The Careys

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Easter at Grandma Dolly and Grandpa Dean's

We had fun hunting for eggs over at Grandpa Dean and Grandma Dolly's. Liam had a little help. ;-)

Peace, love and baskets full 'o eggs,
Shelly, Doug, Ava and Liam

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Easter 2010

We were in Michigan for Easter this year. The kids opened up their baskets at Grandma Pam's house before we went to church at Rochester.

Peace, love and Easter surprises,
Shelly, Doug, Ava and Liam

Can You Dig It? Ghetto Garden 2010

I'm hoping to step it up a notch this year, making the ghetto garden a bit classier... Is it possible that I could remove all container plants, replanting them in the yard, so as to keep plants OFF of our driveway? We'll see!

This year's goals, lofty as they may seem, include:

- Planting an island / raised area in the back of the back yard
- Tiering off the creek-side dirt / hill
- Growing plants / tomatoes from seeds!
- Building a raised garden by tiering off the non-creek side of the house

This year's plants include:

Black Crim tomatoes (heirloom, from seed)
Cherokee purple tomatoes (heirloom, from seed)

Beefsteak tomatoes

Sweet million tomatoes (from seed)

Sweet 100 tomatoes (from seed)
Roma tomatoes (from seed)

Lemon Balm

Sweet Mint

Thyme (from seed)

Dill (from seed)

Rosemary (from seed)

Sweet Basil (from seed)

Cilantro (from seed)

Perfect Pickler cucumber (from seed)
cucumber (from seed)
green onion (from seed)
purple salvia
dahlias
lilies of the valley
Quinalt strawberries (five)
chartreuse
brim cup hostas
hostas (various from bulb)
astilbe (purple, white, pink)
mondo grass
bi-color butterfly bush
cannas
Hershey red azalea
zucchini
squash
ranunculus
(grapes are still growing on the side of the house)
fig tree
jalapeno from seed

-Dug up daffodils to see if they are multiplying
-Dug up hyacinth to save for next year
-oriental lily still growing from a few years ago. quite a few more bulbs. blooming late this year.
-Replanted tulip bulbs and daffodil bulbs, to border a newly "found" area of the yard. Added six hostas. Moved our neighbor's scattered lariope together to form a border, as well. I hope to clear this partly-wooded area (which is technically our neighbor's yard, although they won't mind- I promise!) and plant our blueberries, blackberries and raspberries here. Varieties include: blueberries??? blackberries? anne (golden) raspberries.

Note: this is where I got poison ivy, in clearing out 20 years of leaves / scrub trees from this area of the yard. It's extremely steep, so we will need to bring in some landscape timbers, serious dirt and build a few walls to make separate tiers. Hopefully the ghetto garden will go in this area. We need to take one additional tree out so this area will get more sun. I took a few trees out myself, but Doug will need our neighbor's help in taking out one close to our house. I've also put down 80 pieces (or so) of centipede sod, now that we've pushed back the "au naturelle" part of the yard. I've been busy! I also power-washed the curb and driveway this past weekend. It's amazing how much nicer it looks when it is done. Can you tell where I took a break?

Peace, love and more sprucing / less Spruces,

Shelly, Doug, Ava and Liam

Monday, April 05, 2010

Hangin' at Grandma Pam's

A man. His remote. Popcorn. Need I say more?

Peace, love and giggles,
Shelly, Doug, Ava and Liam

Sunday, April 04, 2010

Hangin' at Grandma and Grandpa Carey's

Saturday, April 03, 2010

Grammy Turns 80!

We were fortunate enough to be able to head to Michigan for Grammy's 80th birthday party. I think it was supposed to be a surprise that we were attending, but somehow the cat leaked out of the bag. Ha ha...

We bought some pink, white and red balloons, broke out the bubble-makers and put them at Mom's front entrance. :) I made some pink chocolate covered (with sprinkles) pretzel rods and individually wrapped them.

We are so thankful for Grammy, for her health and for the years we have been blessed with her example.

Peace, love and 80 birthday candles!
Doug, Shelly, Ava and Liam

Jordan playing with his Nintendo DS