Spring Break Family Visit

Our daughter and family decided to visit the last week in March for Spring Break. Five months had passed since their last visit in October. I was super excited and looking forward to seeing everybody again. 

We borrowed my husband's parents' van for the usual pick up at Detroit airport. Our grandson gave us big hugs while our granddaughter scooted down in the stroller to hide. Although a bit shy at first, it didn't take long before she was hugging and chatting happily.

On the drive home, we stopped for dinner at Tio Gordos Cocina a Mexican restaurant in Port Huron. We sat at the bar rather than wait for a table. 

Dinner was delicious. We gobbled it up then headed for home. Everybody was tired after a long day of travel and looking forward to resting.

This trip was all about 'visiting'. The kids spent quality time visiting with us and their grandparents doing fun things close to home. They even stopped by my husband's office where they toured the Ministry of Environment laboratory ... so many interesting dead bugs and microbes.

We enjoyed some favourite family meals. My Dad's lasagna recipe was delicious as always served with Caesar salad.

Our grandchildren decorated my parents' Easter tree ...  so pretty.

The kids played all sorts of games - badminton and soccer were fun outdoor activities. Peg board pictures and lego were fun to do inside.

Our hot tub was popular with the kids. They went in almost every day.

The kids also loved reading. I had picked up extra books at the library, so there were lots of good stories available.

On Sunday, the day before their departure, we hosted an early family Easter dinner. We called it "Feaster" for fun. Our Feaster day started with a chocolate egg hunt for the kids. The kids loved it so much, they took turns hiding and hunting for eggs all day.

Our Feaster dinner included all our favourite Easter foods - spiral cut ham, scalloped potatoes, baked broccoli with cheese, sweet kale salad, dinner rolls and two kinds of cake. It was tight, but we managed to fit all sixeen of us around two tables in the dining room.

Before dessert, we played 'crack the egg'. Everybody selects a decorated hard-boiled egg then challenges their neighbour to a friendly egg 'tap'. The last egg left intact with no cracks wins the contest. Our sister-in-law introduced this game to our family years ago - so much fun.

This year, our niece's husband won the contest. Way to go James!

My Mother-In-Law brought dessert (chocolate mousse cake and lemon layer cake) ... both delicious.

After dinner, our grandson took the eggs outside to finish them off.

Our granddaughter loved her new bunny ears and other Feaster treats.

Is it an Easter Bunny? No, it's "Ajax Rabbit". Our son's service pup-in-training, Ajax dressed for a fun Feaster photo too. 

The very next day, it was time to pack up, say final good-byes and head back to the airport. For a change of pace, we took the Bluewater Ferry across the river at Sombra. Luckily it was a hit with the kids. 

One more meal before dropping them off at the airport - we dined at bd's Mongolian Grill in Royal Oak near the Detroit Zoo. This restaurant was also a hit with the kids. The fellow with the beard in the photo below was very energetic and entertaining.

It was great to see the kids again. Our daughter is expecting another baby in August. We plan to drive to Boulder in September ... five months from now. Thank goodness for social media. We love to see photos and videos documenting their activities and growth. I am always amazed at how much they grow and change in between our visits. 

In the meantime, I am busy making things for the new baby. So far, I have finished one blanket and started another. I promise to share photos soon.

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Easter and Crochet Space

I thought it might be nice to share a peek into my current crochet creation space along with some photos of my Easter decor. My parents hosted Easter dinner yesterday, so my decorating has been last minute and minimal.

I put away our Christmas wreath and white crochet pumpkins yesterday. Yes, I know it's late. All this snow and cold weather has not inspired spring decorating. Nevertheless, I finally got around to it. I think it's simple, sweet and season appropriate.

Our spray-painted white pine cone wreath is still covered in colourful crochet stars, but I replaced the snowman, Christmas bauble and skates with a pink fluffy bunny and blue egg.

Our dining table centrepiece still has pine cones and walnuts, but the white pumpkins have been switched out for colourful eggs. 

  

Our little hall table is topped with crochet chicks in egg cups surrounding a painted clay bunny our daughter made in high school. I love this Alice in Wonderland bunny she made for us.

I also filled a bowl with Cadbury's Mini Eggs (no photo) to add a bit of colour to our mantle. That's it for Easter decorating at our house. Like I said, it's simple and sweet.

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Would you like to see where I spend a good chunk of time these days? Our living room has become my favourite crochet creation space over the winter. The lighting is good, seating is comfy and I can leave out my stuff without disrupting our 'living' space.

I'm not sure how most houses operate, but our living room was totally underutilized. I could have called it our "cat, dog and clothes drying rack" room before I took it over for crochet. 

