An Invitation to Open House

Open House!  

The day classrooms are opened up to families, special student projects are shown off, and teachers exhaust themselves (because we want it all to be perfect)!

One of our third grade standards for social studies is learning about our patriotic symbols.  I love teaching my students about it, but what I really love are the projects!

Wanna' see?

I teach them about the Liberty Bell,

 the Bald Eagle and the Great Seal,

 the Pledge of Allegiance, 

 the Statue of Liberty,

 and the U.S. Flag.

I forgot to take pictures of the project my students do on Uncle Sam and the Star Spangled Banner.

They also write a flag poem and

created dioramas on Great Americans such as

Martin Luther King Jr., 

George Washington,

and Neil Armstrong.

I also cut out little Statue of Liberties and put the student's picture on them.  The students have so much fun trying to figure out whose face is on each little statue.

We make a paper quilt about the things we have learned about in third grade,

create a model of the solar system (my very educated mother just served us nachos - kudos to anyone who can tell me what that stands for),

and write a report about one of the planets!

And of course, I always have a little welcoming plant outside my door

and

a plate of cookies for my special guests.

Thanks for buzzing by!  Only three more weeks!!!! 

summer --- summer --- summer

Linking up with Have a Daily Cup with Mrs. Olson
for Share Your Cup!

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to you all!

Gardening, reading, and just spending time with my Bees will make my Mother's Day exactly what I want!

Oh and a latte in bed, of course!  

image from Graphics Fairy

Garden Tour #4 or What I Like to Call the Garden of My Dreams

I saved the best for last!

Worker Bee and I both thought this was our favorite garden.

Garden #5

A Garden of My Dreams

Bliss............gorgeous pink roses lining the walkway to the front door.

Under dappled shade these roses are so lovely!  

(Did you know I LOVE pink roses?  Worker Bee does - what a smart bee he is.)

And that picket fence - lined with gorgeous snapdragons. 

As you approached the front porch, an old rusty mailbox stored garden gloves and tools.  So charming!

This path led from the front porch to the side yard entrance.

Who doesn't love a bicycle basket filled with flowers?

Love the red wagon too!   

This was just on the other side of that slider.

Foxgloves......sweet peas in a basket....and do you see the nasturtiums?  (Silly Worker Bee and I call these nasties.  Do you have nicknames for plants?  Or is that just something Worker Bee and I do?)  

So much cottage garden charm! 

Sweet little potting area....

But then we come to one of my favorite areas - their patio!

Hello!  Don't you just love that table and box window (I think that's what it was) on the wall?  Her attention to detail was amazing!  

Go ahead......just enjoy the eye candy!

Doesn't that table look like it's right out of the pages of a magazine?  You may have noticed I have a thing for a lot of things, but I really have a thing for ivy and candles.  

Not only did she have gorgeous flowers and public spaces, but her veggie garden and compost area were cottagey and charming too.

Yep, here's some more eye candy!

Do you think she would let me move into her yard?  I could set up a little tent - maybe even a cottagey little tent made out of a quilt - can't you see it?  I'd blend right in, don't you think?

Well, thanks for coming along with me on all our garden tours.  If you missed them, you can see them here, here, and here.  Worker Bee and I tremendously enjoyed our 22nd anniversary date and I'm glad you came along.

And you never know what you'll find as you're strolling to a garden.....

Something perfect for Sewing Bee!

My mom (aka Sewing Bee) has a thing for bunnies.  (Hey! Something I don't have a thing for! Will wonders never cease?)

I just knew she'd adore these sweet little bunny topiaries!

I'm trying to convince her she should name her new little home

Bunny Run Cottage!

What do you think?  Any other suggestions for her cottage with bunny in it?  

And, of course, how can I resist linking up with Pink Saturday for those gorgeous pink roses?

Just found a new garden party over at Fishtail Cottage!  Won't you join the fun there?

Garden Tour #3

I finally want to share with you the last of the gardens Worker Bee and I visited for our anniversary date day.

Garden #4

Who Needs Water?

Is xeriscaping popular in your part of the country?  

Love those pillows!

We live in the Central Valley of California.  The gorgeous Pacific Coast is a couple of hours away to the west, but it is very HOT in our valley in the summer.  We get very little (or really no) rain during the summer.  We aren't quite a desert, but we're pretty close to it.  Xeriscaping is a way to garden and use as little water as possible.

She's growing artichokes!  I LOVE artichokes!  They are my very favorite vegetable.

 This gardener had a very water wise yard.  Lots of cactus and succulents.

This bricked in circular area is where her swimming pool used to be.  She filled it in and planted a garden.

 I have to confess, I'm not that big a fan of cacti.  I think I might have the opposite of a xeriscape garden at Sweet Bee Cottage. 

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the chairs, table, and footstools from an old tree.  

 Now I mentioned I'm not a fan of cactus, but I do have a thing for succulents.

This hanging was made in felt pockets.  And do you see the cute little birds on the ends?  The gardener took a very plain boring wall and made it cute!

The side yard was very welcoming as we walked out of the garden.

Can you tell the lattice is inserted in the fence and is like a window into the neighbor's yard?  Love those suns too! 

The front yard didn't really give away much of what the backyard was like except for these rusted flowers.  Definite xeriscaping there!

And one last shot of the mailbox and the Mexican primrose surrounding it.  Aren't they pretty?  These will just spread and spread and spread.  

Well, things are still pretty busy here.  We just finished state testing and Open House is next week!  Can I just say, "YIKES!!!"  But it will all get done and it's all down hill from there.  Only four more weeks of school. YAHOO!

Thanks so much for buzzing in!  

I've got so many projects I'm buzzing about and I can't wait for the summer to come so I can tackle them with you.  

(You are going to help, aren't you?) 

P.S.  I still have one more garden to share with you so I hope you come back to see my very favorite one we visited.

P.P.S.  I always loved when a letter I got in the mail had a P.P.S.  My cousins and I used to write back and forth over the summer and we always had plenty of P.S.es (how would you pluralize that - I'm not sure).

P.P.S.  This garden tour is my cup of tea so I'm linking up with
Have a Daily Cup with Mrs. Olson!