What I've been up to

Hi everyone, I'm still here.  Just super busy with end of school stuff -- field trips, volunteering, baking for class, doing laundry for class, school picnics, etc...  Gwyneth finished up school last week and just before we brought in some simple teacher gifts - two for her teachers and one for Connor's.

I got the idea here.  The little flags say "Thank you for quenching my thirst for knowledge."  Each teacher got a re-usable cup with some iced Starbucks VIA packets inside.  Simple easy little gift, but all of the teachers seemed really excited to get them.

I haven't forgotten about the winner of the Lovely Lil Bunny Pattern giveaway.  So . . . (drum roll please) . . . the winner is:  ThreeOldKeys.   Congratulations!  You should be getting an email from me soon.  Thanks to all who entered.

As a thank you to those two entered and some new faces visiting the blog, I'm offering a 10% off anything in my Etsy shop.  Use the code THANKYOU10.  This code is valid through June 5th.

The rest of my time lately has been spent outside in my garden.  I don't have a green thumb, by any means, but I try.

Wave Petunia and Phlox

Wave Petunia and Sweet Potato Vine

Violets planted in an old birdbath, surrounded by giant hosta

Coleus surrounded by cocoa bean mulch  (great, colorful shade plant)

Impatiens and Morning Glory Vine

Beans (planted and grown by the kiddos) and some herbs

Little Veggie Patch (tomatoes and cucumbers) with flowers

OK, here's quite possibly the only gardening advice I will ever give::   Planting a thick row of marigolds around your vegetable patch will keep out most pests (rabbits, squirrels, deer . . . ).  They don't like the smell of the marigolds.  I love using this natural border instead of a fence.  Looks much nicer.

Over Memorial Day weekend, we were very busy as well.   We had a friend from ND come stay with us and he and my husband built a patio/porch.  The kiddos and I got involved too (as much as we could without getting in the way too much).  Connor helped load up the old rocks that were there.  There used to be bushes there, but they were infested with bugs that ate them away when we first moved in.  They looked so bad that we just cut them off at the ground and left the roots in.

Once we got all of the rocks and extra dirt out we had a 7.5" deep hole that was almost 5' wide and 20' long.  I didn't really think about where we'd put all that dirt.  It ended up all over the back yard here and there between the hostas and ferns.

Next we layered three inches of crushed gravel and two inches of sand.

Finally, we started laying the pavers.  We started with the curved area first, cutting the few that needed to be cut.

Then it was laying, leveling, and more laying.

Connor really liked this part.

The pattern we used was very simple and we used two colors of brick:  tan and mocha.

When my husband was all done laying the pavers, I swept sand into the cracks.  All done!

Well, I think there is a trip in my future to Ikea for a few more things besides the glider bench we have here.  I'll show it to you again when it's all finished.