spring is here! almost...

St. Patrick's Day has come and gone. It was probably the best St. Pattys day we've had....or at least me...I haven't really cared about it before but just for the sake of being cheesy we had some fun things for eating:  Lucky Charms for breakfast of course, this beef stew in bread bowls (not a fan of corned beef, maybe next year so my kids can see if they are fans of it), this thin mint puppy chow that was heavenly, lime popcorn that I thought was gross, kiwi berry fruit salad, and a trifle that I concocted all on my own consisting of pistachio pudding, homemade whipped cream, and crushed up mint oreos. It was a calorie-filled weekend to say the least :]

And now I can let myself believe that spring is here. Except in Oregon its mostly just rainy, but we've been getting hours of sunshine here and there. It's so odd...one minute it will be pouring down terrential rain and then out of nowhere is gorgeous and dry outside. Then a few hours pass and BOOM more rain. gotta love living near the coast!

Now that Easter is approaching, I put up just a few simple decorations because if I put up a lot then my apartment begins to look tacky (I cannot wait to live in a house....). I like earthy and pastel-y spring decor, so I used sticks from outside and paint cards from Home Depot (totally free too!).

(sorry some of the pictures look faded- the light in my apartment comes in at weird angles and makes it hard to take vivid pics sometimes!)

the egg banner made from paint cards. I like the transient of color from end to end. This would look really good long, too.

These eggs were inexpensive because they are foam- so, not breakable but still bite-able--as we found out later when our kids discovered how foam feels in their mouths.

 

Moss and blue bucket & pail came from The Dollar Tree. The sign is a peice of cardboard from a diaper box (real classy I know, but I love the earthy brown color of cardboard).

T helped me make the felt eggs one day while he was supposed to be napping. He refused to nap so I said, "fine, you can craft with me." And he loved it for about 10 minutes then got bored and wanted to go nap. ha.
I just used some scrap felt I had and let T decide where to put what. I asked him "what do you want to put on this egg?" and he would say "a flower!" Then I sewed it all on and stuffed them a bit.

This printable was free online, and though I usually make my own I just didn't really have the time. and I thought this one was pretty cute. The frame I got on clearance and painted (it was an ugly black before).

This tray is always in my kitchen (from the dollar store and spray-painted with chalkboard paint) and I write different things on it like menus, but for Easter I used a free stencil from the Silhouette online store to make this lovely little image.

and that's it! I'm so excited for Easter this year. There's a ward egg hunt, General Conference, cute Easter-y outfits for the kids, and some new traditions like egg-dying with kool-aid and such. We have never dyed eggs with Talmage before if you can believe that. Jonathan didn't dye eggs growing up, so he doesn't understand what's so great about it. I always dyed eggs as kid so I'm excited to finally be doing it with my own children!

But mostly, I love that Easter is about Christ. It just brings warm and happy feelings to my heart. I think of how happy the Nephites were to find out that their dear Savior rose from the dead and became a perfect resurrected being. I imagine his warm, smiling countenance as he showed them his hands and feet, and it just makes me tearful and grateful and peaceful. I love Easter.

oh! and plus--TULIPS are starting to pop up everywhere! A few weeks ago J brought some pink and white ones home for me "just because". He knows that tulips lift my mood and I was having a not-so-good day...and he knows that I don't care for flowers from the store unless they are fresh cut tulips around this time of year (so glad that Mother's Day AND my birthday are "tulip months").


yay for it officially being SPRINGTIME!