Bushes, weeds and trees.

Allergies are running rampant in our household.  I think all of us have some allergies to pollen; some worse than others.  We have had no winter and everything is blooming at once.  I am feeling it worse than normal and I am tempted to be allergy tested.  But with my luck, they would tell me nothing is wrong and it is all my imagination.  Hah.

I find yard work to be one of the hardest things to get done while caring for 3 kids.  Whenever I finally get Nate down for a nap, I am busy getting everything picked up around the inside of the house.  Weeding has been my job in the past few years and the overgrown flower beds are evidence of my slacking abilities.

So this week I was determined to get all of our Crape Myrtles and butterfly bushes trimmed before it was too late.  I usually do them in late March but I have already seen trees blooming in our neighborhood.  I don't have much advice on how to trim these bushes except by way of mistakes of the past.  We have trimmed our butterfly buses down to 1 foot and that was a mistake.  We almost lost one of them.  But if you leave them with no pruning, they have very little color.  So I try to trim back to about 2-3 feet high, noticing where there is dead wood from last season.  Trim those branches as far back as possible since they did not grow well last season.

As for Crape Myrtles, there are many opinions out there.  I have tried all of them.  Conservative cutting, trimming off all of the new growth works best.  And I love the way they look with no branches coming off the bottom.  Clean trunks and bright cheerful blooms - that is what I go for.

Here is our brush pile.  I don't think it will fit in the trash can.  Abby enjoyed riding her bike and playing with Rusty while I was working.







I worked as fast as I could while Nate watched in the stroller.  He lasted for a while - it was so pretty outside today.






















Abby made a special treat for the birds that have been filling our yard.  We shall see if the birds or the squirrels get these Cheerios.   She is excited to take this old bird's nest to school.  It was at the top of the Crape Myrtles.




I know this is not some super crafty/handy project.  But for me, this was a huge accomplishment.  I miss being outside and working in my yard.  The big kids are great helpers in the yard but juggling outdoor projects and naps is hard.  We are talking about planting some veggies and building a tree house this year.  The kids are already drawing up plans.  So happy for warm weather ahead...

The kid's bathroom.

Do you remember that project I mentioned?  The one in the master bathroom?  Yes, I am still avoiding it.  I decided to avoid the master bath and dream about the kids bathroom instead.  I love procrastinating boring projects...

The kids bathroom has had a few upgrades since our arrival 5 years ago.  (yikes...5 years is a lifetime record for me in one house...come June 1st, we will have to crack open some bubbly.)  I have replaced the vanity lights and I framed the 1960's mirror with moulding to make it "look" like I hung a big giant mirror.  The chocolate brown paint was a fun idea when we moved in, but I am a little tired of it.  So I decided to dream about what the bathroom could look like.



Since this is the kids bathroom (and guests), I decided to ask Caleb and Abby what they had in mind for their bathroom.  Wow, was I surprised at their passion for making this bathroom their own.  They both had very specific ideas.  Here is Caleb's drawing:

He asked for trees.  And clouds.  He said he "wanted nature in the bathroom, as if we had no walls to our house."  Love him.  So this is what I came up with from his drawing (from Apartment Therapy):

I showed Caleb my "sketch."  It did not go over well.  He wants the exact drawings he came up with...all four types of trees all over the wall.  He looked at my idea picture, and said that it needed more "color...blue and green."

Not knowing how to please him, I went to Abby.  I asked her how she wanted the bathroom to look.  Here is Abby's drawing:

Can you tell that both of my kids want more color in the bathroom?  Abby wants stripes everywhere.  She had a color for each person in our family.  Here is my interpretation for Abby's drawing (from This Old House):

When I showed Abby the picture, she said "Sure.  Looks great Mom."  When I showed Caleb my idea from Abby's inspiration, he got very quite and sullen.  "It needs trees.  Maybe clouds."

How do I combine these ideas?  The kids suggested trees on the walls and stripes on the ceiling.  I am glad Nate can't talk yet.  I don't know what I would do with all three kid's opinions.