How does YOUR garden grow?

I've only recently been finding out what MY garden grows...

a little bit of this:
quite a few of these:

some of these which I planted... and on the whole, a lot of this:

Trust me - I never would have guessed so many gorgeous perennials lay underneath the tonnes of weeds we found when we first moved here (of course, we found them AFTER the snow finally melted). It took many, many hours of weeding, cutting some plants back, and TLC before we discovered all these beautiful plants. This is just one section of the yard. To the left of the photo there is a birdbath with more perennials and some annuals we planted, and to the left around the bend we have our vegetable garden which is growing very nicely. Then we have some trees, more garden with perennials, then some raspberry bushes by the fire pit. We LOVE OUR YARD!

The lawn is taking more loving care - it is literally dandelion central. We've pulled out dandelions with roots bigger than trees! UGH! At least we aerated the lawn at the same time :P There are a couple of dead patches of lawn where the last owners had some sand boxes. We've laid down some grass seed and are crossing our fingers. I know it will take a couple of years to get our backyard up to snuff, but we're so happy with the results so far.

Now, onto a garden more near and dear to my heart - my rose garden:

In case you can't tell from the horrible photo, I printed the photo on FABRIC! Remember I said how I was finding it hard to take on the latest Goodie Box Girls challenge of scrapbooking with fabric? Well, let's just say they inspired my creativity. I used spray adhesive to adhere a piece of fabric slightly smaller than 8.5X11 to a letter-sized piece of cardstock. You need to make sure that the printer is going to grab hold of the cardstock, not the fabric, hence the slightly smaller sized fabric. It ran right through the printer, no problem, and i love the effect.
I call my girls my bouquet of roses - each unique and beautiful in their own fun ways. I was just reflecting a couple of days ago on what fun kids I have. They are so cool, so sweet, so GOOD. I don't mean they are perfectly behaved all the time- trust me, they are still children. I mean that their spirits are filled with goodness, just like so many children I see. They inspire me to be more childlike in how I perceive others, how I treat others, how quickly I forgive show love towards those who I have taken offense against. They are nearly always eager to be obedient (much more so than I remember being) and they have such wonderful questions about life.

While playing dolls with BB, I asked her toy "So, do you have any brothers or sisters?" she answered, with a frown on her face "No, I'm poor because I don't have any brothers or sisters." So interesting that a 3 year old would equate being poor with having no siblings - does that mean having siblings makes you rich? I think so :)

I love having those sweet, tender moments with my kids. It's amazing that though this new calling is very, very busy - somehow I've managed to find lots of time to get things done AND spend some quality time with the kids. I love taking a few minutes and playing with BB while JJ is napping. I love sitting with TJ and having more and more grown up conversations as each day passes. I love reading with B and seeing how much she is improving - seeing the light in her eyes as she reads a word she's never seen before and says it correctly! It's awesome! I love putting JJ down for her nap, when she jumps in my arms, waves to her sisters saying "Bye! A-sleep!", then giving her kisses as she willingly lays down in her tiny bed. Yep - my kids are the neatest creations I've met. I truly think that the Lord has blessed me with an abundance of the Spirit in my home these last couple of weeks. I'm so grateful. I've felt His calming influence and have rarely felt so much at peace. It's wonderful to have these joyous moments in life - because usually there is a trial waiting right around the corner :)