Easter

 I'm posting Easter pics two weeks after the fact...oh well.  Maren was pretty pleased with the hoard of eggs she found in Aunt Syd's backyard.  We had a lovely Easter weekend and, yes, the Easter Bunny delivered!

Denyse Schmidt's new quilt book is out and better than I anticipated...I just love everything she does.

coming home

Our little family spent two weeks in Utah, to greet my little brother coming home from his mission and to visit family.  Sometimes I get sick of the day-to-day routine and leaving (Virginia) is good, but I after a week I start missing the ordinary and coming home is a relief.  And then I am content for a while.

pencil roll/art show

I found this pencil roll pattern in Last Minute Patchwork and Quilted Gifts.  I simplified it and after learning a few tricks from a "test roll," I was able to whip up another in under an hour.  Maren is a little artist and spends a lot of the day drawing pictures and creating little masterpieces from various mediums, so her colored pencils have already been worn down.

 A few pictures I have collected over the past few weeks:

"Mice Eating Dinner"

"Rabbit"

"Sailors on a Boat"

"Dogs"

"A Rainbow"

Saturday morning/lip balm

Saturday morning usually involve Chris waking up early with Maren to make pancakes, waffles or french toast and letting mom sleep in.  Until just recently, Maren would usually wake me up every mornings by yelling from her bed, "MAMA!  OOOOHHHH, MAMA!" until I would stumble into her room and climb into her bed.  She's finally realized that she can come to me in the mornings!  Hurray!  I can stay in my warm bed and she crawls into my bed for morning cuddles and a little Frog and Toad.

 Maren and I made some lip balm today.  I took me two weeks just to gather all the ingredients and containers, but I am happy with the end result.  I used SouleMama's Peppermint Lip Balm recipe.  (Mine didn't turn out very "pepper-minty," but still good.)  I found these little Nalgene containers at REI in 1 and .25 fl oz. sizes.  The recipe yielded a larger batch than I anticipated and I ran out of containers so I ended up using my mom's tiny pottery bowls (as you can see below) which are cute in my bathroom.   I also discovered these new Martha Stewart labels at Staples.

haircut

I gave Maren a haircut last week, right after her bath.  She seemed excited, but the next morning she looked in the mirror and said, "Mom, I'm mad at you!  (In her weepy voice) I want my hair to be long like yours."  Too late!  I think she's getting over it and that's good because the new do is cute!      

pom pom garland

Maren and I made this little pom pom garland the other day.  I have been trying to find a little Valentine's Day decoration ever since we took down the mini Christmas tree and finally settled on this idea.  She was even able to string them herself.  I found some other cute pom pom inspirations, but this was probably my favorite.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Winter

We are enjoying the extraordinarily mild winter, including a few days of 65 degree weather.  I was out doing yard work in a tee shirt the other day!  (But feeling a little sad for the new, pink Sorels I got Maren for her birthday.  Maybe they'll still fit next year.)