More Spring Pictures

Spring is here.....although it's rather chilly with a brisk wind today. But the sun is shining, yay!

Our view of the the homes and businesses beyond us is slowly disappearing. That's just fine! 

Marcy gave us these flowers on Sunday. She had several of these beauties sitting on her tables. 

These flowers aren't real, of course. They bring joy just the same. The small figurines are new. Found them at a thrift store for a few dollars. Love them!  

These aren't real either :)

The pansies are real! 

This year we re-used last years containers and just bought pansies to fill them. It will take some time for them to look full. 

Not a great pic of these cute pansies... But they do look really good in that purple pot! 

Hope your day is pleasant wherever you are and whatever you are up to today....God Bless!

It was a Happy Day

I got up early to put a ham in my crockpot for our 3:30p dinner. I coat the ham in a mixture of brown sugar, horseradish, course ground mustard and just a bit of Coke....it's a recipe I got from a Taste of Home magazine years ago. It's really good!

I hid Ellen's basket as I always do. 

Ellen gets up and goes on her hunt :)

Zoe and Aidan wanted me to hide theirs too, so I sent them back upstairs while I hid two more baskets! 

Some hints were necessary :) They each found their baskets! 

Aidan empties his. We didn't include much candy because they would get enough in an egg hunt later that day. 

Zoe digs in!

She likes the white board and immediately draws a picture on it!

Ellen is pleased with her movie and a Word Search book.....she does word searches all the time! Was also thrilled with the PB rabbit in her basket :)

We went to church early because I was singing with the worship team. We meet early for parctice. What a wonderful celebration we had! Love my church family! 

Home again to make more food....this time baked corn and hamloaf. Our house already smelled amazing because of the ham in the crockpot!

Other food made on Saturday....a very good GF carrot cake (I was so hungry for carrot cake!) and a big Tupperware bowl full of fruit salad. 

I pulled out the ham, sliced it up and put it back in the juices. I nibbled at some during the process, I surely did :)

We packed up all the food and headed to our daughter's, Marcy, house. 

Her hubby's family and the parents of their SIL were also there. Marcy and Scott set up tables from the dining room into the play room. It was wonderful and the tables were beautiful. I didn't take any pictures.....totally sad about that!

The meal was fantastic....chicken, sweet potato pudding, mashed potatoes, broccoli and asparagus, salad, plus all the food I brought! 

Paityn literally jumped up and down at the sight of baked corn! Thrilled me to pieces....I love making it and I love to see the family enjoying it! Thanks to Greta and Lynn for blessing us with some of their homegrown corn....that is always the best!

We did a lot of talking and laughing. The kids did a lot of playing and enjoyed an egg hunt. (Didn't take any pictures!)

Paityn with her cousin, Maelyn. Love that red hair!

The kids....aren't they just so precious?

These kids are so blessed....they each had both sets of Grandparents at their Easter celebration! 

Brinley plays with Maelyn too :)

We had a wonderful day! I was plenty tired by day's end and that's just fine. Wouldn't trade a family dinner with anything in this world!

All in a Day...

When mommy is at work, this is the best way to get baby to sleep...

Sleeping on Nana :) I just love this boy!

It's good to prop up the feet sometimes, especially while holding a baby :)

We have been having such nice weather. I love it! This girl does too. 

She celebrates!

Our baby loves stroller rides! 

Happy Easter! 

Signs of Spring

I'm loving daylight savings time. Love daylight into the evening, especially so when the weather is nice and being out on my porch later in the day in MARCH, no less, is possible. Just loving it!

Trees are coming to life all over our woods!

Ahh, yes! 

Maybe we will actually have a blooming hydrangea this year!

This lovely survived the Winter and is blooming!

Lookie here.....the pansie from last Spring :) Thrills me to pieces!

And the best of all....

My one and only Lilac bush!!

Now for the bad news....we might get a 'significant snow' on Sunday. NOOOO! I'm so over cold and snow and ice and freezing temperatures. =(  this does not bring joy for me...but what can I do. At least snow at this time of the year will disappear quickly. 

One more thing...

Would you keep in your prayers the family of a childhood friend who was married my cousin....Marlene  passed away on Wednesday after a short battle with cancer. She is only one year younger than me and it feels way too soon to have her go! My heart breaks for her husband, her children, their spouses, and her grandchildren. And, her large extended family.  

Thank you for praying!

God is walking this with you, the Martin  family!

62

62. That's a fact. And I'm ok with that!

Yesterday was my birthday. I'm now 62! I had a wonderful day. 

First was church....I sang with the worship team and served in the nursery. Two of my Grandchildren were among the kids who joined me. Delightful! Have I told you recently how much I enjoy being a Nana? =)

We decided on a light lunch since I wanted to eat out for dinner with the family. A nearly empty gas tank took us to Sheetz where I ordered two hot dogs for Dale and for Ellen while Dale filled the tank. Two hot dogs for $1 is a good deal! I bought a GF nut bar for me. Awaiting at home for me was a surprise from our son and family.....a Shamrock shake! I love those shakes and enjoyed every slurp!

A bag of potato chips called my name ...I answered in the affirmative! 

A recliner, a fire, a bag of chips. Happy Birthday to me!

