awwwww......spring is in the air!

here in ohio

we've not only had a very mild winter

(yeah for only burning half of our wood!)

but we are having a beautiful warm sunny spring

the blue containers are what our store bought mushrooms are packaged in

(mushroom hunting is around the corner!)

while i dislike styrofoam

we do reuse them

&

they do make great homes for seedlings

we moved the seedlings into new homes

and from this home

they will go to the garden

where they will grow into 

yummy batches of pesto

&

tomato everything!   

the end of fall is my least favorite flower bed time

all the left over spent flowers that need dead headed

weeds that snuck into the beds

and leaves that have blown in and made their homes

and it all has to be cleaned up before you can 

plant bulbs

this past fall was rather nice though

and my efforts paid off

yeah for not being lazy in the fall

~*~

on the run~

we had such a fun weekend

we started out with some shopping

and then the family's met at

 Jeni's Ice Cream

to celebrate Abby's 16th birthday

the kids really enjoyed trying some different flavors

i can't remember each flavor everyone tried...there are so many

but i had

a scoop of 

gooey butter cake

 and a scoop of 

goat cheese & cognac figs

both were delish!

if you haven't heard of jeni's

they specialize in unique ice cream flavors

i love how they used the cupcake papers to decorate!

you can see a few of their unique flavors~

the littles &the  bigs

the kids love drawing on the chalkboard wall!

the gang's almost all here

we're missing grampie, shelden & adam

and of course the trip wouldn't be complete without having a picture with the frog

~*~

almost mittens~

my intentions were good

really they were

i gifted my "otherdaughter"

{my besties daughter}

for her january birthday

her choice of mittens & yarn

here is what she chose

i love, love, love the color

it's called

persian peacock

although on my monitor it looks

more blue

 

the pattern is from kelly porpiglia

very cabley mittens 

and the yarn is

lambs pride

i wasn't too sure about the yarn in the beginning

as it had a itchy feel to it

but

the more i knit the softer it became

and in the end

i loved it

while here in ohio we've been having more

summer like weather than spring

but 

we have been known to have snow in april

not that i'm wishing for snow,

but you know

you do like to wear a new pair of mittens

ps to jessie......almost done!

~*~

A sister is a little bit of childhood that can never be lost. Marion C. Garretty

it's been just 2 short months since my sister received

the dreaded diagnosis....it's cancer

a rare cancer...angio sarcoma

only 31 people in the us have been diagnosed 

with this type

she fought hard but lost her battle

on march 11 

she leaves two little loves

jade & jacob

along with

lots of family & friends

&

her two besties

~*~