Tumblr-ing

To say that I've been a bit absent from my blog
would be a bit of an understatement, wouldn't it?
I haven't forgotten my dear blogging friends,
nor my family who check in often.
But, part of my heart has been a bit stolen by
this new thing they call Tumblr.
So full of yummy eye-candy goodness.
You can see mine here.
You are warned that there are over 70 pages at this point.

A camping we will go

or actually, went. (Warning: very very heavy picture post ahead!!)
Last weekend Mike and I took the girls and went camping in the Appalachian Mountains. We love the mountains and always have a wonderful time. We visit and stay in the Smokey Mountain National Park. They have several campgrounds and we love them all, but are very partial to one. :)
We spent a lot of time enjoying the scenery and taking short walks since there were high chances of rain all 4 days that we were there. It didn't seem too wise to venture far from shelter with the downpours that blow up over the mountains. We had lots of fun and enjoyed every minute. Even the wet, muddy, and dirty ones.

We discovered while camping that Sadie~Rose is our nature girl. ?I've never seen a little one with such an affinity for dirt, mud, water, rocks, and plants. She was in heaven the whole time we were there. And a dirtier urchin I have not seen. But she had fun, so much fun.

We went to the Cherokee Indian Museum on Friday morning.
It was the perfect indoor outing for a rainy day.

We went to a working grist mill.
It's always a favorite hike for us.

We also hiked to Mingus Falls.
It's the tallest waterfall in the Appalachian Mountains.
About a 10 minute hike straight uphill, but so worth it.

A heart shaped knob on our tree by the campsite.

Sadie~Rose, passing the time waiting for dinner
sitting on a concrete bumper and looking at
a Babies-R-Us magazine she found in the car.

Our drive to Cade's Cove.
Rainy.

We saw lots and lots of deer in the Cove
after the rain storm was over.

Rose, practicing her driving skills.

Miss Olivia, pretending to be a bear in the
Cade's Cove Visitor's Center.

A lovely little stream that feeds into another working gristmill.

Sadie~Rose playing in the water.

Mike and the girls in front of the mill.

Driving through the park
you get some of the most amazing views.

We have a hard time keeping this child out of the water.

River stones.

Mother's Day.
Mommy with her girls.

Last picture on the camera.
I was taking pictures of the mountains
out the window when Olivia says,
"Quick, I need the camera!"
So I hand her the camera
and instead of pointing it out the window,
she points it at Mike and I's clasped hands.
Which is how we ride.
And what she sees.

Daddy and Mommy <3>

How does your garden grow?

Proficiently!

If you are on the fence about the square foot gardening - don't be.
It is amazing.

I remembered this weekend that it's time for an update on our gardening adventures.
We've been eating dwarf pak choy almost every day for a week! It's a good thing both our girls like it! :) I harvested over 5lbs of it on Sunday. It's so good and such a delight to be eating something that we grew our self.

I need to take more pictures. We have stir-fry greens, collards, snow peas, heirloom tomatoes, zinnias, marigolds, carrots, onions, leeks, bell peppers, hot peppers, zucchini, patty pans, wild flowers, cornflowers, and potatoes all growing. And a few more things we need to plant. It's so fun to see our garden growing!

For Katie

and for Olivia.
This past monday was Olivia's 6th birthday and this is one of the gifts I made for her.
Several months ago on Domestic Bliss we had a scrap swap. One of my lovely partners, KT, made us the adorably sweet matryoshka doll iron-ons.
Olivia immediately latched on to them, claiming them as her own. So I've been dreaming up a way to make them into something that will stay with us for a long time, rather than a t-shirt that will be outgrown in a season or two.
So, I hit upon the idea of a little patch work pillow. I had somthing slightly different in my head, but I was running out of time and lacking in inspiration so I ended up finding a fabric in my stash that matched the little doll perfectly and cut strips out of it to make the square of fabric the right size to fit over the pillow insert.
I think it turned out quite adorable and Miss O. is tickled with her darling pillow and sleeps with it nightly.

Doesn't she look sweet?

One of my favorite details of this pillow
is the 4 vintage buttons from my stash.
Love them!

Thank you Katie, for a wonderful gift.
We will treasure it for many years to come!

Spring is here and leaving

I didn't mean to skip out on the whole entire blogging community for almost a month, but it sure did happen.
While I've been living life, spring has happen here in the lowcountry and we are on the tail end days. Our spring flowers have bloomed and gone away for the most part.
But, I have a few catch-up photos to show you.

The Bradford pear tree in our yard was ever so lovely.

And the flowering cherry tree in my neighbors yard
also afforded me a few lovely shots.

Miss Olivia has been learning to ride her bike without training wheels during the past month. I didn't realize what a big deal it was going to be to teach her to ride without the extra wheels. We've been walking to our local Middle school (it's directly behind our house) and letting her practice on the yards and yards of side walks.
She and Sadie~Rose were taking a break in the picture above.

Sadie~Rose has also gotten in on the action. She adores riding on sister's bike.
So they have to take turns.
Not that it breaks Olivia's heart to have to take a break from practicing. :)
She's getting much better and gaining confidence, so hopefully I will soon have pictures of her riding all by herself
sans training wheels.

We went on a trip to Florida for the Easter holiday weekend.
Visiting with my sister, her husband,
and my grandmother was also visiting as well.
We had a lovely warm laid back weekend.

Olivia discovered on our way south that she has her
1st loose tooth!
Can anything compare to the excitement of that discovery
at the tender age of 5?

Mike and I are busy dreaming and scheming,
and making plans.
Can't share a whole lot right now,
because nothing is set in stone.
But change is in the air and so close
we can taste it.
I'm hugely excited and
can't seem to keep the big ol' happy smile off my face any time we talk.
It's a good season for us.

So, my dear friends, that's a very brief over-view of
what's been going on in my neck of the woods.
What have you been up to lately?