Easter,Day Of Celebration Because He Lives!

"Jesus said to her (Martha) , "I am the resurrection and the life ; he who believes in Me shall live even if he dies , and everyone who lives and believes in Me shall never die." John 11:25, 26

Special Guest Writes Today! ( I Love This Writer)

Today I have a special guest writer. She asked to write a blog-post and I was very happy to have her write for me. She not only authored this post ( and selected the photos to be posted), she did a lot of the baking and cooking that are the main theme of this post. I am writing of our oldest granddaughter, second grandchild. She and her 3 younger sisters have spent the week with us and what a wonderful time we have had. A busy, active, and thankful time.This is about our lunch with my husband's parents, much of it prepared by her. From here-on the words are hers. "This is me cooking chicken pot pie for lunch with our Great-Grandparents. I got the recipe for the chicken pot pie from 'Paula Deen's my First Cookbook'.

Look, it is ready to go into the oven!

I also made Strawberry Delight from the cookbook. It was YUMMY!

After lunch we watched the movie 'Zathura' . It was fun and scary and exciting!

My little sister tried to hide under the pillows every time it got scary.

When the movie was over we went Easter egg hunting. There was one golden Easter egg. Guess who found it, ME!

We say "good-bye" and hug and kiss our great Grandpa and Grandma. Tomorrow we go home, Spring break is over, back to school on Monday.

A Girl & Her Frog

This morning started off bright and sunny ( sunshine didn't last long) and the granddaughters reminded Poppa he promised to take them on a boat ride around our pond. Poppa found a frog which this granddaughter took as her own. She rushed into the house with it carefully contained in her hand, asking for a jar. I found one, put moss in it and placed the frog in it's new and hopefully temporary home....hmmm. Does she look happy or what? The 3 older granddaughters and Poppa launched the small dinghy I still need to clean and paint, note the granddaughter to the side of Poppa still holding her frog. I did not ask her to pose with the frog and did not realize how many pictures of her proudly displaying her frog there were til I downloaded and examined them.

The boat is off and away , look, the frog is held high as they smile and laugh.

The boat floats by again ~ look, the frog in the jar is displayed with smiles from the granddaughter.

As Little 'T' and I watch them row by I snap a picture. I am surprised on viewing the pictures at how aware of me #4 Granddaughter was and how pleased she was to again show us her frog in a jar. I think she likes this frog.

Poppa let the girls explore our island in the middle of the pond and I was amazed to see #4 Granddaughter running around the island with the frog. ( #3 Granddaughter is by her side)

Look at this, she is stepping into the boat with Poppa AND holding her frog in the jar. She is not going to let go her grasp of this little creature.

My little princess and her frog help Poppa row the boat around the island to pick up her sisters on the island with the frog firmly placed at her side on the seat. I think she likes the frog very much. He is going to be at our tea party with the cousins tomorrow. Now I will have to include bugs for the frog in the menu.

We're Jumping For Joy!

I took these pictures the last time all four of our sons' daughters were here in our home, last thanksgiving. They like to eat chips. The picture above is of our oldest son's oldest daughter and the picture below is of her three little sisters.

Guess what ?!? Until this morning we were unsure if they would be able to stay here for the spring break and summer or if we would be on our knees praying for their continued safety ( which we are so thankful to God for abundantly providing all along ) . The Washington courts decided today, only an hour ago that the little girls are to stay here, in this state, with their Dad, (our oldest son) and his brother( our youngest son) and his wife! We get to share this bounty from God , my husband and I will have these four precious granddaughters the whole week of their spring break! Starting tomorrow~ So you know we will be happily occupied and loving every minute of it! "O come , let us sing for joy to the Lord ;Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving ; Let us shout joyfully to Him with psalms. For the Lord is a great God and a King above all gods , in whose hand are the depths of the earth; the peaks of the mountains are His also, the sea is His, for it was he who made it; And His hands formed dry land. Come let us worship and bow down ; let us kneel before the Lord our Maker, for He is our God." Psalm 95:

Put Not Your Confidence in Man

I saw this video on YouTube and was reminded of how much I used to take for granted the freedoms we HAD.Please listen to the very end.I fear for our country as never before and also feel extremely betrayed by elected officials. I deleted a lot of what I was going to write and decided these words are all sufficient. "It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man." Psalm 118:8

Leprechauns & Laughter, There Was Kind Of An Irish Theme Goin' On~

I forgot to post a picture of the outdoor fireplace at the Grayson Gardens. Beautiful. I could see myself spending a lot of time in front of this fireplace with friends and family, hmmm, more ideas!

Did you know there was a very distinct Irish theme goin' on at this wedding? Maybe because the bride's father is a leprechaun...see? "Leprechauns , castles, good luck, laughter. Lullabies , dreams and love ever after. Poems and songs with pipes and drums, a thousand welcomes when everyone comes." Irish saying . The bride's father fit this description of 'leprechaun' almost to perfection. Why, he even did Irish jigs on the dance floor. There were even bigger leprechauns, over 6 feet tall...well, he isn't a leprechaun, he's the groom's cousin. I like the boutineer, it also shows a leaning toward the Irish theme.

Here is a close-up. Very unique and creative play on Irish moss and embellishment.

The wedding cakes were many and varied. Each table had a completely different type of cake and frosting. The cakes were labeled. The purpose of this was to #1: be able to indulge in tasting and eating lots of different cake, and #2: cause the guests to migrate from table to table in search of the cake they would prefer and in so doing introduce themselves and engage in conversation with others at the wedding. Kind of a way to enable friendly mixing. Each cake was placed on a bed of moss. ( The Irish theme again, isn't it clever and beautiful?)

Another cake on a bed of moss. Each cake was paired with wines that best suited it and the delicious dinner that was served.

This gentleman came to our table and asked for a slice of the cake on it. I , being one who totally enjoys meeting new people and not particularly shy introduced myself and my relation to the newly wed couple, then asked him his. Lo and behold, he is a famous man, but you'll never recognize him because he is usually in movies with so much make-up on even his own Mother would not know him. He is however, very nice, very entertaining, and even though he is famous I would love to have him and his wife over for dinner to enjoy further conversation. He is hysterically funny, has good taste in cake and friends and his name is Doug Jones*. He also graciously allowed me to photograph him. He is the Silver Surfer in Fantastic Four and you can click on his name to read more about him if you're interested ( you know you are ). There were many other people there we had a blast meeting and laughed til we cried at funny or moving tales, but I don't think you'll see them in the press.

The Bride & Groom's table, the richest and best chocolate cake . The lady that baked all the cakes finished this one at 4:00 a.m. day of the wedding. All the cakes were just baked and frosted and they tasted like it too. Don't you think any respectable Irishman or Irishwoman, Leprechaun, or even Irish American Lady or Gent would expect no less? And a very good time for sure~

Grayson Gardens , the Wedding Spot

Entrance to Grayson Gardens, the wedding spot.This private residence and garden is tucked into an old Los Angeles neighborhood and has an interesting history, and I did not hear much of it but Valentino was part of it.Look at this entry!

We arrived early so got to look around before things really got underway. My husband surveys the Tiki Bar....not shown are pictures of the pub, and various other beautiful garden spots.

And look at this fantastic outdoor cooking area, I am getting ideas here.

The trees have stone seats around them and many of the wedding guests sat around them as they ate and visited .

I like this simple, yet lovely idea of strewing blossoms and petals before the ceremony begins.

The fountain was turned on after the ceremony because the noise of the rushing water would have been loud. At dusk the trees were all alight. It was a lovely night and through the trees you could see starlight, that is when the dancing began~