Planting May Flowers...Then and Now

Last May we made a morning of going out to breakfast -- a rare treat -- and then going to the garden center to get flowers for the girls to plant.  They've been asking to plant flowers again this year, so we embarked on a repeat adventure this weekend.

We again enjoyed a super-yummy breakfast, and then headed to the garden center.  The girls again picked petunias for their flower pots.  Last year, they chose pink and purple; this year, purple and white.

I also picked out some begonias for our front flower bed.  (This year is the first time I've planted our front beds since the girls were born...yikes!)

Baby A was quite the helper at the garden center.  She insisted on pulling the flatbed wagon...and she did a pretty decent job!

When we got home, Daddy unloaded the car while the girls and I got our gardening gloves on.  I can't remember that from last year, exactly, but this year was nothing short of hysterical.  I thought the girls would be old enough to put their gloves on by themselves...but I was wrong!  It was a real feat to help them, laboriously, get 20 fingers in place.  My incessant laughing didn't make things go any more smoothly.  Hee hee!

When we finally had our gloves on and our equipment in place, the girls did a great job dropping the plants into the holes I dug.  They were troopers...helping through two pots of petunias and the front flower bed.

After our hard work, we relaxed for a few minutes with a snack on the picnic blanket I spread on the driveway, and then the girls wanted me to show them how to jump rope.  They have a lot of practicing yet to do...but I had a great time!

I only took a few pictures yesterday.  In contrast to last year, Daddy was working on potting our ferns while the girls and I took care of the flowers...so I didn't get as many action shots.

Still, it was so much fun to compare this year's pictures to last...

2013...we're ready!

2012...trying to figure out those gloves!

2013...the fruit of our labor!

2012...grow, little flowers, grow!

One other notable note is that last year was toasty warm...and this year, not so much!  We were fine eating breakfast in our jeans and long-sleeved shirts...but it was downright COLD at the garden center.  Thankfully we had fleece pullovers in the car that we donned...and kept on for the duration of the morning!

Live long and prosper, petunias!  We'll do it again next year!