I love my family!

The only person missing is Rob. My parents, sisters, their husbands, fiances and the 4 grandchildren...on our church steps, yesterday!

We got these dresses at TJ Maxx that came with a doll dress (fit their bunny rabbits)! Hannah made grapes out of clay.

Olivia brought me a bouquet of the Apricot Impression tulips, my initial reaction was to say, "Why did you only leave such a short stem?" (like 3 inches), but instead I held that in and said "They're so beautiful" and we found a nice small vase:

More photos here: http://flickr.com/photos/7861221@N07/

So this is a pot of onion skins, water and a little vinegar (aren't those eggs such lovely rich red?)...they're blotchy, but beautiful! I don't plan to color eggs with food coloring again.

An awesome give-away: http://brittanydeanne.typepad.com/learningtobreathe/ You should all comment, not that I need the competition (I really want that CKU in a box!!!), but YOU might get it and I'd be happy, still!

This is my niece "blessing" her dogs! I love this video.

Flowers, natural dye, homeschooling...

Let us remember all that the Lord our God has done for us.Rob just asked Hannah to be natural, and not pose, she was doing a curtsey....meanwhile Olivia poses with a few posies in her hand.

Natural dyes?

"Onion Skins. Both yellow and red onion skins make a great natural dye for Easter eggs. Just place the onion skins (yellow will give you a yellowish brown color while red will give you a magenta/red color) in a large pot of boiling water. Add your Easter eggs and boil for about 45 minutes. You can add about two Tablespoons of vinegar to your water if desired. Adding vinegar will speed up the dyeing process and also give you that fond vinegar smell memory of dyeing Easter eggs as a child!" from http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/572157/natural_ways_to_dye_your_easter_eggs.html

This will be my first time trying out onion skins (a friend gave me that one above, last year). I went with my friend, Zizi, to Kroger's yesterday and she filled up a bag of onion skins from the bin, the cashier didn't mind, so it was free!
* They turned out beautifully!!!
I'm also baking kulich. I plan to make cheese-pascha, too.

Olivia actually took this photo of me! We went to the zoo today. All 4 of us...It drizzled (see the 2 happy girls with their umbrellas), but was still just lovely. There are so many beautiful gardens. Speaking of which, I love doing things together as a family....but this year, it's been difficult. Next year, we're going to homeschool both Hannah (who will be in 2nd grade) and Olivia (she'll be a kindergartener), so we're trying to figure out the best balance (of everything) in our lives.

Look what my husband is doing:

Rob installed a 10 foot long counter that he got at Lowe's! Right now, my desk is a mess...really it's too small. This is going to be awesome! Oh, he's wearing his uniform in that photo...he's a diesel mechanic. I'm lucky to have such a handyman!

P.S. That font I used is called "pharmacy"...if you want it, it's FREE here: http://www.dafont.com/ Thanks Chrispea!

Happy Hannah ready to play at the playground after ballet class.





Olivia posing with a bowl of Hot Fudge cake (all vegan), topped with Sharon's Coconut Sorbet ($1.99/pint at Trader Joe's) and strawberries. For the recipe, check out Sevasti's blog!


Earthquake? I woke up because I heard things jingling... I guess it didn't cause any serious damage, thankfully!

Last night, I went to the library to pick up The Friday Night Knitting Club & Miracle at Speedy Motors! Lot of good reads, but this is going to be a busy week!

Have a great weekend!!!

Time flies by...

Their hair was SO long....I love looking back at photos. Look at that bunny Olivia created out of her dough (simply yeast, warm water and flour). Hannah was making a bowl. We baked them and ate them.Almost everything I used in making this layout is Daisy D's....got everything from All Moments Remembered!

I'm anxiously waiting for The Miracle at Speedy Motors, the ninth in The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series of novels by Alexander McCall Smith. These mysteries take place in Botswana. I just found out that last month the BBC debuted a television series based on these books: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_No._1_Ladies

So you want scrumptious? Check this out: http://bakerella.blogspot.com/

Now, for something that is scary and sad (in my opinion)...have you heard of Oprah Winfrey's NEW church?

Yikes....

I love this little Eden...

Yesterday, we had some rain and planned to meet some friends inside the conservatory (a huge greenhouse)...that's in Eden Park.

The inside was full of a myriad types of vegetation (papayas, we saw green bananas growing on a tree, orchids, fragrant gardenias, cacti). We could see the rain pelting on the sides and roof and then, it stopped, the sun came out and we decided to go for a little hike to the lookout over the Ohio River.

Spending MORE time outside!

Yes, it was plenty warm today....at least 70' and sunny, so when I got home, Rob was the coolest...he had hooked up the hose to the slide again and let the girls put on their swimsuits.

Yesterday, Farmer Frank (he asked the kids if he could put a chick on their head) from Sunrock Farm brought goats, a rabbit, a pig, sheep and chicks to our school. A goat nibbled on my skirt!

We went to the Kite Fest and saw some amazing kites, many were like giant windsocks, shaped like fish or a penguin....the funniest one were these legs & soccer ball! On the way home we went to IKEA. It was so inspiring. I wish I had extra money to get some new furniture!I love this grass...the tops dry and swirl. My mother-in-law let me cut down the bush and I put it in a lovely bouquet by my fireplace. I would like to buy some to plant in our yard. Does anyone know what it's called?

April showers bring May flowers

I've been anxious for flowers....and all week, we've had rain, I keep thinking we'll get blossoms soon & lo and behold, a small daffodil opened up in our front yard. Many buds are ready to open. Rob and I are trying to figure out how to re-landscape our front yard. Should we keep the rocks? Mulch? Curving bed or straight (he though old railroad ties might be cool, I was thinking bricks)?

Yesterday, we went to the art museum with our friends, Zizi & Ana. The elevator has an awesome mirrored ceiling!