Every May I love to fill the planters we keep in front of our garage with bright, beautiful annuals. It is the one plant-based concoction I can actually keep going (as long as we remember to water), and requires no weeding (huge bonus in my mind over traditional flowerbeds). Unlike my mom, who loves to play in the dirt in a garden or flowerbed, I much prefer this route; I did, however, acquire my mad planter-arranging skills from her, so that’s excellent. This year’s offering turned out completely different than the norm as I picked new-to-me flowers and stayed much more color-focused than in the past: For the last few years, now, I have requested that these flowers be my Mother’s Day gift which allows the kids to “help” pick out the flowers and I get something that A) I love and B) does not take up room in my cupboards or on my counters. Don’t get me wrong. I love kid-made crafts (got an adorable finger painting from HD this year) and cards, and will always be delighted by such, but I heaven help me, I really don’t need more coffee mugs or trinkets in my house, so outdoor pretties are a fabulous gift, in my mind.

This year, over Mother’s Day weekend (see how I just turned it into a whole weekend to celebrate moms?!), Ben took the kids to see his own mom (and dad), but I had to stay here because of my yoga schedule. Inadvertently, this became an extra present to me because it gave me time to myself to do kid-free stuff and sleep in on Mother’s Day, and really – isn’t that what most of us really, really want??

With all this glorious time to myself over the weekend, I thought I might squeeze in some flower time, too, but seeing as HD has an elephant’s memory, I floated the question by Ben of “Do you think the kids would be mad if…” because I wanted to do my planters without them. Picking out what is going in my containers is actually much, much easier when I don’t have three small children weighing in on the selections or attempting to fill the cart, as is also the case with the actual planting.

Except when I actually asked Ben about it mid-week, I said, “So. About my Mother’s Day flowers…” and then paused because he gave me this completely bug-eyed and startled look that I did not understand, but then overlooked and asked my question anyway which seemed to make him relax a bit.

The general consensus was that, yes, it would be fine, especially because we actually had a new flowerbed to fill in front of our house (note bare patches in the photo…we took out some random, jungle-type stuff that had been growing there and made it into a real bed, with hopes that the yard will fill in, too) this year, so the kids could do their “helping” with that project instead. Mama time and mama+little time. Perfect! Also, here’s hoping for little-to-no weeding required in what turned out to be, on Mother’s Day, a very colorful adventure to a new flower vender! And another note…Littles actually went on a walk with Daddy while I did this, too, because oh.my.gosh! The patience level required for working together (for all of us when it comes to safely putting plants in the ground) is just not there.

And the bug-eyes? They instantly made sense when the UPS truck stopped in front of our house Friday morning and out came a purple 1-800-Flowers box to be left by our door. Poor Ben – he must have thought I’d read his mind or maybe his email when I asked about my Mother’s Day flowers! While neither was the case, I laughed out loud when I saw that delivery because I totally saw it coming.

You see, my dear husband listens to ESPN Radio all the time in the car (I switch it the second I get in; he does the same) and, well, let’s just say their advertising has worked. For a couple years now Ben has been a very good flower buyer. Actually, after getting flowers for both Valentine’s and my birthday this year, I was thisclose to telling him, gently, that it would be OK if he didn’t get me any more for awhile and that coffee would more than suffice for any and all gifts, but then here came the box of the prettiest little roses and I was so glad I’d kept my mouth shut. If the hubs is proud to and wants to show love by sending flowers (technically this one was “signed” by the kids), well then, OK. I can totally appreciate that love language, even if my nose is still such a wreck from last week that I cannot actually smell them!

On top of the planted and in-house fresh flower power happening at our house this month, I also managed to pull off another Pinterest Win (you know these are rare!) with this flower-tastic little (nope – not at all little!) beauty: 

Thanks to the talent of my friend K, I am now the proud owner of a super-sized burlap wreath for my entryway (no really; I think she thought I was nuts when I asked for the biggest size possible, but see? It really is a big blank wall, so it totally works!). Bonus? I can totally change it to match any season I want! That’s correct; I found a way to add flowers and other embellishments without permanently attaching them, so come fall (I already have a patriotic wreath in honor of Mr. Lincoln that I hang in the summer), I can clear the wreath completely and start again. How cool is that?!

Truth? I almost caved and glued every last damn piece to the wreath. I was already on a hot-glue roll thanks to the two kinds of flowers I made (I found the no-sew rosettes here and the no-sew fabric flowers here), and when I went to lay everything out as to where it would go on the wreath, suddenly the whole semi-permanent idea seamed pretty unlikely because, how??? But then some of the faux flowers just stuck in the burlap and I decided that wedging, tying, gluing to felt, and safety-pinning would just have to work, and hooray – they did! And seeing as the wreath has now been up for days and nothing has fallen off it, I think it is safe to call the whole venture a success. *whew*

Both inside and out of my home, these little bursts of color and life are the embodiment of what spring means to me: light, love, and the potential for growth! Happy Mother’s Day and Happy Spring!