Easter 2009

We all had such a nice Easter!! Anastasia was so excited to see what the Easter bunny left her on the kitchen table! Did you notice that I actually grew my own Easter grass? It turned out really nice and worked well with a nature-themed Easter I had going.

This is why I was up until 1am Saturday night. I was inspired to make Apple bunnies. I LOVE THEM:
My cute little Isabel. I made her a hair band with a big fabric yoyo flower because everyone thinks she is a boy. She has blue frog shoes, and wears a lot of blue and green (because it looks so nice with red hair) so now she gets to wear cute hairbands.

Anastasia enjoyed her second egg hunt. Her attention span lasted about 8 minutes.

Here are the collage tags Anastasia made to go with the bird nest treats we made:


I hate Peeps, but they seem like an Easter establishment and were perfect for the nests we made for all the family members:

Here is the whole family.

It was a great big day for cute little girls.

Different Holiday... same concept!

So the other day I left my phone at my friend Andrea's house, and Nick was supposed to watch the girls while I went to confession but he took a detour to get my phone. So I took both girls and waited an hour in line while letting Anastasia play in the pews. The nicest couple in the world in front of me, (angels maybe?) let me in front of them as they saw Anastasia getting more and more adventurous wandering around the church. And as I was one person away, Anastasia ran to the back of the church towards the vestibule, and so I ran after her. She stopped at this man with a long white beard, and though he was fairly thin she kept saying "Sinta Caus, Sinta Caus!!" and so I told the man that she thought he was Santa Clause (hoping that wouldn't be offensive). He was so kind and took her hand and said "God Bless you, peace and love to you, be a good girl." I thanked him and Anastasia just beamed!

Then she thought the confession booth was a potty. lol. Ever since then she has been talking about Santa holding her hand at church. Everytime I try to talk about the Easter bunny, she remembers that the Easter bunny is at the mall, and then tells me about Santa at church who held her hand. Two year olds are such cool people.

Reflections from Lent

Less than a week before Easter... the last few days of lent and I feel as though I have gained a lot of perspective. Isabel has been teething for most of lent, and it has added an element of chaos to the life I had been used to.

I began lent with so many ambitions which I shared in bits on here. Make Etsy store, plant garden, make bags for market, go jogging, start knitting again, be that perfect mom I sometimes see everywhere else on blogland. The realities of life hit... cranky baby, tantrum toddler, fuss, whine, grrrr. I felt like everytime I sat down at the sewing maching (with the exception of the day I made the Easter dresses) everyone was 50 steps below the happy mark. And of course that put me 10 steps above the angry mark. So I spent the first half of lent frustrated with my inability to get anything done, and finally the second half of lent I accepted that fact. God's lesson for me this lent was simple: to live simply. That applies to every aspect of my life, but I had to prioritize my life, and make my spiritual life, and my family the first priorities. Everything else I do seems to order itself around that. And everybody is happier. And in my "spare" time I try to focus on our garden because it has potential to benefit our family substantially in the near future and everyone seems happy help me garden. On rainy days I can craft for fun. ;) And once Isabel is regularly happy again, and maybe when I am no longer beat at the end of a long day at home I can craft for etsy, etc. Thankfully right now, I am free to make that decision.

The less I try and accomplish the better the few things I do turn out. Well both kids are fussing now... so I hope you all have had a very profound, reflective lent.

Half of a Year

Isabel turned 6 months old today! I feel like we have only had her a few months and yet I don't remember life without her. She is such a sweet heart. And she is growing so fast. I try to keep her small and fat and cute and she keeps getting bigger and definately cuter. What is a mother to do?

She has been fussing a bunch lately thanks to a small tooth that is trying to poke its way through. But she is fine if I am holding her, walking her around, taking her outside, to new places to meet new people... she is a very sweet, content girl... most of the time. She has red hair and a temper to match. She is tough if needed and equally feminine. And she LOVES to be pampered:

Here she is "gardening" with mama. In reality she was sunning herself in her moses basket with her sunhat and glasses watching me work, the butterflies, the neighbors. She knows how to relax in style. ;) We love you Isabel Therese. Just stay small a little longer...

Lions and Tigers and Bears! OH MY!

We are a very spontaneous family. And this morning despite the dreary weather, we really wanted to do something fun. So on a whim we packed some food, diapers and extra clothes and packed the girls into the Jeep and drove to DC to the National Zoo. Very spontaneous. Very fun indeed! We saw Lions: And a Tiger and his beloved ball:

And bears and flamingos:The National Zoo has an awesome new Asia trail with my all-time favorite red pandas. So cute. They NEED me to cuddle them. lol. And they had the most adorable asian Otters too. But can you guess what Anastasia's favorite part was? The frogs! We drive all the way to the zoo and see all the exotic animals and she loves the frogs, which we have in abundance in our own back yard. I do absolutely love that she loves frogs because when I was a kid I too loved frogs. I was obsessed with them. My mom made me froggy clothes, I had atleast a hundred frog knick-knacks, and I had pet frogs from time to time. Yes they are awesome. And this new love for the slimey green creatures that are currently singing deafeningly, loudly in the trees right now, is proof that she actually got some of my genes. I am so proud.

And just for kicks, I thought this picture of George Washington's Bathtub from our trip to Berekly Springs was really fun:

On another note, it has been a good, busy week. I scored both of the girl's a new wardrobe at a consignment sale for less than $50 the other day. That included brand-new stride rite shoes for Anastasia. Yesterday I spent the morning gardening which I loved more than I ever thought I would. It is nice because Anastasia enjoys hunting for worms as I dig in the dirt. And Isabel is just happy to ride around on my back, or watch nature from her carseat. So it is a good family activity that helps me feel productive with 2 small children. That doesn't happen very often! Happy weekend everybody!

I am making a private Shutterfly page for family and friends. So if you want access to ALL our photos, and/or the ability to download and develop them... please shoot me an email at marmalejo@gmail.com . Thanks :)

Busy as Bees making Honey.

That would be us... busy bee bliss. The first days of Spring provide us with dozens of adventures to be had. Nick tells of our adventure yesterday (giving us all a break from his newest hobby) and our trip to Berkely Springs. We enjoyed being enveloped in the "wild and wonderful" terrain that is the very heart and soul of West Virginia. The highlight for me was definately finding a mountain spring, 20 minutes from our house! I will definately be saving jugs and making random trips there for water rather than spending money at the store.

Last Thursday it rained, and I needed out of the house. So I found Books-A-Million (which I used to like significantly less than Borders or B&N) to be a fun date with the girls. I like that they have a train set for Anastasia to play with, and the kids section is really close to the craft magazine section. So Anastasia played while Isabel sat in a comfy chair and I read some magazines. That is where I discovered a really sweet magazine called "Living Crafts" with very waldorfy, natural crafts. Anyhow, they had an article about growing Easter grass that you can find here. So you can guess what we will be doing this week! I also like the following centerpiece from Martha Stewart:Decorating for Spring is so cheery! I can't wait for Easter! And this week's color is blue... so we painted with blue watercolors... and I think I have a few tricks up my sleeve!