Manor Monday {Floral Delight}

Yesterday afternoon I had the pleasure of attending a beautiful bridal shower in honor of Hubby's cousin and his lovely fiancé. And guess what, I walked away with this stunning centerpiece.

I never win, but my birthday date was the closest to the upcoming nuptials so the bouquet was mine!!! Aren't the roses scrumptious?

Hope your week is off to a great start. We are celebrating Hubby's birthday today and hopefully putting a tummy bug that has plagued the littles to an end. 

Manor Monday {Meet Finley Kipper & Our Puppy Saga}

Before I get to the breaking news, I just want to say it feels great to be back to blogging. As much as I enjoyed the break, I missed chronicling all our home/family endeavors. 

June saw several changes in our house but none bigger than the addition of a new family member. 

Finley Kipper joined our family June 29th (Hubby & my 12th anniversary) and has been a joy ever since. I have to say we are all completely smitten with our fur baby.

Belle has wanted a dog for the past 3 years and took the goal to heart this past year. Peanut followed suit and before we knew it, the two of them were routinely demonstrating responsibility (as best an 8 & 5 year old can). With little M nearly potty trained and more self sufficient, now just seemed like the opportune time.

Our initial thought was to adopt a rescue dog around 1-2 years of age. I had no interest in raising a puppy and felt there were plenty of shelter dogs that could use loving homes. So one day after swim practice, the littles and I dropped in on a local shelter and began our search. We played with all size and breeds of dogs to get a feel for the right fit for our family. A week later, we returned to the shelter to play with a sweet Terrier mix and we feel in love.

Father's day morning we adopted Shep and brought him home believing we were on the path to a long and loving relationship. Sadly, those hopes were dashed 4 days into our adoption when our veterinarian  looked at us from across the exam table and delivered the bad news that the extremely aggressive behavior Shep demonstrated was a risk to our family. News that he had only delivered one other time in all his 30 years of practice. (If you care for the nitty gritty details about what went down at the vet's office, email me). Belle & I sobbed the remainder of the afternoon as Hubby packed up Sheppy's things and returned him to the shelter.



During this whole ordeal with Shep, we did manage to meet our Fairy Dogmother. A wonderful tech from the vets office who sent us numerous emails and helped guide us in our search for the right dog.
I became a neurotic, research machine reading up on every possible breed and kept track of which traits would or would not work for our lifestyle. We decided this time around we were going to go the puppy route as younger dogs generally have fewer socialization problems. In addition, we wanted to meet both the pup's parents as they are one of the best predictors of temperament. We worked to cross all our "T's" and dot all our "I's" this time around & make sure that this puppy did not have aggressive tendencies.

After countless hours of research we settled on a mini golden doodle, which is a cross between a golden retriever and toy poodle. Generally speaking puppies from a breeder often require months of waiting but as luck would have it, the breeder had a large litter of nine and selection spots still available. We didn't tell the littles anything about the pups and instead made an appointment for 5:30 on Saturday evening to meet with the breeder and view the facilities.

As we turned onto the gravel road that lead us to a 5 acre mini golden doodle farm we told Belle & Peanut that we were going to play with some puppies and have a look around their home. This DID NOT mean that any of the puppies would be coming home with us. As the visit went on, it become clearer and clearer that Finley was everything we were looking for in a family pet. He bonded individually to each of the littles and was just the right combination of docile & feisty.

But the deal was sealed after meeting Finley's mother. Lucy is her name and she has to be the world's sweetest, red haired golden retriever. Despite the mounds of hair she shed, I would have taken her home right then & there if she was available. Alas, the breeders were just as much in love with Lucy as we were and assured us that over the years her pups have carried her loyal & lovable nature.  So with that we signed on the dotted line & Finley Kipper joined our family.

I know several readers have requested updates on how our family responds to the demands of a puppy. If you are wondering anything in particular, feel free to leave a comment below & I'll be happy to do a follow up post to answer them. For now I'll leave you with shots from Finley's first week at home.

Finley's first night home. 

Playing chase with the boys

Manor Monday {Summer's Here}

Summer vacation is upon us and the chaos has just begun. Now that the littles are not quite-so-little anymore our summer schedule includes: baseball 2 x week, swim team 5 x week + meets 3 x week, tennis 1 x week, and golf 2 x week. This new routine comes with quite the learning curve and results in a lot less free time for yours truly. So please hang tight & I promise to be back to regularly posting soon as I have tons of family photos & updates to share along with our newly reworked "summer school" room.

Manor Monday {Great Expectations: Our New Garden}

"To plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow" ~Audrey Hepburn

Like most projects, our simple raised beds turned out to require a lot more time, labor, & money than we initially thought. In the end though, we have a wonderful place to marvel at the working of mother nature and teach responsibility, healthy habits & hard work to the littles.  

