More spring pics

I know that spring has sprung in most parts of our great state, but up here in the higher elevations it has just begun. These warm days have us frolicking in the hills and wading in the streams. No matter where you live, get out and enjoy this wonderful time of year when nature awakens from deep sleep and beauty abounds!

Our apple tree blossoms.

Our carpet of petals.

Getting ready to blow!

The Beauty of Spring

This morning I decided to take advantage of the beautiful weather and my 2yr old and I along with my camera went outside to enjoy the day. The smell of all the flowers and the sound of the buzzing bee's captivated our senses. The air smelled so good! We blew bubbles, smelled the flowers, watched the bee's, and just enjoyed the beauty all around us. Under their favorite play tree it was magical. The branches dip down creating a shadowy perfumed world. The whole tree is ablaze in color and the flowering blooms have attracted all the bee's and birds. Under the tree the buzzing of the busy bee's can be heard. They stick to the upper branches luckily. The ground under the tree is carpeted with the perfumed fragrant leaves of the flowers that have started to shed their petals. It is a great place to just sit and enjoy nature. It is truly a beautiful day. I am glad we took the time to enjoy it. With the weather calling for rain the next 7 days I am planning on leaving all my inside work for later in the week. After all, the laundry baskets of folded up clothes are not going anywhere. Besides, I am only adding to the piles with my latest addition from today's wash. :) My helper enjoys running through the clothes and occasionally knocking some off the line with her exuberance. I remember doing the same thing when I was little. Their was something magical about the clothes flapping in the breeze and the excitement of running around and through them.

This picture does not capture the beauty of the tree, but you get the general idea.

My 2yr old enjoying the smell of the flowers.

Here is a picture of the flowers on the tree up close.

Here is my other favorite! I had to pick a few to take inside just so I could enjoy the smell.

Playing in the sheets that are hanging on the line. (Note to her auntie: The T Rex shirt is such a hit. She wants to wear it everyday and hates to have it gone off to the wash. You also created a monster with my son regarding those Bagel-ful's. He got a box at the store and ate them all in 2 days!)

I'm Back!

I bet you thought I disappeared! Instead we visited our aunt/uncle/cousins for spring break. We hunted eggs, the kids fished with their uncle and Indiana Jones was a hot game for the big kids. My son came back with a nice touch of poison ivy (thank you uncle) and both my son and 6 yr old and I caught a nasty stomach bug while visiting. We have since decided to quarantine my sisters house and have decided that we will invest in those surgical masks the next time we visit. That and take baths in Clorox! Just kidding sis. We rushed back home in time to see my hubby who was home for a few days. He brought along his trainee who has a serious case of super hero complex. I honestly considered making him a super hero suit or letting him take my son's superman costume! He was comical at first, but after a few days I was looking forward to his departure. I have since started my spring cleaning which includes both house and outside. That and the fact that I have been like the little old woman who lived in the shoe as I have had so many children here I have not known what to do! The great weather has helped. I have been lured away to go to the park numerous times and have also been lured outside for games of Frisbee and the timeless classic cartoon tag. So that is the short recap of my few weeks.

Here are the little bunnies (Tristan excluded) who are modelling their bunny hats we made in between sickness.

Here is my Catbird's latest fashion. Fun and exciting and a little intimidating. :)

First flowers! Beautiful!

Spring Mornings

This morning it was so nice that I let me little ones walk down to the bus. We live on private path with only a few houses on it and everyone knows everyone. We are the last house at the top and the kids have to walk down the path to the bottom where the bus will pick them up. It is a good little walk but not too far. They wanted to walk because there friends are walking down to the bus now too since it is light out and they wanted to play a bit. I walked out to the top of the drive and watched them walk down. The air was so clean smelling and the morning sounds were all around. I sat their looking at the sun coming up over the mountains and listened to the rooster crowing, dogs barking, birds singing, cows lowing and thought, "Thank you God for such a beautiful morning". My little ones met up with their friends and my 6yr old chased the other 6yr old around the bigger kids and the bigger kids were laughing and playing and I just sat their and smiled. I loved watching them play and romp about. It reminded me of my childhood and all the fun you could have with nothing but the outdoors and a friend. The bus came and they got on and were off to school. I closed my eyes again and with all of natures sounds about me and the sun shining on me said my morning prayers on that hilltop and marveled at how awesome He truly is. May God bless you all.

