Where Did Spring Go?

Yesterday I saw the first robins of spring. I was so excited! It's been a long snowy winter here and we're all ready for spring. Unfortunately this is what we woke up to today. As I write the snow continues to fall outside. While I hoped to be putting away winter hats and scarves until next year instead we'll be using them a little longer. So here is a show and tell of the scarf I made for Nature Girl this year.


I was inspired last winter to create a scarf after I saw a beautiful scarf made from sweaters and tweed jackets on a mom at the children's museum. I created the scarf on the left for myself from fabric scraps and thrifted wool pieces. I used fleece for the back of my scarf. It's warm comfortable and unique. I love it! This fall I created the scarf on the right for Nature Girl. I even got her to model it this morning. Yes she'd still in her pajamas and her hair hasn't been brushed.


While we love our handmade scarves let's hope the snow melts and the robins return soon. Come back spring!

A Tree Hugger to Melt Your Heart

Nature Girl has been a tree hugger since she began walking. She literally hugs the trees in our yard. She loves them! Last week as she rode in the car on the way to preschool she was in the backseat waving out the window saying "Hi!" When asked what she was doing she said " I'm waving to the trees so their green leaves will grow." Well that just melted my heart! This week while playing outside she looked at an evergreen tree and said "It's not healthy. I'm going to hug it to make it's leaves grow." Now I'm not a nature expert but the tree looked healthy enough to me and it had pine cones and needles not leaves. Still this simple gesture was sweet . . . it's kindness to all living things. That is something I hope she will always display.


Honestly her tree hugging ways inspire me to leave a smaller mark on the earth. At her young age she already sees nature as a wonder and is conscientious about the environment. Her recycling efforts are worth their own post so more on that later. In the meantime we're trying to be a bit more "Green" around here. We're not hardcore earth activists just three people trying to be more conscientious. What tips do you have on being green? How do you reduce, reuse and recycle? If you're interested here is an Earth Day Footprint Quiz you can take to see what your impact is on the environment. It was interesting.

Spring Lollipop Bouquets

My original plan was to make these with Nature Girl so we could pass them out to her preschool classmates on the first day of spring. Last week I was finishing Easter crafts so we didn't manage to get these done till yesterday. We made them with one of Nature Girls playmates. I originally saw lollipop flowers for Valentine's day on Skip to My Lou. She had a great pdf you could print onto colored paper. In the end I opted for a circle swirly flower that two 4 year olds could easily make. The letter at preschool this week is S so spring and swirly fit right into that.

Materials:
construction paper
pencil
top of a jar candle(for tracing a circle)
markers
scissors
lollipops(we used Dum Dums but Toostie Pops would work)

I traced the top of the jar candle with a pencil, then retraced the line with a marker. I continued drawing a swirl into the center of each circle. Then the girls cut out the circles. I precut the leaves from construction paper scraps but the girls could have cut those themselves.

We used a pencil to poke a small hole in the center of the circle and and a hole in each of the leaves. Next we slowly pushed the lollipop sticks through the hole in the flower then into the holes in the leaves. We twisted the lollipops as we got to the part of the stick covered by the wrappers to get the wrappers to fit in. I wrote "Happy Spring!" on one leaf . . . . viola' it was finished. This was a simple, fun and yummy way to welcome spring.

A Package Arrives!

For grown ups when the mail arrives it's about getting another bill but for kids getting mail is so much fun. The possibilities are endless. . . . a party invitation, a new magazine or even better something bigger. Case in point Nature Girl received a package today. I signed up for the the Elsie Marley mobile swap. I created a mobile for a woman in NY and Nature Girl received this beautiful mobile from Lady of Perpetual Chaos. She was thrilled with the package, even more excited by the Strawberry Shortcake wrapping paper and literally jumping for joy when she saw the mobile. Really it is beautiful! Our new found friend also sent along some quilting patterns for me to try. I can't wait to try the Christmas wish quilt. Thanks!

The mobile is a sea theme complete with sun, waves, a starfish, a shell and a mermaid holing a pearl. It's perfect for my little nature lover! Now we need to get it hung up in her room.

