Easter in the "Land of Pollen"

We had a very intense pollen season this year. Here you can see the girls' black shoes after they walked throughthe grass at church. I read that normal spring brings "high" pollen counts aroudn 500; this year the count was in the 3,ooo's!!! Just crazy.

Here we are, all together in our loveliness.

Timothy turns 1!

Timothy the Terrific turned 1 year old on March 30th. He is ornery as he is cute, but we sure do love him and are happy he is part of our family.

He needed this black and white candle to match himself

He thought wet food was the BOMB!!

(ps --Call our house when we're not home to hear him answer the phone. He's so talented!)

Where am I??

Oh no! It's been almost a month since I've posted anything. It feels like a year--this has been a long month for me. I'll try to get photos up soon.

Some of my wood working

This is my first piece of furniture.

I'm pretty proud of it, and think it's even better because I only spent about $8.00 for one board, paint, and screws. The rest of the supplies were in the garage.

It is sitting in the front hall now.

Two Rosary group families had baby girls last month, within 36 hours of each other, no less.We were invited to share their baptism day and I needed a gift, so I built each one a book shelf and added a prayer book.

They looked so cute in pink!

I pre-drilled holes for mounting and included screws and painted buttons ( I don't know the correct term for these)to cover the screws.

Fun for me to make, and nice gifts for them.

Can you say, "Psanky?"

We have been wanting to try our hand a t making Pysanky eggs for a couple of years now.This year I felt the kdis were mature enough to handle the elements of fire, hot wax, and raw eggs in combination, so I ordered two kits.
Pysanky is a Ukranian tradition wherein eggs are "written" on with hot bee's wax, then dipped in dye. The process is repeated over and over, starting with the lightest dye and darker hues each dip. It seems to me liek coloring a picture, but in reverse, because you would dye the egg yellow, then cover what you want to stay yellow with the wax. Then it is dipped in the next color, covering the yellow you did not apply wax to. When the entire egg is finished it is heated slowly in the oven or with a candle flame, and the wax is rubbed off, revealing deep, rich colors and designs. The final step is varnishing them to add a high gloss.
The symolism is nice, too. A continuous line represents eternity; triangles represent the Trinity; feathers or pine needles stand for long life; birds-fertility; dots-Mary's tears. There are many examples online, and they are fun to look at.
We have had some very nice times together writing our Pysanky. One night the girls and I were up until 1am just waxing and talking and dipping. The end results are some very beautiful eggs.

Marty's first (with a little help).
Theo shows an egg before the wax is removed--they aren't very pretty at this stage.

---concentration---
(please ignore that bag of clothes on the dresser--I'm sorting while we switch out seasons).

Pysanky in the oven (this one was Amy's first).

The 4 in the back left section are Sarah's.

Amy's are in the back right section.
Theo's purple egg is at the front left.
Marty's are both red, in the front center.

Mine are at the front right.

These pictures don't do them justice, really, as they are stunning to see and hold.

In no particular order...

I found this very nice basket (with a lid) to put my knitting in, because a certain dog tries to eat said knitting.

I was tickled to find a St. Patrick's Day table cloth that was actually cloth, on sale, at Kohl's. Here are the kids at our supper table that night.
Here is our SPD craft--you know, St. Patrick ran the snakes out of Ireland. Get it?

We had the privledge of meeting the Arch Bishop of the Military diocese at Mass one morning.

It seems all bishops love to take pictures with kids.

The kids made their own "I Spy" picture. It was really great!
Notice that Marty is still in his pajamas--they started this at about 8:30 am and worked on it for about an hour and a half.

Various things on my mind

Sunnie likes to go outside and say,

"Come here little birdies, I have a nice snack for you..."

I think I've found something to sit on Matt and the kids will like.
But it's not this!

It's not this, either,
but I did build this one myself.





Maybe it's this one--

and it comes with this!

So Matt, do you like this one?

(I mean the sofa, I know about the TV part).

Randomness around our house

A sofa I really like, because I'm looking for one.
One of five crown of thorns I made for friends and us.

We had visitors this week...this is Euin, the baby I made the christening gown for last February. He just turned one, and began walking!
Isn't he a dolly? I miss having kids in my cupboards :~)

Amy and Sarah made this cake for the family with the help of a dear friend. They surprised us with it for Valentine's Day supper. It was yummy!

.........Why we always use the sanitize cycle........

Other than that, not much is up. We had 4 inches of snow Tuesday night, to our surprise, but it made great forts and snowballs, and is GONE today. That's my kind of snow.
Sorry Iowejuns.