well big day is here. we are working on moving over to our new blog home. we are trying to figure out a few things and hoping to better understand how to add more photos and adjust some of the layout. i am so fortunate that my husband is so entrenched in this world.

we had an active day otherwise. we were hoping to attend the st. patrick's day parade here. we rarely miss it, i can't tell you all of the ridiculous weather we have endured over the years for this parade, it is usually that good. it was really damp and raining here today so we opted out which ended up being a good thing i was able to catch up in the house a bit.

later today we decided to go to the movies. our little sunshine received some funding from her grammy and poppy for valentine's day to take the three of us on a movie date. today was finally the day. we went to see the princess and the frog. surprisingly we all really enjoyed it, i am not a huge fan of the disney movie. there were a few things that i thought the could have been done differently but it had everything that i love in a movie...i laughed, cried, wanted to get up and dance, snuggled my girl and felt all fuzzy inside! it had some powerful female messages and most of the characters were respectful of each other. i guess there was some controversy over the movie but we all liked it. i remember hearing an interview about the movie on npr when it first came out, so many were very excited about its release.

we don't go to the movies very often any more but we love to take our girl, she always looks so overwhelmed by the experience. it is so exciting that with all that she is exposed to that the movies are still such a thrill for her. one of her favorite things to do is at the end of the movie when the credits and the music are running she likes to go to the front of the theater and dance to the music. she does not care how many people are in the theater she just feels like that is what she wants to do. love her confidence!

{this moment}

a photo~an extraordinary moment~no words~pause~savor~remember...

enchantedmama was looking for us to "think green" this week to celebrate the coming of spring. this was more challenging than you would think. we have had a beautiful winter here in western new york mostly because it has been relatively cold and the snow has remained on the ground so even on the overcast days there has been more reflected light then usual because of the snow. i am not typically a fan of winter, i have trouble without the light, this year i have felt much happier, i have just been embracing it and hoping that it continues. we still have snow even though it has been warmer here. we went ice skating today it was in the 40s and my little sweet pea has a pink little face, i feel so bad that i did not sunscreen today, so out of practice (she says it does not hurt but this was really unexpected in our area not so common as out west).

so here we go with many photos from the week. i never found a bud and i looked hard and long for the entire week. i did have some fun though, thanks kellen.

split peas and sunshine

on the day you were born by debra frasier

thoughts on being green

the creative family by amanda blake soule

made from scratch by jenna woginrich

animal, vegetable, miracle by barbara kingsolver

the backyard homestead by carleen madigan

the handmade home by amanda blake soule

sewing green by betz white

how to design your own clothes and make your own patters by claudia ein

living on earth by alicia bay laurel

the art of sewing-restyling your wardrobe by time-life books

ric rac love

green love

potential in green

my mama made this sweet cookie jar for my grandmother in 1971, my grandma loved roosters.

my grandmother gave this to my sweet girl when she gave up her house. so sweet.

she loved my girl and my girl loved her. missing her so much. so luck that she had the chance to know grandma.

green comes in all shapes...mostly man made these days.

looking for buds...

to the left too...

green on a tree...not what i was looking for!

feeling the joy...

nurture and wonder...

sunshine and happiness!

{this moment}

a photo~an extraordinary moment~no words~pause~savor~remember...

we have been hunkered down since thursday night. lots of snow and no real reason to leave the house.

yesterday morning we made maya's yummy popover's. we made them today too. i have a feeling there is going to be a request tomorrow too.

helen decided that she didn't want maple syrup on her snow today. she thought that she would make chocolate ice cream instead.

we spent most of the weekend reading harry potter and the half blood prince. we finished tonight. movie tomorrow.

tonight as we finished harry potter my sweet girl and i worked on completing some beads that we started for our martin luther king day in event. we actually were able to get so many done in a short time, we are getting really fast at them. we have had so much practice now. i wish that i had kept track of how many bracelets that we have made and sold to raise funds for making strides against breast cancer. i think that it has been 2 or 3 years now. hoping to get some out on etsy soon.

here are some photos from our snowstorm earlier in the weekend.

my mother sent me this beautiful apron yesterday that belonged to her great aunt.

isn't it beautiful?

she also sent our favorite cutout cookies...yummmmmmmmmmm

she made these scrumptious coconut cookies with chocolate buttercream frosting. that is real "butter"cream this is a new recipe. we are really enjoying it!

we had plenty of sugar in the house then my mother-in-law stopped by with a box of chocolate for us. what to do? have a piece, plenty of dark chocolate in here for me. don't you love their chocolatier?

hope that you are enjoying the holiday as much as i am.

my niece taught my daughter how to finger knit when she arrived for thanksgiving, then they could not travel without yarn all weekend. they were so cute, we went to see their cousin in a christmas story playing at Geva Theater they knit through the whole show. laughing and knitting. love this. we had a really great weekend. wonderful food and company.

It looked like we should rake this morning but it was so beautiful and what is Halloween without leaves to slosh through?

We had a really great day. We decided with all that we have been doing on the house that we should take the day off right after we took a trip to historic house parts annual tent sale. Sweetpea did not want to join us but that was the plan. In the end we did not get anything big for the house, we did find twist locks for the spice cupboards. Yippee!

But the real winner was helen. i have been casually looking for a manual typewriter for her for a while now and we found one there. she was beside herself. we came home and she typed her little heart out. daddy was very excited too. he spent a long time online trying to figure out what type it was and looking to order some fresh typewriter ribbon for her. so it is a royal 10 he thinks from 1935. we all love it whatever it is!

we also had not been to the movies in ages. we decided to surprise our girl so we blindfolded her and put her in the car. she kept peaking with just the bandanna on so i had to put my scarf over that too. this was fun. we took her to our favorite local independent theater, the little to see where the wild things are. i am sure that many of you have also heard that maybe not the best movie for smaller children. there were some intensely emotional scenes and some frightening scenes and some very sad scenes too. we all really enjoyed it. we think also not so great for younger kids we did have some discussions with our daughter after the movie to talk about all the emotional issues. i think she understood some and not others. i think that maybe she could relate to many of the emotions too. this was a very well done movie. i can't stop thinking about it 3 days later.

so this day did not seem to want to end. we had our neighborhood halloween parade then mexican buffet at our friends then finally trick or treating.

it was such a beautiful night here. it was a little crisp, clear and still. the moon was just perfect too. hope that you enjoy your day as much as we did.

here is our hermoine granger.

my paternal grandfather's family has been having an annual reunion since 1944.

for several years i worked on the family tree. my great-great-grandfather came to ny from germany in 1848. my great-grandfather really brought our family number up though with 12 out of 15 children that survived to have children of their own.

when i was a kid we had so many that would come to the picnic every year. many came from other states, it was really an event that they did not want to miss. it is really sad now there are just a few families that still come. the numbers of decedents is pretty amazing but the number in attendance is not. it is sad that to so many from my generation (not just my family) have moved away and extended family is not a high priority.

sweet pea really had a great time today climbing the sand hill and hiking with her second cousins who are close to her age. so fun for her.

we were invited to watch the rochester redwings play a game. the great treat was we were going to be watching it from 8 stories up!

we had so much fun. what a beautiful night. we began the birthday celebration for my dear mother-in-law. we even had an amazing show of fireworks.

by the time we left we were all very tired but had not had dinner so we stopped at a diner and had breakfast at 10:30 a first for sweet pea. she loved it.