April 2015

Rachel's birthday is April 2.  She asked for a raw vegan birthday cake and I managed to accommodate her request.  It's made of pureed fruit frozen in layers, and it tasted much better than it looks. She was pleased with it, and that's what is important.

 We celebrated Easter with church services, lunch with the family, and the traditional egg hunt.  This year there was a prize egg for each child.  They were happy hunters.

 April was Lucy's month to sleep over.  She always asks for curly fries so we got her some for lunch.

 

We finished one of the most aggravating puzzles we've done.  The cat in the puzzle looked just like our cat Maggie (may she rest in peace) right before she reached out and scratched someone, so we wanted to keep the puzzle. We just never wanted to put it together again, so we framed it and hung it on the wall in her memory.  

We celebrated Jonas's 4th birthday.  He had a very Spiderman-ish birthday.  One of his gifts was a twirling Spiderman, much like the ill-fated Flutterby Fairies Lilly and Lucy got for Christmas one year.  It worked much better than they did, and it didn't attack any of us or get tangled in anyone's hair the way they did.

Last fall we moved some of Mama's peonies to the back of the house.  The oak trees have shaded them out in their original spot and they aren't blooming well there.  All four of them came back up this spring, and we built a nice bed for them.

 

Our last April celebration was Jason's birthday on April 28.  Hannah and Michael had bought a Spiderman helicopter for Jonas but they missed his party and hadn't given it to him yet.  Cruelly, we told Jonas that it was Jason's gift.  He was a sad little fellow until he found out that it was his.  (We gave Jason another gift.)

March 2015

March was Lilly's month to spend the weekend.  She helped Phillip plant the spring garden.  

 She planted sugar snap peas.

She baked brownies for Sunday dessert, but she and Phillip sampled them first to be sure they were good.  She said they were almost as good as her cousin Jack's brownies.

The daffodils were blooming all over the yard.  Lilly picked bunches and arranged these in a few of Hannah's bottles.  They filled our house with spring.

Our hot water heater had to be replaced.  Because the wiring and plumbing had to be upgraded, it ended up costing quite a bit more than we expected.  The Lord provided a tax refund just in time to pay for it. 

February 2015

February has been a busy month.  We're adjusting to Phillip's retirement.  He has been having problems with pinched nerves in his neck so he hasn't been able to do everything he had planned.  He's working on getting his lathe up and running but the pain has made it difficult.  He's itching to get busy with his garden but the weather hasn't allowed him to do much.

 

 Lucy spent a weekend with us.  We were getting ready to leave for church and Phillip took our picture.

Lilly was playing with my phone and took this picture of us.  She was trying to teach me to take selfies, but I'm not a very good pupil. Doesn't she look grown up!

 Lilly and Lucy decorated cupcakes for our Valentine's Day dessert.

Jonas spent some time with us this month, as well.  He enjoyed measuring with Phillip's tape measure.

 He really enjoyed this Sunday morning breakfast of Pringles, eaten behind a chair by the light of a flashlight.  (Grandparents aren't required to feed their grandchildren healthy meals.  That's not part of the job description.)

It snowed, not a lot but enough to be pretty.  

 And the biggest event of the month:  Hannah's boyfriend Michael proposed and she accepted. The wedding is not until next spring but they are busy making plans. 

January 2015

Rachel's whole family had the flu so Jonas spent his days with us for a week.  It was a cold, rainy week so we had to have fun inside.

Play-doh was a lot of fun.

  He watched a few movies on the Kindle.

Towards the end of the week it finally stopped raining and warmed up a bit.  We spent the afternoon picking up sticks from the yard and then burned them in the fire pit.  They were damp from the rain so they didn't burn well, but they burned well enough to roast marshmallows.

Both Rachel and Emily gave me canning supplies for Christmas.  I couldn't wait until the summer to use them so, since we were out of jelly, I made some preserves. This canning lid holder is one of my new favorite things.  No more burned fingers getting the lids out of hot water.

I used some frozen strawberries and blackberries to make preserves. I also used some canned peaches to make peach preserves but I didn't take any pictures of those.

We visited our Virginia family.  This is Sam with an elaborate Lego complex he built on his desk.

 We played a game called Quelf. (I'm guessing at the spelling.) 

Jaclyn and Sam are conferring on their next move.

Jack is plotting something sneaky.

 

Caleb seems confident, but in the end, I was the winner.

Phillip doesn't play board games, so he spent the time bonding with Isla.  She's a good dog.

December 2014

I went to Polar Express night at Chapel Grove Elementary School with Lilly and Lucy.  The highlight of the evening was the "snow" that fell in the school courtyard.

Jonas had fun with the singing Christmas wreath.  It's motion-activated, and it opens and closes its eyes and mouth while it sings.  

 We celebrated Laura's birthday.

Lilly came early and helped me get ready for the family Christmas party.  She worked really hard.

For the first time in several years, our entire family was here for the Christmas party.  My camera's battery died before I could get many pictures, but these are the best of the ones I was able to get.

Jonas and Jennifer

Daniel, Lucy, Sam, and Jon

 Caleb

On Christmas Eve, Rachel invited us for brunch at her house. 

Laura and Lucy

Lucy with her mug of hot chocolate

Christmas Day photos

 

 

November

Our annual family camping trip took place in October and November.  The November part wasn't as stormy as the October part.  It was colder but we all managed to stay warm and have a good time.

 Jennifer and Jason cooked a delicious supper one night in their Dutch oven.

 Lilly and Lucy always like to keep their hair braided when we go camping.  It's easy to care for and they look really pretty.

 

Lilly found some hickory nuts and Phillip cracked them for her.  

 Lilly and Rachel staying warm around the fire.

 We went adventuring one Saturday.  This is Caesar's Head State Park in South Caroling.  I see more of a monkey's head or a dog's head in this rock formation but I guess someone saw Caesar's head.

The views from the observation points were beautiful.