Leaf Printing

A few weeks ago, the boys and I went on the leaf hunt with some friends. We met at a park and collected as many different types of leaves as possible. 

The next day, we gathered our supplies together for printing:

-various leaves

- white paper

- fall colored crayon colors

-something hard to work on {we used a plastic plate}

Place a leaf under the paper and lightly color the paper so that the leaf lines show up

We found that the pine tree needles didn't really show up, but the prints should look something like this...

But if you have a toddler, it'll look more like this:

We did learn a few tree species like oak, gum and Japanese maple! So it'd say it was a success! ;)

Easter Eggs

My poor semi-neglected crafty blog. :) We're still here. Not as much crafting or sewing these days, but here nonetheless. Plus I don't think showing you my various half-finished projects are really going to make you swoon. So I'll have to save them up and get 'em done first!

Anyway, we dyed some eggs the other day! Good ol' fashion Easer tradition. It was our very first time together and I definitely had to brush up on my dying skills. Because it's seriously been like, what, 18 years or something?!

Instead of boiling the eggs, I baked them. 25 minutes at 325 degrees. Worked effortlessly. 

Ezra was definitely not born with the gift of gentleness. This fact presented a bit of a challenge when dropping the eggs into the jars. I tried really really hard to let him do much of the leg-work but did some intervening from time to time.

 We did exactly a dozen; two of each beautiful color.

There was one casualty that just couldn't be ignored or put back with the others for the matter. I think he planned that.

Our Papa Chain

My hubby, W, is an accountant by day. And today marks the beginning of his busy, grueling time: tax season. Ten hour work weeks and eight hour Saturdays. As Elle, my girlfriend's daughter, said as she met her new baby sister at the hospital last week, "Oh, this is horrible!" It may be a cold and long winter for the Swensons {and potentially this blog too!}. To add sticks to the fire, my parents will also be in their tax season. I'll be stranded! So doom-y and gloomy, huh?

Perhaps it's because I've already had my fair share of tax seasons since both of my parents are CPAs. I remember those loooong afternoons and evenings at their office. Talk about developing self-entertainment. And I am an only child-- no siblings to play with. Countless canned soup dinners. My only trips to the snow were with friends. Are you feeling bad for me yet?!? ;)

To help buffer the pain wait, E and I made a countdown paper chain. Nothing special. Just the classic paper strips and tape. He's really been into size lately...baby, Mama, and Papa sizes. So he named our craft, "Papa Chain." Very appropriate. 

The chain has exactly one hundred links to countdown to April 17th. The last day of the season. W helped me tape it in a very 'high traffic' area of our house so we can see it often.

We decorated some of the links to beautify the chain. E's starting to get a bit more bold in his coloring. It used to be just a few dots here and there on the page.

I'm really excited about having a visual of how much time we have left. I know it'll help me immensely. E and T may be too young this year to understand, but I hope this can be a yearly tradition for us as we prepare for the busy season. And to be encouraged as Papa works hard for us. 

Hopefully, our 'Papa Chain' will help us get through!