A White Christmas!

Christmas Day! We had been blessed to have spent much quality time with family and friends the days leading up to Christmas and to spend a quiet Christmas day together, just the two of us and our sweet pups.
I do have to say, it was a great day to stay in for sure.
 We were awoken around 2:00am by quite the thunder storms...neither one of our dogs are fond them and they were certain to let us know about every little rumble. Tasha always feels better when she wears her Thundershirt, so of course that was an important order of business. Sammy boy just wants to snuggle, so with the whole crew in bed with us, we finally all drifted back to sleep about and hour and a half later.
Blissfully, we also all slept in!
Breakfast was waffles and bacon. With pouring rain outside, a walk was out of the question, so we settled in and gave the pups one of their Christmas presents to play with. It didn't take long for it to start snowing inside. It actually started inside last night when Auntie Carly gave the pups some wonderful new stuffed toys.



We read the story of Jesus birth, opened a few gifts that Santa had left us and settled in to watch the Disney Christmas parade. Die hards that we are, we loved it and talked of our next trip to visit Disneyland in 2013!
By early afternoon, the snow had finally begun and it came down in gusts! As much as we had been looking forward to going out to the hot tub in the snow, we definitely decided to pass on the cold gusty winds.

Sam took awhile to warm up to playing in the snow, but I think he did enjoy it.

Tasha always does.

The snow also continued inside as the day went on...more toys were opened and more stuffing emerged.

 Tasha was taking her toy stash upon the couch to keep them from her toy stealing brother!

Oh, and the kennel is about to come down, so we got them a new snuggly bed to take it's place.

The snow dusted the gardens beautifully!

 Yup, I still have my pumpkins from the fall hanging out back. Check out the Lady in Red bloom in the snow!

 And Mr. Frog hiding behind the now, mushy mexican petunias.

Babe's Chicken house was on the menu for lunch and dinner and boy was it yummy. We watched Tangled and snuggled and just had an amazing day together. Blessings abounded in our quiet day together.

Chihuly Date Night!

The honey and I thought seeing the Dallas Arboretum's Chihuly Nights would make for a great date and we were oh so right. While it was a bit cool and windy, we enjoyed ourselves thoroughly!
First stop was the Pumpkin Village!

 

And then of course the Chihuly Exhibits~

Well..almost. Isn't this a beautiful canna?

                             Ah! Chihuly       

 And what would the Arboretum be without a picnic?

 Yumtastic horse de vers and a little vino.

 Just amazing lite up!

 A few interesting foliage shots.

Some of our favorite shots.

We had a wonderful evening!

Cake Walk

Among my other passion besides working out in the gardens is my rental children! I've collected quite a few over the past 16 years and among the traditions that have come out having my kiddos is that I make their birthday cakes. Whatever they ask for, I do my best to make it happen. I thought I would post a few that have been requested. I can tell they have all been fun!

What's blooming in August?

What a rare treat to have rain in August! It has certainly perked up the garden at a time when she is not generally looking her best. Here's a quick look around!

Here are the babies catching some rays!

 Loving the pops of color from the coreopsis contrasting with the pink hibiscus and purple mexican petunias. Not loving the zinnias like I thought I would though. More tweeking for next year.

 You remember that pathway I was working on earlier this season? Here is the final product sans one more stone. I am amused that the birds has started their own sunflower grove here. And golly moses, a girl definitely knows we are nearing the end of summer. The lil boogers are going through 10lbs. of seed a week right now.

 The tropical sage have definitely proved themselves hardy. Going strong all summer and keeping the hummers super happy. The rain perked up the purple lantata too. I just have to get some more.

 A housewarming gift from a fellow gardener and friend. I can't wait til it starts leaping.

 And my new evil plant of the season. Who knew wild morning glory could be so insane. It's tried to eat the shed twice now this season. I don't think I will ever get rid of it.

 Love the portulaca and the contrast with the rock rose.

 Really LOVE my portulaca, I think more will be in the garden next year. It just stays so happy throughout the summer.

 My fairy rose has gone nuts. If this is creeping, boy I am in trouble next year. Well, not really. I figured out she is really too thorny to be in a place where people will be hanging out when visiting,so I am going to relocate her to a trellis on the fence nearby this fall.

 This is the volunteer potato vine from last year. It has a mind of it's own.