Spring "mantel"

In absence of a fireplace and mantel, I have adopted this shelf as my holiday mantel.  Here she is adorned for Spring.

When spring is slow to come

...make your own.  After finishing my Easter mantle, I knew I needed something tall and springy to add to it.  However, we are still in winter.  I remember seeing tissue paper cherry blossoms somewhere once, and wanted to make my own.  I found this online tutorial and made my own.  I love them!  They almost look real, and were so cheap.  I bought tissue paper at Walmart for $1, and had the branches at home.  Can't beat a buck!

Here's a close up.  They really were so easy to do; I completed them while watching a movie one night.

Family spring pictures 2010

Since we moved into our house several years ago, it has become a tradition to take spring/Easter family pictures outside in this spot.  One day I'd like to put together a collage side/by/side and watch how our family grows year by year (we only had 2 kids when we first started this!)

I sure love my girls.  They were not excited by taking pictures after late church, so I didn't get any really great smiles out of them, but I'll take what I can get!

Brighton, in trying to be helpful, was holding Keaton in place.  Ah, brotherly love!

And my twins.  So much fun to have 2 babies.  I finally got Waverly's skirt completed (I loved how it turned out, with the exception of being too long, which I'll need to fix.)

Spring has finally sprung!

My favorite flowers are spring bulbs.  I buy bulbs from Thanksgiving Point every year when they clearance them from the Tulip Festival in June, and it's so fun to see them come up in random shades of pinks and reds every spring.  I never know what I'm planting, which may drive some women nuts, but I like the randomness of the colors and flowers.

Of course, with the spring flowers blooming, I have to take more pics of my cute kids.

Spring Toddler time

In honor of the newly-budding "popcorn trees", Brighton and I decided to make one of our own.  We finger-painted the trunk and grass, and he glued on the popcorn.

I think his favorite part, though, was what we did with the left-overs;  I melted some yellow candy melts from Easter and mixed it into the popcorn.  We had to add some Oreo crumbs, too, of course, for the dirt.

Easter Decor and crafts

This is something Brighton and I made, using directions from here.

We made the bunny painting with directions from here, after seeing it on here.

We have tulips blooming in our house, thanks to my sister-in-law and friend, Sallie.  I'm so excited to see them bloom, and discover what colors they will be.  It's so nice to have a shot of spring in the house.  We have a lot of Dutch tulips planted outside, but it seems like I miss them every year.  So thank you for the plant, Sallie! 

The above picture is some of our Easter decor.  I got it up late this year, due to St Patrick's Day.  I only get to enjoy it for a few short weeks.  Hmmm...what to decorate for next, as the string of holidays are now at an end?  How does one decorate for Memorial Day?  Do I pull out the cardboard tombstones from Halloween?