Guess what I did yesterday for the first time in a l-o-n-g time (thankful for a cold winter).

Yep, it was time to pull out the ole’ mower and my neighbors are so thankful as I think I was the last one on the street to do so!

Not done yet but here is a peek at the Easter dress and skirt. They are finished except for the hem on the skirt, maybe I will have time to get to that tomorrow. Sis’s dress is a bit to big. When I start messing with patterns I always forget to adjust the original size but at least she will be able to get a lot of wear out of it (when I say a lot I mean years). That is a good thing though…right!? The original pattern had a gathered waist but after I saw Daisyeyes Easter dress I loved the little pleats in front so I started messing around with it. See sometimes it is good to procrastinate…a good idea might come. Sis also is taller so there are not many things that come down to her feet so as a special something I added length and fabric for a Princess Dress feel.

The skirt came together pretty quickly and I am not sure that I love it but it will be fine. It is just very twirly skirty. Great for dancing around with our daughter!!! You can find a review of the skirt here just in case you are interested. I do like that the dress and the skirt both have little pleats that is a fun thing.
You may also notice that I had to change the trim fabric. I had originally gone with this but had to change after I needed a bit more fabric and the original fabric was no longer on sale. Before you ask, no, it was not an excuse just to buy more fabric. Honest, I was trying to save money as a different fabric store was having a sale but not the original fabric store that I went to. No one wants to pay full price. I had to go for the sale!

You know how you can hear a sound and immediately know what it is? You know what it is because you have heard it in everyday life repetitively. It is when you hear the familiar sound mixed with an unfamiliar sound that you pause because in your head you are thinking…oh, no, you did not just do that…
I hear the spindles on our steps turn almost everyday from the kids running their hands past them or from my hand brushing past them as I sit something on the steps to go upstairs. Today I heard the ever so familiar sound of the spindles but then I heard a thud. I knew what had happened before I looked up and I even felt myself, for a brief moment, refusing to look up and refusing to enter into what I thought to be true.
The cry followed the thud and as I slowly brought myself to reality. I saw our child, body on one side of the spindle and head on the other. Are you kidding me? That was the phrase that I was screaming inside my head. We have chatted about this a million times…it is not a wise idea to stick your head through the spindles…it will be stuck there…maybe forever!!!
I never really panicked I was just mad! People stick their heads through spindles on TV, not in real life, come on! I try to push the head through the gap but screaming ensued…it was not coming out that way. Tried to lift the spindle up and out…it went up but not out. Sat there for a little bit contemplating my options. Thought about the butter but it is so pricey. Debated calling hubby just to share about the predicament. While dialing his number I thought about my speech for the worst mother of the year award. Brad suggested Vaseline…it is cheap! Asked the older sibling to come and sit with the stuck one while I went to get the Vaseline. Busy coloring was the response. My response…your sibling is STUCK in the steps…CANNOT MOVE! Please come love on your sibling! Footsteps, I take off running for the Vaseline, I hear, it is okay Buddy! Releave the sibling to return to coloring and I slather the stuck one. Still no go! This stuff works on TV I think to myself! Lots of screaming and really red ears. I give up. Call the hubby again to find the location of the saw! Call reluctant unstuck sibling back to hang out with stuck sibling while I run for the saw. Relieve unstuck sibling and comfort stuck sibling as I move close with the saw. Lift the spindle as high as I can so that there will not be a ton of noticeable damage on the steps. Proceed with sawing at an unnoticeable angle so the other side of the saw is scratching the steps but I have no clue. Lovely! Finally, last cut and FREEDOM! Lots of cuddling and loving and a few shared words of I told you not to do that!

These two pictures just really make me happy. I “worked on” (messed with) them as a gift for a friends birthday recently and the colors became so vivid that it just feels really happy. I think I fell in love with all the greens.

Honestly, be very honest here, does anyone really like to iron? What if we all banded together and decided to just go wrinkly…wouldn’t that be fabulous? It might not look that great but we would not have to iron! just think about it…it could work!
Yes, the ironing pile was huge today…it comes from not liking ironing so much…week after week after week.

I got to start work on two projects last weekend.

The first being to paint the front door. We have gone back and forth over colors for a very long time. We finally agreed, though, with a good bit of give and take on black. I decided that I would paint it and be done. Did you know that painting a white door black takes, well, we are up to 4 coats of paint and we could use a few more? I am not much of a painter so I am pretty clueless when it comes to such things, but, wow! I decided that we would finish that project a different weekend. I am happy with it though and I love the way that it is coming together. Lest, you think that the door looks like the above picture in its finished for now state I promise that I really did do the 4 coats. It looks good from the driveway it is just when you walk up to it that one might notice that it is a work in progress.

