Another year another Mother’s Day, another wonderful photo opportunity. 

We had church first. The younger 3 sang during service.

Children’s sermon

Then a great photo op on the bench out front. 

Our next stop was the normal photo haunt for us – the lane at the end of the road. It is a lovely spot in spring summer, and even occasionally fall. I do believe Gavin took the photos of Ken and myself. Oldest to youngest. 

We had our normal afternoon/evening on a Sunday and then the whole family was off to Chipotle. It was a lovely sunny day.

Honestly 5 of the best things in my life are the ones who call me Mom. Thank you Ken for being the other half of our parenting team. 

So at the last minute Shandai and I did up a craft table for a day at the Priory in August. At the end of this week we are returning for a 2 day sale we had pre-planned attending. So come check us out at A Prior Affair HERE. Now onto the blog post I am warning you I wrote ages ago:

Shandai has been making and selling these adorable and functional baby/small dog bandanas. You can purchase some yourself at her Etsy page… ShandaiMade or Facebook HERE. She uses a large variety of fabric and lovely sturdy snaps. If you want something a little larger, she is branching out to large dog versions as well, that would also fit a child (or potentially an adult). My niece is the perfect model and uses them all the time. They keep drool and mess off clothes and sensitive baby skin.

Look at the awesome colour combos she has!

It was a last minute opportunity so I just threw together my random on hand pieces that were critters and ran with it. Surprisingly it was my Cthulhu’s and ice cream cones that were of interest… and the little desserts I had made up.

It was a fun experience, though the crowd was not huge. The current plan is to come back to the bigger 2 day sale at the same location in the end of October and bring more items out. I hope to make some more key chains, maybe some Halloween themed pieces. With cooler weather maybe some scarves would be of interest.

Seriously though, check out ShandaiMade and spread the word. Handmade, functional AND fabulous. Oh and did I mention… reversible??? I wish I had had these back when my kids were tiny. Tying on bibs was a royal pain.

Bib in action

I am also going to work on updating my Facebook page It’s a Hoot. I really need to add more of my on hand pieces. I always have spare stuff sitting around. And commissions are always welcome. After all, crafting helps keep me sane!

Now enjoy the obligatory niece and kitty pics. Both are utterly adorable. 

Yup, still back tracking and going. But as the temperatures decrease enjoy my review on the days warming up. Hopefully NEXT year I will stay on track… maybe?

April was Easter of course, we did our usual church and such but the day was mostly spent with the Novak’s. You can see Easter HERE. It was a rather busy day but so much fun!

April turned out to be the month when we got gifts from Canada. Grandpa Mike sent us 5 matching beach towels! With how much swimming we do, this is one of the best gifts ever! And matching means I know exactly which towels are ours.

Plenty of time was spent at the YMCA.

April was still a snowy time. We took full advantage of the snow whenever we could this year. At least the girls did.

I kept myself busy crafting as usual.

Rainbow blanket for me!

Neko-Chan remained heart tuggingly cute.

We kept our progress going with school, of course.

Trinity and Emanuel continue to wow us with their growing karate skills.

And when it rained we brought out the umbrellas and got out groove on that way. It was rather funny, it snowed, then melted and rained and then dumped a whole bunch of snow on us again.

Enough for snowmen and forts and fun for hours.

Trinity built her own Great Wall of China, out of rocks.

And we pulled out bikes and scooters.

Breakfast at IKEA was snuck in, we even came home with a free plant!

We did fun science experiments with eggs, did you know that if you leave one in vinegar for long enough it becomes bouncy! Until you drop it from too high a height!

I even managed a visit to see my niece Maevowyn. I am biased I know, but she is such a cutie.

April always seems to be a little more crafty and a lot of fun for us. Don’t forget to check out Trinity’s birthday HERE (Which I managed to also forget to post), and that was April!

Embroidery for American Revolutionary War