Deep breath...

Making my way through stacks of papers toward the end of the semester.  Enjoying quick adventures to the pond between rounds of grading.  Taking lots and lots of deep breaths...

Spring festivities...

We love to celebrate Easter in a "Spring Bunny" kind of way around here (emphasis on celebrating the season with colorful eggs, bunnies, scavenger hunts, chocolate, and jelly beans)!  It is one of my favorite holidays for sure!  Here is the breakdown for this year's fun...

Eggs!  This year we colored hot eggs (still warm/hot from the boiling process) with crayons so the wax melted as we colored.  Then dyed them (super easy, not too messy, and lovely!)...

We also made some tissue-paper egg lanterns (at Shakori Hills).  They are beautiful and are such a sweet way to decorate for the holiday!  I think we'll keep them up for a while...

This year I decided to make some yummy zucchini/carrot bread for the Spring Bunny (to go along with fresh greens, carrots, chamomile tea... those little bunnies must get hungry running all over the world like they do)!  The recipe can be found here... it's delicious with lots of nuts and chocolate (YUM!)...

It simply wouldn't be Easter around here without a good old fashioned scavenger hunt... I learned this art from my Dad and it is one of my favorite things to do for my kids.  They get so excited and I love watching them work together to find the clues that lead them to their Easter baskets (or buckets as we tend to do around here)...

And last but not least, I stitched together these little bunnies for the occasion.  They have brown felt backs with button tails on their butts (my favorite part).  I love how they turned out...

In the garden...

Right now the spinach, bok choy, kale, lettuces, snap peas, and potatoes are happily growing and thriving in the early spring garden.  I love this time of year... each day is a little present.  I study the plants and delight in every inch of growth... and I love seeing green exploding in every direction.  And what's more, our chickens have been cranking out the eggs... we're getting five a day!  It is crazy awesome!!  Last night for dinner we had spinach omelettes with a spinach/baby greens salad on the side.  Spring is here and I love how even our kitchen knows it!