Crazy days at the castle

Its been some wild days here at the castle. I have worked the past two days and by the time all the little ones go home and I feed mine and complete homework, do baths, its time for bed. Not to mention I seem to be getting my 2yr olds cold so I am dragging a bit. I am also trying to plan for a trip to see all our relatives downstate and just found out that my hubby will be home in a couple of days! YEAH. We have not seen him for a LONG time and the kids are so excited. Daddy will have his own truck and my son cannot wait to climb inside and explore every inch of it. The only problem is I have yet to find a place for him to park it. In case you are wondering he is a truck driver and only became one last November due to the slow economic times (read no jobs around = no income) that occurred. It was an adjustment getting used to him being gone for such long periods, but we have adjusted and now the hard part is behind us. When he was in school and training we rarely got to see him. Now that he has his own truck with the company we should see him more. Now if only I could find someplace to park the thing! Our house is out of the question due to the location. The truck will also have the trailer attached so it makes for an interesting quest. At least the snow is gone and the weather is back to being beautiful again. Yesterday it was gorgeous and the kids all spent the day outside exploring and having fun. We did take some time to look up the caterpillar that the little girl I keep had found. Now she knows what to feed it and that it will become a moth, not a butterfly. I just hope it can stay alive that long. In the hands of a 5yr old that is a hard job. My two littlest princesses have been hard at work around the castle. Fluttering here and there all aglow in play make-up. So when you see this next picture, it is not that her face is dirty, it is just all the lovely make-up that the bigger girls put on her. When I first saw her the word "clown" came to mind. But then she put on the princess dress and transformed into the flying princess.

My 6yr olds latest fashion episode. I call it "Princess Leia in Hawaii".

The final snow day of the season, I think....

Who would have expected a no school due to snow in April? Thankfully we still have fuel and our heater in cranking away to keep the cold out of the house. It is a blustery, snowy day and I miss our 70 degree weekend we just had. Luckily my oldest was still able to go on her school trip since it is out of town and she will be gone for 4 days. The departure was just delayed a few hours. I miss her already. I know she is having fun though and will bring back lots of pictures to share with us. Below is a picture of how our day looks outside.

Today we spent the day talking about what the kids wanted to be when they grow up. We all decided that my youngest would possibly be a paleontologist. This due to her utter fascination with dinosaurs. She LOVES them. Books, pictures, movies, plastic models, anything that has dinosaurs she loves. She even dances with her dinosaur as you can see in this picture.

So far we have spent the day painting. Here are my two artists hard at work. I enjoy watching them. My 6yr old loves to mix up her own paint colors. She gets so excited when she creates a color. Then she wants to paint something with her creation. I thought her picture turned out great. I love watching them discover new things. The excitement that lights up their eyes and spills over into their whole bodies. Its like it cannot be contained, they have to let it out or burst!

Above my littlest is having fun painting her wild creation.

Here is my 6yr old painting away after she set up her own make-shift easel. Below is the final masterpiece.

Another Fashion Style

Yesterday it was warm and sunny and around 70 degrees. The grass needs cutting in some places, the apple, pear, and peach trees are starting to bloom, my flowers are coming up and spring has definitely sprung. At least I thought it had until I saw the weather and they are calling for snow tonight. UGH! Oh well, spring is fickle. Just like my 6yr old. She wanted to be a princess and also a pirate so walla, she became a pirate princess. Make that a mama pirate princess! :)

