the bush that wouldn't die...

you must know that this bush was probably the ugliest thing i had planted in my yard. i admit, when it would bloom, for about 3 days i liked it. other than that, it was big and overgrown. and we won't mention the time the hub took half of it off when mowing around it. (opps, i just mentioned it).

but, in a weak, (stupid) moment, we garden-taped it back together.

last year, at the end of the season, i hacked the crap out of it.
i mean i REALLY 'went to town' on it thinking that in the spring, the hub would come and dig it's sorry carcase out to the burn pile.
you can imagine my surprise when i went out there last week and saw flowers!
2 pretty little blooms.
amazing shade of pink.
so pretty.
what? are you kidding me??
now what am i going to do???
i can't burn it now. that would be mean.
but....
i would be willing to donate it.
come and get it. it may look good in your yard.
or on your burn pile??

smoothie madness...

we are going thru a little phase here. (this one among MANY others).

it's smoothie central over here at the likkels. i'm sure like many of you out there, your children get off the bus with these words...."i'm STARVING!! if you don't feed me something SOOOON, i'm going to DIE of starvation!! please FEED me! " as if they hadn't eaten in days. no mention about the fact that a mere 4 hours earlier they had consumed more calories than i do in a 2 day period. boys do that.

they eat.

they eat much.

so i'm a sympathetic mother. i feed them when they are hungry but somedays i feel like they eat because they are bored? or they are stalling on homework?

my children do that.

they like to eat.

i struggle with healthy food for them. i hate to admit this but somedays it's easier to just let them eat something instead of something good for them.

can i hear a 'amen' here?

anyways, the point of this post is to show you how thrilled they were when they walked in last week and i had these pretty little things sitting on the counter.

fruit and yogurt.

'healthy food'.

NOT CHIPS.

NOT COOKIES.

but something somewhat healthy!

oh, maybe i should have omitted the BIG glob of Cool Whip.

nope, i need to ease them into this eating 'health' food......

my favorite spot....

this is my favorite spot on our property. this is where i sit most mornings, after the boys have gotten on the bus. this is where i give my day to God.

this spot calms me.

this spot makes me happy.

some of my most favorite conversations have happened here on this front porch.

this porch is the main reason we bought this house.

i love this porch.

very, mucho much.

oh, ya, and please note the sassy little table and chairs since it belongs to my mama and she'd like to take it back to 'her side' of the property. should i put up a stink?? cuz, wouldn't you agree, this is the PERFECT spot for it??? :)

this is sam, in a nutshell.