Early Easter

We had a lovely Easter season. We were so happy to have Grandma and Papa here. They spoiled us rotten and it was such a treat. We dyed so many eggs, and enjoyed the early spring weather. On Easter Sunday it was so rainy and cold that we had to postpone our egg hunt for a couple of days. Before we went out to hunt we had a family discussion of the real meaning of Easter. We were so impressed that the oldest two kids could tell us all about it. I felt happy that they knew and were not distracted by all the fun things and gifts given. I hid some of the eggs in the yard instead of dropping them all on the grass and instructed my oldest to find them and save the easy ones for his sisters. They didn't get them all and later my youngest found a few when we went out to plant some flowers.

The weather has been unpredictable with spots of sun that bring warmth and then cold breezes that make you want to run inside. One day will be so nice that you spend all day outside and get your first sunburn and the next day you will want to put your furnace back on and hide under a blanket on the couch and knit while the rain soaks the windowpanes. The garden is starting to grow. We ave garlic, and chives, and lambs ear, and chervil, and parsley, and the calendula and rhubarb are coming up. The leaves are budding out and soon I will have blossoms on the peach tree.  I have started to plant my weekly successions of early spring seeds and dream about buying some patio furniture so we can actually have somewhere comfortable to sit outside in the evenings. My kids have put their first caterpillar of the year in a jar and I often think of the phrase "In the spring at the end of the day you should smell like dirt."

St. Patrick's and the Pirate Treasure

We always celebrate St. Patrick's Day. It started way back when I was first married. My husband likes his Irish roots so we always had a party. We would have a fun feast, friends, and board games. It was really great. When we started to have more kids, and our friends started having more kids it got hard to continue to celebrate that way if the holiday fell on a weeknight. We stated to just keep it simple and have a family feast and a scavenger hunt. We also like to listen to Irish music, read Irish folktales, and just focus on Ireland for a little while. The fun thing is that I have Irish roots too. So I guess it makes sense that we get into it a little bit.

This year my husband decided that he wanted to do a buried pirate treasure scavenger hunt for the kids. I thought it sounded silly but supported him because whenever he gets excited about something he is more willing to help me pull it all off. I left most of the pirate activity to him. He prepped the chest, then made the map and buried it. All I had to do was buy the chocolate. I just used the same scavenger hunt cards that I made when we first moved here, but now that the kids are a little older we can hide the clues more. After dinner I read to them the story of St. Patrick while hubby got everything ready. As it turns out St. Patrick was kidnapped by Pirates and that is how he got to Ireland. He was sold there as a slave. I thought it was funny as I should have remembered that part of the story and it turns out that the pirate treasure was relevant after all!. Then we started the activity. The kids loved it. They had some troubles digging the right spot and my littlest even tried to dig it out with her bare hands. It was so much fun to see their faces and listen to the exclamations when they found the chest and saw what was inside. Happy, happy day of green.

May Day

I love spring there is so much hope in the bright fresh season. We had a fun time gathering flowers from our garden and making cookies for our May baskets. It sure was hard to sneak them onto our sweet neighbors porches with so much giggling and snickering. 

I told the kiddos stories about how when I was a little girl I would often make baskets for my neighbors, who happened to be my great aunt and great uncle. I remember thinking of them and gathering them flowers and thinking I was so sneaky when I put it on their porch and rang the bell, running off as fast as I could. 

Now days it doesn't seem like this generous celebration of spring is remembered by many. Our neighbors knew right away that it was my kids that left behind the baskets filled with flowers and cookies. I hope to instill in them some of the same kinds of wonderful memories I had as a small child. Happy May Day!