Spring Break

It was a quiet week last week, hence no posting... We had spring break, but didn't go anywhere. It was actually really nice to just have a quiet week with no school. Here are a few images of what we were doing.


We celebrated my Oma's 90th birthday. Here David is serving her a piece of her cake. It was a great day, with most of my Bielefeldt cousins and all my siblings there. I have to say, Oma has really passed on her love of life and fun and her creativity to her posterity!

Popcorn popping on the apricot tree...the whole yard is in bloom now. Ahh, spring!

Our Saint Patrick's Day feast. We usually have lamb stew rather than corned beef, but this year the kids wanted both. So Monday we had the stew with Irish soda bread, and a family home evening about St. Patrick and missionary work. On Tuesday we had the corned beef and cabbage meal, which also lent itself to awesome Reuben sandwiches the next day.

We finally finished up Elsa's other pixie swap. This is just a sneak peek...the bag is filled with more treasures! It goes in the mail today, and hopefully will arrive safely in Singapore.

And, we celebrated the newest birth in the goat barn! Jill's Nubian, Kitty, kidded with just one little buckling. He is really adorable, and Kitty's milk is amazing!

A Friendly Exchange

Look what came in the mail yesterday! Last week I sent my friend Tammy some oranges and marmelade to brighten her cold Idaho spring. You can read her post about it here. Yesterday afternoon the kids came running in with a box, "look Mommy! You got a package! Open it right now!" Sure enough, there was a box from Tammy with some of her homemade apple butter and plum butter and two beautiful crocheted washcloths. I could barely get a picture taken before the bottles were opened up and the wonderful spreads slathered on thick slices of bread. Mmmmm. So good! Thanks, Tammy!

Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

Robin's Pixie Swap

When everyone was getting excited about Fairy and Pixie swaps, Robin really wanted to participate too. Fortunately one of Missy's friends has a son about Robin's age who also wanted to participate, so they got to be partners. Both boys had fun being creative and magical!


Here is what Robin made for Ezie. He sewed the pouch himself and helped with the brass eyelets. He felted a ball and a pouch, and made the borax crystal ornament. He made the wand almost entirely on his own with a stick from our yard, copper wire, wool roving, and peacock feathers from our peacocks.

Robin was so excited to come home from playing on Saturday and find his box from Ezie! He ripped right in to it and found all the great treasures above. Thanks, Ezie for being a great partner! Robin loves everything you sent, has already used some of the tattoos and driven us all crazy with the noisemakers :-)

Elsa's Pixie Swap

Elsa's partner for the Pixie Swap was FawnDear's little Princess. These little girls had a great time coming up with magical goodies for each other!

Here is Elsa opening her package. She was so excited to find it in the mail and had to open it immediately, of course!

And here is all her magical goodness. The wand is so sweet! On the other side it says "A dream is a wish your heart makes" which made all of us swoon! It's our favorite Cinderella quote. Thank you, Princess and Fawn!

Here is all the sweetness that Elsa sent to Princess. She had so much fun felting the little pouch, stringing the beads on the bracelet, painting all the blue on the pixie doll, and gathering up all the tiny little things.

Luck of the Fae Swap

Whew! My first swap is finally complete! My partner was Fawn~Dear and it was a delight to swap with her. I would love to be her partner again!

Here are all the goodies Fawn sent to me...I couldn't believe she sent one of her fairy doors! And Fawn, where did you find the Flower Fairy seeds?! The wand is wood-burned and painted with roses and a quote from Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream", one of my favorite Shakespeare plays. I love how it says "Fairy Queen Beth Miller"!

Here is the enchanting little doll Fawn made. She has the sweetest flower petal dress, and soft golden hair. Aren't those wings beautiful? Fawn says she made them from a flexible cutting board from the dollar store! So creative!

Here is what I made for Fawn. I think I got a little carried away with the ribbons and charms on the wand! The shamrock pin is my first ever needle-felting project and it was really fun.

Once I got the little doll made, I couldn't resist making her a little house out of a seed pot. It's wallpapered with old seed packets and pages from an old gardening book. It was a blast to make!

Here's a close-up of the plethora of charms and stuff on the wand. I had a great time with this swap. It was so fun to be really creative for a change. Thanks, Fawn for being an awesome partner!

A blog for kindred spirits

My dear sisters (blood, and in spirit, and that includes you, Mom!)

I found this blog last night. It has so much of what unites us! Go visit, prepare to relax and stay a while...



http://buttonwillowchronicles.typepad.com/my_weblog/

Did I Mention Snowdrops?

Sorry! He was so cute I couldn't resist. We made the little pixie for one of our swap partners, and then noticed that the snowdrop fit perfectly. Of course it doesn't last, but it made a sweet picture.

An Award

My friend Tammy awarded me this "Tree of Happiness". She is so sweet!

I was really touched by her comment that came with it : "Beth at Road to Joy - Her blog is so peaceful, loving, and magical...one of my favorites!"

Thanks Tammy! You brightened my day!

Snowdrops

"Snowdrops, snowdrops, dressed in green and white,

What do you do when the sun shines bright?

Shake our little bells and sing,

Ting-a-ling, ting-a-ling, here's the spring."

Yes, even though we don't have snow, we do have these adorable snowdrops that pop up every spring! They are one of my favorite flowers, maybe because they look like tiny fairy hats...