All winter long (long being the operative word), I think about and miss my summer garden.

The colors and smells are just so beautiful. It's truly an amazing pallet of color that God uses in my little piece of the world...

I know that a lot of people try to create a color scheme when they plant. Not me. I try to create a color frenzy. I love it!!

One of my favorite flowers in the whole world are Zinnias. Oh how I love them!...

And the tall Garden Phlox...what a smell they give off. So sweet that it's hard to believe they are not edible!

Oh! Hello "friend dragonfly"...

And hello "friend dragonfly". Playing with the girlies again I see. They really do love my children!!

Her ear is getting better, but it will still take some time to heal completely. Going under water is still off limits.  Thank you for your prayers. 

Madeline was of course searching for a mosquito eating playmate too (she looks like a pretty flower herself)...

As was Tara, after the first one flitted off...

Lets not forget another one of our frequent visitors, the butterflies...

Tara found a "wishing flower"...

I love my garden .

There's something enchanting about our property. The dragonflies are incredibly friendly and very attracted to Tara and Madeline. This evening, like so many others, Madeline and "friend dragonfly" were playing together.

No matter where she went, he followed along...

And even when she was done playing with him, he wasn't yet finished with her...

While Madeline was playing with friend dragonfly, poor Tara was inside (finally resting peacefully) with a killer case of swimmers ear. Poor little honey, she is in terrible pain. We went to the doctor early this morning and she's being treated with some Rx drops.  I've been piggy backing Motrin and Tylenol for her pain, but it doesn't seem to give much relief.  Please pray for her .

It just needed to be in her time. Madeline has become an underwater swimmer too! Way to go baby! I'm so proud of you .

What a little fishy she is.

And Tara's doing great herself!

I guess some rules were meant to be broken?

And yay for Madeline! She's starting to go underwater too .

Notice how she's plugging her nose?

Well...I guess that's not really necessary....

To the inventor of these smaller AFFORDABLE pools, THANK YOU!! We got ours for $234.00. We plan (hope) to get many years out of it. We could never afford a metal sided above ground pool or a built in one, but my children have gotten so much fun out of this.

It's fun for adults too .

Just a side note. I don't know what I'm doing wrong with the video clips. They are crystal clear on my computer but when I upload them to a web hosting site, the resolution diminishes. I'm clueless .  If anyone has any suggestions, I'm certainly open to learn!

When you view this clip, it may be jumpy. If you let it run through once, and then go back to view it a second time, it will be smooth.

Madeline wanted to sing too, but Tara wanted to have the spotlight to herself.  I told Madeline she could sit quietly next to Tara and dance.  Enjoy the show...It makes me laugh (which is something that I could really use these days).