Sweetness Of Spring

 I hope you had a lovely Easter.  Mine was very nice, with my son baking a wonderful ham dinner - garlic mashed potatoes, cranberries, asparagus, along with a lemon cake that I made.  We watched the movie Peter Rabbit on Netflix over the weekend too.  Here's a few pics of our Easter, in no special order.  I've been recovering from this awful cold, and with lots of tea and soup, I'm finally starting to feel like myself again.

My brother-in-law came into town right before Easter and brought me a gift bag of goodies - chocolate bunnies, jelly beans, flower seed packets to plant, and this pretty card.  I thought it was perfect from the three in-laws.

If you remember Mia's pioneer days, Nel sent me this picture, and I wanted to share some of the stations that were set up with different kinds of pioneer-era activities for the kids to do: building a log cabin out of milk cartons and pretzels, square dancing and music making, pancakes, games, and more!  Nel volunteered at a station where kids made rafts out of popsicle sticks and yarn, and tried to support the weight of a floating apple.  Mia had so much fun.  I'm glad she learned about this time in history.

On Good Friday, me and my son went to the creek, and I wanted to get some fresh air and spend some time in nature.  There wasn't anything out of the ordinary, but the creek was filled and everything was so green and growing.  Soon, I will see dozens of California poppies growing along the ridges.

We had some rain last week, and we're supposed to get more in April.  I'll leave you with this, just because I loved it.

 

A School Project Near and Dear

 I had a really bad cold last week - runny nose and eyes, coughing, feeling awful.  I haven't been sick in years!  This was the kind of cold that you ask yourself, "where do these viruses come from?"  Well, my son passed it on to me, but you wonder, where did this originally come from?  One of the worst colds I've had, and I coughed so much that my ribs were sore, so I put some aloe vera on, a healing remedy that my dear mother-in-law told me about years ago.  Well, I washed all the sheets and did some spring cleaning, and it's a new week.

I also rearranged some furniture since I did some deep cleaning.  I gave away a night stand that I had.  It was very nice, but I don't like heavy bulky furniture these days; it's light and sturdy pieces for me.  This is one piece that I have never parted with - a vanity, and the lid opens up to a mirror with compartments.  It's really cute, and I'll pass it on to my grandgirls someday.  They can paint it or do what they want.

For my new blog friends, you may not know that I love the pioneer era.  I can see myself living in that time, and enjoying the slower pace that they had.  I know there were many struggles as well, and one of the things that would be hard for me is washing clothes on a washboard or going down to the creek to wash, and then hanging them to dry.

I've rode horses in my lifetime, so I think I would be able to handle driving a wagon accompanied by a team of horses.

They had to gather vegetables from their gardens, milk the cows for milk and butter, and the kids had to walk the long prairie distance just to attend school.  That wouldn't be easy either.

But all in all, if someone asked me what my favorite era was, I would have to say the "pioneer era."  I feel very connected to this period in history.  And when Nel told me that Mia was doing a "pioneer days" school project, I was overjoyed. ✨✨✨  This was something that was near and dear to me.  Right away, I sent her pictures of the hair styles that were popular back in that time.

Here is a little about it.....

Mia's "pioneer days" was a week long event for all 2nd grade classes.  The kids were given new names common to the 19th century - Mia's was Frances May - and they worked in a one room school house for part of the day while they learned about what life was like for kids on the prairie.  Nel found her costume and lunch basket on Amazon.  They got points every day for doing things like dressing up, coming to school on time, bringing your teacher an apple,🍎 and participating in different pioneer era arts and crafts as homework.  Mia wrote a note to her class with a quill pen dipped in ink, which was actually really hard to do!  At the end of the week, they had a Living History Day where parents dress up and volunteer at different stations with 19th century activities for the kids.

Nel "sort of" dressed up too.  She doesn't have a pioneer dress, but she thought she could pull together something like this. ; )

A special sighting on Palm Sunday.

And my first Robin visitor this spring.

Happy Easter, friends.

Easter Hutch

 Welcome spring!  We have had some spring-like weather last week, and the warmth of the sun feels good after the winter months.  I decorated my new white hutch for Easter, and the first thing I got was the jolly bunny at my friend A's Home shop.  I've seen this bunny before, and I finally bought it.  Me and A. talked for a long time, and it's always a pleasure catching up as I browse her shop.

  I realized I don't have a lot of Easter stuff, as I gave most of it away.  The items didn't suit me anymore, but the few things I did keep I will cherish them forever.  Among them, is the children's book, Leo the Lop.  I gave this book to Nel and Jess when they were 2 and 5, and I can't tell you how many times I read it to them.  It's weathered, the pages are bent, and it's almost 40 years old.  I have a box of children's books I'll never part with, and this is one of them.

After I had two girls, I thought it would be so special to have a boy.  I was blessed with that boy, who is a dear grown man now.  These three bunnies swinging remind me of all of them when they were little.  I've had this figurine since their childhood, and every time they passed it they would swing the bunnies.

The bench sachet was sewn by a blog friend, who doesn't blog anymore, and she gifted it to me.  And the ducklings photo was taken by Kim from Daisy Cottage that I put out every year.  The purple candle Nel gave me a few years ago.  I like to decorate with as much purple as I have because it's just a beautiful color, and the color of royalty, for our Prince of Peace. 💜  Here are a few pictures of my hutch.

This is the first sign of spring around here.

These daffodils are at a hair salon parking lot, and they are one of the first things I see when spring arrives.

Remember the biography that Francesca did on Princess Diana?  Jess said she worked really hard on this, and was excited to learn about her.  Francesca's speech first started out with her sipping tea, and she went on talking about her life, being called "the people's princess," her joy being a mother to her sons, shaking hands with the sick and showing them love, her interest in the landmines, and so much more.  It was an exceptional biography, and Francesca even dressed the part.  

  When I think of all the effort that Mia put into her Betsy Ross project, and Francesca put into her Princess Diana project, and all the interest they took in these women of history, this comes to mind....

After she did this school project, I remembered that I have the Princess Diana Beanie Baby.  It's vintage, and very rare.  It's in good shape, and I've had it all these years.

  Have you tried the fudge mint cookies by Clover Valley?  They are really good with a cup of coffee.

Do you like spaghetti as much as I do?  I have to make it every couple of weeks. 🍝

They're back!.......they're even more special to see because I don't have feeders, and they just come in the wild.

I know many of you are having cold weather still.  We may get more rain in April, and even some snow.  But here is a flower for you until your spring arrives.