Early Blooms

Last Spring/Summer I didn't get to tend to my gardens as I would've liked to. I was pregnant and my body not only had limitations, it wore out so much quicker. It was hard at times to see things in my gardens that I wanted to do, but I knew I needed to limit myself.

Well, I'm not pregnant anymore and the weather here has been glorious the past few days. I spent the entire day yesterday and most of the day today tending to my flower beds. Oh, it felt so good, but I'm pretty sure I'll be sore in the morning. No pain, no gain right? It's all worth it because my gardens are raked and weeded and there signs of life beginning to show.

Can you guess what's getting ready to bloom?

Only $1

My oldest son has a new business venture that he excitedly set up after school this afternoon.

So if you need a paper airplane, by all means come to our house. They are only $1.
(ah... that kid makes me smile)

Friday Favorites

Now that the weather has been warming up I am getting the itch to play in my gardens. I love my gardens and love that from the end of April until the snow falls I usually have so many flowers to cut and fill my house with. My gardens right now are just beginning to see signs of life but I am craving floral life in my house. So.... I went a little crazy at Trader Joes yesterday. (They always have a great selection of flowers!!!) My house feels so much more bright and cheery and looking at the vases of flowers throughout my house makes me smile!

For this weeks "Friday Favorites" I thought I would share with you my favorite flowers for early spring.

TULIPS



This is an obvious one. Tulips are a staple in my house in the Spring. I had to buy these ones but am eagerly anticipating cutting ones from my own garden. They have just started to peak out of the ground.

DAFFODILS



Daffodils always remind me of early Spring and Easter. They are so fresh and bright and I love how their stems through a glass vase. FYI, they are super cheap to buy! (usually $2 or less for a bunch of 10)

RANUNCULUS






You have to understand, when I see these at the store I get giddy. Ridiculous, I know. But there is just something I LOVE about these flowers. They aren't easy to find sometimes so if I see them, I usually buy them. Yesterday was a different story. My neighbor and I went to Trader Joes in the morning and there were about 4 buckets filled with Ranunculus. Four Buckets!!! I love you Trader Joes! These blooms also make me think about my friend Meghan, she told me once that these were the flowers in her wedding bouquet. Excellent choice Meghan.

There you have it. My favorite blooms to start the Spring. Now go out and treat yourself to some flowers!

Rest and Medicine and Ice... Oh My!

It has been a crazy few weeks. It looked a little something like this:

LAST MINUTE TRIP TO NASHVILLE FOR A FEW DAYS

ARRIVING HOME TO SICK CHILDREN

CARING FOR SICK CHILDREN

THROWING MY BACK OUT

LAYING ON THE FLOOR, ICING MY BACK AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE

TRIPS TO THE CHIROPRACTOR

MY SWEET MOM STAYING WITH ME TO HELP

HEADING UP NORTH FOR A LITTLE R & R

Now I am almost back to normal. Hopefully there will be no more ear drops, amoxicillin, children's motrin, ice packs, and ibuprofen needed for a while in this house. I want to be outside enjoying the GORGEOUS Spring weather we are having. AND I have A LOT of sewing to do before May 15!

Herb and Dorothy

MUST SEE!!! This documentary is inspiring and sweet - especially if you appreciate art. I highly recommend it.

Friday Favorites

Luca got a very special gift from some friends of ours and I am in LOVE with it. So much that when he is not trying to play with it I have it out as decoration in my house. It is my favorite baby toy right now because it's so simple, the pieces are so easy for Luca to hold and it's just so darn cool looking.

Our friend , Steve, is an amazing carpenter and has been making these. I just love them and think I need to get on Etsy and buy more from him for gifts.

BROKEN BELLS

Wednesday night our boys attend a church program at a local church. One of the things that makes it so much fun for them is that their cousins Ella and Hazel go too. It's nice for us because we get to see my cousin and his wife at least once a week! Last night while we were picking up our kids, my cousin was super excited about an album he had just purchased. It's a band called Broken Bells which consists of Danger Mouse and James Mercer (of the Shins). I knew I needed to check it out. And I did. Thank you Abe! It will be my soundtrack for this rainy/sleety day.

