an explosion of flowers~

 hi! i know some of you are anxiously waiting to see some

of my pictures from annie's wedding weekend.

i'm saving the wedding ones for another post- (they aren't

edited yet even) but here's a look at the 

production line of us doing her flowers!

we assembled them at my friend bonnie's.

it started out last thursday with annie and i

going to the floral wholesaler and o.k.'ing

everything i'd ordered and having it all packed up.

she headed out to get her wedding dress and i drove

through rush hour traffic in pouring rain,

to get to bon's and get the flowers all trimmed,

bathed and in buckets, and buckets of water to

harden them. these flowers came from all

over the USA and maybe even some flew across the ocean!

they were thirsty.

every single stem needs to be re-cut and all the lower foliage removed and then

the stock and hydrangeas got completely submerged in water

to hydrate them...an extra step that took a lot of time,

made us laugh (as we sat on the edge of bon's tub discussing

the fact that the people at our wedding table wouldn't have

a clue that we'd "bathed" the flowers in the centerpieces.

we spent 6 hours getting them ready for the next morning and the

designing!

so here it's fri. morning and bonnie has us all organized and ready to goooooo~

the bride (annie) and her daughter/maid of honor get there to help and give us grief.

annie and jess designed their own bouquets! 

i could not believe how talented they both are.... these may be

the most gorgeous bridal bouquets i've ever seen.

bon was so determined to get a good shot of us working

she leapt up on her counter. haha

we made 39 of these darlings for the reception.... sheer delight!  i love the flowers 

annie choose and it was such a pleasure working with all this beauty!

  

i hope to get the wedding editing done and then i'll show you the

next part of the fun next week! 

till then, ta ta.

***********

i'm off to alexandria to say good bye to a 

very dear old friend of ours-

the first one of our friends to pass on.

bruce was a one in a million kind of man, 

you could never be with him without leaving

with a stomach ache from laughing...

he had a heart attack in his car at the grocery story,

eating a klondike bar.

what a way to go- and he left us all with a smile on our faces.

he was 62 & he lived life to the fullest~till his very last minute on the earth.

he will be so missed.

my hubbie said when i told him and the shock had

set in, "the world is going to be a lot less

funny, without bruce in it."

xo, beth

5~11~2014

today is mother's day.

this is a blessing for all the girls who ever wanted to be a mother,

and couldn't.

for all the women who helped raise another woman's child &

for the woman raising children without a partner.

it's for all of us who experienced 

infertility and loss.

*i especially bless those mothers who have lost a child~

 and had to somehow take their next breath and keep walking forward.

for all of us lucky enough to have children to love,

and for all who still have their own moms.

**********

sometimes the raising up isn't easy & sometimes the days are long.

 when you are pregnant you're afraid
 of what labor is going to be like but
what you don't yet know, is that your real labor begin
after
your child is born.
 as a mother, your heart will be broken.
broken wide open with emotions you never knew existed
until you have a child.
yes there will be hard days and long nights,
 but their will be laughter and there will 
be joy. there will be silly songs that you make up and then years
later hear your children sing to their own children.

our children teach us much more, than we ever teach them. 
our job is to raise them up and grow together
and then there's the letting go.

 it's the best job there is~ 
life's highest calling~being a mother.

 by grace, i was given three children to raise up. 

they are my greatest blessings.

*eric, adria and cole*

you made me a mother and that is pretty much

all i ever hoped to be.

xox

this week finally feels like may. i was born on may 5th- and

traditionally the month of may (and my birthday) are beautiful. 

can't even tell you how happy these little pansy faces are making me~

and these fresh flowers.

it's my big sweetie's birthday 5 days before mine so

we had a party for "us" on sunday with our kids.

i made a party hat for my bunny on the porch,

when adria got here she said,

"mom, what did the rabbit do that he had to

wear a dunce hat?"  haha

papa had an ear to ear grin when he saw his 

awesome new air compressor.

this is chris, adria's fiance~ my bonus son.
 (isn't he handsome?)
 he likes to garden & has his already planted... he feeds the birds too, like me. two of my presents from the kiddos were a watering can and 
a beautiful hummingbird 

feeder. christopher picked them out!

found this darling bag hanging on my front door on my birthday-

gorgeous decorated sugar cookies, made by a friend. 

presents- so many, so much love being sent my way...

thank you, thank you friends and family! (xox)

these are from the garden. not. even. kidding.

