More Easter Fun

Today has been a day full of kids. All.day.long. In order to stay happy throughout the day, I stole away to the "craft" room to work on some Easter crowns for the girls. I'm happy with how they turned out. I found a use for those felted balls and had some wool felt scraps in my "stash". I'm excited to put these in the girls baskets. I was also planning on making some pencil rolls but, think I'll probably pass since I have to work tomorrow.




Yesterday the neighbor boys (aka my nephews) came over to dye eggs. A couple of years ago, I was shopping at this store in Portland and the lady told me I could use their special tissue paper to dye eggs. We get the eggs wet, pick out a color, and wrap the tissue around the egg. The tissue "bleeds" onto the egg dyeing it brilliant colors. The kids had a blast. I should have boiled more eggs.

Felted Easter Eggs

We recently returned from a wonderful trip to Santa Cruz, CA visiting dear friends. Once home, I realized that Easter is right around the corner and the girls and I haven't done much in the way of any seasonal crafts. So I decided to try out felted Easter eggs. We learned this from Pam when she had a shop in town. I forgot that I had bought a bunch of roving, so we had several colors to play with. The trick is having roving that wet felts easily. These felted up so fast and they turned out great! All you do is take a plastic Easter egg and tape up the seam and any holes, cut a piece of roving about 2" wide and 12" long, wrap around the egg, drizzle a little dish soap on it and plunge in hot water and roll around in your hands until it felts around the egg. We alternated between hot and cold water which helped the process go faster. You can leave the eggs as-is or take an x-acto (sp?) knife and cut a jagged line around the egg (to make it look cracked), take the plastic one out and put a little treasure inside (i.e. little chick). I also felted up some little balls. I think I'll use them to make hair accessories to put in the girl's Easter baskets.

I also indulged myself in a little blog surfing and found this great blog that links a monthly book that they make called the "Book of Days". I bought and downloaded the April book. I'm excited to start doing some of the activities in it. Check it out.

And, on another note. I welcome any comments. Don't be shy. I like to know when people are reading. I've "heard" that people are reading, but would love to see as well. I mean, it's fine writing this for myself and all, but it's a little more motivating if you know others are out there. I just may have a giveaway in the future, too. I love that kind of stuff!

More Stimulating Than Sleep...Sheep!

We had a nice visit from Shawn's parents earlier this week. Shawn and his dad made a cold frame and a raised bed. The cold frame was made from cinder blocks (holds in the heat) and the raised bed was made from an old bedframe. So far, we are thinking of planting greens (esp. kale and chard), tomatoes, basil, carrots, and perhaps strawberries. Not everything grows abundantly here, so we need to be a bit selective-the tomatoes are even a bit questionable. But, we're all excited to see what comes up!

Shawn's mom and I took the girls to a little fiber farm. I e-mailed Pam, who owns the farm, and asked if there were any baby sheep. Two had been born on Valentines Day. Oh man, lambs are the cutest. Pam showed us all around the farm. We saw the babies, the mama, the other pregnant ewes, and the rams. She also has a couple of Angora rabbits and Llamas. She told us how she cleans the wool, dyes it, and how she picks and cards the wool. She gave the girls some roving to make felted Easter eggs. It was a great time. Thanks Pam!!! I bought some roving to knit with. I'm going to make a couple of felted baskets for the girls. We'll see how it turns out...I'm hoping to plan a class field trip there.

Here's some pics.

