Welcome to the family, little guy. Knitting with size 2 needles almost killed me (if you knit, you know what I mean)....but it was worth having to start over 3 times to see the joy and rapture on Big Birds face this morning. Apparently they are old friends...

"Snaily!! It's soooo good to see you!"

I let him (Big Bird, that is, not the snail) browse through the webshop at MochiMochi Land last night, he picked out this for my next project. I feel a new addiction coming on....her toys are just so appealing!

We had a pretty quiet weekend with most of us feeling a bit under the weather. We did make a point of enjoying our new backyard space though.



I can't tell you how thrilled I am that going outside to play no longer has to involve wrangling the kids into the car and driving to a park somewhere! Don't get me wrong....going to the park is still a wonderful thing and will continue to be part of our weekly adventures. But I am SO looking forward to some spring time fun just outside our door....in our pajamas if we feel so inclined ;)

I think we're going to give this another try later today. I'll let you know how it goes.

Enjoy your Monday everyone!

Not much happening here today. It's a rainy grey northern California day, the kind you would more typically associate with Spring than all the sunshine we've had lately. We did manage to have some inside fun with this tissue paper stained glass project. Although you can't see it, the backing is clear contact paper. You frame it with your shape of choice (or no frame at all) made out of construction paper, and then the kids went at it with various colours of tissue paper. When they were finished we placed them sticky side against the window. They peel off easily when it's time to change the art gallery. As usual, Big Bird charged through his and finished in 5 minutes flat, while Baby Bird took her time and precisely placed every. piece. carefully. diligently. and thoughtfully ;) Happy Weekend everyone!

"One Gift, one cause"

Is this how you feel after a birthday party? Whether it's christmas, birthdays, or even easter, I'm always a bit disturbed by the sheer volume of STUFF that my children receive in the form of gifts. And although they can't put words to it yet, I know my kids experience a bit of overwhelmed-ness too. After the first few presents, they stop paying attention to what it is they're unwrapping...they quickly rip off the paper and move on to the next gift, rushing to get through it all so they can just PLAY with all the new booty. And speaking of wrapping paper.... there's also the MOUNTAIN of packaging and paper left over afterwards too. I can't get the image of it all sitting in a landfill somewhere out of my mind.

Despite feeling that it's all a bit gluttonous, I can't bring myself to deny friends and family the opportunity to give the kids something special on birthdays and holidays. I understand the joy that is felt when you give a gift to someone you love, after all, I love giving my kids gifts too! So when I read about a new company called ECHOage, I once again did my Happy Dance....here was the solution.

It seems that there are at least two other mothers out there who have felt like I do. And they have created a way for everyone to win when it comes to birthday parties. Loved ones still get to give gifts, children still get to receive a present on their special day, and better yet, complete strangers benefit from all the giving too.

Check out the website, linked above. Essentially what happens is this: Instead of friends and family buying gifts for the birthday boy or girl, they donate $$ on ECHOage's website. The parents of the birthday boy or girl then get half the donations via a cheque in the mail for their children to buy ONE gift. The other half of the money goes to charity. Parents can choose from a few different choices on the website. The charities are chosen because they are national (Canadian and US). Parents who decide to host an ECHOage birthday party choose one of a number of invitations from the website. All of the invites tell folks NOT to bring a gift to the party. Parents then enter the emails of the people they would like to invite. Parents still choose their own venue for the party. Donations and RSVP's are tracked online and parents receive an official tax reciept. Usually donations are $20, but parents can choose to go as low as $10 or as high as $30. After the party, children can send out an ECHOage thank-you email.

Now how smart is that? This might just be my new favorite thing. We're going to give it a try this May for Big Birds birthday. I'll let you know how it goes. Pass it on.......

Hello Butterflies. Baby Bird and Big Bird would like me to tell you that when you're almost 2 and almost 4 years old, it's really, really, REALLY hard to wait 2 weeks for anything. So I'm really, really, REALLY glad to see you. I wasn't sure how much longer I was going to be able to hold them off.

"how much longer, mama?"
"today, mama?"
"mama?"
"after nappy time, mama?"

Our butterfly friends will be with us for a week or so, and then we'll let them go outside. The 5 Painted Lady caterpillars arrived from here almost a month ago. They munched, and munched and MUNCHED for almost 2 weeks while they grew, and grew, and GREW! During this time we enjoyed reading The Very Hungry Caterpillar, of course, as well as The Crunching Munching Caterpillar and a few others. Little Einsteins Our Big Huge Adventure was watched far more often than I will ever admit, but they tell the story of the
monarch migration so well, that it was hard to say no :)

Here's the lovely butterfly condo:

I think that even though they are only almost 2 and almost 4, even the Birds will concede that some things might just be worth waiting for ;)

How cute is this?! The pattern is called "Jan" and can be found here
In the above pic the top is still on the needles...miraculously Baby Bird cooperated with her crazy mama and allowed me to put it over her head, needles and all.

And this is the finished product, from the back. I had to resize it - the smallest size the pattern allows for is 2t. Oh, and for those who are interested I used Cascade Sierra for this project. It's 80% cotton, and 20% wool which helps the finished product keep it's shape a bit better than if I had knit it with 100% cotton. It is SOFT!!!

And while we're chatting about knitting.....here's what I'm pretty sure will be consuming any free time (free time?) I find myself enjoying:

This is a free pattern from the Mochimochi Land blog. Thank you Lesley for opening my eyes to the Mochimochi goodness!

Finger paint, plus a few drops of dish detergent, et.......voila! A project perfect for a glass sliding door, or low window within reach of little hands. The added soap makes for easy cleanup afterwards with a hose (even a few days later if you're like me and get, er.... easily sidetracked ;) The kids get completely engrossed in this project every time we do it. I love to watch them block out everything else, and focus just on their creations!

Spring has arrived in Northern California....not that winter was all that much to complain about this year. I hope everyone reading this (is anyone reading this?) enjoys their Easter weekend and time spent with family. We're off to Grandma's later for the annual feast....mmmmmm..... Oh, We laid sod yesterday! This has been a long time in the works... I think it goes without saying that I did my Happy Dance more than once yesterday :)