Eggs and Candy Galore

Yesterday we went on an egg hunt that our local library and art council puts on. It started with the making of crafts, then listening to music and hearing stories, then onto the egg hunt. We marched down the street with that famous egg hiding bunny leading the way. They had it sectioned off for the different groups of children so it would be fair to all. My son got to go first and he accumulated a fair amount of eggs in which he nicely shared with his baby sister. It was fun to watch him. He just turned 9 and he strode around the yard with one hand in his pocket and the other holding his basket. He was in no hurry after he found the first few eggs. He was content to just see what he could find. I was glad because I would not want him tackling anyone for eggs. Then my 6yr old was next. She ran around with much more flair than her brother and soon had some eggs. She was the last one out of the yard because she wanted to make sure she had found every last egg they had hidden. My 2yr old was next and the parents were able to help. Some parents were a bit over zealous in their egg hunting. They resembled a military expedition in the way they rushed their kids from egg to egg and urged them to hurry up and GET THE EGGS! It is amazing what greed can to do an otherwise sane rational adult. I think the kids that enjoyed it most were the ones whose parents just walked by them and let them discover the eggs on their own. Needless to say my little one enjoyed herself and was able to capture her 3-4 eggs and was very content with her find. After her brother gave her some more of his which I thought was sweet. We then went to get my 6yr old's face painted. As we were leaving my son stated that this was the best day! I was glad.

My son wants to say "Hi Tristan!" to his cousin. They will see each other next week and cannot wait.

Here is my son searching for eggs. Notice the hand in his pocket. :)

Here is my 6yr old before her egg hunt began.

My 2yr old sampling some of the candy in her eggs.

Here they are dividing the spoils of the hunt.

Happy Birthday

My little girl turned 6 yesterday. I can't believe how fast she has grown. It just seems like yesterday when I was holding her and carrying her around in my sling. I remember she was such a quiet baby. Everyone would say "What a good baby she is, she hardly ever cries!" She would just sit there and watch everything. Now I know she was just absorbing everything. Maybe that is why she is so smart. She turned 3 and then started talking up a storm and showing us just who she was. I remember we had moved and it was then that I noticed her personality had finally arrived. It was like the chrysalis had opened and my beautiful bubbly little butterfly appeared. She is such a fun loving child and very outgoing. She loves to play dress up and each day tends to find her in one outfit or the other. She may be a princess or some character her and her brother have made up and she will be chasing him around the house in some fierce way. I constantly hear the tap tap tapping of dress up shoes that her and her little sister put on to play in. She is also a very fast runner in those dress up shoes. One day she was flying like the wind in those shoes and I could not catch her. I remeber laughing so hard by the time I was finally able to get her. I could not believe she could run that fast outside, down a hill, and through a field in those shoes! She is so smart and each day shows me something new she has mastered. I love you little catbird! We will enjoy each of your days being 6 and I look forward to all the fun times ahead!

Here she is opening her present of play make-up which was what she wanted.

Here she is after playing with her play make-up. She made up both herself and her sisters. Her little sister was a very willing participant in this game. You can't see all the glitter on those faces, but the smile tells of how much fun it was. The temp. tattoo's came later.

Spring Fling

This has been a hectic week. My 2yr old has been sick which means lots of snuggling is required by her. I was able to take advantage of her naps to get ready for my 5yr olds birthday that is tomorrow. I decided to take my non-sewing skills and put them to use making a simple skirt out of some fabric that I have had forever. I took a deep breath and started in and before long I was sewing! This is quite an accomplishment as the sewing gene somehow missed our family. My mother could not sew, my sister took 2 sewing classes and still struggles with it. I decided to try it again as my only foray into sewing before has been making cloth diapers. It came out successful in that it looks like a skirt and the seams were even and she loved it. That is all that counted. She wore it to school yesterday and wanted me to wash it so she could wear it again today. :) I am hoping to be able to make sure some more from some other fabric I have around. As it is I am decorating her cake today and getting party ideas for her party tomorrow so it will have to be a late night sewing if it happens. I am hoping that with more practice I could venture into more complicated pieces. Time will tell I guess.

Here she is modelling her newest fav. skirt.