Coincidentally I finally finished a mobile for the baby next door. It's part of her Easter gift and goes with the bug theme in her nursery. Yes I know it's two days after Easter but we've delayed exchanging our Easter goodies due to the busy weekend and now illness. Hopefully everyone will be feeling better soon. By the way the inspiration for these whimsical felt butterflies came from Maos Arteiras Feltro set on flickr

A Happy Easter

Nature Girl loves holidays! Really what little kid doesn't? She's been excited about a visit from the Easter Bunny for the last month and a half. As her parents we get excited to see her reaction to the gifts and surprises the holidays bring. This year the Easter Bunny left a basket on the table filled with goodies and a new bike and helmet parked next to the table. Now Nature Girl is known for being very observant. In her four short years with us we have learned that if she tells you she sees something but when you look you can't see it...well look a little harder because it's really there! So imagine our surprise when she walked right by the bike Easter morning to look in her Easter basket. We couldn't believe it. She emptied out the goodies from the basket which included Twizzlers (her favorite candy,) a new book with CD(Runny Babbit,) hair clips, a frog statue for her garden, a chocolate bunny and a manual for her bike. It took her 10 to 15 or realize that the bike was parked 3 feet away from her. Of course she got excited and had to try it out as you can see from the picture.


Easter meant I had to make somethings for Nature Girl too. Why? Need you even ask.... because I like to craft! So I got out the sewing machine and created the red polka dot bag for her to carry books home from the library. I also made the rabbit and the chick in an egg finger puppets. Finally I got the idea the beanbag bunnies from Two Straight Lines. I added the carrot mats so we could play a beanbag toss game with them. I wanted to create a bag to hold the mats and bean bags in but ran out of time. I'll add it to my long list of projects I want to do!

Nature Girl Rocks

This is Nature Girl stomping around in the mud in her pink rain boots. Our dirt driveway provides lots of mud puddles to stomp in as the snow melts. Of course it also provides lots of rocks to add to her collection.

This is the pile of rocks she set aside to bring into the house. In the end I talked her into choosing just two of the bigger rocks to bring in for a future painting project. That's one thing about her love of rocks we always have lots of free rocks for projects.



Yes it's a box of rocks. A walk around the downstairs of the house picking up rocks yielded this big treasure box filled with rocks. The little pink box was a gift from miniswap 3. Nature Girl was thrilled to recieve the treasure box and especially the rocks. Her swap partner Nathan sent the perfect package. She couldn't have been happier. Nathan's mom's blog is here: Mama Said Sew

Has Spring Sprung?

So this has been a record breaking winter for us with 112 inches of snow so far. We all have cabin fever and can't wait for spring to arrive. Nature girl has repeatedly asked my why I don't take her to the park anymore. The answer is because the park is buried under 2 or 3 feet of snow and we're waiting for the snow to melt. In the meantime she likes to regale me with the different things that make her think of spring. "Momma, you know what makes me think of spring? Going to the farm to see Sunny." Sunny is a horse at a local petting farm slash ice cream stand we like to visit during the spring and summer. "Momma you know what makes me think of spring? Eating ice cream. Birds flying. Flowers growing." And the list goes on. You know what makes me think of spring? These baby grasshoppers we found on a patch of grass in our yard this week. These little buggers were hopping around. They provided an hour worth of fun for us and the neighborhood children. Yes I think spring has literally sprung. Of course par for the course our little friends got dusted with an inch of snow the next morning. Hopefully they'll be springing again soon!

To Blog or Not to Blog?

Had I been asked about blogging a year ago I would have said "Who wants to read someone else's random thoughts!" Recently I discovered the amazing wealth of talent and creativity out there in the blogosphere and I'm addicted. I always tell people I lead a pretty boring life. Don't get me wrong I have a great life with my wonderful husband and a beautiful daughter but no one is ever going to write a book about it. I'm not sure our adventures will be note worthy. So to blog or not to blog this has been my question.... Obviously if you're reading this you can see I've decided to start a blog detailing the adventures of my life with my beautiful daughter hereto known as Nature Girl. So I hope you'll pop back in to read about our latest happenings.