trillium mama

it's about that time

Even though it snowed this morning, an odd sight this late in the season for my area, it's time to start thinking about growing things. I am trying to stick to my resolution to start my own seedlings this year, and avoid paying a nursery ridiculous prices for boring varieties of fruits and vegetables later in the season. I have been browsing garden blogs and came across this tool. I love it. It makes my life much easier, and who doesn't love that?

I dug up (no pun intended-well maybe just a little intention) a garden photo from early last year. Just to get you (and me) in the gardening mood.

Tomorrow is my lovely daughter's birthday. She will be three, and although she still feels like my baby, she is moving into childhood at a rapid pace. Tonight I stayed up late scrambling to put something together that will make her feel special when she wakes up. It's not much, but I threw together a card and table decorations out of some Amy Butler brochures I picked up at the International Quilt Show. They are being put to much better use this way, as I know Ava will feel like they were designed just for her.

I also repainted her favorite chair, and hand applied a design and her name on the back. I can't wait for her to discover it in the morning.

So happy birthday my sweet. It seems like yesterday that I met you for the first time. You amaze us every day with your caring, humorous, busy, intelligent personality. I am thankful to be your mom.

For those of you who keep up with my painfully slow paced blogging, you may remember the puppy we got last Summer, Scout. Even though we researched the breed very well before we committed to buying a puppy, Scout proved to be an anomaly to the Havanese breed. After months of struggling with his dominant personality, it became apparent that he would never see our daughter as above him in the pack. So we gave him back to the breeder.

She was able to find him a great home that he is thriving in, and we are glad we made the decision we did. A month ago the breeder called us and asked if we might be interested in an almost 2 year old female Havanese. We were hesitant, but finally got up to meet her. We knew almost immediately that she was going to fit well into our family. They mentioned that they wanted to breed her once before we got her, so we were planning on late Summer to have her come home. We were surprised when the breeder asked if we wanted to take her that day and see how she did with our family.

Long story short (well shorter than it would be) we brought her home, and she is a perfect match. She came with a name, Wille Mae, which we like, but I'm thinking of changing it to Lilly Mae. It sounds close enough that she still responds to it. As you can see here, Ava is quite in love with our little dog.

quiet places

We have been busy lately. Trying to do more day trips and less staying home thinking we are going to accomplish great tasks, but not actually accomplishing anything. We had a trip to the coast, the Columbia River Gorge, got a new dog, had our first trip to the kid's dentist, and various other things. We have been awaiting the first signs of spring, daffodils are growing, chicks are hatching, and baby bunnies are expected soon. Things have been moving along at a good pace, nearing the end of winter and moving into a new, busier season.

We are taking time to enjoy the little things. The quiet found in visiting places off season has been blissful. A coast line with not another soul in sight, a popular fish hatchery with only the occasional single passerby. This is the time of year to enjoy the outdoors, before they are transformed by crowds of busy visitors.