Note Card Party: Our Just Desserts

Again it is time for Vee's monthly Note Card Party,

and I'm serving up a little something sweet this month!

(Below each image, I'll provide a link to the recipe.)

~ Lemon Cheesecake Mousse ~

~ Strawberry Pie ~

~ Blackberry Pavlova ~

~ Blueberry Lemon Scones ~

Are you hungry yet? Want to grab a cuppa and join me?

Do you have a blog?

Then you can join this month's party over at Vee's Haven!
Come on over...it's lots of fun!

(Click the button for details.)

Sunday Snapshots: A Sneak Peek

More about this milestone later in the week...

A Personal Photo Challenge {Close-up/Macro}

Again this month, I am joining Donna in her Personal Photo Challenge. I have been practicing all month, and although I feel like I'm barely scratching the surface with all that there is to learn about macro photography, I was able to come up with three photos that pleased me. 

~ * ~ * ~ * ~

This pansy pleased me, partly because I have enjoyed the delight of these early spring flowers in my kitchen. But I also enjoyed the play of sunlight as it shone through the kitchen window and highlighted the cheerful flower's yellow petals and its leaves. 

I am wondering if this photo is close enough to be considered "macro." I used my Canon Rebel T3 and the 18-55 mm lens, on the "close-up" setting. I cropped the image a bit, slightly sharpened it, and then used PicMonkey's "Focal Soften" tool to blur the background a little more.

This photo of our own forsythia pleased me because I loved it even without editing! 

All the informative articles about macro photography that Donna provided said to avoid taking pictures on a windy day, and yet, I was struggling with some wind the day that I took this shot. Even so, I liked the focus of the flower and the bud in the foreground, and the soft background. (And then, maybe I am just influenced by the long-awaited symbol of spring that these blooms represent!)

This last photo pleased me with the sunny yellow bloom and the tiny details that I did not notice with the naked eye. And it also pleases me to see the sweet smile of my granddaughter Maddie as my beautiful background. 

I cropped this image, but otherwise it is straight out of the camera. 

A Personal Photo Challenge was definitely a challenge this month! Lots of shots attempted, lots of shots "meh", and a few I really liked. But that's the good part, right? Keep trying, keep learning, keep improving! Thank you, Donna!

Next month's challenge...colorful. Hmmm...

Making It New Monday {The Herb Garden}

I know it's not Monday (even though Ron is off from work this week and one can get the days mixed up when the routine is altered). But I am joining my dear friend Joanne with her link-up "Make It New Monday", and as her link is open all week, I am jumping in on a Wednesday!

Once upon a time, there was an herb garden just outside our back door...

with lovely herbs for cutting, for cooking.

Then came the Winter of 2014. Which left this...

It was time to make it new!

Ron and I headed off to Lowes in search of some new plants to replace the ones that didn't survive The Winter of 2014. 

And now, we have this...

An herb garden filled with baby plants and potential. 

Do you like to make things new? Adapt a recipe to meet your family's preferences? Remake old clothing into something snazzy? Rework an idea to make it your own? Then maybe you'd like to pop over to Joanne's at My Not-So-Empty Nest on the first Monday of each month...to get some inspiration or to link up your own project!

Sunday Snapshots: Mixing It Up

Yesterday, we mixed it up a bit.

Because Kati is not up to sitting in a straight-backed, non-cushioned chair yet, she sat on the love seat in the kitchen and we adults ate dinner at the kitchen table. We sat DaVinci's-Last-Supper style (all on one side of the table) so that no one's back would be to Kati. The children, who usually eat at the kitchen table, enjoyed their Sunday meal in the dining room. (The table setters had to be on their toes, and more than one kid sat in an adult seat before they were rerouted to the dining room.)

Owen brought his famous sweet potato biscuits. But when Papa said "Is this the sweet potato boy?," he said, "No."
Instead, we called him "the sweet boy" which he didn't like any better. When you're a seven-year-old boy, you don't want to be sweet. (Papa says that he wouldn't mind if someone called him sweet.)

Then we mixed up dessert. After lunch, we adults decided that we would go ahead and eat dessert and let the kids eat later. They were all playing happily when I fetched the Klondike bars from the freezer. But -(can you guess?)- before we had even removed the wrappers, every single kid came inside for a drink! (You knew, didn't you?) Busted! 

Narnia was the theme yesterday. The children constructed a bow, arrows, and quiver, swords, a dagger, a shield, and a flag.
Pine branches served as torches. Red markers made "scratches." 

After dessert, we mixed up game time...sort of. Really, we just brought the game to Kati and played our usual Apples to Apples.  

This little cutie left the outdoor play. She came in crying, saying, "I asked them what I could be and they didn't!"
  After some consoling from her daddy, she was content to draw picture after picture on the MagnaDoodle.
(And she can write the letter "A" now, too!)

 My favorite story of the afternoon...

At Dairy Queen on Friday night, Ben took the dessert coupon from his kids' meal up to the counter all by himself and placed his order, a cup of chocolate ice cream. Returning to his seat to wait for his treat, he realized that he hadn't asked for sprinkles. (Alaine, whose daddy had ordered for her, was waiting for an ice cream with sprinkles.)

When the waitress brought the kids their ice cream, Ben mustered his courage. Turning away from the waitress, he said, "I have a question. I forgot sprinkles."  

(End of the story: The waitress brought Ben a little cup of sprinkles and he covered his ice cream.)

