I found this cute pattern by Alli Crafts for a Newborn Cluster Hat and instantly loved it. She also has free patterns posted for the same pattern in sizes premie and six months.

I was aiming to make it newborn size initially, but I must have crocheted the slip stitch crochet border too tight or something, because it ended up kinda “shrinking” in size after I hooked that part.

• I did notice afterward that there is the word “loosely” written in italics before the slip stitch rounds begin. Clearly I must have overlooked that note! Ooops!

If I were to use this pattern (from Alli Crafts) again I would probably use a different stitch for the edge of it to make it look more like this hat from St. Patty’s Girl on Etsy.Or I might just try to read the instructions more carefully next time.

I love the color combo that I chose though, and I do really like the pattern. It’s quite adorable.

It fits some of my daughters’ dolls heads perfectly though, so not all is lost!

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Carrying On A Tradition

I am a long time fan of the Anne of Green Gables book series written by L.M. Montgomery. I have a treasured beautifully illustrated unabridged copy of the first book in the series, Anne of Green Gables, given to me by my mom. She read it to me when I was a girl. My mom sent it to me a while ago and I started reading it to my daughter, Mrs. Sayuri.

At the rate of about two chapters a night, it took us three weeks (give or take) to finish it up.

We really enjoyed it together. Something I found interesting was how much your experience reading a book can change with you as you go through life. Now that I am a mother myself, I found myself relating more with Marilla’s maternal feelings than Anne the girl.

Next up – I would like to find out if the local video store has the made for TV movie version of Anne of Green Gables starring Megan Follows so we can enjoy watching that together. It’s one of my all time faves.

Some Anne of Green Gables Inspired Art by Mrs. Sayuri

Mrs. Sayuri is always drawing. She loves to create things. These two drawings were both inspired by our having read Anne of Green Gables.

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The snowdrops are still in the yard, although I think their blooms will be coming to an end…

Meanwhile, these sweet blue grass flowers are filling spots of lawn with color.

They seem to grow wherever they like.

I am captivated by the blueness of their petals and the how delicate they seem. What sweet surprises they are to find in the grass.

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The lovely snowdrop flowers shown above are the first flowers of spring around these parts. They pop up all over. Purple, yellow and white crocuses are also starting to pop up as well. It’s fun to go outside on a nice day and note what new signs of spring there are.

More birds are arriving all the time from their travels down south. We’ve been having a wonderful time identifying the birds that we observe in the yard. We will be working on putting up a blue bird nesting box very soon, in hopes of attracting some of the NY state bird, the Eastern Bluebird. The children and I also made some birdseed hangers for the birds and hung those up in the yard. I’ll try and post some photos of them – they are so easy to make and look so pretty hanging from branches in the yard.

Even though I was so ready for winter to be gone, it made me that much more thankful for spring!

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This is one of our favorite cookies – Pumpkin! The ones shown above were decorated by Mrs. Sayuri and Mr. Happy Feet. The pumpkin walnut cookie recipe for these can be found on my sister in law’s blog: Notes From The Tulip House. Enjoy.

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Glimpses of Spring

Earlier this week we had some gorgeous weather. Temperatures were in the fifties and it was bright and sunny out. The children took full advantage of it by riding their bikes for the first time in months and covering the pavement in chalk. I was joyously reminded of how much I love spending time outside with my little ones on a warm day.

Some Encouragement

I have found so much encouragement from an amazing blog called Finding Joy . It’s one of my current favorite reads. I love her “dear mom” letter posts but honestly everything she writes is just so good. Her writing is very honest, real and down-to-earth relatable. There is truly SO much joy to be found in mothering my children and at the same time it can be exhausting. Reading the Finding Joy blog reminds me that I am not alone in my own struggles as a mother. For starters go read the blog post: dear mom who feels like she wants to quit and you’ll see what I mean.

We fellow mommies can be the harshest judges of each other. The longer I’ve been a mother (hard to believe it’s already been over 6 years), the more I have realized how much grace I need to show other mothers including my own self. Sometimes (okay, a lot of the time) I need to be reminded of the fact that I am the perfect mother for my children  this day and everyday. (Thanks for the reminder Rachel @Finding Joy)

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It is starting to feel like winter may be making way for spring around here. I don’t want to speak too soon, but I’m feeling very hopeful. We’ve had some beautiful days with sun and temperatures in the low forties the past week. The morning was lovely and the children had so much fun going outside and playing with the last snow piles we had left in the yard. We had some snow in the afternoon but it was wet and didn’t stick much.

May spring be early this year bringing lots of warmth and sunshine our way.

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In less than a week Mr. Happy Feet will be turning four and it’s a little hard to believe. It seems like just yesterday he was my chubby baby boy.

I don’t know how it is possible, but it somehow seems like each year flies by faster than the one before…

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Alice laughed. “There’s no use trying,” she said: “One can’t believe impossible things.”

“I daresay you haven’t had much practice,” said the Queen. “When I was your age, I always did it for half-an-hour a day. Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast…”

- Through the Looking Glass, by Lewis Carroll

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Our first winter in New York has proven quite cold. Coming from the tropical weather of Costa Rica, it has been a huge climate adjustment. It is still strange for me to look outside and see snowflakes falling and blowing around on the wind.

Mostly because of the cold temperatures as of late, my mind has been wandering to warmer days gone by. We had such a beautiful warm summer season here.

The flowers filled the yard with lively colors and many interesting insects. Looking at these photos makes me feel warm inside and I could use a bit of that right now in this chilly weather! I plan on posting several summer 2012 photos that I never blogged on here this month of February.

 I just love poppies!

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