The Fruits of Our Labors

March came in like a lamb and went out like a lamb.  In fact, we have been enjoying the weather so much we keep forgetting to get out the camera.

Spring is officially here though. The work we put in last Fall to plant some bulbs has come to full fruition and I have had a happy little garden of daffodils to greet me this spring.  They're so cheery, it makes me happy to look at them! 

Although we missed most of the month, we did however record the end of it.  We had a great Spring Break and Easter at home with my parents.  I don't know if they considered it much of a break though since we put them to work on a few major projects while they were here. 

You might have noticed that I'm not much of a seamstress, I don't even own a machine, however our trampoline badly needed some new pads.  My mom brought some material they had lying around and some heavy duty nylon thread, plus my friend let me borrow her sewing machine. So while my mom was here we made new pads together!  Okay, so my mom did almost all of the sewing because every time I sat down at the machine it had a conniption and the bobbin knotted up and we had to un-pick it all (I don't own a sewing machine, so I obviously don't have a seam ripper and it was very irritating, so it was better for us both if she did most of the sewing). They actually turned out great and I'm so pleased. Now the baby can jump on it safely without fear of his leg going through the springs.

Before

After

Before

After

My Dad wasn't left out of the fun of course.  I found a perfect project for him and my husband.  My husband isn't much of a mechanic, although he does own a very basic set of tools. I sent them to a salvage yard (my husband's first time) to find a new door for our car since when we bought it it had a huge dent in the side.  They successfully found one that matched, took off the old one, and put the new one on (despite the many "helpers" they had around) and voila!  It looks so much better! 

We definitely capitalized on their visit, I hope they don't feel too used.  I made sure to take care of them well though, feeding them good food and taking them to some of our favorite places.  

Mmmm... Crepes.

They were here for our Easter Bunny Saturday celebrations (we celebrate the true meaning of Easter on Sunday and try not to mix the two).  Since it was good weather, the Easter bunny decided to be tricky and hide the baskets outside.  The kids had fun finding them.  

 Bubble swords were a big hit.

We went for a walk by the fishing ponds and lo and behold they were having a free fishing event.  They gave us rods and bait and the place had been recently stocked.  Well, that still didn't mean we had any luck (we've talked about how it's called fishing, not catching for a reason right?).  I didn't mind that much since it was such a beautiful day.

We also had a picnic later at a park near the lake.  We ate in peril of the fuzzy worm things falling from the trees and into our dinner every time the wind blew.  Quite the adventure.  At least the kids had fun climbing the trees.

It was a good weekend.  (...Until I had to sing a solo in church as part of our Easter program, but that's for another post.)

DIY pom-pom sorter

So back in February, my 18 month old went in for surgery.  I'm sure he'd love me later for blogging about this, so I won't say exactly what it was for, but it was a pretty simple procedure and we were in-and-out within a few hours. He's doing great. The night before, I was frantic though, worried about how he would deal with everything (especially about the part where I abandon him to strangers), and what I could do to keep him happy and distracted during the wait before and the recovery after.  I needed something new.

I knew he liked filling things and dumping them out, and I remembered seeing something like this on pinterest somewhere, so I stayed up late and made one myself.

 

It's a pom-pom color sorter!

Now, to be real, my 18 month old does not do the color thing, but he really gets a kick out of pushing those little puff balls through the holes over and over again.

I made mine out of an empty cashew can, covered it with fun paper, melted the holes in the lid with my wood burner and painted the colors around the holes on the underside of the lid. (note: although that is what's pictured, acrylic paint does not stay on the plastic for long, I ended up having to use sharpies to redo it a few days later --the red one in the picture is sharpie because I didn't have any red paint).

It was the perfect waiting room toy, since he was already a little antsy when the nurses came near.  This totally distracted him.  It was also really funny how when they gave him some kind of medicine to prep him for the surgery he was so loopy and thought everything was super hilarious, especially disappearing pom-poms. 
After the procedure though, he was mad.  Upon waking, they wanted to calm him down a little before they brought me in, but they decided it would be best to just go get me because he was totally inconsolable. However, even my attempts to console him were futile.  But then, I brought out the pom-pom sorter and just like I turned off a switch he was suddenly calm and happy.  I immediately felt that staying up so late to get that finished the night before was totally worth it.  In fact, I think the whole thing was inspired.

It's a fun and easy toy to make. True, you'll end up finding pom-poms everywhere, and before long they learn that it's much more fun throwing them and poking them down heater vents.  Still, every once in a while we pull it out and he sits there and pushes them all in.  I also hope that as he learns his colors it'll give him lots of great practice.

Just Hangin' Out

(This was February, now it's April. My first line pretty much sums it up.)

I haven't felt like blogging lately.  Perhaps I will get back into the swing of things as the weather gets warmer.

Poor kid. I know how he feels, I wish I could go climb trees too.

He's a quick study though, and is full of his own shenanigans.  This is his new favorite place.  It's great motivation for me to clear the table anyway.

He's apparently developed a taste for granola bars.

as well as ketchup

And washable markers for that matter.  Good thing they're non-toxic.


Valentines day we made heart-shaped personal pizzas.

A few days later we celebrated our 7 year anniversary. 7 years!

However, recently, the wind blew over a mirror I had set out for a DI drive pick-up.

7 years bad luck.  Hopefully it's retroactive, and the future will be bliss. (I'm not really superstitious). My wonderful husband picked up the pieces. 

The snow left, 

and came back

and left,

and came back again.

Notice my husband's solution to gloves being pulled off --duct tape.

We try to make the most of it no matter the weather, but some days that's easier said than done.

It's so nice to know that even when I don't feel like being adventurous, my efforts in the past have not been in vain. The kids planned and packed and executed this lovely spring picnic all on their own!  (notice the snow in the background of the above picture, but they were determined not to waste a sunny day.)

Success!

Hand-made Christmas

We made special Christmas gifts for my brother-in-law's family this year.  Again we had help with the sewing and wood-cutting, I just came up with the plan.

This was for the one year old, as she grows and learns to do the different kinds of fasteners.

This is a thrifted box with two games in one. My dad cut the blocks and we sanded them and wood-burned words on them. It was patterned after a fun scrabble sentence cube game from the 70's that I found at the thrift store a while back.

The other game is an even older game from Britain that we adapted and made out of walnut shells and some other thrifted items.

The last thing in our christmas package was actually some toys I was returning after they had accidentally been sent to us in boxes of hand-me-downs. I should have returned them months and months ago, but I kept forgetting.  I found a cute way to make up for that though, and gave them back "with interest."

 Click on the bottom right-hand corner for full screen. Sorry about the weird formatting, I couldn't figure it out.