The garden plot was a former landscape bed that we cleared of a half dead burning bush, day lillies, hostas & a few other plantings that this still learning gardener can't identify. On Mother's Day weekend I asked Hubby to build two raised beds as my gift (the one weekend a year he must comply with my requests). We lined the bottom of the beds with cardboard and 800 lbs of soil!!! The plants went in and the beds were topped with straw. To cut down on weeds and help prevent mud, we surrounded the perimeter with pea gravel. 

The final step was to instal a garden fence to prohibit visiting vermin and make the garden a magical place to visit. There is just something about a gate to children that makes the place they are about to enter so special. Belle requested the aqua latch & spray painted it herself...not bad for her first painting project.

I painted the boxes, lattice and posts SW Urban Bronze to match our front door & driveway seating. Having the continuity of color throughout our outdoor space helps to unify everything and is easy on the eye.

As for the garden itself, the large bed measures 10'x10' and houses tomatoes, hot peppers, sweet peppers, zucchini, pole beans, mini cucumbers, broccoli, lettuce, kale, spinach & a sweet baby watermelon.

The second bed is our berry patch that measures 10'x 3'. Inside we have a Caroline raspberry bush and 3 strawberry plants. I would have to say the kids are most excited about this bed and the deliciousness we hope to be picking over the summer.

I can not end this post without a humongous "thank you" to Hubby who passed up several hours on the course to build this gift for our family. We are lucky to have you! Now the fun begins...fingers crossed I don't kill everything. We've already had 3 fatalities. Any tricks or tips you all have would be greatly appreciated.

Manor Monday {Happy Memorial Day}

In honor of all those who have bravely given their lives for our freedom, the B house is decked out in star and stripes.

Hope you all have a wonderful holiday. We have nothing major planned and that is just fine with me!

Manor Monday {Living Room Switch Up}

Out of all the rooms in the house, the living room has been the biggest conundrum. I adore the large floor to ceiling windows and natural sunlight that fills this room sun up to sun down. But other than that, the rest of the room is a practice in learning to "love what you've got".  

That said, I did some furniture rearrangement a while back and I've taken to the new look. First I relocated YiaYia's childhood secretary from between the front windows, to the wall that use to house our piano (which I moved to the family room last fall). Flanking the secretary are our old dining room host and hostess chairs. In the far corner I set up a tiny bar cart/ vignette. 

Across the room the couch remained in the same spot,but I added a brown shade to the brass lamp on the end table to help carry the color across the room.

Finally, I hung the DIY art from the family room on the formerly blank wall behind the tufted reading chair. Using accessories from around the house or in storage I complied a small vignette on the duncan phyfe table to balance out the bar cart across the room.  

The room is far from finished, but the changes feel like a step in the right direction as I decide exactly how I want to transform this space. How about you all, any suggestions for taking what you've got and turning it into something you love? I'll be back Wednesday with my mood board for the room and along with a plea for some design assistance.

Manor Monday {Coming Soon}

Hope you all had a lovely weekend and spent time with the special Mothers, Aunts, and Grandmothers in your life.

I've made some exciting changes around here, but the days have been too short and the to do list too long that I've yet to photograph any of them. So for now I leave you with the promise of details to come. XOXO

Manor Monday {Tulip Border}

Hubby & I managed to squeeze away for an hour or so last fall to plant 100 tulip bulbs on the front walkway. With the arctic winter we had I was afraid the bulbs wouldn't make it, but I thankfully they did and are here now cheerfully gracing our front lawn. 

And I can't help but think of Steve Martin in Father of the Bride when I speak of a "tulip border". Now all we need are some swans.

The front yard is undergoing treatment for brown patch fungus, which we've been battling for a few years now. Thankfully the pink & apricot tulips draw your eye away from the yard. I know I alway talk about my love of green & white gardens, but these pink & peach beauties have won me over.

Happy Monday!

Manor Monday {Good News...Bad News}

Seems like ages since I've done a Manor Monday post. In fact, last time I posted I'm pretty certain there was snow on the ground. We are now well into Spring and that means it is time to turn our attention to the outdoor goals on the 2014 Home Goals List. One of which was a larger garden space. After pacing the backyard and deliberating various schemes and layouts, we've opted to clear the bed where the current garden sits and repurpose it entirely as a new garden plot.



As of now my thoughts are raised beds, gravel pathway & small fence for bunny protection. Seeing as how it is nearly May, I need to kick this project into high gear if we are going to get our plants in the ground on Mother's Day (our traditional planting day).

And because mother nature isn't always pretty, look at what has become of our beautiful flowering plum tree. It has contracted a disease known as black knot, which is virtually impossible to cure.





I attempted to cut away the affected branches and within 5 minutes I stopped; nearly 85% of the tree is infested leaving us no choice but to cut it down (insert tears).

For now, the plan is to transplant the flowering bushes from the new garden bed to the spot the tree once occupied. Granted they won't provide shade or privacy, but they are free and buy us some time to decide on an appropriate replacement.



So that is where we stand on the garden front. How about you all? Anyone else reworking a garden bed or two? Anyone ever dealt with black knot? Or if you've got a favorite ornamental tree, I'd love to know that too.