how does your garden grow

I am an amateur gardener, at best. But it makes me so happy. This is the first Spring we have had a yard of our very own! It gave me such delight to see the bulbs I planted in the fall spring to life, along with the flowers I planted last summer returning.

This morning while Hannah was in school I wandered the gardening section of Walmart. I had a gift card to put to use, the gift giver had intended to buy gardening goods but my birthday was too early in the season apparently. I left with a greenhouse tray and oodles of seed packets. Four of the packets were different varities of sunflowers! And also a pretty blue ceramic pot which maybe destined for my african violet. I have not decided for sure, but it was my favorite color and too pretty to pass up!!

the earth laughs in flowers.
~ e. e. cummings

Happy, Happy Hannah!

I sewed the final stitches on Hannah's quilt on Easter Sunday. I knew I only had a bit left to do on the binding so I bundled it up and took it with me to Mom and Dad's on Sunday to work on after dinner. I was surprised when I pulled it out, how little I had left to do. Only about 36 inches or so. It took no time to complete.

I began her quilt on March 4, 2010 so it has taken me almost 14 months to complete!! I started the hand quilting on December 16, the quilting portion which I worked on much more consistantly took approximately 4 months.

But now it is finished!! I LOVE it and more importantly, so does Hannah! And the pattern so aptly named, "Happy Hannah".

Easter Sunday

Hannah showing off a couple of her Easter goodies from Mimi and Papa. The kids also got "Tangled" or "Repunzal" as Hannah calls it. I am eager to watch it too... I recieved three blueberry bushes from Mom and Dad. Hubby and I are currently trying to find the best location for them in our yard.

My Easter desserts. Lemon Glazed Mini Cupcakes (they had a raspberry filling) and Cookies and Cream Cheesecake Bites. Laura also made Lemon Squares whish were delish!!

Ryan engaged Papa in a chess game after dinner.

He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Matthew 28:6

Happy Easter!!

Easter Eggs and such

Thursday we baked Easter cookies and colored eggs. Much fun for all!!

Spring Break

Last week was Spring Break. I realize I have been neglecting my blog lately. I thought of it several times last week but never got around to sitting down to write anything out. So here is the first installment of our Spring Break, more to come. This first enter is backdated to last Wednesday.

Monday my Housewives did not meet. It made me sad. I rarely miss a week with my Bible Study girls. I was also missing one of my closet friends as she had been away in Romania for the past three weeks. My bff called wondering if I had Housewives, she was thinking of coming since Kenna did not have school and had been asking to play with Hannah. I lamented we did not, that we had decided to take the week of Spring Break off. But they could still come over as Hannah had been asking to play with Kenna too. So they did. The girls played happily together in Hannah's room. Aimee, Mik and I watched High School Musical 3:Senior Year on the Disney channel.

Tuesday I took the kids to the library, always a pleasurable outing. We came home with a plethora of books, movies and CD's. After lunch (at home), Mikayla begged for a trip to the mall. I was reluctant as I had next to no money to spend. But her persistence prevailed and off to Shoppingtown we went. She had a gift card to Bath and Body Works, from Christmas that she wanted to use. We sniffed and sampled dozens of lotions before she happily made her purchase, and being to sweet big sister she is she even bought Hannah a little something. Ryan had his heart set on a pair of new sunglasses he saw at Payless. Shockingly, he still had quite a stash of birthday money left too. And he was sure he would need sunglasses for his big fishing trip coming up on Saturday. We continued to wander the length of the nearly empty mall. Stopping at the game store to check out Kinect games. Mikayla was ecstatic to find the "Grease" game for her DS on the sale rack for $9.99, she quickly snapped it up. Reaching the end of the shopping mall we meandered through Sears, Mikayla perusing the clothing clearance racks, Ryan constantly asking when we were going to get out of this store. Coming across the escalators he was sure we need to check things out down stairs. I rarely venture downstairs, as I don't generally have a need to purchase electronics, hardware or appliances. He found his new favorite "toy", a very cool matte red Mp3 player. Back upstairs I treated all the kids to beverages at Dunkin Donuts before we headed home (thanks to a birthday gift card from Mimi & Papa).

Wednesday is the day Hannah and I visit with Grandma. It is the vacation day I have had the opportunity to take all the kids to visit with Grandma. She happily hosted us for lunch, preparing Mac & Cheese and Tomato soup.

More updates to come. Stay tuned...

delight

I went to bed and woke up again his morning feeling dejected and frustrated, slightly overwhelmed. I read a devo post on of my fellow Housewives shared with the group, from Psalm 116. It never ceases to amaze me how God gives us exactly what we need, if we are just listening for His answer.

As I sat down to with my coffee and Bible I opened to Psalm 116 to read it again. I love the Psalms, I would say it is my favorite part of the Bible. The Devotional on the opposing page was for Psalm 112, entitled A Checklist if Delight.

Psalm 112

¹ Praise the LORD.^[b]

Blessed is the man who fears the LORD,
who finds great delight in his commands.

² His children will be mighty in the land;
the generation of the upright will be blessed.
³ Wealth and riches are in his house,
and his righteousness endures forever.
⁴ Even in darkness light dawns for the upright,
for the gracious and compassionate and righteous man.^[c]
5 Good will come to him who is generous and lends freely,
who conducts his affairs with justice.
⁶ Surely he will never be shaken;
a righteous man will be remembered forever.
⁷ He will have no fear of bad news;
his heart is steadfast, trusting in the LORD.
⁸ His heart is secure, he will have no fear;
in the end he will look in triumph on his foes.
⁹ He has scattered abroad his gifts to the poor,
his righteousness endures forever;
his horn^[d] will be lifted high in honor.

¹⁰ The wicked man will see and be vexed,
he will gnash his teeth and waste away;
the longings of the wicked will come to nothing.

The devo talked about the importance of praising God, no matter what..

"Have you thanked God for gravity lately? For the clouds that shade you from the summer sun, provide rain and glow at the sunrise? For your ears, your nose, your eyes? For giving humankind the ability to create penicillian, the electric light, the telephone, the means of preserving food? For loving you enough to claim you as his child? for watching over you even when you are busy or distracted and you forget him? For protecting you and giving you purpose and hope? Make your own checklist. He is worthy of your praise.

1. What is keeping your from acknowledging God's gifts to you?
2. What could you do to live a more mindful and thankful life?
3. Why does God tell your to praise him? What will you praise him for today?
   Related Readings : 1 Chronisles 29:20; Psalm 65:1-13; 103:1-22; 104:1-35
   (new Women's Devotional Bible, pp734)

My list this morning (in no particular order)

• spring
• our House
• my family
• coffee
• friends
• our church
• backyards
• bike rides
• music
• love <3
• sisters
• God's Words, & that He always gives us what we need