April 24, 2014 - Part 3

I'm not sure how it happened that I have lived half a century.

How is that even possible?!

I don't look like I'm 50, right?

Right?!  :)

Thanks for the cake, Mom and Dad!

April 24, 2014 - Part 2

There's a playground in the park near the house I grew up in that wasn't there when I was a kid.  Jed's pretty happy it's there now.  :)  It was a beautiful day - sunny, breezy, temps in the 60s - a perfect day to celebrate a milestone birthday.

April 24, 2014 - Part 1

Jed and I spent a couple of days in my old hometown Portsmouth, Virginia this week.  It's been a long time since I drove around to check out the sights.  This waterfront view is the Elizabeth River as seen from the Swimming Point community near Olde Towne.  That's Norfolk on the other side of the river.

April 21, 2014

Easter was such a busy time this year.  

Brad and Jenn were here for the weekend 

and I had refreshments to prepare for our church as well.  

Plus it rained pretty much all weekend.  

So we had our home Easter celebration today. 

I don't know how many more years Jed will want to hide the Lord Jesus in the sealed and guarded tomb

(aka Woody in the winter cap, sealed with Mr Potato Head and guarded by Buzz Lightyear),

but I'm glad he still wants to at this point.

It's one of my favorite traditions with him.

As usual, the Lord Jesus was in the garden.

Don't look at that messy kitchen in the background.

Also, can somebody please get that boy a decent haircut?!  :)

April 20, 2014

Happy Easter, everyone!

I had refreshments at church this month.

These little Rice Krispies Easter baskets were one of the things I took for Easter Sunday. 

They were so much work, but so cute!

April 19, 2014 - Part 2

And here she is - Miss Decker.  

In all her 6 month glory.

Please pardon the volume of pictures - there are lots more I didn't upload.  :)

It's hard for a Grammy to choose when they're all so cute! 

I love this montage of various tongue poses.  :D

April 19, 2014 - Part 1

Dyce and Decker came to visit us this weekend!  It occurred to me, after uploading these pics, that almost all the pictures I have of Jed and Dyce together were taken with them in their pajamas or underwear.  I'm not sure what that says about us as a family.  :)

April 16, 2014 - Part 2

There are quite a few widows in our church and each has been assigned a secret pal.  My secret pal is quite the horticulturalist, so I got this topiary for her for Easter.  I wish I had gotten one for myself.  :)  It's just as well I didn't, though, as I probably could not keep it alive even if my life depended upon it.

These beautiful climbing roses are in front of our house.  They were a nice surprise this spring!

April 16, 2014 - Part 1

We tried something new this year...we planted a resurrection garden.

The seeds are wheat berries, which are supposed to be fast sprouting.

I think I didn't spritz them with water often enough,

because most of them didn't end up sprouting.

Also, we couldn't find an appropriate stone to cover the entrance to the tomb.

We're on the lookout for a really large stone we can drill a hole into

for a more realistic look next year.

Don't mind that green haze on the table - it's just pine tree pollen.  

I had forgotten about that part of North Carolina.  :)

April 10, 2014

We saw another white heron on our dock this morning!  First time we've seen one since we first moved in back in November.  I'm hoping I can get closer to one someday, to take a better picture.  Click on the pictures to enlarge them if you want a closer look.

April 9, 2014

Today is Dyce's 3rd birthday!  This is the card I made for him...inside it says "Happy Birthday to a boy who really throws himself into everything he does!"  :)

You may remember this picture from back in December when Dyce and his family were visiting us for Christmas.  I got the idea to put a birthday cake in his path from his father....one of Brad's best friends growing up was from Mexico, and one year while Brad was blowing out the candles on his birthday cake Luis did what is apparently a Mexican birthday tradition - he pushed Brad's face into the cake.  It was a memorable moment, for sure.  :)  I figured Brad would understand this card, even if I did have to explain it to Jenn.  :)  I added the shark just to make things a little more interesting.  haha

On a separate note, my photograph software has started doing something funky...as you can see in the picture above, the card is crooked in the photograph, so I did what I always do in this situation - I rotated the photograph.  Only this time, it created these breaks in the lines. (click on the image to enlarge it)

Anyone know why that happened and how to avoid it?

April 5, 2014

Dyce turns 3 years old on April 9, so Jed and I headed to Charlotte this weekend to celebrate with him.  We took him to Discovery Place but I think he enjoyed playing with Uncle Jed even more.  :)
 

 Jed loves being an uncle!  

Decker seems pretty happy about it too.  :)

She turns 6 months old on April 17.

 

Dyce loves his ice cream!  ha

Happy Birthday, sweet boy!