Oh, you make me so happy

The peony is named after Paeon (also spelled Paean), a student of Asclepius, the Greek god of medicine and healing. Asclepius became jealous of his pupil; Zeus saved Paeon from the wrath of Asclepius by turning him into the peony flower.
(from Wikipedia)

I wait for this all winter long- the first blooms from my sweet little peony bush. I take daily walks (sometimes multiple times a day, much to the annoyance of my husband:)) by my little plant starting in the early spring, eagerly monitoring it's growth. My heart fills with joy at the first sign of the light pink, almost white, buds that slowly emerge. It takes all of the determination and sanity that I can muster to not jump up and down, while clicking my feet together in the air and singing a song of happiness when I see that first floppy mophead (my willpower is not quite strong enough to prevent a little twirling dance, but these things happen). And yes, selfish as it may be, I just cannot leave them outside. So, I clip the delicate little mopheads and place them in a sweet little vase so that I can enjoy them inside. And when I'm inside, I carry them around, room to room, so that I can smell their loveliness whenever I please.

 

And speaking of mopheads, here is our other little mophead, loving herself up some sun. My dad would say that she's 'posing for animal crackers' and I would have to agree :).

 

Thank you all for your sweet and thoughtful notes on my last post. I feel so lucky to have found you in this little blogworld and look forward to sharing our stories of summer.....

xoxo 

A Sweet Surprise

"Seriously? Your blog is pathetic. Work on that!" - Amber, my oldest, sweetest, dearest friend, who is also quite candid and there to provide a swift kick in my ass whenever needed:).

She's right. I have been SO bad about updating my blog. It's not for lack of things to say, in fact, quite the contrary. There has been a lot going on around here lately. The biggest news is that I am pregnant- 15 weeks and counting :). I've been meaning to write about it for so long, but couldn't find a way to express how truly happy and blessed I feel. Some of you know that I've wanted this for a long time. Yet when I finally got those expectant 'two lines', I was actually..... shocked. And I've been shocked ever since. A sweet surprise. It wasn't until we went to see the ultrasound at 11.5 weeks, at which point we also heard the little heartbeat for the first time, that I felt a calming confirmation- 'there really is a little one in there'. Not that the morning sickness and exhaustion weren't clues enough, but having the raw data just sealed the deal. So, here we are today, feeling extremely, extremely grateful for this precious little thing, currently the size of an apple, that's growing inside of me. We cannot wait to welcome this little one to a home that’s brimming with love.

We love you and we haven’t even met you yet.

We’ve also been putting a lot of efforts into our yard lately. We’ve planted our apple trees, hydrangeas, butterfly bushes and our vegetable garden. There is nothing quite like walking up to the garden on a hot summer’s day, pulling a beautiful ripe tomato from a vine, taking a huge bite and knowing that all of this work that went into this delicious tomato was so totally worth it.

I will post some pictures of my garden this week, for those of you who would like to see;). But for now, I’m signing off to watch the end of the Yankees/ Mets game with hubby.

Good night, dear ones!

xoxo