Spring Card Artwork

Madigan and I sat down to make Spring cards yesterday (sorry for ruining your surprise). Here's a little clip from one of her cards. This one went to her friend Paulina here in town. It's Barnaby and Naya and they each have a bone. Barnaby has five legs-- but really I think it works for him. I'll never get tired of Madigan's artwork. I love it so.

Peanut Sesame Noodles Recipe

We just made these Peanut Sesame Noodles last night and they are delicious! I marinated our tofu in 1/2 soy sauce and 1/2 sesame oil and browned it a little bit. We used soba noodles. Madigan kept saying how yummy they were and she took some to school for snack time.

Spring Activities

Last weekend Madigan and I made a paper maiche birds nest and felted wool into felted eggs. It was fun and now we have a really great centerpiece on our table. This week brought snow, but I'm hoping warm temps come back REALLY soon. The kids and I have been doing stroller walks/park trips every day and it's tough to go back to cold weather.

Kite Flying

We took the kids over to the high school field after dinner a night this week. It was freezing cold and started snowing while we were there. We all have Spring fever and have been out every day for a couple of weeks now. Madigan liked the kite, but wasn't quite strong enough for it yet. Leo slept the whole time.

Baby K'tan

I bought the Baby K'Tan "sling" last week and have used it all week all day long. It's so comfy and Leo loves being in it. He's in it here--he sticks his fingers in his mouth just about any chance he gets.

Good Sport

Naya is such a good sport.

More Leo Action

Leo discovered his hands the last few weeks. He sits in his bouncy seat most mornings examining the shapes and thinking about touching them.

Hopscotch Hopping

I'm so glad I got this on video. Her hopping is so cute!

First Picnic of the Year

We had a 70 degree day last week and used it to head to Headwaters State Park for a picnic and a walk with my Dad. Madigan looked so old in her sweater and jeans! She's very into planting pretend seeds and gardens right now. So, she planted seeds and made birthday cakes in the sand until we had to drag her away.

New garden bed

Last year Kyle made me this garden bed for Mother's Day. M and I were thrilled to finally have a garden spot!However he didn't use the best wood and it started to bend and the corners looked unstable. After realizing we would always have a garden from now on, Kyle revamped it. While the ground was still frozen last week he removed the wood and built a new one around it. And then he added the corrugated metal (matched the coop and back gate) and welding a strip around the top and corners. The new bed is beautiful! This year we hope to get some trees and plants into the backyard. Here's the new bed:



Kyle taught Madigan how to play hopscotch (to the best of his memory anyway). I have video of her hopping -so cute!!

What's one more?

Pet that is......Madigan collected enough stickers from sleeping in her bed to get a fish! She picked out a "goggle fish" aka a telescope goldfish. She named him "Goggles", which isn't very unique since there is a Goggles at the library, but it's hers.
She really loves it already and gets to feed it herself every morning. She's working on getting a Mermaid Tank for it. (It's a mermaid themed aquarium that Petsmart sells and she saw it.) I told her like a month of stickers for that! She also has to "work for" rocks in the bottom, a tunnel, etc if she wants it in the current bowl. So for now the fish looks pretty pathetic swimming in an empty bowl, but hey it works for us!



I made Madigan this sling forever ago and she wasn't as into as I thought she would be. Then the other day I came out and she had her baby in it and had put it on correctly herself. I guess she just needed to see Mama carry Leo in it every day to realize what it was for...

Prettier then Martha's

Do you think Barnaby will love Leo as much as he loves Madigan??


The other day I sat down to nurse Leo and turned the tv on for a few minutes. Madigan joined me and together we watched Martha Stewart make this dogwood paper flower arrangement. Madigan said she would like to make one to and as soon as she found a stick on our walk she remembered. So, without further ado, here's Madigan's Martha Stewart dogwood paper craft:We just used the flower shaped hole punch and hot glued some flowers and leaves to a stick. It's in the living room beside the real flowers she insisted on having on the table. When we finished the project she said to me "This is prettier then Martha's!"....oh the competition Martha may have!!

People Drawings

I cannot throw out a drawing of people made by Madigan. I love them all. Recently she switched from drawing a dot for eyes to drawing circles. And the mouth went from a straight line to a curved smiled line.

Grandpa's Visit in Pictures

We only had to wait a few weeks after Grandma left for our next visitor-Grandpa! He stayed with us for about 10 days and left yesterday. It's so nice to have family in town! We didn't do much, but the weather was perfect> We did a few walks and went to Chico. Most importantly we ate like kings- all of our favorite home cooked meals, plus our favorite restaurants!

Leo was all smiles for Grandpa's visit:Model trains at the library:

First Swim

Okay, so here's where I start gushing about how adorable my son Leo is! We took him for his first swim at Chico Hot Springs today and he loved every minute of it! Madigan didn't want to leave, but we promised we would go again at the end of this week (Spring Break). Now that's she's in swim class, she has a little more confidence in the water and was exploring more without Kyle or I.`

Grandpa's Turn For a Visit

Madigan took right to Grandpa the first morning he was here. She silently stood in the hallway until he "felt" someone looking at him and turned around to find her watching him. Kids must just know who their family is.