most important people to hear this from - thank you daddy

Mother's Day/Birthday Ideas

Some of things I'm pining for right now. With Mother's day and my birthday coming up, I thougt I would drop some not-so-subtle hints.

Book Rest Source

$24 mother's day card donates a safe delivery for a mother and child Buy it here



Canvas Baggu $24 Source

Pro Flowers - least expensive place on the web to send flowers and I have had great success with them.  Plus, if you pick the growers choice, you save money and, in my mind, get a better bouquet.



A day at the Nelson with just my husband

Pampered Chef Pizza Stone- because I'm an idiot and broke my other one

 

Shrimp and avacodo quesadillas.....nom nom

At $40 each, it may be a bit expensive, but this is Lake Minnetonka and the Great Lakes, would love as a set Source

Hastas

We've had this empty box in front of our bushes since we moved in.  I wanted to plant something there, but not being a gardener, I needed something that required little to no maintenance.  With Matt's garden going in the back, helping with that is going to take all the green thumb I have, and there isn't much.  Those damn bushes need to come out some day, but this is not the year.



Our lovely hedge, with dying parts here and there.  Somebody told us once they thought it might be mold (yippee!)



Our supervisor

So we trimmed and weeded it up to go to home depot and pick out some stuff to plant.  I was thinking hastas or impatients.  I wanted something that spread

Our neighbor Chuck is very old.  He was once a great gardener, but is finally too old to really take care of all the stuff he has.  He was diagnosed with polio as a boy and has been in a wheelchair ever since.  Even being in a wheelchair this man was mowing his own yard on a rider like 2 years ago- he's like 85.  He's one tough dude.  He loves talking plants and gardening with Matt and told him that he has a bunch of hastas along the front of the house that he wants gone and we can have them if we want them.  I was thrilled- hastas....and free....and helping Chuck out at the same time.  We weeded his bed and removed the hastas. He has some lovely azalias and hydrangeas (wish we could have had those too!) but we weeded his bed real well and left it just how he wanted it. 

Matt planting the hastas, I helped carry them over, but pretty much just weeded Chuck's bed while Matt did the real work.  I had no idea what I was doing.  Those green and white hastas remind me of my mother.  They remind me of our old house on 13th ave- that makes me happy

waiting to be planted

Once they spread, I think it will look really nice.  The hasta on the far right had a another purple flowering plant intertwined, so we will have just a little color.





Spring is here, baby is on the move

Lilacs!

It's already turning pink, which means it's all going to go away too quickly, you can see the deeper pink it was the first day below....

Oh and this is Lady, she's old and stubborn, but pretty much the sweetest dog ever

After such a rough winter, spring was a very welcome occasion down here. We have a ton of lilacs that line the back corner of our house, they are in full bloom. If you turn on the attic fan, our whole house fills with the smell of lilacs. It's heavenly. The giant crab-apple in the back corner is pure pink and is gorgeous. For whatever the house lacks, the back yard makes up for. I love our back yard.

Milestone on the baby front- two days ago I saw the baby move through my stomach. I think I could have seen it before, but could never catch it in time. I actually teared up a little. It was so amazing. For all the crap that your body goes through while pregnant, I can never be in a bad mood when he's swimming around in there, even when he kicks a too hard. It's just the most awesome and totally bizarre feeling. I even poked at him and he kicked back at me!

Had my 2nd round of blood work yesterday. The lab place was packed and the tech was all flustered. I'm not so good with the needles, so let me tell you how excited I was that the lady about to stab me with a needle seemed out of sorts. It wasn't bad though, it never is as bad as I think it's going to be. I thought I'd be giving a lot more blood than I have, so being 6 months and only giving blood twice, I'm ahead of the game.

I have another ultrasound next Friday, then the appointments go to every two weeks. I've been in slight denial, but that statement from the doctor was a little reality check that this baby is coming. I'm trying to enjoy my down time, my couch time, my sleep, well, really, my freedom, while it lasts. Wow, that was a lot of commas, cousin Kate probably just had a grammar heart attack.

My wedding flowers

So, fall wedding, no budget, love fresh flowers, love color, this is what I came up with. Don't you love it in fall when everyone starts putting out their mums? They are so full and colorful. I always wanted a big full bouquet. So I thought we'd do mums, just grab them together at the base, cut the stems and wrap a ribbon around them. They are so full, it would just be a canopy of color. Ta-da! A bouquet for under $10. I really wanted red and I thought my matron of honor, who will be in brown, could carry yellow mums and my maid of honor, who will be in red, could carry orange mums.

Fancy multi-colored mums

Then I saw this and I thought- screw the red. How amazing are these mums? This is some kind of hybrid, I'm thinking I won't be able to find it at my local nursery. I did learn of Belgium mums while compiling this gallery- they are much fuller than regular mums.

My other mum post here