Spring Time Visitors

Lately we have been noticing some new spring visitors around. The first one we have been seeing we named Tom. He is a swan. He seems to live on the reservoir near our house. Unfortunately we only see him when we are in the car and cannot get close enough to the water safely to get a picture of him. (There is no sidewalk on the water side of the street and it is a busy street.) I am pretty sure Tom is a mute swan. Here is a picture I found on line of a mute swan.

Source: http://www.wildanimalsonline.com/birds/muteswan.php

Our other visitors showed up this morning. I believe they are the same Mr. and Mrs. Mallard that we fed last spring. They live at the pond at one end of the brook that goes around our back yard. The pond is at the other end of our street. At least that is where I have seen them recently. My guess is they have a nest somewhere along the brook since last spring Mr. Mallard came by himself later in the spring.

Needless to say Hazel loves having the ducks come visit our house and we run out and feed them. Afterall her best friend is a duck.

When we started noticing Tom, Hazel began asking questions about what swans eat. I had to do a little research. I googled it but also we went to the library to find some books about swans. The first is a non-fiction book, Swans by Lynn M. Stone. It is a little above Hazel's age level, but she definitely got some good information from it, and I learned a lot more about swans. It is a chapter book with five chapters and lots of pictures.

The next one we got is Little Swan by Jonathan London. This is a picture book that follows a young cygnet from hatching to migrating the first time with details about eating, swimming, etc. This is more age appropriate for Hazel. It is about trumpeter swans, but is general enough for information about most swans in North America.

With our visitors this morning we also pulled out our favorite duck themed books. The first being a classic from this area, Make Way for Ducklings by Robert McCloskey. This book takes place in Boston and tell the story of Mr. and Mrs. Mallard looking for the best place for their nest and then having the eggs hatch and the ducklings, etc. and making their home in the Public Garden in downtown Boston. To show how much this book means to Boston, there are statues of the Make Way for Duckling Ducks in the Public Garden.

Source: http://www.freefoto.com/preview/1211-06-10/Make-Way-for-Ducklings-Sculpture--Boston-Public-Garden--Boston--Massachusetts

And of course we pulled out the classic, Ugly Duckling, which of course combines both types of visitors for us.

Well Hazel has a bit of a fever today. When I spoke to the nurse at her pediatrician's office she said there are many viruses going around with just a fever and no other symptoms, so it looks as though Hazel caught one. So we are having a day of rest even though it is beautiful outside. Ugh!!

Our First Version of Tom the Swan

Well this morning we did some crafts. We started with some paper plate crafts. All you need for any of these is a paper plate, paint, feathers, glue and construction paper and googly eyes. We made a swan and a mallard couple.

Hazel decorated both sides of Mrs. Mallard.

That is what we have been up to. More duck and swan crafts to come. Hope you are having a great day!

This is where I link up...

Books We've Been Enjoying

Today, I thought I would share with you some of the books we have been enjoying from the library.

The Paper Princess by Elisa Kleven is about a princess a little girl made on paper and while trying to decide what hair to give her, she blows away. The story is about the adventures of the princess as she tries to find hair and get back to her little girl. I haven't done it yet, but a great craft would be to make a paper princess. Hazel is not old enough to really draw it herself and cut it out, but she could decorate it.

The Umbrella by Ingrid and Dieter Schubert is a wonderful book without words. It starts on the inside cover and ends on the inside back cover. (The children's librarian told me they had to find a special way to cover the book as to not takeaway from the story.) It is about a little dog who goes for a ride around the world on a red umbrella. The umbrella is used to fly, surf, float, protection and all sorts of things as he sees animals from all over the world.

The Dot by Peter H. Reynolds is a book I discovered through Amy at One Artsy Mama and Rachel at I HEART CRAFTY THINGS.  It is a lovely book about a girl who claims to not be artistic, but her art teacher inspires her and helps her realize we all have some artistic ability. Amy and Rachel have some great crafts to go along with this book. Hazel and I keep talking about making the watercolor dots, but haven't yet.

Those are three of our latest library finds. Hope you enjoy them!!

Family Time

Our Easter Grass Eggs

A quick check of our Easter grass eggs show that Hazel was not great at getting the seeds spread evenly, but they are growing well. It is hard to believe how tall it is. I may add some  

more seeds to the sparse ones when she is not here so they will be full by Easter.

Many Hands Cookies for Church

This year I was asked to chair the Stewardship Ministries at my church. I turned it down several times, but they kept asking so I caved. I know our church like most is really hurting for money and kept thinking who will do this if I don't. After talking to Steve about it, we decided I needed to do it. Then of course I gathered people to be on my committee. Luckily I found four willing people who have been wonderful, and we have had the full support and help of our minister. Well the church motto is Many hands, many beliefs, one journey. As I was thinking about it I came up with our theme which is Many hands, many stories, one church. Then as I was thinking about it at church I looked and saw:

on the pulpit and came up with our logo (above in black and white).

Today I kicked off our Stewardship Celebration/Campaign with a speech introducing all of this and sharing why the church is important to me. My committee also provided the coffee hour and to go with our theme, Hazel and I made cookies shaped as hands. You may remember that I have mentioned previously that I have not had luck making sugar cookies from scratch, however I decided to try again. I decided to try the recipe I saw at Christmas time over at April's Homemaking. And we had success!!

Cracking Eggs

We followed the recipe for the cookies completely. Then for the frosting I used bags of mix I had from the gingerbread house kits.

Hazel was in charge of the mixer. Oh, and since I was taking pictures, she needed to as well. However I wasn't quick enough to get her actually taking the picture.

She helped with the cutting out the first batch, but then just wanted to eat the cookie dough, so I sent her off to play with Daddy. This is what they looked like out of the oven.

This morning we frosted them. Hazel was more in to telling me stories then actually getting much done, so Steve came and helped us. We made about 7 to 8 dozen. And they were all gone after coffee hour!!

We put them on two platters--one for the juice table and one for the coffee and tea table. One of the other members of my committee brought grapes. And the children at our church during Lent always sell muffins that they bake for donations for Heifer, so we didn't want to compete with their sales.

My speech went well. Many people came up and let me know they enjoyed it and thought I did a great job. And everyone loved the cookies and got the connection with the many hands!! Overall a successful day at church. Tomorrow I'll share how we spent the rest of this beautiful day!! (It was sunny and in the low 70's here. The heat wave finally made it to the Boston area!)

Hope you had a great weekend!!