April Snowman

We've had some crazy weather so far this week.  It all started with 2-3 inches of fresh snow for Easter morning.  Then it snowed all morning long on Tuesday.  So the kids and I suited up and played in it.  I don't think I've ever made a snowman in April, but it was fun.  Especially since it's the most successful snowman build we've had this season.  Now, it's definitely melting, but it was fun while it lasted. 

I for one am ready for this crazy weather to change and for the sunshine to come back.  My memory at least, tells me that April is supposed to be a month of melting and sunshine.  So I'm hoping that the forecast for the rest of the week is right and that we don't get any more precipitation for a few days.
Enjoy the surprises April brings your way.

Easter 2010

This week has just been flying by for us.  I've been meaning to post a recap of our Easter festivities for days now, and here we are on Wednesday night already.  Oh, well.  Hope you enjoy the look at how we celebrated the day.

Here's the precious little yayhoos in their Easter finest.

 This was the first year that I've made an Easter dress for the little girly, and come to think of it, it's basically the first garment I've ever made for her.  I was pretty careful to choose a pattern that would be as easy as possible for me.  So that didn't leave her with much choice, but she did pick out the fabric.  Then I decided since patterns were on sale, I'd go all out and make a necktie for the little man.  It really wasn't hard, just a bit more time consuming than it should be for the amount of body surface that it actually covers.  Anyway, I'm really pleased with how their outfits turned out.  In fact, the little man's pretty much came together the day before.  I had completely forgotten that someone from my hometown had hand-me-downed this adorable sport coat to us months ago.  Good thing I was talking to my mom the day before so she could remind me of it.  I think it really makes the outfit.  In fact, it's possible that I just might have had thoughts along the lines of "I hope we're having another boy because then he could wear this outfit too".  That possibly may have gone through my mind.  Maybe...

Anyway, Easter morning discovering their baskets.

And then diving in

We also made Resurrection Rolls for the first time this year.  I've seen some ideas for this on the web and our church did this for a VBS snack a few years ago.  So I decided to give it a try this year.  As I suspected, the little girly thought the whole idea including the symbolism was great, and the little man was happy with some sweet bread.
First we took two refrigerator biscuits and put a large marshmallow on one.

Then we sandwiched them together and SEALED them closed (pinched the edges down with our fingers).

Then we SEALED them in the oven, just as Christ's body was sealed in the tomb.

After they baked, we opened them to reveal an "empty tomb".  The marshmallows evaporated into the biscuits leaving a hollow space.

The only thing I think I'll do differently the next time, is use crescent rolls rather than biscuits.  Then I'll put one marshmallow in the center of the roll dough and wrap it up.  We ended up having to bake the double biscuit version much longer than we had anticipated because there was so much dough.  I think the wrapped crescent roll would be closer to the recommended baking time.

Since Easter fell on the first Sunday of the month this year, we had our monthly potluck with our church family following our worship service.  The food was very good, and even better, the dessert was too.
After the potluck, we had a big egg hunt for the kids.  Since we woke up to about 3 inches of snow on Easter morning, we had the hunt indoors.  (I know, snow for Easter!  Blah!)  But having it indoors didn't bother my little hunters.  They loved it!

By this time, we were ready to get back home.  I had just enough energy to shovel some snow off my crocuses and take a few pictures of the kids outside in their Easter outfits, before we all took a well deserved nap.

Hope you all had a fantastic Easter and that you enjoyed the many blessings our Father in heaven has given us--most importantly His Son.

Riddle Answer and Winners

So the riddle once again:

What's green, brown, has ruffles, and comes out for Easter?

Answer:

My daughter's Easter dress.  

So to find the winner, I took all the names of those who made a correct guess.  (I included you, Kelly.)  Then I added bonus chances to those who didn't have inside information, like being there when I was cutting out the fabric and seeing the pattern--Dana and Lela!  And no whining ladies, I thought about just disqualifying you.  :)

And according to random.org, the winner of the crayon roll is:
Clint and Marilyn said...

