I weeded our flower beds this week with my 4y, 2y and 9m old. This is not an equation for efficiency, but we had fun....

We found an earthworm and I was really proud of myself for not going "eek" when I uncovered it in the dirt. Not only did I not shriek, but I feigned excitement and got my kids to be excited about it. My 2 year old tried to eat it (you have to watch her)! My son was enthusiastic about holding it. When he found out that you use them for fishing he said, "Oooh, I'll put it in my pocket so Daddy and I can bring it fishing." Hmmmm, guess I better start checking his pockets. He was very concerned that the birds would eat it if he didn't keep it. We found a nice hiding spot behind some flowers.

Despite the fact that I lack a green thumb, we bought some flowers at Wal-mart yesterday to plant in our front flower gardens. My kids were so excited! I even splurged and got them each a mini watering can. Does it get better than that? We spend several hours out front weeding and then planting and then, the best part, watering the flowers. We saw our neighbor who is about 6 years older than our son and my son eagerly invited him over to join us in our weeding. He kindly obliged and when he went to his shed to go get his tools my son admonished me to slow down on the weeding.

"Mom, don't pick all the weeds. We don't want to run out. We need to share them with Tommy." This made me chuckle. Running out of weeds isn't a problem I have ever experienced in my limited time gardening.

The flowers we were planting were called Impatients. Seemed appropriate as throughout the afternoon the conversation went something like this.

"Mom, are you done weeding yet? Can we plant the flowers?"

"Now, can we plant the flowers now? I am ready to water them."

"Hey mom, is it time now to plant the flowers? I got my watering can."

FINALLY it is time to plant the flowers. We begin with the first one of 18. By plant 2, it is...

"Hey Mom, can we water them?"

"When is it time to water them?"

"I'm ready to water them."

Finally we got them all planted and then they got to water them. It was pretty cute watching them pour the water from their cans. I also loved watching my daughter pat the soil around the plant... something about those tiny little hands patting down the soil, it was like a Hallmark moment or something.

Don't forget the baby. About half way through the process she decided she didn't want to be left out and she joined us, sitting on my lap. Digging the holes one handed was a bit slow, making the process take even longer. It was close to dark when we finished.

This morning when the kids woke up, my son told us he was so excited to look out the window last night to see his flowers. THIS is the part of gardening I enjoy. He also thought the flowers were thirsty and would need watering again today. Perhaps these plants have a better chance of survival than the last flower I brought home. Maybe green thumbs skip generations.

This morning when my kids were eating breakfast my son asked, "Mom, what happened to your flower?" I looked on the deck and it was gone. I asked my hubby if he moved it and he said," No, but last night when I was sitting out at the dining room table, I did hear a crash outside when the wind blew." My kids went out to investigate this morning and it seems my poor flower decided to take her life with a fateful jump off of our deck, rather than to continue to suffer under my care. The answer to my husband's question on Wednesday night when we brought home our hyacinth is........5 days.

I don't have a green thumb. I want to, but truth be told, I lack the follow through. On Wednesday my husband and I went to a dinner for his work and they had potted flowers on all of the tables. Afterwards we each got to take one home. As we drove home with it in the car, my husband said to me, "So, how long before you kill it?" I replied with a "ugh" and a look that said how dare you say that.... the next morning when I came out to the table, this is how it looked. "It's not my fault!" I exclaimed. I didn't even have a chance to not water it. It died prematurely. I didn't do anything. So, we propped it up with a pencil and I gave it a little drink of water. Next day, it still looked the same. Finally I moved it outside b/c the scent was giving me a headache. My husband thought the sunlight might be good for it. He tried again to prop it up with a stick. Today we looked out on the deck and as you can see it hasn't gotten any better. Spring is here and my son is so excited about planting flowers and vegetables outside. I am bit concerned because as you can see my thumb is not so green. I fear I could end up disappointing him with this. We'll see... I am sure I will have future posts on this matter. Wish me luck!