Wonderful weekend

I hope everyone has had a wonderful Easter. With the weather so warm, it was lovely here. We went downtown on Saturday for some last-minute Easter shopping. Then Sunday I took the kids to Church. They decorated (more) eggs and ate way too much candy. After lunch, we all drove to the park and walked along the waterfront and in the woods. Here are some pics:


Emma and Rowan climbing one of the parks many rocks. On the other side of that bluff is the seaside! Not nice swimming water, though. I don't let my kids near that water--so very, very gross!

I'm up on that bluff, now, and looking to one side. There are two beaches here. This is the second one, and is (obviously) rocky. The other side (behind the camera) is sandy. Again, yucky water. I don't let the kids pick up much beach debris. Last year the water was much cleaner.

All there is to find are mussel shells, sea urchins, and the odd crab leg. And yucky stuff (won't mention what, but this is a city beach, so you can use your imagination).

Even a yucky-water beach can still be very pretty.

Good Friday at the park

It was a lovely day here. It was warm enough for the kids to run around the playground in thick sweaters, though I kept Ben's wool hat on him because he's still recovering from a nasty cold.

The kids started off by kicking a soccer ball around the field. Then off to the playground:

Rowan is rarely without a found stick. Above he is using the playground structure as a xylophone.

Rowan found a piece of concrete. He was fascinated by all the rocks buried within it. He spent a good part of our time outside trying to get them out. He pounded the rock on the granite boulders until the concrete came apart.

This picture shows one of the treasures found inside. It was a rock.

Tree climbing...

Then we checked to see what was growing in the community garden.

Then the walk back home led us past flowers and buds.

It was wonderful getting out after being nearly shut-ins during weeks of illness. I was happy every day it rained, because then I didn't feel I was missing out so much. But now we're almost all healed, spring is upon us and the days are warm. These are beautiful days and not to be missed!

new etsy finds!

I'm wasting time again...

But look at these beautiful finds! Sorry, no photos--you'll just have to be surprised!

beautiful prints and postcards

wall decals

scrabble-tile pendants

 So much more, too. But now I've got to build a box to ship some bunnies. Great fun.

month's end

I know I haven't posted in a while. Sorry...


We've been keeping busy. Today I took Emma and Rowan to church (Ben has the worst cold of his life, so he stayed at home with Daddy), and there were presenters from USC Canada. The presentation was about seed diversity in the various regions in which the group operates. It was very interesting, and I brought home a map--The Seed Map, which you can find in PDF form on their website. I've taped it up over our regular world map for now.

I've been felting a lot. I finished up some more bunnies for a friend in Ontario, and I just finished making a ball with pretty pink flowers. I've only just begun to realize the difficulties imposed by CPSIA's tagging regulations. For now, I am unable to send anything specifically for kids south of the border. For a little while I was seriously considering giving up my Etsy shop entirely.

We had our weekly Waldorf playgroup at my house this Friday. It didn't go well, but it has prompted my husband and me to do a thorough spring cleaning/de-cluttering, which is a positive result. So far we've eliminated 100 books and 4 garbage bags of clothing/toys/kitchen/craft supplies. And the purge is still underway! I am loathe to actually throw away the enormous amount of Playmobil we've accumulated. I actually like Playmobil. But it's a little embarassing having it strewn all over during a Waldorf playgroup. We do have other toys more appropriate, such as a Plan dollhouse and farm set, playsilks and hand-crafted creatures, dress-up clothes, a (very small) wooden kitchen. LOTS of wooden blocks. But when kids come over the plastic wins hands-down. So the Playmobil has been put away. We kept our Easter bunny set out for now (what with Easter next week!) and plan to rotate themes. Perhaps next week the Playmobil knights will come out for a visit.

What else have we been doing? Rowan and Emma had two homeschool art classes each this week at AGNS. I love these classes because the gallery's cafe has wonderful coffee (with a free refill), and it's great to talk to the other homeschooling moms. Then they learned about vermiculture at the Discovery Centre homeschooling workshop.

So, sorry about lack of photos and posts. I hope you are all enjoying the sunny weather!

SPRING!

Yesterday was the first day of Spring, and it showed. 20 degrees celsius, and we were stuck inside because a) Rowan's still not the best and b) it was Emma's 8th birthday party.

Not only did I not have an outside party on such a beautiful day (for shame, but given our usual not-so-springy weather this time of year I can hardly be blamed), but I DIDN'T TAKE A SINGLE PHOTOGRAPH!!! It was a lovely party. Wonderful food, wonderful friends, wonderful gifts. I'm so sorry about the lack of pics. Really, I am.

Anyway, with the birthday prep and stress out of the way, it's time to make way from Easter planning. Eggs. Bunnies. Not that I haven't made enough bunnies...I'm actually making a new one, too, for Etsy.

Here are some hen egg warmers I'm putting on Etsy. They're crafted from pure wool felt, with wool stuffing in the heads and bead eyes. In this photo I've included a way too big egg, and they're eyeing it in...discomfort. I will actually be selling the eggwarmers with three smaller needle felted eggs. Check out my Etsy shop to see!

Wilderbeats at the Library

We are very fortunate to have this wonderful local musical group for kids--The Wilderbeats! We first heard them play on Emma's second birthday at Halifax's Museum of Natural History. They've changed a lot since then, but are still wonderful. They've been performing at local libraries during March Break, and we decided to take advantage of this and go listen. We own one of their CDs and they played almost all our favourite songs.

You can go to their website and stream or download their best songs. They're songs about nature and are really very good.

The photo to the left is from their website--I forgot my camera today. They were dressed in green for St. Patricks's Day today and sang a rendition of "Whiskey in the Jar" they'd reworded themselves--"Cookies in the Jar." They also sang "Here come's the Sun" to celebrate the seemingly early beginning of spring!

Goodbye Grandad

This isn't a long post. My grandfather passed away earlier today. I just wanted to post a photo of him from a far happier, healthier time. This is him celebrating his 60th wedding anniversary.

Lots of love, Grandad. I'm going to miss you.