I was thinking Carly's Easter dress too, but looks like others beat me to that.

Here's a sneak peek at it.  It's not quite done yet.  Last night's sewing time after the kids had gone to bed, turned into seam ripping time.  I'm still frustrated with myself for my silly little mistake that turned into an hour of seam ripping.  So there's more sewing time in order today. 

And just because I really enjoyed reading all your guesses, and because I really appreciate everyone playing along, I decided to throw in a bonus prize.  So everyone who made a guess, but wasn't right got thrown into another group of numbers.
Random.org says the bonus prize winner is:

Sharon Thompson said...

Guess #1 - your new maternity Easter dress Guess #2 - Shawn's Easter basket Guess #3 - the aprons the kids wears while decorating eggs I really need those crayons to keep Mom occupied during church. :)

Sharon, I don't think you're going to want the hairbow I was going to give away for this prize, so we'll chat.  I have a few ideas.

And now, something that's green, PURPLE, has a few ruffles, and has come out in time for Easter.  Yay!  My crocuses are up and look marvelous.  This marks the beginning of my front flower bed coming back to life and looking splendid.  Unfortunately it's really the only beautiful spot in our front yard, but at least it's something. 

After the crocuses, tulips, aliums, and I think irises will come up.  I'm looking forward to seeing the beautiful colors come out this summer.
Thanks for playing along with my riddle giveaway.  Marilyn and Sharon, I'll get in touch with you sometime later today.

April Fool's Riddle

Well, I'm not feeling particularly clever this morning to come up with a joke or prank to play on the blog for today, so how about a riddle instead?

What's green, brown, has ruffles, and comes out for Easter?

Click on the word "comments" below to leave your guess.
And why not make this a fun give away?

Whoever guesses correctly will win one of these:

A crayon roll made with your choice of fabric.  I should say that it's your choice from my stash.
I really like making these and I could always use a little more practice before I try selling these with my bath towels around the holidays.

And as a bonus, if no one guesses correctly, I'll choose one random winner from everyone who makes a guess.  So what are you waiting for?  Take a stab at it! :)
The game will end at 9 AM ALASKA time on Friday, April 2nd.  That's about 24 hours from now.  Enjoy!

****Riddle Giveaway is now closed.****

Hair Growth

Well, I mentioned the upcoming posting of this topic.  And then without even thinking about it, I gave it all away in this post.  The funny thing is we got 8 comments on that post and EVERY one of them had something to do with "the mustache".  Yes, folks.  It's real.  He's been growing this for a while now.  I guess you could say I'm getting used to it.  When it all began, I didn't put my foot down or anything, but I didn't really think he'd go this long with it.  It's not really my favorite, but I don't think he's going to keep it around forever, but I guess I better not count my chickens before they've hatched.  (Ha, chickens!)
To be honest, he really doesn't have that many supporters of his mustache.  But his co workers think it's pretty great--or so he says. :)  Apparently, there are several now that are growing mustaches as well.  Who knew he'd be a trend setter of sorts?

He's SO looking forward to wearing these sunglasses this summer.  And he keeps bringing up his favorite movie line when conversation turns to his mustache.
It's from an older Clint Eastwood movie (he can't remember the name).  Clint Eastwood walks into a restaurant to discover it's in the middle of being robbed.  This is the conversation he has with one of the robbers.

"Well, we're not just gonna let you walk on out of here."

"Who's 'we' sucka?"

"Smith, Wesson, and Me."

Such a tough guy! :)

I just have my fingers crossed that he'll shave before the baby is born.  I don't want this poor child to be "the one" that has the weird birth pictures with daddy's mustache.  I'm currently looking for good opportunities to make bets with Shawn about when to shave.  Bets that I think I'll win, of course. :)

Spring Fever

Each spring, Shawn and I are usually diving into this book and making big garden plans.

We dream of having a backyard garden like this one.  With rows of healthy green vegetables, thriving in the sunshine in weed free rows.

