~early spring~

did you think I could resist these?

We had the Winter That Wasn't and now are having some lovely, warm days. The sun is strong, no leaves on the trees, so when you are outside it can feel very tiring this time of year.

Maple syrup time. An afternoon of helping friends clean their yard, stoke the fire in the Sugar Shack, watch the baby pick up pine cones, make sure no one chopped off their foot, and watching some very industrious wood chopping boys. (Worried GPW should avoid the following pictures!)

Notice the careful, wide-legged stance!

Also, some friends visited (baby feet, pictured above) and we caught up and played games and made yummy food (dehydrated kale chips were delicious, even Jonas admits it!), including some very rich and decadent chocolate chip cookies, as well as very delicious butter cookies sweetened with maple syrup. Here they are bumping elbows on the rack.

...Shhh! The computer is napping.

The Favorite Holiday

One more shot of my new favorite hankie,
already on the clothesline!
First day of hanging out the laundry!

A couple of years ago, Jonas told me (in utter disappointment on the actual day) that Easter was his most favorite holiday, and why had we not planned a party?!
Too late that year, but this year, Mama is on top of it. I think it's the excess that he appreciates, and thanks to Jenny, who has personally stuffed 72 eggs with a combination of candy, coins, and Easter jokes, I think he'll be all set. We will be having some brunch with a couple of families here at our house, and hopefully, an outdoor egg-hunt. One of our favorite 2 year-olds will be here, in some sort of festive adorableness, and my biggest fear is (not the testosterone-plagued 6-7 year-olds on SUGAR but) that Miss Z. will trip and come in personal contact with chicken poop.
This is always my biggest fear about anyone who comes to our house.

Tiny felted eggs in a hand-made basket by Ravenhill's Mom.

Above is the little package that I sent off to Miesmama for the Swap--CHOO; I am showing it to you because she told me it has arrived. Here's what she sent me. I chose the poem Litany by Billy Collins, one of my favorites. There was an ATC in there too, but it's hiding.
And finally, these amazing cookies from the latest issue of Cooks Illustrated, which really ARE worth the 400 times they spent trying to perfect the idea of chocolate chip cookie. The key: browned butter. Since receiving the new issue, I have already made these lovelies twice. Perfectly decadent, with that lovely toffee flavor of browned butter. And as Hannah says, why don't we use browned butter in everything, it is just SO great. I did make them smaller than Cooks told me to, because dang, they wanted them HUGE and they are just too rich for that size. I laughed out loud when I saw that Annie made these recently also and was raving about them on her blog!