April Wrap-Up

The warmer weather has brought back the plants in my front yard. This is the Mimosa tree that now has some leaves. It is so nice to look out the front windows and see a green tree.

One morning I was out side very early to check one of the sprinklers and found this lovely snail heading across our front porch and towards the front lawn. He was so cool looking I let him go on his merry way. I will have to keep an eye out and see if he has settled into any of my plants for his meals. So far I have not noticed any damage. Not sure if they are enemies of the garden or our friends. I know if he was a slug I would have tortured him in a slow cruel death then nailed him to the porch low enough to show any of his friends they were not welcome in my plants. I had many a battle with slugs when I lived in Oregon. Here in the southwest desert I was very surprised to see the snail.

I have been working on my Little Zig Zag blanket this month. I have completed all the squares and the half squares for the ends. I also have sewn together the strips, and will begin to sew the strips together. This is my first time making granny squares and sewing them together. I am learning a lot and realize now the importance of making the squares exactly the same size with the same amount of stitches. It will look more like a scrappy blanket than a work of perfection, but that is how you learn. I already have thoughts on my next granny square project, which is motivating me to finish this one.

I am looking forward to May. We plan to get some things for Chloe to do in the back yard for some much needed energy release while playing outside. Right now our backyard is just dirt and we probably will not get it landscaped until Fall due to the large cost. It is a good size backyard and will cost a good chunk of change to get some basic landscaping. So for now we are thinking to get a little sandbox and possibly a kiddie pool we could all sit in. Also in May I plan to find the time to tackle my office/craft room. It is the last room in the house that is still pretty much packed up. My sewing machine is still in the box since we moved and I have big plans for lots of sewing projects this summer. I really need to get that room cleaned up, unpacked and organized.

Chloe’s hair is at a very messy stage of growth. It is like when you get a bad hair cut and you have to go through an awkward grow out. It has taken her 2 years to get this much hair and it still is barely long enough to pull back. Hopefully it will continue to grow and we will be able to pull it back out of her face. It doesn’t seem to bother her at all; I am the one that is constantly smoothing it back off of her face. I will leave you with a few photos of Chloe taken in April.

Happy Easter

Happy Easter! Chloe and I made these Carrot Cake Cupcakes thinking we should make something special to leave out for the Easter Bunny to help fuel his energy in hiding colored eggs all night. I found the recipe at Simple Recipes HERE. I added a few drops of green food coloring to the frosting and topped each with a marshmallow peep.

The video below is one of my favorites from our vacation. We are walking along the path and came across a bunny rabbit. Chloe was trying to coax the bunny to come closer to her. Have a wonderful Holiday.

2nd Birthday Cake

This month has been packed full of birthday celebrations. Chloe’s birthday at the end of March, Chris’s birthday was last Sunday and mine is today. We managed to celebrate Chloe’s birthday after getting back from vacation. I made her this Panda Bear birthday cake.

It took me an entire day to make that cake. I started with making two 12 inch rounds.

Then using the teddy bear cake pan you clamp it shut then pour the batter in thru the top and stick it in the oven upside down to bake.

Here it is cooling on the counter after baking.

So then I began to decorate the bottom rounds, using cream cheese frosting. I just kind of made it up as I went along.

Here is what I ended up with for the bottom.

After the teddy bear cooled I placed him on top of the rounds.

Then I began to pipe on all the white parts of the bear using cream cheese frosting.

Here it is with all the white parts covered.

Then I filled in all the black parts of the Panda. I used junior mints for his eyes.

Tada! I used a few candied flowers on the top along with a number 2 candle.

The Panda cake was a big success Chloe loved it. She kept talking to it. We think she thought it was a toy.

She got a big kick out of us lighting the candle and singing happy birthday to her. Her Daddy helped her blow out the candle.

She was not as messy eating her birthday cake this year compared to last year.

Chloe made out like a bandit for her birthday.

Since this is a crafty blog I thought I would show you some of the home made gifts Chloe received. This cloth Doll was made for Chloe by her Grandma. It even came with a change of clothes.

This is a crayon holding truck made by Chloe’s Uncle Rusty with a little help from her Aunt Stefanie. I was blown away by this gift. Seriously, how cool is that thing? Chloe loves it and when she is not using it for holding her crayons she is on the floor driving it around.

Chloe has grown so much in the last 2 years. She is blossoming into a sweet, vivacious little girl. I can’t wait to see what she does next.

Vacation Chloe Videos

We are back from our vacation and I am still playing catch up trying to get things back to normal around here. I thought I would share some of the vacation videos with you. This is mostly for my family that I am sure is itching to see how Chloe was on vacation. We had three parts to our vacation. We started out in Florida at Disney World for 2 days then drove to Vero Beach Florida and stayed a few nights before taking a 3 night Disney cruise to the Bahamas. I will do a full trip report with photos telling the details of our trip as soon as I get all the photos sorted out. In the mean time I apologize to the non family members for unloading a bunch of home videos on you. LOL