Showtime at 3 Ps and N!

It was a show extravaganza at 3Ps and N today. First we made some puppets using print-outs of SBS and Sam and some nice rabbits from the Skip to My Lou.org website. Then we made a puppet theater out of Pop's discarded cereal box. Let the show begin!
Interesting dialogue. Throughout the show, Rainbow (the girl) told Spike (the boy): "I'm not your girlfriend. I told you I'm not your girlfriend!"

Seamus found the whole puppet show experience fascinating to watch. He is a big fan of puppets.

This rascally rabbit didn't fit in the theater but Helena was insistent he not be trimmed to size. So he danced on the theater and sang songs to us.

Then I was visited by a singing ladybug!

But wait, there's more! After lunch we watched an Angelina Ballerina video and Helena really became inspired. I heard all about her dance classes and we had some more recitals!

There was a long discussion about using scarves while dancing so Helena just had to give me a sample......

There were some really energetic dance steps demonstrated!

A variety of dance styles.....

And then, Helena was done, escorted out of the theater by stage hand Seamus Poodle.

Maybe it was the energy, or the cape, but it kind of reminded me of a James Brown concert....

And like a James Brown concert, there were surprises.....

Ladies and Gentlemen, she's back, the queen of shows.......

All revved up by the applause of the crowd of poodles...

And we got a song about smiling at a crocodile, complete with hand gestures:

And just when you thought it was all over..........

It was time to give Pop Pop a puppet show:

That's all folks :)

Checking in.....

I finished cleaning the sewing room on Thursday.....wahooo. Unfortunately it took everything out of me to get it done (try kneeling on the floor scrubbing with a recovering sprained ankle and two hands with carpel).
The good news is I can see everything and there is a place for everything and everything in its place.......

But my hands were too sore to do much--which was okay because my brother came to town and instead we celebrated Christina's birthday. I can't believe my baby niece is now 13!!! My baby brother's baby is a teen, what is the world coming to? We had a great visit with the gang this weekend and had a wonderful birthday party on Saturday for Christina.

The only problem with having a spring cleaned room is---you want the rest of the house to be as clean (and it sure isn't). Well it's a Helena day here today so I'm off to get our activities organized. Have a wonderful and blessed day :)

Delight in simple things......

Easter Egg Tree (idea from DK kids)

A sunny and warm spring day!


Egg carton flowers for Melanie (Helena's Mama) and Helena did almost ALL the work herself! (Idea from Skip to My Lou.org)

Decorating for Easter!

Happiness is..........

Springtime,

A grandchild due November 11,

Husband and son home safe from their trip,

A clean sewing room,

A garden sprouting buds,

A brother coming home this week.

I need very little these days......

"Happiness is...

as a butterfly which, when pursued, is always beyond our grasp, but which if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you."
--Nathanial Hawthorne

Happiness is........

Sharing a stick with a friend!

Flea market finds.........

Sunbonnet sewing kit

I have two other ones and just enjoy finding them now and then!

You put your hand work in the head part and the brim is used for your tools, clever eh?

Juvenile coverlet.

The top folds over the pillow.

I have a couple of these too, they must have been really popular at one time. I find them embellished with applique, embroidery, crayon, etc. I often wonder if it is for an actual crib (they often seem a little more mature than baby things) or for a junior bed that uses a crib mattress. I would like to know more about them but never have really seen ads for them in the magazines I have from the early part of the 20th Century. I'll have to go back and look more closely.

This one is embellished with a Dutch theme and is well done. I wonder if it was a kit.

It's Here...........

Welcome Spring!

"Where man sees but withered leaves,

God sees sweet flowers growing."

~Albert Laighton

"Oh the honey-bees are gumming
On their little wings, and humming
That the summer, which is coming,
Will be fun.”

A.A. Milne, ‘The House at Pooh Corner

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

"St. Patrick's Day is an enchanted time - a day to begin transforming winter's dreams into summer's magic."

----Adrienne Cook

Monday

Helena was here today!

We made toys that we found at the toymaker.com: nice fairies and wagons and all in time for St. Patrick's Day.


Then we baked cookies...........chocolate chip with sprinkles!

Next it was time to dress the babies.........

And get dressed up.........

In order to look good for the concert we give at our velvet stage.......

Which interested Seamus very much.....

And Teddy like to interrupt and steal props from.........

And then--believe it or not,

it was time for lunch.

Nana is whooped after Helena days :)

Mishaps, Madness, and Mystery...