With a weekly harvest like this

Sadly, this is usually what our garden yields.  The beet on the right was from our garden last summer.  The one on the left is from Shawn's grandma's.  Hers fit nicely in the palm of your hand.  At least our beets didn't need any slicing! :)  Even if we only got enough for one meal...hmmm

So as you can see, even though we try every year, our garden never seems to measure up to our expectations.  Oh, we're not giving up!  We'll still plant a garden this year, and we'll make some changes to hopefully get a better production than in previous years.  And really, we got a lot of snap peas, lettuce, and herbs so that's not too bad.  And we can grow a lot of rhurbarb here.  So at least we found a few things that grow well in our garden.  This year, I'll have to plant the beets and carrots a bit earlier so they have more time to grow and can hopefully get bigger than the length my fingers! :)

But this spring, I don't think either one of us has even cracked a garden book.  That's because we've got a different kind of fever.  We've been pouring over this book

 

and dreaming about these.  We're particularly fond of the black and white one on the right.  I believe it's called a Barred Rock.

And we're dreaming of these....fresh eggs

So the process has already begun.  Several weeks ago, Shawn and his brother set to work on our chicken coop for our backyard flock.  Conveniently it sits next to our usual source of spring fever--our garden boxes.

Day 1 of Construction

Day 2 of Construction

Day 3 (or so)
The boys decided to turn the coop before they added more weight to it.  Now the chickens can enjoy partial shade instead of full shade.  Much better.

I believe this was Day 4.  The coop was 95% done.

This was when Shawn started bringing over friends to see his handy work.

The walk way with perch spots up to the nesting boxes.

The human side of the nesting boxes.  Nice and easy access for collecting eggs.  We may have to find something for the kids to use as a step stool though.  They won't be able to reach it without being lifted up.  And I'm not going to be lifting them up with my expanding waistline.

After Shawn made a few more final touches, we had our friend and resident chicken expert, Matt, come over for a "coop inspection".  He thought everything looked great!  Yay, we passed inspection!  (Ha, ha!)
Now we're getting ready for the arrival of our feathered friends--hopefully sometime today.

We gave in and let the kids sit up in the nesting boxes and play around in the coop yesterday. But we reminded them that they won't be able to do this once we have the chickens.  This is probably the cleanest this joint will ever be.

I believe this is her best chicken strut.

The chicken view of the nesting boxes

With a rather large chicken inside :)

The human view with a few fake eggs to let the chickens know where to go to lay the real ones.

Real ones like these

They'll be delicious and nutritious!
I'm sure we'll keep you all posted on the arrival of our new feathered friends.  Until then, I suppose we're still dreaming.

New Pets

Over the weekend, we got a few new additions to our home.  We're not the proud caretakers of 5 goldfish!  Here they are sharing the breakfast table with the kids.  Fortunately, we had a goldfish about three years ago, so we still had all the supplies for the fish.  I hadn't ever gotten rid of the stuff because I always hoped we'd get more.

We got our fishies at the boat show over the weekend.  What a crazy, fun time the kids had there.  This little guy thought getting on every boat was as good as riding all the rides at an amusement park.  And guess what?  No lines!  He would hop into the drivers seat on each boat and give the wheel a spin.  He's SOOOO ready for being on the boat this summer.

The highlight--for our little girly at least--was the fishing station for kids.  A local pet shop in town had this inflatable filled with water and goldfish and let each kid "fish".  Daddy helped but all total, they caught 5 fish!  They were very proud of themselves. 
Our little man kept saying, "We caught five salmons!"  Such a good little Alaskan boy.  Every fish is a salmon, right?

Our little girly was so excited to carry the bag of fish too.  She saw other kids carrying their bags while we were looking at boats and she wanted to go right away and find the fish.  I told her we would go find the fish right before we left so we didnt' have to carry the bag around too long.  But that was her master plan!  She wanted to carry her bag of fish around. 

The good news is that after 5 days, we still have 5 goldfish!  We'll see how long this lasts!