snippity snappity

If you're at our house and need a barrette, we have plenty. And Little Mister is probably willing to snap all of them one in your hair. He's very proficient. On the hair note, I sheared the boys this afternoon before the rain. Always feels good to shake off the winter coat, right?

whiiiiiiirrrrrrrrrrrr

Young Ones informed me they were 'flying the airplane' and I was dismissed amongst the 'whirrrrrrrring' sounds. Looks to me like they're atop their playhouse, but what does this Mommy know?

birthday bunting

Of course, everyone has seen birthday banners that get hung up for parties. We have one, actually, with a shiny silver background and rounded lively colored letters. But lately I was thinking about holidays and traditions that go with them - birthdays in particular.

Three of my very favorite people will be celebrating a birthday next month: Michele, Dustin & Paigy. So I was looking at my leftover felt and thought 'Hmm...maybe a...birthday...something? Surely I can figure something out.'

Something we could take out for each birthday. Something that could become a tradition.

So I cut out lots of letters, hand-sewed them onto some brown polka dotted fabric, and then popped out the trusty sewing machine to piece all the triangles' fronts & backs together. I joined them all with some double-fold bias tape and added a length of rick-rack to finish 'em off.

Machine-minded Seth was a delightful distraction help and has very much taken to snoopervising. He also got out his lacing shapes and 'sewed' with me on the couch.

And this is what we came up with. Don't worry, the pic above was just a trial run. We really don't have it hanging up all the time. But come May 1st, the tradition will begin.

hyacinths

We found hyacinth bulbs ($1 ea!) and everyone chose one for themselves. I picked out a pink one for Dustin and - of course - myself. *Love pink flowers* The kids each chose a blue one and we spent a post-nap period potting them up. Several weeks later we had flowers! Seth's was tall and gangly, Paige's is (still) picture-perfect, and the parents' were sweetly petite. Our kitchen has been smelling like Spring for a few weeks now - not bad for $4!

platte river 1/2

This past Sunday I joined a thousand other people and finished up my first 1/2 marathon. If you ran it, and didn't see me, it's because I was at the end. Hehee! I came home and told Dustin there's nothing like running a race in Colorado (with those crazy CO runners, of which I am not) to make you feel very under prepared.

I swear there were men 'warming up' at speeds 2x faster than I run. Hah! And because this is so awesome, I have to share - there was a 78yr old from Boulder (78!!) that ran the 1/2 in 2:18. Admit it, that impressed you. Regardless of time, I ran the whole 13.1 and was happy both to have done it, and to be done with it.

It was fun - and I'd do it again - though I definitely maintain that running is (& should be) a solitary activity - it didn't really do much for me to run with lots of people. Running with Dustin, however, would be lots of fun. I've nearly convinced him to start joining me, though he balks at a 1/2 ('NO way, wife!'). Hmm...maybe I can find a 10k or something...

My favorite part of running with lots of other people on Sunday was that I saw so many seriously cute running shorts. If only I had taken the camera *sigh*

I didn't have the time to try out any of the gels/chews (mistake) and ended up running the whole thing just with 1/2c of water every 2mi. Eating something probably would have helped, so I'll play around with that a bit. And my only complaint is that they ran out of water at the finish. Really, race organizers??? Really?!

spring tree

we started with making some ornaments, and while we waited for them to dry...

we took a quick veggie-snack break (which was unnecessary, as the glue didn't work at all)

then Little Mister and I spent some time building with our nifty new silicone baking cups

before snoozes (Little Girl was already sleeping)

and after everyone woke up refreshed, I decided to use some leftover eyelets on the flowers & birdies (hammering is such a hit these days) and the young ones set to work decorating their Spring Tree.

groovy, yes?

side project ❀

I was wanting to make something for my mom, and started thinking about flowers. I could crochet flowers (have you seen them!? they're fabulous), but then I'd have to buy yarn. Pfft.

So I thought maybe I could sew a little something cheery onto...a piece of cardstock? Yep.

Started with lots of circles. Arranged, rearranged. Took a pic of their placement...and didn't use it at all. I cut out some grass and popped it on there - needed a twinge more depth so I added another layer. Then off I went, just picked out a circle or two and attached them however I wanted. Looped on some stems and that's that.

It was a nice couple nights' of work. Who knew?! And it turned out cute. Really cute.

eggs, eggs, eggs

Lunch & egg dyeing adventure with beloved cousin. They did admirably well for a posse consisting of a 3, a 2, and a nearly-2 yr old. Little Mister rather promptly threw up his marshmallow 'bunny' though. Eew.

besties ❤