Hope you all had a wonderful time with your family on Mother's Day!

      We sure did! We all got to eat at Red Lobster! That was a treat for me since I cook so much! It was a nice day to be outside because we had to wait so long. With all the children, the time went by quickly! We sure did enjoy that delicious food and fellowship!

      Win stayed with us from Sunday til Tuesday, so I've been occupied! She keeps me company so that I don't have time for much else! All the girls are coming today, but they all play together and keep each other occupied, if you know what I mean! If the rain doesn't mess everything up, they are supposed to go with us to a birthday party tomorrow. There will be  a slide, a jumpy thing and who knows what all! There's a 60% of rain tomorrow, so we'll see.

      I re-planted some squash and zucchini, since some of the seeds didn't come up. The beans are growing nicely, though. I also re-planted cucumbers since all but one of those didn't come up. I'm still learning about gardening! I should have transplanted my seedlings into larger pots; now I've still got seedlings to plant into the ground! I don't know why I didn't think to do that! I would really like a greenhouse, since I don't have a very good place to grow them inside. The dining table is a good place, but we use it occasionally and the seedlings have to be moved. I never moved them back. So, all that waiting on heirloom tomatoes may time even longer! I still enjoy it though, and will continue to plant seeds until I get that greenhouse!

      I feel like all my posts look alike, so that's why I haven't written much lately! I write about my home and what I do here, so there's not much else to see. I hope ya'll don't get tired of seeing the same old thing! But, it's my life! Enjoy your weekend! Blessings from Bama!

Mom, Skylar, and Dad, waiting in front of Red Lobster. Willie in back.

Randy feeding Riley a fry! She's getting so big!

Randy and his Mom.

Margo Coster rose, and the wild rose and goose in the background.

I can't capture the beauty of Sir Thomas Graham!

The irises finally opened! Aren't they beautiful?

Isn't this a pretty peony?

Win looks like a boy here, but I had to put that shirt on her to keep her arms from getting too sunburned!

I've got to do something with these bags of leaves! The rose's beauty is so hard to show up on film.

This might be a better view.

Rubi likes the Frisbee!

Skylar about to get the Frisbee from Rubi.

The rain has finally stopped!

      And the sun has come out again! The temps have warmed into the upper seventies, instead of the upper 40's! We were experiencing winter weather since I last blogged! At least for us it was! We had to wear jackets and long sleeves! Who would have thought that in May for Alabama? Our local river has passed flood stage and there's no telling what Nocallula Falls looks like!

      We went to Jemmison, Alabama Sunday, to a great garden center, Petals From the Past! I just knew it was going to rain, since it was very cloudy and raining in most areas. But we only experienced cold winds and clouds! It was cold, but I chose a couple of rosebushes  and muscadine vines anyway! We also got a beautiful yellow iris and some red verbena. I have gotten everything planted except the iris and the verbena. These were gifts to me for Mother's Day. Actually, Valentines as well since I wanted a rose bush instead of a bouquet of roses.

      Of course the girls were here this past weekend! They are so cute growing up! They never cease to amaze me with all the questions they ask! And some of the things they say are so cute! It's a whirlwind when they're here and I miss them when they're not here! I'm sure I'll get to see them a lot this weekend since it's Mother's Day and we all try to get together for that! Hope ya'll have a nice Mother's Day! Thanks for stopping by! Blessings from Bama!

Winterlynn trying to slide. Rubi is always around the children or me!

I like this photo of her!

We just finished breakfast and I think they'r watching Caillou. They love him! I won't let you see my bed-head!

Isn't this a beautiful peony? I just love the color!

Sir Thomas Tipton. This is one of the roses I got. Skylar is almost done with the mulch.

Ruth's Red, a climber. These roses are repeat bloomers. The red one has very full, beautiful red roses, when it blooms.

I'm not sure of the name of this yellow iris. It was given to me. These flowers are inside the chicken yard and are so full of blooms. The rose, in the middle, it's hard to tell, has lots of blooms about to open.

The wild, once-blooming rose bush has small flowers.

Concord grape. I hope it has grapes in less than three years!

The blackberries are so pretty in bloom!

One of the muscadines. Rubi likes the cool, wet dirt.

Another muscadine.

I can't get enough of this beautifully colored iris!

I believe this one is Black Beauty.

I also can't get enough of this beautiful peony!

I need to move this iris out of the weeds. It's a bit close to the woods, too.

A little bit of rain, and a lot of sunshine!

      I wrote this post and while I was typing in a caption under a photo, the whole thing including all the photos disappeared! Where did it go? Oh well, guess I'll start over! We've had family, especially little great-nieces, here a lot lately! They've moved only ten minutes away! I'll have to learn how to balance blogging and children, along with my other chores. Each new season has it's trials and difficulties but as the season progresses, everything gets balanced out, hopefully! Longer days, more work outside! Shorter days, more work inside! 

      The weather has been rainy lately, but today it's beautiful and sunny! The garden is growing nicely! There are beans coming up and green strawberries! I can hardly wait to harvest them! The squash and cucumbers haven't come up, but the nights have been a little cool. They will probably come up next week. Summer will show up just as quickly as Spring did! We'll have a nice day, then the next it will be eighty-something! I hope to get the mulch and landscape fabric down before it gets much hotter! Skylar has been helping, but today he is working! Guess I'll have to get out there and get it done! I love being outside! The flowers are blooming and the weather feels good! It just gets really hot around all that concrete!

      I've been in the kitchen as usual, cooking all kinds of things! I'm also experimenting with different techniques of cooking. I tried a cook box and found that it really works! I cooked soup on the stove for about ten minutes, then put it in the box. It stayed there for a couple hours, and walla, it's done! Good for saving on electricity or whatever you use to cook with! I'm still trying the solar shield cooking and the next sunny day, I'm going to cook potatoes! I think it will work! Tonight I'm using the pressure cooker, as that uses much less electricity, and gets the job done quickly! Have you tried different ways to cook in order to save on gas or electricity? Let me know in the comments. Ya'll have a nice week! Blessings from Bama!

Ran, my Dad, Winterlynn, Yasmine and Layla.

The blackberries are blooming! That's what all those white blooms are.

I'm having to cook on my induction burner. After only seven years of cooking on the stove, one of the eyes have gone out.

Ta-da! Our new Berkey! I've been wanting one of these for about three years, so we finally got one! The water tastes great; actually, it has no taste!

 This beautiful bird was on the bird feeder the other day! I don't know what kind it is!

                  Isn't it beautiful?

The cook-box. Wrap the pot in blankets then place in the box.

Skylar working on the mulch.

Aren't these irises gorgeous?

These look almost black!

The clematis is the same color.

A peony bud.

I love this shade of yellow!

The Lady Banks in full bloom.

Riley enjoyed watching me dig.

Such a dainty little rose!

She already loves to swing!

Win likes the see-saw!

Nanny pushing her. Riley looks like she's smiling!

Riley slept here for three hours! I didn't know she would sleep that long! She usually only sleeps for thirty minutes! I guess the swing wore her out!

The wisteria has really grown this year!

Aren't these red roses pretty?

The flower bed is coming along!

More dainty roses.

The refrigerator is not the theme of this photo! The fig tree is! The fridge is on its way out! The hubs was going to turn it into a solar oven but has decided it would be too much work.

The bees are busy about the hive!

The small hive is doing good too!

Green strawberries!

The rattlesnake beans are emerging!

The almost black irises and clematis.