Dinner with our family was at Ruby Tuesday at Manor Shopping center. What a delightful time! Our servers were fantastic. My family is fantastic and silly and wonderful :)

Silly family.....

See the next pic.....Paityn is certainly related to her dad!

You bet she is, haha!

Pictures taken while eating are always interesting! Sorry, Christy!

Eating while holding Noah is always interesting as well! 

Ellen loves chicken fingers and fries! 

This sweet fella eats as much as a big kid! 

I enjoyed blackened tilapia, steamed broccoli, two trips to the salad bar and a delicious berry sangria. Because it was my birthday, I was also served a free strawberry sundae. Oh my, it was so good and I was so full! 

Yes, it was a delightful day! 

Another freebie today, a Starbucks peppermint mocha, vente of course! Mmm! 

Ok, the birthday is past and the celebration and overload of calories must end! 

I'll just enjoy these....

Flowers from my hubby, they won't add bulk, haha!

So happy to be 62! 

Last week I had a brain scan to determine the reason for a hard lump on the right side of my head. I've had this lump for many years but it's been getting bigger recently so my Dr. sent me to a general surgeon who sent me for a scan because he wasn't certain what it was or why it was there. I always thought it was something that lots of people have that can be easily removed. Nope, it wasn't. On Friday I received the results....to say that I/we weren't concerned would be an outright lie. I tried to rest in the fact that God knew and he was completely in control...and did pretty good most of the time. But, there were moments. 

Thank God, the scan showed it is only bone, nothing else! Probably a result of head trauma at some point but I'm not certain what or when. I could have it shaved down if I want but I'm choosing not to at this time. 

God has been so good to me and I am extremely thankful!   

A Special Day (yesterday!)

I'm a little late to the party, as they say....

March 11 is a special day in our family. Our second child, Marcy, was born to us early in the morning in 1977. Her birth was easy....I wouldn't have minded if more of mine were like her's :)

She is now a wife and mom. I am so tremendously proud of the woman she has become! 

Marcy with her family. I love them SO much!

That's Marcy on the right chatting with two of her sisters....Greta and Kim. 

I love attending birthday parties for her kids....she always prepares a GF goodie for me and her MIL :)

What a blessing you are to so many, Marcy. God Bless you with a year full of special! 

Beauty

You will soon see more pictures of flowers....but first, let tell you about today. 

It is a beautiful day! It's in the high seventy's, a blue sky with a few white clouds and a slight breeze. Oh, I'm loving it!!

Right there...that's my happy place!

So lovely!

Ok,now for the flower pictures :) I borrowed some from my sil, Nancy. 

This cute little cottage, aww!

There were animals....

So cool!

There were LOTS of people!

Us....

Me, my cousin Joanne, my sister Mary Ellen. 

That's my sil, Nancy, in bright blue. She took hundreds of photos!

Besides the National Parks displays, there were all kinds of beautiful arrangements. 

There was a children's display...

Took this for Aidan

Took this for Zoe. 

I found whatever this was to be very interesting!

These flowers remind me of Marcy's wedding. Love the flowers, love the memory!

Now for the unexpected parts of our day. The driver of our coach (there were 3 coaches, we were in the last of the three) told us to expect the possibility of delays on our drive to Philadelphia...traffic, detours, etc. Wouldn't you know, not too many miles down the road, there was an accident and we were detoured to a very narrow and very back road! Lots of traffic going around that accident on this very narrow road....so glad I wasn't driving that big bus!!! The first detour certainly delayed our arrival time. But we got there safely and we had sufficient time to see what we wanted to see. All was well. Pick up time was 3:15 at the spot we were dropped off. Lots of busses loading, pulling out, others pulling in to do the same. Finally we saw our 3 busses but there wasn't room to pull to the curb for pick up. Double parking it was....we crossed between two big coaches to enter ours...it worked and all were safe :)

Leaving the Convention center, our busses were going to make a right turn. The lead driver decided to go straight instead. Our bus was prepared to make a wide turn, taking up two lanes, but of course we went straight ahead instead when the light turned. We were blocks down the street when a passenger in the back said, Sir, you hit a car back there. You took the front end off.  Our driver was shocked, as many of us were, because he/ we hadn't any idea! None! Some said they heard a scrape but thought it was probably the curb. The woman on the bus that witnessed it told him she thought he knew....knew but kept driving....you have got to be kidding me!! He got out of the bus, and yes, there was indeed damage on the right rear. To make a long story short, he called his people to report it, told the other two drivers not to wait, a passenger on our bus knew Philadelphia very well and got us back to the scene, we waited about an hour for all the reports to be made with the police, we departed the city smack dab in rush hour traffic, got back to our destination two hours late. But, we got there safely, our driver was a gem....and he would be driving to the flower show again on Thursday! Lucky guy :) it was his first accident and he is a seasoned driver. Oh, and the car he hit (the car probably saw the space in the lane needed for the wide turn and snuck in beside the bus where the driver didn't see....not a good idea!) was a rental , lost a headlight and had damage to the side and front but certainly was not as bad as the person on our bus first reported. No one was injured. Thank God!

Whew, long post!

I enjoyed the day tremendously and would do it again another year. Yes I would!