Easter

A bit late in posting about Easter, but with the new pattern release on Tuesday, a snowstorm yesterday and another bad cold in the interim, well, that's sometimes how things go.

Easter was fabulous. Little Miss Cleaver was really into it this year. We had taken her to see the Easter Bunny at Haven's a week before the big day and she was enamored, giving him hugs and showing him how she could hop, waving good-bye when we left. The piece of chocolate he gave her didn't hurt either.

The day before we dyed eggs with the classic PAAS kit, which she though was great fun. A few shells were cracked, and one egg was eaten, but even a few days later she like to pull her pretty eggs out of the fridge and reorganize them in their carton.

Of course there was baking - blueberry muffins and a lemon cake, and this delicious hash-brown crusted quiche. LMC just keeps getting better and better as a baking assistant - do you see those pouring skills? She also mixed together the wet ingredients for the muffins with no extra whisking needed from me. Makes her mama proud. 

The Easter Bunny brought some books,small toys, some sweets and a brand new tutu, which has been in frequent rotation ever since. He also hid a number of eggs filled with more toy animals, all placed neatly out of Steinbeck's reach since he has a habit of chewing on such things. With a little guidance (look, over at the TV!) all eggs were found and a good time was had by all.

I definitely have a greater appreciation for all my parents went through to make holidays special for us as kids, but I have to admit, as much prep work as there is, it's also a whole lot of fun!

Hoppy Easter!

When the day starts so early, it’s hard to get non-blurry photos of an increasingly active (and expressive!) little one. She’s just on the cusp of toddler-hood these days – walking more than she crawls and understanding things and almost almost talking. But Easter started around 5:30 AM with opening the basket/bucket and a low-key egg hunt with 6 or so eggs placed in highly visible places filled with cereal puffs.

Having put my clothing-making energies into her birthday dress not that long ago, I turned my maker skills to toys this go around. The rabbit is Alicia Paulson’s Miss Maggie Rabbit kit, which was a joy to put together. I misplaced the yarn that came with the kit, so I made the capelet out of some Berroco Vintage DK I had left over from earlier projects. I also dyed a pair of playsilks with Kool-Aid (Mixed Berry blue and 2 packs of Lemon-Lime green), which was quick and fun. Of course, I got totally upstaged by her Memere who showed up with a tricycle! Not that her feet touch the pedals yet, but I imagine they will before too long.

Little Miss Cleaver has become obsessed with belly buttons of late, whether it’s spotting mine and poking and laughing or displaying her own upon request. Onesies are definitely out. So obviously she had to check her new bunny for a belly button.

After some unwelcome snow on Tuesday, the weather seems to be settling into spring. My daffodils are blooming, with tulips coming not too far behind. It means we can go to the park, try out slides for the first time and play in the yard. Now if only we could convince LMC to wear shoes. Right now it's like putting booties on a dog, with much awkwardness and whining.

We’ve already had one happy afternoon with a batch of neighbor kids in the driveway. We’ve got sidewalk chalk and digging tools at the ready.  I’m hoping to get together with our neighbor in the next few weeks to have a raised bed building day. It’s been so long since I’ve had a veggie garden  and I want to get out there and grow some things!