Flowers and Hearts

What a funny little day Valentine's is. Rumor has it all started with the beheading of two guys named Valentine, I don't know if that is true or not but any excuse to give flowers, chocolate and make googly eyes at each other is a good enough excuse to me. This year we baked cookies, ate chocolate, made valentines and enjoyed some flowers.

Some lovely tulips that Daniel surprised me with.

Maddie has her cookie cutters and whisk and she is ready to bake!

  Maddie loves to sing and to her anything makes a great microphone including her whisk. Here she was striking a pose after belting out "This girl is on fire!" Its an Alicia Keyes song. Thats the only words either of us know.

Maddie making a valentine.

 

The Camellia bush finally bloomed, just in time for Valentines Day. That bush has had buds on it for like two years, I didnt think it was ever going to bloom. Plus Maddie has been plucking buds off of it for the past two years and pretending it is giraffe food so I really didnt think there would be anything left to bloom. Maddie checking to see if the icing on the cookies had dried. She was quite excited, I was nervous because I have never made sugar cookie before, and I love a good sugar cookie so I had high hopes. They turned out a bit hard, I am going to have to find a different recipe/method next time.
This is Sally the Gerbil-loon. Maddie named her Sally the Gerbil-loon, but I like to call her the stalker. In the past three years since Maddie has been born, we have had alot of balloons come and go in the house, but none of them could travel around the house quite like this one. One minute Sally would be in the kitchen and the next I would see her in my peripheral vision in the dining room, totally freaking me out because a balloon in your peripheral vision in dim light can definitely be mistaken for a serial killer.  
A little vase I crocheted for Valentines day. I was totally going to put it up on Etsy for V-day but it never made it. Happy Valentine's Day! Maddie made her Valentine, she practiced writing her M's in the middle of the heart.

Cold, hot and sometimes lukewarm

Old man winter this year in Portsmouth, Va has been quite fickle. He cant decide to either dump a few inches of ice and snow on us during rush hour traffic or to give us rainy, humid sixty degree temps like today. Its hard to decide how to dress or how to spend the day. The snow was a most welcomed sight but it caught us off guard a bit. We had to completely turn the house upside down to find matching mittens for Maddie. We found these kitten mittens which were a gift two winters ago, along with the hat and we really hadnt seen the weather cold enough to warrant wearing them much. Those kitten mittens were cute but they soaked up the melting snow fast, Maddie didnt care at all. Her fingers would have fallen off before she would have asked to come in from the fun. Since the snow has melted and the winter has returned to the expected rain that never seems to stop, we have been trying to find some fun indoors. We are definitely looking forward to spring.

The cardinal above is sitting on the fence wondering where his meal is. We purchased a bird feeder this year hoping to attract more birds to the yard. It really has brought them in and to my surprise, they can good through some seed quickly. We have a lovely pair of cardinals that are pretty regular, some grackles, tons of finches and a gaggle of mourning doves. The doves taunt poor Cooper to no end. He tires himself out trying to run them off.

Our Chia pet. Maddie loves the Chia pet song when the commercial comes on, so much so she will randomly bust out in song, CH-CH-CH-CHia! Well who could resist a plant that forms the furry body of an animal, so I bought one for her. I was hoping for a sheep but all I could find was an elephant, who ever heard of a furry elephant. It was cute and fun to plant.

A grey and green wool/bamboo blanket I was working on. It was basically a test for the blanket that I want to make for Maddies bed.

Who can resist Hungry Hippos! I used to love this game as a child and I am hoping Maddie will too. Although I dont remember it being so noisy as it is. I guess I didnt notice it as a kid.

Snowy moss in the backyard.

Here is some nice merino wool that I ordered a few weeks ago. It is for a blanket for Maddies bed but I cant decide which stitch/pattern to use and I am afraid to start it in case I mess up. I will figure it out eventually, I hope. Every time I get up enough nerve to work on it, I get visions of the first blanket that I made her that completely fell apart. I hope that I have gotten better at this crochet stuff. I also think I underestimated how much yarn I will need. I have this fear that I will only be able to crochet an 18 inch blanket!