I LOVE SPRING!

i'm trying to remember if i said last september that autumn is my favorite season. did i say that? maybe i meant spring. i love spring. i love that i get to celebrate easter in the northern hemisphere this year, where things are actually coming back to life. it is full of a whole different kind of meaning. i love it. love the pastels everywhere, love the budding trees and the sprouting tulips and other such bulbly flowers. love it. so to celebrate spring, and also because i love making cupcakes lately, we made these.

we made them from scratch with a yellow cake recipe and tweaked it a bit. and we did cream cheese frosting. some of them overflowed a bit when baking, but they taste pretty darn good. another great part of spring--wilton easter sprinkles.
what easter crafts are you doing?

down with the shine

last night i was watching the avett brothers tiny desk concert at npr on youtube. they are amazing performers. the second song they did (which is so new it's not on any of their albums, DARN!) is called "down with the shine."

down with the shine, the perfect shine

that poisons the well and ruins my mind

i get took for a ride every time

down with the glistening shine.

can i just say wow. this song really struck me, i mean it flat-out banged me over the head. i LOVE those lyrics. how often do i get distracted and caught up with things because they're shiny? and anyway "the perfect shine" is just an allusion, right? that makes my own life look less wonderful in comparison and makes me want more than what i have. that is poisonous, indeed. isn't "the shine" what makes me think that if i only had this new thingy or if i was only like her, i'd be happy. it's not even usually a conscious thing, but still "i get took for a ride every time."

i love the idea of a revolution, and instead of people shouting, "down with the czar!" or "down with the government!" they'd say "down with the shine!"

if you want to watch it go here, "down with the shine" starts at 7:23. or watch the whole video, because it's all great!

most this amazing day

lately my husband has been like, "what's up with you never posting on your blog anymore?" and i'm like, "i dunno!" so this post is for you, honey.

today when i woke up i remembered that FANTASTIC MR. FOX (more about that later) came out on dvd today, and i was so excited that we went to the grocery store first thing. it was so foggy that it was quite hard to see; but when we came out, most of the fog had lifted.

it had already been a good morning: little c. was great in the store, (quite unusual,) we were both excited to watch fantastic mr. fox, a movie that my whole family has been dying to see since we saw the first trailer for it months and months ago ( i ♥ wes anderson very much,) and we were listening to a great song.

i started looking around my neighborhood, and it was beautiful. the frost had settled all over everything, making even the brown, reedy weeds look beautiful. and everywhere there was steam rising up from the ground, like in brigadoon when it disappears. all of a sudden this poem that i memorized in my first humanities class in college (the class that got me to fall in love with the humanities forever) sprang into my mind,

i thank You God for most this amazing
day:for the leaping greenly spirits of trees
and a blue true dream of sky; and for everything
which is natural which is infinite which is yes

(i who have died am alive again today,
and this is the sun's birthday; this is the birth
day of life and of love and wings: and of the gay
great happening illimitably earth)

how should tasting touching hearing seeing
breathing any--lifted from the no
of all nothing--human merely being
doubt unimaginable You?

(now the ears of my ears awake and
now the eyes of my eyes are opened)

-e.e. cummings

it made me happy. i hope you had a happy day, too.

this too shall pass in the sun

there are two videos that have come out lately that i have watched repeatedly (mostly because the kids are like, "again! again!") one is ok go's new video for their song "this too shall pass." this video is definitely an amazing feat. it's shot in one long take and they had engineers from all over the country create this "machine" for them. i don't own any ok go albums, but they without a doubt make some awesome videos. this one is my very favorite.

the other one is she & him's video for their single, "in the sun." how adorable is this video? plus, i really want the dress that zooey deschanel is hula-hooping in at the end.

these two videos have got me thinking about other music videos that i've loved over the years and that my kids have loved watching as well. here's a list:

kings of convenience, "i'd rather dance with you"

the shins, "australia"

feist, "1,2,3,4"

fleet foxes, "white winter hymnal"

p.s. for some reason it seems to be cutting off the sides of the videos. if that happens just click on them again and it should take you to the original source.

time off

the husband and myself have both been feeling a little cabin fever lately. y'know, the winter seems like it has gone on forever, and we both felt like we were in a bit of a rut.

so we planned a short escape; a little road trip to visit my parents and nene. we were only gone two and a half days, but we packed in a lot of stuff. it was really fun for us and the kids. we got a "big boy" bed for little c., sweet m. got her hair cut, we went to a dinosaur museum/park, and we got to celebrate baby s.'s first birthday (even though her birthday is really today, happy birthday you cutie!)

anyway, here are some pictures of the weekend:

this one is so blurry but i love it because this is the way i see sweet m. looking at my mom most often. she loves her grandma so much.

getting in some snuggles with baby s. isn't she adorable?

swimming in the hotel pool.

the dinosaur park. the kids LOVED this.

little baby s. is not such a baby anymore! we had some cupcakes to celebrate her first birthday.

right before we left, my mom sat down with m. and listened to her read. they took turns reading and it was so fun to watch them. m.'s reading skills have improved a lot lately and i think everyone was impressed with her!

i love visiting my family. being around them automatically makes me feel more like myself and more happy. i feel so blessed to have them in my life.