Is it Spring yet?

Winter is not letting go.  Snow, snow, snow.

A girl can only go out and enjoy it.  Will keep the seed trays at bay for now.

Once Dad said he was heading out to plow, Amelia 

had to go help.

  

Then he headed to plow the neighbors drive, Amelia followed as it is our sledding hill too.  Once Dad finished we took a few spins.  It's the perfect slope and heads down to the house and not into the road like ours.  I am sure this will not be enough for her once she gets older.  Lately, she hasn't wanted to sled at all...this time she was eager!  She even wanted to lay on the sled head first.

The day prior to the snow, we headed to Barnes and Noble ... we both love that store.  

Don't let her fool you...the book was upside down and she was reciting Mary Had a Little Lamb. Sure does look impressive though.

We spent a good 2 hours there and then had lunch.  Really it is a great place for kids.

Wish us luck on a warm up :)

Taking more action to spur on Spring

Like I said...we have cabin fever and to top it off, Amelia has been sick with a cold for a week.  It's not the sick where she is immobile though...it's the stuffy nose, not feeling 100% kind.   I figured we better do something about it.

We made Marshmallow Eggs :)

I saw these on Pinterest and had the candy melts and decorations.  The marshmallow eggs I found at Walmart...last bag left (whew).  

Did I mention Amelia LOVES marshmallows??  

Super easy to make.  Melt candy melts, coat marshmallows that you skewed with a candy stick, decorate,  lay on wax paper and refrigerate.  Enjoy.  She ate the whole thing.

We also planted a few seeds in our decorated pots (see previous post).  She found the hat in her dress up clothes and is still wearing it daily.  

A few instagram shots to share:

Prior to getting sick we had hot chocolate at one of our favorite places:  JITTERS, we began our game of hide and seek with the Easter Eggs from last year and our sidewalk was actually clear enough to get the chalk out (I told you we have Spring Fever). 

We also visited the zoo and took lamby for a wagon ride, after we had a bit more snow ... sigh.

Spring...where are you?

Easter on our minds

 Amelia and I have Spring fever...bad.  However, we are still wearing snow pants outside.  I had to take a bit of action and decorate a few flower pots as an art project, so we can at least plant seeds Amelia received for her birthday from her Aunt.  Of course...they had to have some bling.

the kitchen floor seemed a good place to make a mess

I had to go find these pots in the gardening shed.  Luckily, we didn't have as much snow as last year and I was able to get the door open :)  Great project for kids and the clips will hold a sign for the kinds of flowers we plant.

Funny, Amelia has not been as enthusiastic at art as she has been.  She is still very interested, but not every day.  We have a bit of time for our traditional Easter egg dying, so I decided to crack open the watercolor pens and let her have a go at just painting eggs.  She would have enjoyed this more if it didn't take a bit to get the ink flowing.  3 year olds lack patience.

Luckily we love egg salad...especially Dad.

Once I had put away her birthday party decorations, the Easter bin came out.  Still working on a few new homemade crafts to add to our array...but here are a few of my store bought finds from over the years:

 Since disney movies are littered with weddings (actually this might have come about due to Sound of Music...hard to say where she gets her inspiration from) but this is her "wedding" outfit.  complete with veil. :)  

Travels in Winter

I will admit...I travel little in Winter.  A beautiful day here in Anchorage, could be a horrible one just a couple hours away.    Actually, I am not a big winter fan at all...I complained about it when I lived back East and now I live where the snow begins in October and doesn't leave til April at the earliest.  I am trying to make peace with it...Amelia certainly helps as up until a week or so ago, she couldn't wait to get outside. I believe Spring fever has hit her and she is just tired of boots and snow pants :)  Me too.

Needless to say, my sister was here for a week for Amelia's birthday and LUCKILY we had a bit of Spring with temps in the high 30's and crystal clear skies.  I took her to a couple places that weren't too far and along with the Iditarod, parties and walks, I think she crammed in quite a bit for just a week.

Hatcher's Pass and Independence Mine:

I have posted about our travels here previously, however, winter makes it a completely different place.  People snow machining, skiing and hiking...in places I would only look at from a distance...avalanche signs abound.  Still...very beautiful and one of my favorite places on Earth. Amelia slept in the car as my sister got out and ventured around.

Eagle River Nature Center:

Funny, I like this place better in Winter!  No bears.  Lots of bears in the Spring and Summer and more people.  Great trails for little tykes even though I end up carrying Amelia half way thru (luckily my sister was there! see pic below).  

She was wide awake this time, as the drive is only 20 minutes from our house.  Another spectacular day.

She knows where to go by following the signs that all say "Beware" apparently.

Looking for Salmon...no luck.

Hey...what are sister's for but to carry your kids :)

A Very Horsey Birthday Party!

A beautiful sunny day for her birthday party!

The Decorations:

Pink balloons with horse figures came from Amazon.  

Horse / Amelia pic garland made with card stock, clip art and ribbon.

Bought large horse balloons at a local party shop.

Horse figures were all Amelia's (had to sneak them away from her).  Pics in frames are clip art printed on card stock.  Books were made throughout the previous year.  Birthday tree we use for Birthdays, Christmas and holidays....I bought a box of little horses and drilled holes thru them and hung them with fishing line to tree. 

Another garland of horse shoes and one for the doorway with our toadstool for kids to sit to take off their boots.

Made the sign by Mod Podging card stock printed with clip art onto a scrap piece of wood.  Had the chain from left over chandelier chain hung years ago in the dining room...I knew that chain would come in handy someday!  Hay from a neighbor who has a few Islandic Ponies.  Inflatable horse that had a hole in it somewhere, but managed to stay somewhat inflated thru the party.   

Had to have a unicorn space :) turned out to be the beverage counter.  Framed a bunch of the clip art figures in large frames and set or hung them thru the house.  Had to have a bunch of carrots.  Bought the bales at Michael's.  Stray straw came from another neighbor.  Aren't neighbors great!

Horse shoe birthday wishes.  Plate was made via York Photo.

Card Garland

The Thank You Bags:

Girls received pink, babies red and the boys (only 1) blue.  The girls received a large weakens horse (above), babies ... a mini webkins and the boys ... a schleich horse.  Amelia was playing with a friend's son most of the time so I gave her the extra boy gift so that they both would have the same as they were playing sooo nicely! :)

The Food:

What I didn't get a picture of were the 2 main dishes of  Barbeque Country Ribs and Cowboy Spaghetti which were in the Roaster and oven when I took the pics.

Apple Galettes

Our centerpiece, Mac and Cheese, Fruit wands and Bacon Wrapped Smokies

Cheese, Crackers and Artichoke Dip (veggie sticks in the background).  Also had a smaller version of these in the other room where kids could help themselves that I didn't get a pic of.

Chips and Dip and a candy flower tree we have used for our cupcakes :)

Fruit dip and ...

The CAKE:

It is the only thing I didn't make from scratch.  A lot of people find that the cake is the best thing to make for a birthday...but I feel it is the one thing I would certainly stress over the day before a party...so I let our local grocery store do the honors...with direction and gave them the decorative barn and horses :)  Looked and tasted great.

The Birthday Girl:

Many wonderful gifts and a very happy girl on her 3rd Birthday. :)  

ok ok...now it is Easter time!  Will post a few pics of the adventures we had with my sister next.