Photo Contest Winner and the Case of the Missing Lilies

Back at the end of April, I shared a photo tour of our tree house in a blog post.  I submitted one of my photos and a description to Carolina Country, our electric co-ops magazine.  They had a "Places to Play: Tree houses, Playhouses, & Forts" photo contest.  This is my photo:

Hunter and Solomon protecting the tree house, Sherlotta the dog is by the slide

Wednesday, my mother-in-law called me.  She had just come in from getting the mail and had opened up the latest issue of Carolina Country and saw her grandbabies staring back at her.  :)  I was so excited!  We got our copy of the magazine yesterday and here is a picture of the inside cover:

Here is the page inside the magazine:

And a close-up:

Here is the paragraph I wrote, under the picture:

"Last summer, my husband Frank decided to build a treehouse for our children. He watched a how-to DVD and consulted a treehouse idea book. Then he just started building, figuring things out as he went. Some of our children—Tabby, Hunter, and Solomon—helped too. Frank used old cedar planks from his late father and wood from his late Uncle Henry. The roof is covered in old split cedar roofing shingles, and the mailbox belonged to his late Uncle Davey. Plus, there are ladders and a slide, a swing, a basket on a pulley, skylights, windows, a door, and an "escape hatch." A rock-climbing wall and fireman's pole are forthcoming."

You can see our tree house in the magazine's website here:
http://www.carolinacountry.com/index.php/carolina-stories/carolina-life/figuring-it-out

You can see all the winning tree houses at this link:
http://www.carolinacountry.com/index.php/carolina-stories/carolina-life/places-to-play-article

Not only did I get the fun and satisfaction of seeing our tree house in the magazine, but I am supposed to receive a check for $50 from the magazine.  This will be going into my fund to buy a better camera one day.  :)

On a completely different note, I realized the other day that something must have eaten ALL the lily flower bulbs in Lilly's garden!  I am SO VERY DISAPPOINTED!  About two months ago, one was coming up nicely and then suddenly disappeared with nothing left but a hole where the lily had been growing.  I thought that was too bad, but didn't worry because I knew the garden was full of other lily bulbs. 

But recently, I realized that nothing was growing.  I was confused because I thought they should be by now.  Then I came across a picture I took last May of the first lily bloom.  Then yesterday, when we were in town, I saw a lot of lily flowers beautifully blooming.  Oh no!

I know they are just flowers, but they meant something to me.  :(  Here are a couple photos of Lilly's lily garden from last May and June:

Tabby had lily bulbs in her garden too, and only one has grown.  :(

Is it too late for me to plant lily bulbs this spring?  And what in the world got all those bulbs?  Perhaps a mole?  If you have any ideas, I would love to hear them!