Kate and Sydney just finished their most recent theatrical event..."The Sound of Music." I have a confession to make. I have NEVER watched "The Sound of Music" with my daughters. I'm not talking on stage I mean NEVER, EVER, EVER, at ANYPLACE or ANYTIME. Mostly this lapse in Theatrical education is out of respect for John. He has always been 110% supportive of Kate and now Sydney being in shows. He'll tolerate months on end of soundtracks and DVDs but just NOT "The Sound of Music". WELLLLLL, that's all over with now...we even watched it TV the other night, (John was not home!) staying up until 11pm to see the amazing Julie Andrews sing her heart out. We didn't have a lot of practices since the girls were in supporting rolls, Kate as a novice and leader of a line of goat children....Sydney as one of the goats in Kate's line. Miss Jone' was the Mother Abbess and our favorite Miss Ashley as Liesl below. I didn't take tons of photos...Paige is not conducive to taking photos in a very dark theatre! Which I wish I had because the actors were really good, worked very hard, and made me cry. Yeah don't really know what's up with that. Apparently I was tired from daily rehearsals for two weeks. That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it. 
These are the barrettes I made for all of the Rapplings for Easter. I had a request to post them and so here they are. I was inspired by an Etsy artist, whose shop I forgot to save, so I don't have a link. Then I cut out some random oval/circle shapes, stitched them to each other and a barrette and added beads. Instant cuteness!
These are the goodies I sent to my May basket exchange partner. I covered the little basket with flowers and buttons. Then I stuffed the basket with creative goodness...ribbon, papers, little people, a handmade scarf, a new album I designed, cupcake embellishments, and a stack of John's photos. This is the amazing blogger that put together "A year in color"....a artsy blog full of fun crafty ideas and challenges.
So, I was busy, busy, busy! Thursday I predug a hole for use on Friday. Friday before we went to Zero Landfill John pruned a lilac bush that was half dead...the trick? He used his saws all(everyone take note that this only works if you have a dead tree or want a dead tree!) Everyone knows powertools are much more fun than regular old pruning. I dug up the remaining portion of the bush which suddenly decided to split, (oops!) and become two bushes. We manhandled them to the front yard and tucked them in.
Later in the afternoon I decided where I wanted the trees exactly...John checked my spacing...dwarf trees need to be eight feet apart...and then his tape measure literally fell apart. But I was amazed that placement by eye was absolutely perfect. John tilled two widths with the rototiller. Then it was my turn to dig the holes, mix horse manure in with the soil for fertilizer, plant the trees and then water. The trees, three in total came together in a five foot tall box with bare roots. This necessitated rehydrating the trees in a large bucket of water for a few hours which I did remember to start in the morning. My hilarious moment...the horse manure was by my back garden...I took the wheelbarrow and shoveled it all in.(Thanks again to Sissy the horse and Miss Charlene for her horse manure delivery service!) I felt the handle starting to give...it is a very very old wheelbarrow but made it to the "orchard" with no disasters! As I made the manure delivery to the third and final hole it snapped. One handle completely G-O-N-E gone. Honestly I break things all the time! Syd wanted to know why I was holding the wheel barrow funny when I put it away. I picked up the handle waved it in the air...her eyes lit up and she smiled her little minxlette smile...OHHHHHHHHH! Yep sweetie, mom's done it again. Really my ability to drop, break, rip, bruise etc. have become legendary. That's one seriously good skill....right????
The definition of an orchard is, "An intentional planting of trees or shrubs maintained for food production." Of course I looked up the definition! A girl has to know that she's using the correct terminology in her garden. We planted three trees, found here...one has been claimed by each girl. I love that they have "their own" tree. You'll love how very TALL(that's a joke just take a gander) the trees are compared to each girl. (Kate, sweetie, your photo didn't turn out we'll take one after school tomorrow!) You think I'm nuts? My dad had 18??? (right dad?) yes EIGHTEEN fruit trees, two grape arbors and a vegetable garden in his little backyard.
Paige with "her tree" the 2 in 1 Pie Apple Tree which is cool because there are two varieties of apples grafted on this tree. Grannysmith and Arkansas Black...ripen in late September/early October and they will pollinate the other, also keep in cold storage for 10 months.
"Kate's tree" is a Honeycrisp apple. It is a newer variety but crisp, sweet and yummy. Ripens early September. Kate's photo will be posted ASAP.
There is something amazing about growing your own fruit! It's a little bit of a Miracle watching a flower turn into a delicious fall treat. So try some berry plants and if you're feeling brave maybe a tree or two.