This weekend I rearranged the furniture so it's even more suited to my needs. I switched the love seat and piano which works perfectly. I have coffee and crochet to my right, laptop in front and Sadie to my left. 

My crochet supplies are stored throughout the house, but I like to keep my current project supplies and tools readily available by my side.

I like the piano on this wall. We can see it from the hallway and there is more room to walk past because it does not stick out as far as the love seat. The crochet cover on the bench was made for my husband's sub-woofer but found a new home when he complained.

I sit across from the sofa and closer to the coffee table which is nice.

That striped cushion is strategically placed on the sofa for our cat. She loves to curl up on it. I vacuumed the cushion yesterday, but as you can see, it's completely covered in fur again. I may have to buy new cushions for outside this year.

Our clothes drying rack works well in front of our window above the furnace vent. I use it all the time. I think everybody should have a clothes drying rack in their living room. Don't you?

I also like sitting across from this little table with a collection of old family photos; my grandparents' wedding photo, my husband's grandmother and my husband as a wee child. The children dressed as angels are just a card I liked, no relation.

When I pan out, you can see a basket of dog toys . I like to keep them in the basket; our poodle likes to take them out.

I have plans to remove the heavy drapes and change the yellow walls to something more neutral, but that can wait. For now, this room is comfy and cozy and out of the way which is perfect for me and my crochet.

I don't think it's absolutely necessary to designate a space for creativity, but it sure is nice and I feel lucky to have it. What do you think? Do you have a special craft or creativity room? Does it help boost your creativity?

I do hope you enjoyed reading about my Easter and Crochet Space and that you have a Happy, Fun-Filled Easter.

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Crochet Chicks for Easter

Yesterday blogger Lucy at Attic24 shared a free crochet pattern for Mini Chicklets. They are so adorable, I couldn't resist making a few. 

Lucy added embroidered flowers to the front of her chicks. I prefer a simpler look so just omitted that step. I made four chicks altogether: one bright blue, one light blue, one yellow and one cream. What do you think? Aren't they simply sweet?

 

 

I think I'll stop at four as it's a perfect number for our grandchildren - two chicks each are easy to count and fair to share. I also like that these chicks are tiny and fit in a small envelope. Yes, I'm "cheep, cheep, cheep" when it comes to postage.

My daughter tells me they will be in California for Easter so these chicks will make a nice surprise when they get home. I love thinking of our grandchildren having fun opening their gift. I hope they enjoy their Crochet Chicks for Easter half as much as I enjoyed making them. 

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Easter Crochet

This year I would like to share Easter crochet I made over the past two years.

In 2012 I wanted to send something special to our Grandson in California for Easter. I decided to make a bunny with a floppy yellow hat which could double as an Easter basket along with six eggs for hiding. He loved it and still enjoys hide and seek with the eggs. 

My daughter sent this photo of our Grandson hunting for eggs at Easter. Isn't he cute? I loved that he enjoyed the gift and had fun with it. 

For fellow crocheters who might be interested, the bunny pattern can be found here. I made the hat using the hat pattern from Paddington Bear by blogger Yellow, Pink and Sparkly here and the eggs were made using this pattern by blogger Greedy For Colour. All of these patterns are free and provide easy to follow instructions. 

In 2013, our daughter moved to Boulder, Colorado. I decided to send three little chicks in eggs as an Easter surprise for our Grandson. I used this pattern to make the eggs and shells but added wings and copied the face style found in this photo on Pinterest. I also joined the shells with a couple slip stitches so they would stay together as one piece. I took this photo before mailing them off to Boulder. 

I loved the way they turned out and was thrilled when my daughter sent me this video of our Grandson receiving his gift. It makes me smile when I watch it. He is so cute and I love to see how much he has changed in the past year.

This year I decided to keep the decorating simple and use what I already have on hand. Pom-poms were the only new addition. I know I've shared most of these photos over the past few posts but thought it might be nice to show them all in one place.

I love Easter and am looking forward to a delicious Easter dinner at my parents' house with our family. There will be 11 of us this year. We will miss our daughter and her family as they are too far away to join us. I did not send crochet Easter treats to Boulder this year but am busy gathering things to send with my parents when they drive to Boulder to visit in May. I'll have to take pictures of the pile before they leave. I'm sure it will fill their vehicle.

This year our Grandson will be playing with real live chicks at Easter. I don't think crochet creations can compete with that. You can read all about it on our daughter's website Sweet Maple Photography and blog here. I spent lots of time on my grandparents' farm as a kid so I'm glad our grandchildren get to experience a bit of farm fun too.

Happy Easter Everybody!