Sunny Days Bring Lots of Joy

Sunny days brings with it lots of joy in this house.  Being trapped in the house for about 4 months out of the year, we're soaking up every drop of sunshine and warm weather that this early summer-like April is bringing.  Which makes me relish in the fact that such joy comes to two little toddlers and one 'I'll-follow-my-big-sisters-wherever-they-go' baby, with a trip out the back door, down the steps and onto the patio and backyard lawn.

We're also loving this new sandbox that Daddy built in just a few hours on Saturday afternoon.  Only slightly hinted by this Mama...but no pressure Daddy, no pressure at all...

Thanks to my uncle, who happens to be a farmer with several rock piles - this project was FREE

Add a slide to the sandbox and here is pure joy, Kira's face shows it all.  Joy is what this trip around the sun is all about.  Somedays, like any Mama, you wonder where the heck did I end up...and then you see your kids, enjoying the simplest things in life and it brings you back down to earth, to soak it all up.  Sand, who would've thought that this earthly material could bring out so much joy, creativity, fun and not to mention hours and hours of entertainment to the littlest of littles.

I've been brought back down to earth in these past couple of years, and all I want to do, everyday, is to enjoy every single moment that I have on this trip around the sun.  Children are the ultimate joy-givers and I love them all to end of the earth and back again.  The littles of this earth and those that have flown to heaven, bring out the best in us and bring us back to the simple things in life.  Joy...pure joy...

Looking for a crafty spring project for your little ones?  Try these pinecone bird feeders...basically free again!  If you can't tell, I'm all about free, cheap and saving money, because lets face it, the cheaper it is...the more fun it can bring.  I will recommend though that you have some help with this one; I was a leaning a little towards the Mama-about-to-pull-her-hair-out at the end of this craft with two eager toddlers and a very quick-grab 10-month old in a walker that she can CRUISE in!

The girls, Bella and Kira, collected these pine cones on their nature walk last week...slather them in peanut butter, roll them in bird seed, attach a string, hang and watch the birds come in!

Joy, it's what the heart needs.  And this was what I found on the tree facing into our new sandbox...our perfect little heart formed right into our tree...

Enjoy!