Easter Animals

A local garden center advertised that they were going to have Easter animals, on site a week before Easter for petting and picture taking. Aunt Jen and I bundled Lydia up, rushed off to the garden center......

....and got THIS reaction. Lydia didn't want anything to do with the cute bunnies or baby lambs.

After about an hour of coaxing, she was willing to get this close to a real rabbit.

Her favorite animal, by far, was the baby human dressed in a bunny suit! She could have played with him ALL day!

The Easter Egg Hunt

Lydia was super excited to go to the big Easter Egg hunt at our church.

She wore her bunny ears, showed her friend Gabby around, and even got to hold a candle during the short service for the kids.

She held Auntie's hand and yelled "don't run" to the bigger kids.

She looked.

And looked.

And managed to get a few eggs into the basket.Then it was time to open up the eggs and enjoy the treats. Lydia can now open the wrappers to most of her candies all by herself and this was the first year she got to eat her chocolate, due to her earlier issues with dairy. The sad news for this Easter season is that Lydia's Hamster Dance card (outrageously obnoxious) finally died after 3 Easters of near constant play. I was hoping I could toss it and she would forget about it, but this morning she asked where it was. When I told her it was broken, she asked where her NEW hamster card is?!?

Easter Pictures!

We took Lydia to get pictures taken in her Easter dress while Grammy was in town. Once again, PJ and I can not get over how grown up she looks! A big THANK YOU to my mom for helping out so much with Lydia today so that these pictures could happen. Enjoy!

Hoppy Easter

I saw these adorable felted wool finger puppets on a blog and really wanted to try and make some animals for Lydia's Easter basket. I didn't even read the directions before buying wool roving at the craft store. Luckily it is pretty easy to do. I had visions of making lots of different animals, so I bought tons of colors (Hobby Lobby sells a 2 color pack of wool roving for $2). I decided my first animal should be a bunny.

I just pulled of some wool (kind of like loose cotton candy) and wrapped it around my finger. Then you add warm soapy water and kind of scrub it until the fibers mesh and it gets "felted". I was really happy that I was able to kind of sculpt a little bunny face and very proud of my felted ears.

It was all pretty quick and fun, so I made 3 in one night. I think the first one, on the left has the best features, but don't tell the other bunnies I said that!

They even got little round bunny tails on their little bunny bottoms!

I had to wait for them to dry overnight ( and then had to wait to find more time) to eventually stitch on a little bunny face. I am in the process of making a duck and a lion, which may or may not be finished before Easter. I sure hope a certain some-bunny likes them!

Until I give them to her, here are a few pictures of Lydia as a baby bunny. Enjoy and Hoppy Easter!

Saturday Sewing

I actually got to sew a little on Saturday!!! It helped that I had a deadline assignment type thing going on. I bought Lydia her 3rd (yes, you heard that right) Easter dress at the big consignment sale last week. I just couldn't decide which dress (of the original 2 Easter dresses) I liked best. I couldn't find shoes I liked to go with either at the big sale. Then I saw this really cute dress and decided I could get really excited about it and I was already buying shoes that matched it and it was a done deal. (Don't worry. The silk Gymboree dress I found at Goodwill and the other dress I bought at consignment last year will find loving homes or be sold at consignment soon) I decided Lydia needed a few accessories for her Easter attire and set about making these floral decorations, similar to something I saw on a high end expensive outfit. I made two big ones (shown here) and one more small one. I will put a big and a small on the sash of her dress and then one more big one can go in her hair or on her Easter bonnet if she agrees to wear it. If it is cold, one can get moved to the outside of a little cardigan sweater instead.

Basically, I started with strips of fabric. I used some cotton and some ribbon and decided to cut it all with pinking shears for the effect. I put fray check on the edges to keep it from fraying. then I sewed a gathering stitch on the other edge and pulled them to gather. Most of the time I didn't even have to know how long to make it. I just started gathering until it made a circle. I made several, stacked them, and used a button to hide the middle.

I am really happy with how it all turned out, but want to wait until Easter to show it off. Until then, here is a picture we took this Sunday of Lydia at church.

Not running away with the circus.... YET!

I started a trapeze class on Monday! I was super excited about the "idea" of a trapeze class. I suppose I am still excited about my little adventure before summer, but now the reality of trapeze has set in. My hands and backs of my knees are on their way to becoming nicely bruised and the rowing calluses I have tried to get rid of for 15 years are back with a vengeance. I suppose it could have been worse. OK, actually, it SHOULD have been worse. The fact is I am not nearly as bruised as the other girls in the class, because I couldn't master the first move, flipping your legs into the air and grabbing the bar with your foot. They all struggled a little at first and then went on to other positions on the bar.

Trapeze Necklace by Tatty Devine

I, on the other hand, kicked and grunted and struggled and could not do it, which meant that I couldn't do ANY of it! You have to get a foot on the bar before you can move into this lovely seated position. All of it requires tons of arm and stomach strength, of which I am greatly lacking. I did get into this position twice, both times requiring the instructor to practically lift my lower body several feet in the air and up to the bar. So embarrassing. I have been asked to work on my core strength (abdominal muscles, etc.) but that is only part of the issue.

Katherine Bradford, Slip

I am having some trouble just flipping my legs up, regardless of their weight or my lack of strength. I want to look at the bar where my feet are supposed to be going. Apparently for your legs to go up, your head must go back, so you are kicking blind and trying to land on the bar. I see little kids do it everyday at the playground. It shouldn't be that hard! I am sure I am over thinking it, but once I struggle with something physical I start to panic and over think it and the stress snowball starts to roll. I am working on it. Mostly I am hoping if I can get in a LOT of ab work this week, that I will find it suddenly easier to get on the bar, physically if not mentally.

Trapeze Artist by William L'Engle

Hopefully next week I can feel more like this woman. Interestingly enough, the artist painted her to be close to my size. I can tell you from experience, the skinny girls have it a little easier lifting a smaller weight up onto the bar. I envision that, like me, the woman above had to heft a little to get into that seated position, but I like that she is giving herself time to enjoy the view. I'll have to remember that!

Even if I struggle for the next 5 classes, I am trying to remember that this is supposed to be fun! If nothing else, it will be a unique way to get into better physical shape.

Finally, here are a few pictures of my favorite aerial artist!

These were taken the week that Lydia turned one, back when she was just discovering the swing. She wasn't so sure about it at first, but very quickly fell in love with going higher and faster.

Now she is pestering me to hang from the chin up bar that I am using to increase my arm strength. Just wait until she sees me actually get on that trapeze!