Easter Fun

What a wonderful Easter! Andrew brought the boys over for an egg hunt and dinner. Alison is expecting their baby girl in a few weeks and needed a break so she stayed at home.  The weather turned out perfect for playing outside and looking for eggs. As you can see, the little guys are more interested in the chickens than anything else. But Tad was all for finding the eggs with the treats and toys inside! Then we had to inspect the gardens and swings. Even though Jasper is a little bigger and more sure on his feet, Klaus is the thrill seeker! He loves going high on the swing and being thrown in the air. Even though they are twins, they are different and special in their own ways.

I had fun decorating and making goodies for dinner. And I love to make little favors for each plate. It gives me another excuse to use my paper crafting supplies! The stamps I used are from Lawn Fawn. I love their images and they are so much fun to color.

Did you notice those cute toys for the boys? I found those at Meijer. Each little house has several animals that make a sound. We were mooing and growling a lot!

I hope everyone had a good weekend and Easter celebration (if you do so). This is my favorite time of the year and I will be posting pics of our gardens and some new spaces very soon. Have a great week!

Hearts and More Hearts

I realize that Valentine's Day is just a fond memory now, but I wanted to share one of the gifts my sweet, talented husband made for me.

It's a stepping stone for the garden! I just love it. We have been adding homemade stepping stones for a long time. We have some made by the boys when they were young. We added all kinds of things to the concrete: shells, marbles, old tools, fossils and rocks. Rick saves everything, and he had a jar of those flat marbles and put this together. I love those 3 blue ones.

Rick has been a maker his whole life. Even when he was a teacher he was carving wood in the evenings. He eventually went back to carpentry and now a handyman. So through the years I have gotten some beautiful handmade gifts. Here are a few of my Valentine's from other years:

This beautiful jewelry box is made from walnut. I can't remember when he made it, but it's been a long time. I use it to keep old pieces that I don't want to get rid of:)

This is from the front of an old coal furnace. (Don't you wish utilitarian things were made this decorative now?) He attached it to a wood base and hinge. Inside he etched a loving message. So sweet!

This heart flower planter is made from copper. You can see that he "sewed" it with copper wire. And then added some smaller hearts to decorate it. This usually hangs on a fence with some dried flowers in it. I love to display these expressions of love from Rick and smile when I see them.

In other news, I'm impatiently waiting for spring. We had to go to southern Indiana to help out some family over the weekend and got to see some crocuses blooming. It can't be long for us now! And I've seen my first robin for the spring!