Moments from the week

A week of weaving the sun, making up songs for the recorder (followed by playing those songs over and over and over), playing in the warm spring (summer?) sun, feeling, even if only for a moment, what it must be like to fly, laughing at our curious kitty who now LOVES the outside (and follows the kids everywhere!), and playing at a favorite creek with friends.

There has been lots of growing up going on around here as of late.  It seems as if this time of year will be filled with changes in development for my little girl.  I was thinking back to this time last year and how at the age of 21 months she weaned, dropped naps altogether and self-initiated potty learning within a matter of days!  Now, here we are and at the age of 33 months, she has been keeping dry the whole night, started sleeping the whole night in her own bed (with a brother of course), and is all around more independent (dressing herself completely, getting on and off the potty unassisted, etc).  We celebrate these milestones with her, however bittersweet they may be.  Soon, my "baby" will be three and while I enjoy being a part of her growing up, as I have with all my kids, I am also going to miss these "baby" days.

Tomorrow, we are off to the zoo to participate in a MS Society fundraiser.  As long as the rain holds out, we should have a really great time!

On the needles

Linking up with Ginny for my first ever Yarn Along!  I am about two thirds done with my mom's requested kitchen towel.  It has been a bit slow going...I just haven't been able to muster up the motivation to work on it for more than a few rows at a time, but I am determined to have it finished by the time we visit over Easter weekend!

 ravelry notes here

I wish I could say that I was reading something interesting, but I find it so hard to squeeze in time to read anything for me unless it is a parenting book.  So instead, I am sharing some of our spring book favorites we have been reading for the past few weeks.

The Sun Egg by Elsa Beskow
Vegetable Soup by Jeanne Modesitt
My Spring Robin by Anne Rockwell
Bunny My Honey by Anita Jeram
The Country Bunny and the Little Gold Shoes by DuBose Heyward
Hooray for Spring by Kazuo Iwamura
How Robin Saved Spring by Debbie Ouellet
Spring's Sprung by Lynn Plourde
Make Way for Ducklings by Robert McCloskey

Welcoming Spring

The yard is bursting with bits of spring!  Our violet patch has grown this year and is bringing much delight to our token flower gatherer.  The azaleas are in their full glory, the tulips have opened, my spring lettuce is doing great, the dogwood has bloomed and the bees are a humming!  We have been spending as much time as we can outside (trying to suffer through the large amounts of pollen coating everything!).  To celebrate the official start to spring, we made some wool butterflies out of some roving, pipe cleaners and beads (inspiration found on pinterest).  I had planned on hanging them from a branch, but the kids wanted to put them on the mantle instead.  I think I like their idea better ;-)  We also made some birdseed cakes using plain gelatin and spring shaped cookie cutters.  They were supposed to be able to be hung, but I don't think using just black oil sunflower seeds was the best choice.  The gelatin just ended up sinking to the bottom so only half of the mixture gelled.  Oh well!  We set them out anyways and just this morning Kenna told me that the birds were eating the cake.  Jacob also rolled us a new meal time candle and I made a little candle holder out of sculpey.  After it was shaped and baked, I realized it would have been cute to shape it into a flower shape.  I will have to remember that for next time!  (By the way, sculpey is our new favorite modeling material!)  It was a wonderful and simple day welcoming spring.

Birthday Handmades

This bit of a belated post, but I realized I never shared the handmades Blake received for his birthday!  After making a crown for MaKenna last year, all the boys requested one as well.  Blake chose his own colors, purple being his favorite.  Of course, I also had to needlefelt two of his favorite things-a football and a sea turtle.  The sea turtle was a bit of a challenge as he chose green felt for the sides, but I think I managed it okay.

Jacob had decided that he wanted to make Blake a plaque so he sketched out the design and Daddy woodburned it onto a piece of wood.  It came out great!

 And of course there was a mama made in there too!  I used the same sweater pattern as Parker's Christmas sweater.  The only modifications I made were adding length to the sleeves and body.  And it fits, perfectly.  Which normally would be a good thing, but I was really hoping it would be a bit roomy for growth so he could wear it next fall/winter. His legs tend to grow more than his torso so I am keeping my fingers crossed! He was able to wear it a few times before it was just too warm for a wool sweater.

Daddy chose the yarn color (Knit Picks Wool of the Andes in Winter Night) which we all like, but I really like him in a lighter blue.  This was the first time using this yarn and it has held up very well!  It isn't as soft as some other yarns I have used, but I will definitely use it again.

Moments from the Week

It was a good week!  Spring has unofficially arrived and we spent most of our time outside, as we always do this time of year before the sweltering heat of summer arrives.   "Mama, I want to swing" was a phrase I heard multiple times everyday.  My girl loves to swing.  The higher the better and so we headed out back and I would push her over and over and over.  I would give her one big push that would send her almost soaring out of her seat.  She would get a huge smile on her face, her eyes lit up, sometimes a giggle would emerge.  For her, swinging is the greatest thing there is.  And for those moments, I am brought back to childhood where there are no stresses of adult life.  Children are great like that.

This weekend promises to be a nice low key family weekend.  No outside obligations and more warm weather.  We have already started a little gardening- prepping the side bed for our wildflower/sunflower garden and I planted some pole beans along our fence (hoping we get enough sunlight for them to do well).  The kids strawberry seedlings are doing really well and we will need to get those into bigger pots soon.  I am hopeful they will provide some berries this year.

Wishing everyone a lovely spring weekend!

Weekending

 my beautiful sister-in-law Kristen and Kenna

 story time with Aunt Kristen

 Kenna the ham!

 camilla bush in bloom

 the first of the wild strawberry blossoms

 new life emerging

 a style her own

 where did my two year old go?

We had a wonderful weekend.  Probably the first low key weekend we have had in awhile.  It started off with a visit from Aunt Kristen and Uncle Spencer.  The kids are usually a bit shy at first, but are quick to warm up.  By the end of the evening, MaKenna was cuddling with both K and S and was giving hugs and "I love you's".  It was sooo sweet and I couldn't help but to think how lucky my kids are to have them in their life.  They absolutely adore them!  And since the weather was gorgeous, we spent a lot of time outdoors soaking in the spring sunshine and noticing all the changes happening.  Our yard is bursting with new life and we are all excited that spring is here.  Next to fall, it is our favorite season!  I was also able to accomplish a bit of spring cleaning...decluttering, sorting through old clothes and setting aside for donation, rearranging of rooms.  Peter and I finally have a grown up bed and we moved our old mattress into Parker's room since it was large enough for it.  Now MaKenna and Jacob share a bed and Blake is back to having his own room. As a result of the shifting of beds, we took apart the crib sniff sniff.  She is just getting so big so quickly, growing up a little too fast for this mama.  But at the same time, it has been a lot of fun seeing her develop into her own person.  Her strong opinion for what she wears, both clothing and shoes (boy does this girl love shoes!), the way she turns everything into a song, how she tries to "mother" her brothers, my constant shadow.  I still have to remind her that she is not quite big enough to do everything that they do.  Most times she accepts that, but sometimes, not so much.  It can be so hard being 2!

We ended our weekend with a family hike.  The boys wanted to go to the greenway, so we decided to find a part we haven't walked yet.  About half way there, MaKenna said she didn't want to go to the greenway....she wanted to go to the purpleway.  We all had a good chuckle at that.  Turns out she was right anyways as the violets were in bloom and bountiful along the trail.  We had to hold back from picking them all.

It was a good weekend indeed!