: )

oh and another fun part of my birthday was a pedicure.

first one  e v e r.  i got a french polish- i hadn't even

been home an hour when i smudged several toes...

i called and went back and got them fixed up.

i told lars that night that his wife was sooo not born to

be a diva! (remember my manicure fiasco a few
months ago?)  

i had a really lovely birthday - & now enough about me---  

now it's all about my dear
 friend annie getting hitched on saturday!

i'm picking up a car full of flowers at my

wholesaler tomorrow and i have all the

tools and tricks of the trade packed and ready- along with

buckets, my apron, granola bars and camera.

it's a really, really special honor when i'm trusted to 

do the flowers for such special occasions and 

she and i have a vision. we have looked at

pinterest and wedding sites & sent pictures

back and forth. the flowers are really important

to her. 

i hope i can deliver~

i am pretty sure i'm going to do the flowers for

my daughter's wedding too. i may be crazy- i've

heard a mother of the bride has a million things

on her list, BUT...

this is my only daughter and i did the

flowers for my own wedding and still made it down the 

aisle, so i really want to do hers.

she and i are nutso in love with flowers.

if there was ever a time to use

the skills i've learned, it would be for her right?

buckets and buckets of gorgeous

 peony's, garden roses, ranunculus, 

rice flowers, hydrangeas, baby's breath and stock await me,

i can't wait!

b. 

*my sister just randomly sent me a message the other

day telling me she was laying in bed thinking about her wedding,

and wanted to thank me for doing her flowers. (I was 9 months 

preggos at the time). she told me she still thinks she had the

most beautiful bridal bouquet she's ever seen.

~it was 34 years ago.

how sweet is that?

today this will be easy!

xo

* i have two special nieces who were born on my birthday and an old

friend from high school plus the doctor that delivered my babies...

cinco de mayo- what a good day to be born.

 feeling all things pink and soft this morning. i think it's cause the sun is shining~

 and it's saturday.

my handmade party hats

one week from today my friend annie is getting married.

i'm making 30 bouquets like the one below for their party~

*i can't wait! it has been an absolute blast hearing all her plans for

the last year...having her show me pictures of her dress and her daughter's dress etc...

watching her open things that came to the studio that were for the wedding...

now the time is finally here. annie lost her mom when she was in her early 20's

and to honor her memory, she chose mother's day weekend for their wedding.

her dad and  22 yr. old son are going to walk her down the aisle...

i could already cry just thinking about it.

i LOVE weddings. period.

wish you were here to have a cup of coffee with me!

yesterday i washed off the table on the deck and put a tablecloth on it,

potted up some pansies and got out the cushions for the furniture.

today lars and i have big plans to get the yard cleaned up.

we have a big yard...he just asked me when i would be ready to start.

(it's 9:15 a.m.) i told him i power up about 2 p.m. and to just go ahead and

get started without me. 

i yelled down, " i am blogging~ 

then i'll get dressed and have a bit of breakfast,

then i'll be out."

how long can i make this blog post last?

probably not that long...................see ya!

xo, beth

these two brothers used to like to play with GI Joes...and play with toy guns.

there was just no stopping it.

as a first time mom- i really didn't want my little guy (eric) having guns.

i preferred the fisher price shopping cart full of pretend groceries.

but, 

there was just no stopping it.

i have funny memories of making eric a piece of toast and turning

around to see him biting off pieces till it was the shape of a gun.

or checking on him playing out side and he would

inevitably find a stick shaped like a gun and would be shooting

imaginary prey.

well, they both grew up and they took gun safety classes and headed to the 

woods and there's just been no stopping them since.

(little sister joined them about 5 years ago too. i'm the only

smart one, in the cabin were it's warm...snuggled up reading).

see them sneeeeeaking around the corner of the garage?

below were the two turkeys they'd seen. 

not a tom turkey to be had though, so nobody got to shoot.

& it was back to maple sap collecting.

it's weird, but maple syrup starts clear. at first we thought we just had water in our pails~

but then you boil, and boil, and after about two straight days, 

you are ready to jar it up! 

we got 4 whole pints this first year- just enough to wet our

appetites and know we'll try again next year.

i was in a playful mood and dressed duke up~ just to see if he'd let me.

he's such a good dog. after a day of running around he's so tired at the cabin

you could probably put an elvis costume on him and he'd sing 

"love me tender".

cole started stripping bark off pine logs last fall and every chance he gets he

works on them. a lofted pine bed is in his future.

big brother decided he'd make one too~ he already has an awesome log dresser

for his "someday" house.

 

i spent a long time trimming these prickly barberry bushes in the photo above one day. 

then i dug out all the flower seeds i saved from last years garden and

started sorting them out, seeing how many there were and plotting

what all i need to buy for this years gardening. i want to grown more

viney  things, like pumpkins, gourds & squash.

my brother todd surprised me with this 

cool antique thermos last time they visited.

it's glass inside. i'd never seen one like it.  :  )

on Easter sunday we drove to town and visited this little church.

it was filled to the rafters that day, but the bulletin said 

that the prior sunday, attendance was 29.

*gotta love a small town. 

i really fussed and made the boys these paper sack bunnies filled with candy.

well, one of them had candy in it, the other one power bars.

haha...they have very different eating habits.

the sun set was beautiful on Easter evening.

********

and today driving down main street the temporary greenhouse that my

jeep just knows to stop at, said 

OPEN

there are pansies and basil on my porch,
and my first Cottage Journal magazine arrived in the mailbox today,

happy MAY day to you all!!