O' Warmth, Where Art Thou?

The promise of summer and warm weather always spurs an outdoor nesting of sorts--preparing the spaces outside of the home for enjoyment and play. Noah, most excitedly, has thrown himself into all of the tasks to be done--helping Daddy break ground for our first Canadian vegetable garden, helping to nail little wooden steps to his favorite climbing tree and offering building tips and advice from inside the window to the workers building the new deck below.

Despite the snow and freezing temperatures that the Canadian spring has sprung on us today, I am hopeful that we'll be able to get back to our nature nesting soon.

All In A Good Week's Play: The Backyard Edition.

I guess you could say it's typically spring-like around here--sunny and warm one afternoon, rainy and cool the next. No matter the bite, we try and bundle up at least once a day to bank some much needed and enjoyed hopping, swinging, digging, skipping time. While we can't wait for the warmer temperatures of summer and all the outside dinners, firefly catching and water play that it brings, we'll take what we can get in the meantime. After all, sunshine is sunshine.

A Hopping Easter Indeed: Baskets, Bunnies + Bogs.

Easter passed with a fluttering of the eye--here and gone before I knew it. Noah was up at the crack of dawn on Sunday morning to seek the stash left by ol' cottontail. So excited that many of his eggs contained bouncy balls to add to his ever-growing collection, he barely noticed the few that did contain a few of his favorite treats. After an exhaustive hunt, we settled down to an oral tall tail tale with felt hand and finger bunny puppets finished in just the nick of time (Fern's got a little stitch or two well into the next day...but, shhhh, she'll never know).

Dean took Monday off and we found ourselves enjoying the cool but sunny day exploring the Sifton Bog. A boardwalk over the bog extends along for most of the main trail and dead ends at a small pier overlooking a pond surrounded by wild cranberries and brush dotted with tiny orange butterflies. The smaller trails that wrap around the outer skirts of the bog were thick with bush and fallen trees--all excellent fodder for the small herd of white-tailed deer spotted nibbling for a late afternoon bite. 

The holiday weekend was all that it promised to be and I am once again reminded of how fun holidays are with little ones around. They infuse the day with such wonder, excitement and awe--the simple little things that bring the kind of pleasure that is harder and harder to often come by as we age.

peter, polly, paul + pedro.

6:00 a.m. hunt

cracked eggs

dos hikers

pier snack

"there are FISH in there!"

bog baby

bog fauna

Hoppity Hopping Into Easter: Felt Bunny Crafts + Naturally Dyed Eggs.

Easter is a wee on the early side this year, but with the spring-like weather I don't mind a bit. We gave another go at coloring eggs with natural dyes this year and achieved the most beautifully muted shades of pinks and yellows using combinations of freshly grated red beets and ground turmeric. I have a hunch that I enjoyed the process more than my little cottontail, but once it comes to seeking out those little beauties from beneath bushes and behind trees he'll be happy we did.

Easter crafting, too, has hit full swing as I busily prepare handmade goodies for Noah and Fern's baskets. Last year, a half dozen crocheted eggs and two bunnies--one knitted and one sewed felt (a la our Waldorf class)--were all I could muster. This year, I am hitting the felt crafts big time thanks to these too-sweet-for-words bunny finger and hand puppets over at The Purl Bee. To be perfectly honest, the whiskers on the finger puppets gave me a hell of a time the first go round. But the rest was as easy as pie. So, whip out your sewing needles and give these little hoppers a go--you've still got time!