Gettin our GROW on

Aaaaah Springtime.  Growing up, for me, one of signs that spring was upon us was a trip to the local garden center with my grammy.  Every spring she and I would make our way down the aisles of plants and gardening tools and load up her shopping cart. She often picked a variety of flowers and veggies and always insisted that I pick out a plant of my very own.  I often chose strawberries - I had to have them and she let me.  We would ride home, me carrying my strawberry plant in my lap, excitingly talking about what she would make with the veggies we grew and our plan to celebrate the start of spring with the planting of some beautiful blooms.

Many years later it feels like I am creating the same springtime magic with my daughter, that my grandmother created for me.  Since before we moved into our home, exactly one year ago (WAHOOO!!!) Jalayla has wanted a garden. It has been a dream of the both of us to spend sunny days in our outdoor abode.  The funny thing about this is that we both scream at the sight of bugs which comes with being outdoors.  We are both working on that though :)

Yesterday after a trip to the Home Depot, 2 trips to the gardening center, 7 bags of dirt (stinky stinky dirt), a packet of seeds, and a few vegetable plants we started our very first garden.  My husband Chris and I prepared the soil, Jalayla issued orders and we all dug holes and planted our pint sized pieces of produce.  We also found a worm (we don't really run from worms) whom we adopted and named  Machamo (he was a manly worm).  Jalayla and I decided to put him in a small pile of dirt, she then sat next to him to ensure his safety.  After we finished panting our plants we put Machamo in his new home.

I am so excited that we were able to make this memory together as a family.  I don't think Jalayla will ever forget planing her first garden.  She was so eager to tell everyone about her garden, don't be surprised if she invites you over for salad, and this morning told us - uh about 10 times that the vegetables are growing :)

Often times we get so busy with the every day that we forget that we are constantly making memories for ourselves and our loved ones.  I often believe that the good memories we make are what carry us through some of life's most difficult moments - they give us something to shoot for, the opportunity to create more of them!

We are excited to see if our veggies will actually be edible and actually grow but either way we are having fun in the process.  I'll be back to talk about my "project" but for now I'm savoring this particular moment...

If our garden does well this year be sure to look out for us and our booth at the local Farmer's Market (but not really).

Just curious what are you all have been doing to celebrate the start of spring? Gardening? Baseball games? Shopping? BBQs? I'd love to hear about what this lovely time of year inspires you and your lovies to do.