little bits of happiness

As wonderful and peaceful as our Easter celebration was, it left me in "catch-up mode" all of last week. Am I there yet? Perhaps not, but I will take what life is sending my way.

We spent Easter with some very close family-like friends (as is our tradition now) including my parents, grandmother, sister and her family and brother, as well as two other three and four generational families (does this make sense?).These are friends that not only I grew up with, but also my parents grew up with. We're talking some pretty close bonds here!

Grand Nana and her little dumpling NicolasSophia and her most-favorite person in the world- cousin Kayla
We enjoyed an impromptu trip up to New Hampshire to visit with Mike's parents and nieces at the beginning of the week. It always feels so good to have a change of scenery and enjoy the company of (especially) my wonderful mother-in-law.

She took us on our semi-annual outing to Alec's Shoe Store in Nashua and outfitted all three children in some fantastic spring shoes. What a blessing. While Sophia struggled to find a pair that both she and I agreed upon, we did in the end come up with a nice compromise- sandal-like sneakers (this entire shoestore experience reminded us both of her new favorite book- Alexander and the Horrible, Terrible, No Good, Very Bad Day). The boys ended up with some great Keen's.

It seems that nearly a dozen women I know are having babies right now. Friends near and friends afar. This is thrilling to me.My baby gift of choice these days are these great burp cloths. They are simple and I can complete a set of three in about an hour. But they look great. I especially love using the vintage-looking fabrics! Here is a set that I made tonight (the receiver must remain anonymous until after her surprise baby shower tomorrow!).Speaking of sewing... I really got a kick out of Amy Karol's bias tape tutorial. I watched it twice this past week, once with Sophia by my side. She asked why Amy was using stick figures and found the whole piece to be fascinating. I especially liked the real life application/prevention that Amy gives at the end of the video!

I tried my hand at Amy's method and viola!- it worked like a charm. I definitely will be using this technique in the future (I'm already dreaming of the quilt I will make with this old table cloth that I scrapped tonight- it just screams "S P R I N G"!).It was a week of random happenings and strides "in the right direction".