A productive day is a happy day

Ah, Mother's Day. I've gotten to celebrate this day for 5 years now, and it's awesome. I slept in until 9am and then got to wake up to my little boys giving me hugs and kisses and wishing me Happy Mother's Day under the whispered guidance of their daddy.

Ken made me breakfast while I sat on my bum, and then it was time to get working. What I really wanted for Mother's Day was to get our garden plot planted and fenced so the seedlings Padraic and I planted a couple months ago would have a more permanent home in which to grow and thrive. I've been so excited to have a garden since we bought our house 7yrs ago but didn't have time to put in a garden the first couple years because we were building the garage, and then we became Mommy and Daddy, and if you have kids you know that that means nothing useful can get accomplished.

Finally, the boys are old enough that Padraic can help with a garden, while Henry safely wanders the yard, playing with the push toys, blowing bubbles, or digging in the dirt around the garden's edge. It still was a miracle that we got everything done, but we did it! Thanks to Ken hauling 40 concrete blocks to the far reaches of our yard so it'd be harder for critters to climb into the garden and destroy our handiwork. We now have seedlings for cantaloupes, green peppers, and tomatoes transitioning to their new homes, and we hope to see sprouts of onions, two kinds of green beans, snap peas, broccoli, lettuce, spinach, watermelons, carrots, and strawberries within a few weeks. Some things won't make it, but we'll do our best to nurture the seeds and seedlings and keep pests at bay so they get a chance to produce. Bonus: Padraic agreed to try at least one of everything that grows. So we might have him eating more veggies before long.

Having a garden reminds me of gardening with my own mother when I was a kid. Our garden is roughly 10' by 15', but hers must've been 10' by 25'. It definitely was huge. The first few years we planted numerous things, like corn, potatoes (ugh, hate potato bugs), asparagus, strawberries, and a zillion other things I've since forgotten. As my sister and I got older and more involved with non-home activities, the garden eventually became half asparagus, half strawberries. :) A love-hate relationship for me! But the hours spent digging and weeding and hoping for good harvests were energizing and relaxing and tiring all at the same time. I hope my sons enjoy our new garden and the family time it fosters as much as I enjoyed those days.

By sunset we were all exhausted, Henry was already asleep, and there had been baths and showers to remove the layers of dirt and sweat. But we'd done exactly what I'd hoped: Spent the whole day together out in the sunshine. Oh, and started our garden.