A few pictures from around the house....

Spring has finally sprung! Everything is blooming and coming out of their winter slumber. The house always looks so nice this time of year. We watch the birds and wait for the baby birds to come....which are on the way. Actually two eggs have already hatched. More pictures of that to come. Here are s few pictures from around Patch of Heaven. Enjoy! This was a seat that Rich has had since he was a little boy. He took the seat part out and spray painted it and tada... a plant stand! Love it!

Of course, Patch of Heaven would not be complete without the pond. Rich planted these Saliva's in the bird bath...they have enough water to bathe in.

One of our frog friends. He was just sitting on the rock sunning himself. I think he is checking out the fish. My friend Dimitri gave us the lilly pad two years ago. We are hoping that they are going to bloom this year!

We are trying hosta in pots, since I have a hard time growing them in the ground....when there is a will there is a way!

The Beautiful iris'. They are really starting to come out. We cannot have Patch of Heaven without the Tennessee state flower!

Spoiled brat...

Karley....oh what can I say? She thinks she owns the joint!

Oh the pollen of it all!

This picture says it all. sneezing, watering eyes, wet pants.....uh was not suppose to say that. It has been beautiful but there are alot of yellow cars driving around town. The pollen is extremely high. Hopefully it will rain and knock it out of the air.

Our Loch...

So Trenton decided that our pond was going to be the Loch for the Lochness monster. He made a Styrofoam monster but unfortunately, the pond took it down. It makes me smile to see his imagination.....one day he will create the newest gizmo....I hope I am there to stand in the shadow of his achievement!

The garden is in!

Last week we started planting the garden. We only planted seeds, no plants until the last frost. I am not sure what "winter" we are in...blackberry, blueberry, Indian...wait that is summer. I am not sure, all I know is we are definitely waiting until later than last year to plant the plants. Our garden sucked last year. Both Rich and I are determined to have a rockin' garden this summer. Here are just a few things that we planted...

Root beer floats anyone??

It has been such a nice weekend. We worked in the yard on Saturday, went to church and grilled hot dogs out for lunch. I cleaned the pool, Rich tilled the garden and the boys played. It has been beaUtiful this weekend. We have really enjoyed the covered deck this weekend, we sat out there this afternoon and had root beer floats. What a great way to spend a lazy afternoon!

Our new friends...

Well we discovered two new friends today. Two frogs. As gross as they are, it is cool that they have decided to call our pond their home. Rich and Tucker want to get a turtle to make it complete. I am afraid they will eat all the fish, but it is Rich's pond so whatever he wants to do with it is fine by me. It really has taken shape this year. It looks really good, it just needs a dose of mulch and it will be complete! :)

Look how clear!

We have only had the pool going for 5 days and look how clear it is. It is not that warm....actually it is freezing. It looks and smells like summer though. It will be here before we know it. We are all counting down the days. It is a time for family, fun and relaxing!

How do you know....

When a bush is dead? I have two crepe myrtles, one was moved last year and the other was not. The one that was moved looks dead, feels dead and is not got any green on it. The other one is greening up. I am afraid to dig the dry one up, because I have heard it is hard to kill a crepe myrtle. It has another 2 weeks or that baby is gone! If you have any suggestions....let me know.

Do we need the sun?

Tucker had to do his first science project this week. He had to choose a something in the solar system that he wanted to write about. He decided that he wanted to do his project on the sun. Grandma and Grandpa brought a book down for him and helped with his project. He did a great job....but next time we are not going to wait until Monday night to finish it....because it was due on Tuesday and it was a stressful evening for all of us....especially him!

The big egg hunt!

Well, once the bunny comes he lays some eggs and then we hunt for them. How in the world did this tradition start? We had 158 eggs to hide. We found all but one. I am sure that I will be the lucky one to find it on the lawnmower. They had a good time hunting for them and then finding out what was in each of them. We had 84 plastic but the rest were real eggs. By the end of the day those eggs were smelling pretty bad. I think next year we are going all plastic. It is so much easier and the kids would rather have those than the real ones. I mean what kid loves boiled eggs? And what adult loves the smell of them???

Happy Easter!

He is Risen! They went to the tomb and he was not there....He is Risen!

Here bunny bunny...

Saturday night the boys left a treat out for the rabbit to come. Lettuce and little water was the treat of choice this year. It makes me smile each holiday on how they get so excited. I will miss these times as they get older and start to not believe as much as they do now. I need to remember that these times are times to cherish and not rush through, each day is a gift!

Coloring Easter eggs...

What would Easter be without coloring Easter eggs? Since it was so nice we sat on the back porch and colored eggs. It was nice not to have that vinegar smell in the house. We all got into the fun, it was great!

My children are nuts...

We took the cover off the pool this weekend. Well, let me rephrase that the good Lord took the cover off. We had a storm come through on Saturday that took it off. Once that baby was off the boys wanted to get in.....so that is what they did. They were in the pool to cool off and Karly was relaxin' on the deck. All three are crazy!

I love my father in law!

Look what my father in law made! This bowl is beautiful! He has a wood lathe that he made this on. It was a wonderful surprise, Thank you!

Fun with Grandma and Grandpa

Rich's parents came for Easter this weekend. It was a beautiful weekend and we had so much fun with them. We went bowling on Friday at the new Trains, Lanes and Automobiles. What a place! We bowled and then played pool, air hockey and games. We had a great time. making memories is the best thing about being together.

The first spring project!

You know when spring comes because the Gharing's are always digging in the dirt! Since the tree fell last year we had a blank canvas in the back yard. We really want to make the back like an oasis that we can relax in. It is getting there, maybe a few more Tylenol, Ben-Gay and some pretty weekends we will get it done.

Where the heck is the moon???

This week Aunt B, April, gave Tucker a telescope. He was so excited to come home and look at the moon. We were very excited to know that it was a full moon......but is did not come up until 2:20 in the morning. We did not stay up to watch it, but we never really did see anything. He was very excited to look through it. Hopefully the next full moon we will actually get to see it.

Trenton's creation

Trenton is out inventor. He takes twisty ties, pen parts, tape and creates endless possibilities. This is a robot that he made out of those things. I guess one day he will be the creator of some new phone or Internet game. Maybe his creation will be the next best thing!