Carding the wool
Baby born on Valentines DayI heart yarn

Mantequilla y bolsas

I didn't have the camera for a couple of days and missed it. But, I did manage a couple pics of what I/we've busied ourselves with. The spring weather has been wonderful (while it lasted). Apparently, we have a weather forecast of snow coming our way soon *sigh*. But, we enjoyed some bike rides and walks in the last couple of days, so that was good. I also did a little sewing. I decided I needed another purse, and when this blog featured this purse, I had to try it. It was so easy, I made 2. One for a little neighbor friend and one for myself. The girls and I also tried butter. I was planning on doing this weeks ago and bought cream. We didn't get to it before the cream went bad. So I bought some more and it was also so easy. I let the cream get to room temp, put it in a jar and we took turns shaking the jar. It only took about 10 minutes total. It was fun to periodically open the jar and see the different stages the cream went through. I plan to make biscuits with the butter milk. This morning we had homemade bread with homemade butter and eggs from our chickens. I'm feeling more and more like Laura Ingalls. Last night we watched "Little Women" for our Friday pizza and a movie night. I always cry when I see that movie. It's so good. Grace said "Do they have a Little Women II?" I told her there wasn't. She said the movie was so good she didn't want to see it end. We hadn't read the book yet, so that one's next on our list (after "The Last Battle").

Perhaps you're wondering why the Spanish title? Well, I'm working on my conversational Spanish these days. I have two new friends, Irlanda y Ruth. Irlanda is from Mexico and Ruth is from Peru. The three of us got together twice for a playdate (we all have kindergarteners) and lunch. Irlanda and Ruth said they would gladly teach me Spanish. We are just starting with them talking about 1/3 of the time in Spanish and I repeat in English back what I'm getting. Then I try my hand at some very simple Spanish with them. It's fun and I really enjoy hanging out with them. They are so patient with me!

Spring Weather!...please don't go away.

Today's weather was fantastic! Shawn hooked up the tag-along and I. and I rode all over town: from school, to the bank, to the grocery store, to dance class, and back home a couple times. We also went on a hike along the creek with Shawna and the boys, found a sunny spot and had a picnic lunch. Then there's the hanging out in front of the house chatting with the neighbors and watching the kids play. I have that rosy feeling from being out most of the day. I sort of forgot about that feeling as well as the smell of the pine trees when they're warmed by the sun. I'm ready for spring. I just love how the new seasons come when you are really ready for them. Sorry, no pics today. Oh, but I'll try to get a picture of the leprechaun trap that Shawn and the girls made. They caught the leprechaun, but alas, he got away. He did leave some shrinky dinks behind, some green footprints all over the house, and colored the milk and sugar green, though.

In honor of...

This weekend we went to Portland to visit my mom and run the Shamrock Run. My dad would have turned 64 this weekend. His birthday falls around the same time as the Shamrock Run. This picture was of the last Shamrock Run (and I believe, Birthday) my dad celebrated. Thanks for the pic, Kris and Dan. We went to Kennedy School for breakfast after the run that day. Running is definitely one of those things that come to mind when I think of Dad. However, I think fly fishing tops the list. I sure miss him. Always will. I miss his inappropriate jokes. I miss his great (and at times, annoying) advice. I miss his laugh. I appreciate how he had so many interests and would dive into researching them. Oh, I could go on and on. He was a good Dad and Papa. I hold a tender place in my heart for my dad.

So, this weekend the four of us ran the shamrock run. It's become a tradition for our little family (me, the 5k, Shawn, the 8k, the girls, the leprechaun lap 1k). I believe Grace has 5 t-shirts from running the leprechaun lap all these years. It was good times, but very windy and rainy. I'm sure my dad would have kicked butt where he still running on this earth.

A Day of Soap Making

So, today was like going to my own personal Disneyland. I got a three hour long "class" on making soap from a friend of a friend who is now a friend! She makes soaps, lotions, balms, etc. and sells them. Today, we made beer soap. Instead of adding the lye to water, you add it to beer! Such a great Northwest soap! The last time I made soap, it was 9 years ago. I was completely self taught and never felt confident that I was doing it right, even though my soap worked. After seeing it done by another person, I discovered I was doing it right. It's really not too hard. I'm re-hooked on soap making. Guess what everyone's getting for Christmas next year??

blending oils, lye, and beer with a stick blender until it "traces"

Pouring the soap into the molds

A different batch of soap made two days ago, ready to come out of the molds and get cut.

The finished product (this is "mojito" soap). Now it cures for 4-6 weeks.

On another note. I finally witnessed one of my chickens actually "in the act" of laying an egg. I saw it coming out!
This egg.

Laid by this little lady.


Enjoy your eggs and soap this week!