Digging and Planting

Ah ... this view.  We have seen it a lot this past year with Amelia's pre-school class on their monthly visit to the Eagle River Nature Center.   Going to miss this trek when she heads to Kindergarten in the Fall.  How time flies.

Of course, we can always visit...just not as fun for Amelia without her buddies :)

This was the biggest group yet, with a group behind me too.  

The lesson began back at the center with Miss Ute on worms (Amelia wanted nothing to do with them)...

 and how they make glorious dirt, thus digging later in the dirt was essential.  No worms were found.

Coincidentally, we did some of our own digging in dirt back home this last week.

She planted her yearly Nasturtium's in her flower pots for her cottage and I planted Peas, Lettuce and Jumbo Nasturtiums in pots and trays.  

These are the seeds from last years crop.  So far they have been spectacular each year.  Will report on the the progress!

Remodeling update:  Still need to hang one light and order 3 for the kitchen.  Once we get those in, I will show you the outcome :)  

Disney Autograph Book

Finished Amelia's autograph book.  Thought I'd share a few of the fav's:

I brought the book without any embellishments as I knew it would take a bit of a beating.  LUCKILY, I carried it in a ziploc as we did have a water bottle leak :)  I used a piece of heavy cardboard for the back and front and hole punched each.  Then I used pearl card stock that I bought at Michael's for another project in anticipation for a few princess autographs.  The rest had plain white card stock.

When we got home I began decorating each page as well as the cover that I just wrapped and glued in "disney" appropriate paper.  The mouse ears clip art and the disney font I downloaded from the internet.

Many are the pictures we received from our photo pass that we purchased taken by Disney photographers ... some are my own.   I tried to think ahead and get horizontal pictures...but many vertical I liked better so I used them too.

I originally thought I would scan all the autographs and then print them, but I thought the original was more special so just used the ones already in the book.  Just inserted a blank in between each for the photos.

All the supplies I had ... paper and embellishments.  I am sure I could have found even more appropriate stickers, ribbon and bows...but I had so much on hand, I figured I'd better use up a bit of what I had. :)

Something Amelia will have forever.  

AND I think Amelia and I have convinced Dad that we really, really, really need to go to Disney World for her 7th birthday! 

Already planning ;)

This week we have been playing in our "bunkbed" at the landing of our stairs...every ... single ... day.

We also have been wearing these.  No lens ... just for the studious look apparently. 

And finally...a new fridge. 

Our 150 year old (actually circa 1998) took its final breath with a pool of water under it one afternoon.  Thanks to our neighbor's cooler, nothing was lost and we headed out for a new one.   Little did we know that only about 3 refrigerators can somewhat fit in the space provided which limited our decision.  We ended up having to cut the cabinet above and move the doors up for this Fridgedaire.  We are super happy...except they are sending new doors due to a problem with the stainless steel on these doors (see the lines and smudges?).  The new ones will arrive shortly.  Still pretty happy with our purchase! 

Lots of other demo and remodeling that isn't quite finished yet...so will post on that later!

Easter Sunday

It has not snowed here in weeks and wasn't suppose to on Easter.  Yet...it did.  

The one day I was hoping the Easter Bunny would hide eggs outside.  Oh well.  There were these tracks all around the house.

Snow or no snow...egg hunting is very exciting.

Had to switch to a bigger basket. 

She found our little basket right away under the dining room table that included a little bunny and a Breyer horse that goes into the bath.  The Easter Bunny's basket took a bit longer.  It was hiding in our back bathroom...it included this Super Power Barbie Sparkle costume.

She has worn it for days straight .. including to pre-school.

There was a Build a Bear's Rainbow Dash in there too!

Time for an Easter Breakfast:

And watch her new Doc McStuffins and Sophia the First dvds while playing and having a snack. 

We had an early dinner of Ham, Mac and Cheese, sauted asparagus and snow peas AND the very best au gratin potatoes that you can find the recipe here.  Rob ate them up. Not the most heart healthy I would imagine...but hey it's Easter.

Then it was definitely time for a walk and to deliver a few Easter goodies to our neighbors.

Another great Easter on the books! 

Easter Projects

Trying to cram in as much as possible before the big day didn't go exactly how I envisioned as Amelia was sick with a stomach bug for a couple of days this week.   We had to manage egg dying one morning ...

This was her "experiment", repeatedly dying one egg up and down the cups of color.  In case you were wondering what that would turn out to look like ...

An earthy blue.

Obviously, her favorite are the 2 fully glittered eggs.  Although the glitter seemed to get on each of them to some degree . :)

Another morning we tried a new craft.  I should have thought this out a bit more as the glue smeared the egg and caused a thin membrane when dried.  Need to keep the mod podge on the yarn only.  Since she lost interest, I didn't attempt a second try. 

Believe it or not..she didn't care for this much.  It was tough to   squeeze the excess from the yarn she said.  However, she did enjoy peeling the "skin" off her fingers.

Let them dry.  There were quite a few blobs of glue on a few!

Balloons needed to be a bit more egg shape too. 

Will need to trim up that glue membrane a bit with a pair of small sharp scissors. 

Will post on Easter festivities next time!