the tuesday diptych project week 9

Desiree (left): Spring has been teasing us this week. We've had snow, and rain, and finally some sunshine. I'll be pleased when we can put away the snowsuit & mittens for good! The little one & I have been spending lots of time in our backyard, now that the weather is a little more forgiving, and she's found hours of enjoyment playing on the blue porch -- climbing the stairs, up and down, up and down. She loves to play with the little stones on the path, gathering them up in her hands, placing them on the stairs & helping a few wayward bits into her mouth (and quickly back out again). I've filled her sandbox up with brand new sand (which she also had to taste) and she's been trying to pluck all of the new little sprouts out of the earth. Thankfully, over the past couple of days I've been able to teach her a gentler approach to flower & all things green and growing: she leans her face very close and sniffs with her nose. I hope she'll always remember to stop and smell the flowers -- a lesson learned at just fourteen months.

Johanna (right): To me, nothing says spring and Easter more than a fresh bouquet of pussy willows. When I was a little girl, my mom would put a bouquet of pussy willows into one of her nicest vases and then we would decorate it with our hand dyed Easter eggs. This was a yearly tradition which we called our Easter Tree.

When I brought this bouquet home over the weekend, memories came flooding back of our family Easters gone by. I thought back to all of the good food we would've ate, the church breakfast that we went to, the coin boxes that we handed in at Sunday school, the celebrations, the Easter egg hunts, so many lovely memories. Now that I have a little one I hope that I can continue such wonderful memories in our home.

This Easter weekend will be a quiet one with just the three of us. I plan on making brunch and an Easter dinner and of course we will be going to church. It will be quiet without the hustle and bustle of running around. Perfect I say! A perfect way to stop and recognize all the beauty of spring and celebrate the promise of Easter.