CD OF THE DAY:
BROKEN BELLS

It's Been A Crazy Weekend

I have been terrible this past week about posting on my blog. I made a last minute trip to Nashville to for a long weekend. Luca flew the friendly skies for the first time in his sweet little life. He did fabulous. I am so thankful to have children who do great traveling. I guess travel is a way of life for them so they have to like it. Tyler and I had some great, needed time together. And while Tyler worked, I caught up with friends and even had time to get a haircut. Thanks Brian!

Meanwhile, back in Minnesota. Tyler's parents had a sleep over weekend with Søren and Östen. Unfortunately, our relatively non-sick winter came to an end. Søren threw up one night, Östen had a terrible croup weekend and Søren ended the weekend with a sore throat and a cough. I picked up my two congested, coughing little boys Sunday and realized I should probably make a stop at urgent care to make sure Søren didn't have strep. Sure enough, he did. So we had a relaxing evening of laying low and an early bedtime for all. I had fully anticipated a good night of sleep for our little household. Not so much. My poor Östen woke up crying because his ear hurt and proceeded to moan and cry until 7 a.m. So I sat up with him and rubbed his back and tried everything I could to help him. Nothing really worked. So off to the doctor we went in the morning. Diagnosis: a bad ear infection and a ruptured ear drum!! No wonder he was in such excruciating pain.

So now I have a refrigerator full of Amoxicillin and a medicine-giving schedule to follow: antibiotics, pain meds, ear drops, electrolytes, love and snuggles. I'm hoping Søren will be well enough to go to school tomorrow: if his darn fever would go away and his cough would let up a little. I am so thankful that Luca is not catching anything so far from his brothers. We are in rest and recovery mode at our home.

Apparently sickness has hit Second Street hard this week. To all of you Second Street mom's with sick little ones, hang in there and let's go out when the smoke clears.

Quote of the day: Søren after sneezing and blowing his nose for about the thousandth time today "Life's really not working out for me today." Ha.

Hey... here's a shameless plug.

Buy this concert

on iTunes.
It's a good performance and you get to see
my sexy husband in action playing guitar and singing
with his buddy Mat.

Spring?

I love this time of year. The sun seems just a little brighter, the air smells fresh like Spring and the morning is beginning to be filled with the sounds of birds. Note to self: get the bird feeders out and filled in the next week or so. I'm kind of a geek. I love my bird feeders and love sitting in my living room and watching the birds at the feeder. A few summers ago I was EXCITEDLY talking to my dad about the bird feeder holder Tyler made me for Mother's Day and how excited I was to watch the birds outside my window. I said that I realized it kind of seemed like an old lady hobby and he said, "Well at least you don't have a bird identification book sitting by the window that you reference." I grinned and replied, "Actually, I do." I'll say it here and now. I love birds. I love bird watching. And I am fascinated with knowing about the birds I see. What can I say.

As Minnesotans, we have all been hibernating for months and it seems that these flickers of Spring are so hopeful. I love winter but I always get to a point around this time of year where I'm ready for change. I've had enough snow, I've had enough cold. I am ready for blossoms on my crab apple tree, this sale, tending my gardens, green grass, the sound of kids playing in the neighborhood, the neighbor's cat Booger meowing "thank yous" to me as he gets high on the cat nip that is creeping back out of the ground in my garden, visiting outside with neighbors, bonfires, Saturday night parties at the neighbors, flip flops... need I go on. I am, however, bracing myself because I know that March weather in Minnesota can play with a person's emotions- beautiful and sunny one day and the next could be a blizzard. But I press on with every inch of snow that melts off of my lawn and hope that Spring is close by.

So here's to Spring. May it come quickly and refresh us all!