The second project from the weekend was to check out the garden. I covered it in cardboard boxes for the winter. Consider it a layer to hold in the moisture inviting worms and other wonderful things for happy soil. I was very anxious to see what it looked like underneath and to stir up the soil just a little bit combining a few layers. I used a new to us tool which was very fun! A lot of work but fun all the same. I was happy to see so many worms and better soil underneath. I need to lay down a layer of newspaper and add some leaves and pine needles and get to planting in the next few weeks. I am really excited that it is almost gardening season again.

Two projects in process is a good thing. Still a few more to start as the weather continues to warm up.

an·tic·i·pa·tion [an-tis-uh-pey-shuhn]
–noun
1. the act of anticipating or the state of being anticipated.
2. realization in advance; foretaste.
3. expectation or hope.
4. previous notion; slight previous impression.
5. intuition, foreknowledge, or prescience.

It has been gray here for what feels like many weeks. We have had lots of snow and rain this winter as well as just plain gray days. Everyone still seemed to go on with life but there was this lacking. Starting yesterday though the sun has burst forth! You can hear kids playing out side and the birds are fluttering here and there with their joyful songs. There are more people out even on the roads driving around. People are smiling and committing on the weather everywhere I go.
I was pondering all this as I ran errands this morning. I was thinking about this season of lent and how I long for Easter morning to celebrate Christ and the fact that He has risen and that He is not dead! This is truly a time in the church calendar of anticipation. Lent falls during the change from Winter to Spring it is so visual for my heart…death to life. A true season of anticipation…anticipating Easter, anticipating Spring and ultimately anticipating Christ return again. My mind and heart are taking all of this in during these last few weeks of Lent.
Continuing to ponder I think back to the gray that I have felt outside for so long and rejoicing in these sunny days…I feel that God truly invites me to seasons of gray. There are definitely season in my life that are hard and I wonder why and question and search…sometimes God shows me why and other times it is left a mystery. When the gray ends in my heart and the sunshine burst forth again in a new season I feel that I can enjoy dancing in the sun a little more as the gray was so gray and the sun is so bright. I can almost bottle up the sunshine and carry it with me remembering that there are different seasons and different times. Each different and unique but each stair stepping the other that God might mold me and shape me…that I might have more of His heart and not my own selfish heart.
The anticipation of Spring, of Easter of Christ return wells up in my soul! I l-o-n-g and yearn for these things in this season. I have had a taste of these things and I am so hungry for more!

So, yesterday sister approached me very nonchalantly and asked when I was going to make our Easter dresses. My friends, Easter is like two and a half weeks away! So I am staring at her wondering in my head, what I am going to say and I heard, oh soon, come out. What!? Two and a half weeks!!! I am not very diligent and I am very prone to wandering and I am a great starter and not the best finisher…two and a half weeks! Hmmm, okay! Keep in mind that I have ever only made her ONE Easter dress and yes, I did make a matching skirt for me but it was just ONE time. I guess somehow in that ONE time I set a precedent that we make matching Easter outfits…maybe she will grow out of it in a few years. Yes, in my heart I love it, but it is a little odd when you walk into church and everyone stares and makes comments. By odd I mean it is just a little too much attention for me! Alas though a local fabric shop was having a 25% off sale yesterday so I headed over and lo and behold I found fabric that I really could live with in the 50% off section! So now I am off to attempt being diligent, not wandering and being a great starter as well as a great finisher!

Lately in our family we have been learning about patience! I wish that I could say that I am a pro at it by now but alas I am still in just the beginning stages of learning patience! The joy of that is that I get to learn right along with the kiddos!
Today I was feeling pretty good about my patience (always a sign of a downfall ahead). I noticed this afternoon though that I was feeling pretty anxious constantly glancing up to look out the window. I hear my head chanting come on, come on!
Turns out that waiting for the UPS truck to come is a lot like waiting for the ice cream truck to come!!!
We have a little song that we sing at our house thanks to this CD!
Be patient, be patient, don’t be in such a hurry
When you get impatient, you only start to worry
Remember, remember, that God is patient too
And think of all the times when others had to wait for you.
I must warn you that the song is sung by a snail but fitting and helpful even when you are waiting on the UPS truck to come!
I am off to sing some more!

I have dusted off the ole’ embroidery machine as a few friends have asked for a few items to be monogrammed. I keep forgetting to take pictures of these things before they head out the door. I did however remember to take a picture of this little monogram. I think that it might be one of my favorites. I love that it is simple and very low key. It was monogrammed onto a little white sleeveless summer dress. Sometimes I forget that I really enjoy simple non-fussy things…occasionally!