Only four more days until Spring's official arrival! Yesterday it was just lovely outside so I began the yearly chore of cleaning out the garden beds. This task usually takes days but I do enjoy all of it: discovering the pink tips of the peonies surfacing above the damp earth, the smell of the dried catmint and lavender and the wee cabbage-looking sprouts that surface for the sedum. My french weeping pussywillow has little furballs for Helena and I to pet. It is all wonderful!

Last year while doing this, some debris I was clearing hit me in the face and scratched my cornea. This year, while lugging a pail of leaves and dead branches to the composter, I stumbled on the root of a tree, fell and sprained my ankle. This is all part of the sacrifices of gardening and I am just grateful my ankle isn't broken.

I haven't posted for a few days because of my other project. I was hoping that when DH goes back on the road, the sewing room would be cleaned and reorganized. Before my husband's accident, I used to take about three days each spring to refold my fabric. I have lots of fabric that people have given to me that has faded in the creases. Refolding helps prevent this and it was a relaxing way to initiate spring cleaning.

I haven't done the annual refolding in the past few years since DH's accident and this spring seemed like a perfect time to donate what I didn't need/want and rediscover what had been forgotten.

I am one of those quilters who is guilty of saving "good fabric" that I like. It is madness--I love 1930s reproduction fabrics and have a nice stash--but only used it to make one small table topper. Ridiculous!!!

Still think this isn't madness? How about these fabrics that I have had since the 1980s when Linda and I used to sew together. I just never used the fabrics because I loved them at the time. I think 20 + years is enough. Time to pass some of these babies along (okay maybe the pink rose one, the smaller print one I might keep for another 20 years).

I found a visitor while cleaning the garden yesterday. I'm not sure how he ended up in the lavender but he was worth a chuckle when I found him. Most likely he ended up there after taking a trip off my neighbor's porch (4 kids, 3 of which are boys). He's not exactly what I would consider a garden fairy but we have to take what we get. I'll call him O'Brien since it is so close to St. Patrick's Day.

We're pooped

It seems like it has been a lot of activity lately. I can't even remember what I have been doing. I can tell you what I haven't been doing: working on research, sewing, getting things ready for the yard sale, the May program, etc. I am going up to the sewing room and get it cleaned up. DH is leaving for Venezuela again soon (he has been home for a week) and I want to go about my stuff unincumbered then. We'll see............

Never say never.......

...is my motto today. Helena is 5 and when my cousin was expecting her first baby, I passed on the baby things we kept at the house for Helena. I figured my Aunt (who was watching the new baby like I watched Helena) could use the stuff at her house and she did.....and it was swell for her.



Last week, my Aunt called and asked did I want the stroller and things back....or she should pass them on? I didn't see any new babies on the horizon and told her to pass them on.



Last week, my friend Juju sent me a quilt pattern and I didn't think I would use it because heck, I am hardly doing as much piecing as I used to and then there was Patty Pat who posted some lovely bibs and burp pads--I did print those instructions out but they are MIA now (how can things get lost in two days I ask you).



So I found the quilt instructions, called my Aunt and she hadn't passed on the stroller and baby things and I am still hunting for the bib pattern. But my motto is now....

never say never

This just in.........

We heard from our son tonight and it looks like another grandbaby is on the horizon!!!!!!!!!! YEHHHHHH, not sure when yet thought it appears to be in November or December. Helena is ecstatic and gave my hubby a thorough discussion this evening on how one can tell if a baby is a boy or a girl :)
She also is in love with a cartoon called Sonic the Hedgehog....been in love with Sonic for a while and has told me solemnly how she intends to marry him when she grows up. So Nik told us tonight that the one catch is that if the baby is a boy, Helena wants to name him Sonic :D
So good news tonight! Yehhhhhh more babies~!

Road Trip!

Taking a road trip today to see, possibly purchase some vinatge linens. It's off we go! Will post any treasures I bring back later!

Ted is cleared!!!!!!!!!

Sometimes I think we should have called Teddy a different name like Calvin. Then we could nickname him calamity Cal. Ted just got cleared by the vet to go back to Woof World which means I can do day trips again!
Ted had been diagnosed at the beginning of the month with the equivalent of doggie chicken pox. The vet said only about 20 percent of dogs get it but of course, Ted would and other two didn't. Then he developed an eye infection which we are hoping is not due to allergies (hence raccoon eyes in the picture).
But he is clear now, clear of puppy pox, eye infection and ready to rock and roll with the big boys. :)

Crazy Dogs: the Gods of Frolic.....