Homemade Wooden Blocks

I love trees. We planted one the year our daughter was born and will again soon for our son. I like what they symbolize: growth and stability and keeping yourself grounded. So when I saw these wooden blocks for sale made from pieces of a tree, I thought they would be a great purchase for my little man. 

Then the tree that has been in my grandparents’ yard for years lost some branches and I saved some to repurpose and make my own. The tree at my Grandma’s house has been there as long as I can remember- we’ve played around it, took a million pictures by it as it was the unofficial photo spot of the backyard and watched it grow.

So I scraped off the bark, sanded the pieces smooth and put a coat of non-toxic stain on them:

~Angela

These days...

I’ve been on quite the hiatus from blogging….because, well, life has been happening all around us. We’ve been making memories and living and loving and getting used to life with two kids, expanding a business and spending our time doing other things. Oh and shoveling snow, snow and more snow. That can end anytime. The good (screeches of pure laughter from our little man and “let me help, Mom!” from our little girl), the bad (tantrums now?! We made it almost 4 years and now our little girl has tantrums??? And lack of sleep….if only our little man would sleep….) and the ugly (um, bees in our house….it’s freezing cold out- literally- and we have bees? And lack of sleep…makes me kind of ugly sometimes). But these moments make up our days and I find myself reliving moments that I don’t want to forget.

We are taking photos and videos (I want to remember the ear piercing screeches of pure delight not because they are kind to the ears-quite the opposite is true- and watch that tantrum on video because quite frankly, it’s hilarious) because it is our life, right here, right now. And like every other stage we have been in, we know it won't last forever. We will look back at these moments and reminisce and laugh…we always do…

I’ll sum it up with a few of my favorite simple things from this month:

This little guy learned to roll over and discovered his feet:





Big piles of snow turned to puddles are made for jumping:


This fairy costume. She wears it daily. It’s falling apart and the wings are a matted mess from being washed way too many times and slept in, but she loves it just the same. A garage sale find from last summer that seems not have a replacement to be found anywhere so she’ll happily keep lovin’ on this one:

Discovering moments like this:






Play dates with friends:




A visit to see family:







Celebrating a special St. Patricks Day birthday (and the pirate cake I made):









We are coming off of a month of “Too Much.” Too much fun=too little sleep=one overscheduled and exhausted family. I worried we would be going stir crazy this cold, dreary month of March and planned too many really fun things, causing the opposite to happen. I overplanned and exhausted us all.








Lesson learned: We need time at home for nothing. As April approaches (and hopefully spring-like weather arrives soon!), we will be outside and playing without a schedule. I long for last minute walks that turn into catching up with neighbors that turn into jumping in puddles, which was exactly what happened last weekend. We have plenty of fun things ahead, including celebrating our little girls 4th birthday and with the much anticipated warmer weather, puddles will be beckoning…

~Angela