Here’s a branch of snowy May
A branch the fairies gave us
Would you like to dance today
With a branch the fairies gave us?
Dance away, dance away
Holding high the branch of May.
Sunshine, beautiful children, flower crowns lovingly made, hand-holding, skipping, sweet songs, curtsies and bows to the maypole, skirts twirling, ribbons flying, little sister eager to dress up too, a picnic in the play-yard and spring has finally arrived.
Apr 10th, 2013 by Casey
What kid doesn’t love a pocket-sized friend? I made these tiny bunnies for the girls on Easter. (from a free pattern! Details on my ravelry project page) I tried to keep them a secret as I knitted tiny bodies and skinny little arms and legs. I bravely knit in front of the girls, knowing they wouldn’t be able to see how these pieces would ultimately fit together.
They are so used to me knitting and sewing that they never even asked what I was doing. It was going so well.
Until the night before Easter when near bedtime I carried the completed bunnies with me into the kitchen and placed them at the back of the counter amongst empty bottles and jars of coconut oil and a bag of granola. Sairshe came in to ask a question and immediately spotted them with her eagle eyes. I have no idea how she does that. She then did a little dance while informing me “I know what those are for” in her little sing-song voice. Darn it.
I hate it when my kids aren’t surprised. An Easter morning reaction of “Oh yeah, there’s that bunny I saw yesterday by the bag of granola on the counter. Will you unwrap my chocolate coins for me?” wasn’t going to cut it and so I found myself, at the 11th hour, creating something new. Little log homes for the bunnies made from felted wool sweaters because goodness knows I have a ton of those stashed away.
As I sat sewing I found myself feeling so grateful for my mom and grandma for teaching me to sew and for the value for handmade things that they shared with me. I love seeing a thought come to life and making things that my kids treasure. I’m not perfect, of course. They each immediately rejected the bunny I gifted them with to trade with each other. Bunnies found their way to their rightful owners, log homes were delighted in, kids were happy.
Apr 1st, 2013 by Casey
Oh Easter. How I love your flowers and bunnies, kids in fancy dresses and sweater vests, tales of resurrection and hope and moving into a season of new life and joy, abundantly evidenced by in the cherry blossoms and tulips and less outwardly visible whispers in our hearts.
The kids stopped and smelled the flowers and our nice neighbor let them pick some too.
There were little pocket-sized bunnies waiting for them in their Easter baskets after church. More on these little cuties another time.
There’s not much more glorious than a sunny spring day in Portland.It called for riding bikes with friends. The littlest rode in the wagon in style.
The park beckoned with her mowed green grass and big trees casting shadows that felt nice to hot, thirsty children, exhausted from their egg-hunt.
Carys Áine didn’t need much help finding eggs and all the kids were thrilled with their loot. I love that the boys were too excited to take off their bike helmets before searching for eggs.
It was an extra-special day. In addition to the Easter decorations we needed to put up the birthday banner because it was also Mike’s birthday!
Instead of relaxing and eating chocolate Sairshe and I made a fabulous guitar-shaped cake for our favorite guy. He did get a little birthday relaxing in but was also mauled by the girls as usual. We all just wanted to share the couch with him.
I hope you all had a lovely day too!
Mar 26th, 2013 by Casey
Last year I made the girls these Easter Bunny themed crepe paper surprise balls and they were so much fun! A surprise ball is simply crepe paper streamers wrapped around little trinkets and/or candy. When it’s unwrapped the trinkets are revealed. You never know which turn of the paper will reveal a gift so it’s a surprise until the very end. They were really easy to make and unwrapping them and finding all the surprises inside was more fun for the kids then looking through an Easter basket.
I started by collecting some little trinkets to put inside. I opted not to put any candy in because I knew the kids would get enough candy elsewhere. I gave them stickers, bracelets, hair clips, little paint sets, rubber stamps and bunny-shaped erasers.
I first saw this idea from Martha Stewart and I wasn’t sure if mine would turn out so perfectly round, especially since I had some large-ish rectangular items to wrap inside. It did start put pretty lumpy and bumpy but as I wrapped the items I pulled the crepe paper tight and it quickly started to round out. I wrapped the biggest items first so that their lumps and corners would be well-hidden inside. That made it easy to keep the round shape as it grew and I added stickers and bracelets as I got closer to the end of my paper.
The wrapping and winding was a little tedious, especially with the crepe paper twisting around, but all in all this was a really easy project.
I taped the end of the paper down to keep it from unwrapping on its own. I cut ear shapes from leftover paper and taped a toothpick to the back of them. I left a bit of the toothpick sticking out from the bottom of the ear and used that to poke it into the ball. I then drew a bunny face with a marker and propped them up on some Easter-themed cupcake papers. I used a whole roll of crepe paper for the pink bunny and a little less for the purple one because I wanted Carys Áine’s to be a little smaller.
Sairshe quickly got the hang of unwrapping and discovered a quick way of pulling on the end and following the ball around the deck, finding the surprises that spilled out.
Little one year old Carys Áine needed some help unwrapping hers.
Both kids were thrilled with their goodies!
This did make a bit of a mess, with the giant pile of crepe paper left over. We discovered that it’s perfect for making a hilarious Easter mummy and then it’s all recyclable since it’s paper!
Are you making anything special for Easter this year?
Mar 19th, 2013 by Casey
Two grandmas, three visits, four weeks. Good thing Mike and I love our moms and the girls love their grandmas because our front door felt a bit like a revolving one for a while there. It was really great to spend time with them though and the girls are so lucky to have such great grandmas!
Some highlights:
With Grandma Cris:
1. We spent the night in Hood River and for once I wasn’t too annoyed by the girls’ early wake-up. The sunrise over the river was beautiful. 2. We went swimming. Outdoors. In March. In Oregon. 3. Sairshe collected lots of beach treasures. They are all in our house now. All over our house, I should say. 4. “Look grandma, I can balance a rock on my head! It’s so funny!” 5. Ice skating! (I think her appreciation of her special ice skating Christmas ornament is pretty well solidified now.)
With Grandma Diane:
6. We went shopping for flower girl dresses. Exhausting but successful. 7. We discovered that Carys Áine is finally big enough for her balance bike. No one was more excited than Sairshe. 8. We played at the park on St. Patrick’s Day. 9. Lots of snuggling and book reading.
The girls are already busy planning the next grandma visits.