Susan, Edmund, Lucy, and Peter

Our day of "mixing it up" was lots of laid back fun. With all the special days coming up, our next "normal" Sunday is weeks and weeks away. The children are planning costumes and talking about what they'll do next when again they meet in Narnia.

A Weekend Chat

The sun is shining, the birds are singing, and we are smiling here at our house!

Although at times it seemed it would never get here, Kati's surgery was Thursday morning. Her ornery gall bladder is now a thing of the past! She had a good deal of pain and nausea after the surgery and it was decided that she should stay at the hospital overnight. But we all arrived home yesterday afternoon and she is improving day by day.

Today, we all took our lunch out to the patio (we didn't linger...the wind was chillier than we thought!) and Kati and I took a walk down our long lane to the mailbox. It feels so good to be moving ahead.

So many of you have told me that you were praying for Kati during these past six weeks and it warms this mama's heart to know that you were concerned.

Thank you for your prayers! I know that "the effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much." (James 5:16) 

While Kati was in the hospital, Bekah stayed at her big sister Kristin's house, taking some school work along to do during the time that her niece and nephews would be doing their own school work. Knowing that Kristin had planned some fun things for all the kids to do during the two days that Bekah would be there, I said to Bekah, "While Kati's having surgery, you're going to have a little vacay!"

"A vacay with school," Bekah replied. 

Schoolwork notwithstanding, they had a great time together with outings and in-ings and special treats. And Bekah was able to avoid the whole hospital scene, which suited her germaphobe self to a T.

Back at home, she went into caretaker mode. She went out and picked a daffodil for Kati's tray, and is happy to do her bidding. (One of her jobs is keeping Pinky from trying to climb onto Kati's lap. Ouch!)

Speaking of vacay, Ron took off Thursday and Friday, and is on vacation this coming week too. Our grand plans for the week are to paint our bedroom and to do some yard work. I really don't like yard work in the summer heat, but in the spring, it is invigorating.

Most of the green in the picture is weeds.

Our herb garden took a beating this winter. Plants that have wintered over for years did not survive this brutal winter. My very large rosemary plant died. The thyme that I got from a friend twenty-five years ago did not make it. The oregano from the same friend is hanging on for dear life, with only a few green edges on a large (mostly brown now) plant. The marjoram, also barely hanging on. The chives thrived, as did my least favorite plant in the herb garden, rue. I only keep it because it is food for the large number of swallowtail caterpillars that feast on it each summer. It lives, so the caterpillars will dine sumptuously again this year. 

So the herb garden needs an overhaul. Trees need trimming. The beds need mulch. Maybe we'll get some of it done during this week of working vacation. Or maybe we'll go get ice cream.

April is shaping up to be a busy month of celebrations. On successive weekends we have Bekah's 13th birthday, Resurrection Sunday, and a baby shower for my niece. Lots of family time! Lots of celebrating! Blessings abound! 

All of a Sudden...

Winter seemed longer than usual this year. It was colder and it was grayer and it was snowier than any in recent memory.  It felt like it might never end. 

I kept looking for signs. Signs that maybe, just maybe, winter was winding down. 

But I didn't see any signs. 

No spring peepers. No buds. No color. No warmth. Little sun. Brown grass.

The first day of spring was sunny, at least. I opened the front door to let in the light, and as I woke the girls, I called, "We made it!" But even then, a chill wind blew and we ate our first-day-of-spring Italian ice in the car where it was warm. And six days later, another winter storm dumped another six inches of snow.

But all of a sudden...

Today. Exactly one week after the storm, I realize that spring is here. All of a sudden. 

All of a sudden, I notice that the grass is green. 

All of a sudden, we hear the peepers peeping their spring song. 

As we wait for Kati to make a dash into Target, we open the windows of the van and hear birds twittering.  

The air is warmish; we leave coats behind. 

The reluctant daffodils are opening. 

Bekah's piano teacher tells us, "I believe that spring has sprung!" We agree!

~ photo by Bekah ~

I believe that this waiting and this all-of-a-sudden is a picture of truth.

How many times do we hope for something and it seems as if it will never come? It seems that there are no signs that anything is happening. 

But behind the scenes and in hidden places, things are happening. And suddenly, in His time, that which has been planned all along can be seen. 

If God has said it, it is true. 

{Gathering the Moments} March

I have given March a name this year..."The Month of In Between."

We have been in those lingering days.

Days in which Winter lingered, Spring peeked, Winter returned, Spring tried again, and Winter did the same. Yes, it was the "in between" of seasons.

We have been "in between" as we await Kati's surgery. Days of waiting. Some good days when she feels like celebrating spring with Italian ice or spending a normal Sunday afternoon with family or shopping for summer sandals. Some bad days when she barely gets off the couch. 

During the "in between" days, we have eaten a lot of salad and grown tired of rice.

Kati has read a lot of books.

I have bought more flowers than I have ever bought in my life because we have needed beauty for the "in between."

We have lived with quiet longing for better days, but realizing that even the "in between" days are a gift. These days - these "in between" days of this particular March - will never come again.

(And truly, aren't all the days of our lives "in between" days, as we pass our time here as sojourners, preparing for eternity?)

So I gather the moments of this month with gratitude, and I see His hand.

Again with this month, I am inviting you to join me in "gathering the moments." You may wish to share two or three photos, or several collages, or bunches of photos...with words, or without words. The link-up below will be a gathering place for us to reflect and share and connect. (The link-up will stay open for a week, so you have plenty of time to gather.)