Is this not the cutest blue-eyed baby around?
Of course, then there’s this cutest blue-eyed baby…
For the next few days, I get to squeeze ’em and love on ’em all I want.
~~Grandma 🙂
We’re taking it easy this week. Having fun and not hurrying to or from anything. One evening, after we’d had a late lunch, we decided to have a late, picnic-style supper. We went to Whole Foods to buy cheeses, crostini, shrimp, pasta, sushi, etc. So good! And Whole Foods is just plain fun to walk around in, anyway.
We fed the seagulls.
And the alligators…
We stopped at a favorite haunt. Our entire family loves book stores.
We saw alligators…real ones and not so real ones. Is he telling a secret or looking for a snack?
We’ve had lots of shrimp…and scallops…and crab…
…and oysters…
We even ate smelt and alligator.
And we’ve walked the beach at sunset…
What’s not to like about just having fun? ~~Rhonda 🙂
After four children who ranged from extremely picky to rather picky eaters, it is still a surprise when our ten year old daughter is happy to try something new. Tonight it was oysters Rockefeller.
She loved it, though she preferred her broiled shrimp. 🙂
While we waited for dinner, a young man named Shawn came by the table and made a balloon kitty for her.
DH finished off his oysters. I had my favorite, broiled scallops. Yum!
~~Rhonda 🙂
It’s early yet, and the daffodils will probably remain this height for weeks on end, but it is encouraging to see them sprouting from the cold ground. Spring is coming!
~~Rhonda 🙂
On New Year’s Eve DD and I stayed up till midnight, watching movies and having snacks. 🙂 At midnight DH joined us to pull crackers. DD tried all the toys…
A few days later, Niko joined her as she practiced guitar.
Niko picks his own cuddle time. Sometimes he’s in the mood, sometimes he’s not.
Tonight, after DD’s last basketball game of the season, we had supper at a Mexican restaurant we’ve never tried before. The place didn’t look like much on the outside, but the food was very good! We topped off a yummy meal with fried ice cream.
We said goodbye to our two older daughters today as they returned to school. It was sad to see them go, but we had a great time while they were here. They were a wonderful help, too, along with Genny, in taking down a lot of the Christmas decorations. Thanks, girls! And thanks, Genny!
~~Rhonda
I’ve been looking over my photos from 2008, trying to decide which ones are my favorites. I thought I’d try to pick one for each month.
January ~ This picture comes from the mission team our church sent to New Orleans, where we spent five days putting up drywall for a sweet woman named Gloria. DH helped on site with construction, and I served as one of two cooks for the team. This picture was of some of the teens’ hands as they played a game. I thought it was a lovely picture of some wonderful helping, serving hands.
February ~ We were privileged to host the wedding party of our friends Melissa and Shawn after their wedding and reception. They came to our home for a time to share some special dances and time together with their family and close friends. I really liked the way the square grand piano in the living room looked with the pretty red candles on it.
March ~ During this month we spent a night at our two older daughters’ home. Our younger daughter wanted to play her sister’s DS. She misses her older sisters a lot! And not just because they have fun electronic toys! ;-D
April ~ With the onset of spring there were myriads of new photo subjects. I especially like the light on the soft white and green of this Star Magnolia blossom.
May ~ My favorite month for the garden is May. The irises are blooming, the entire yard smells heavenly, the weather is perfect for walks around the garden beds.
June ~ Our older son and his family came for a visit. What fun we had! I especially like this picture of the twins. 🙂
July ~ I’ve enjoyed taking pictures for assignments on several flickr groups, including 7 Days of Shooting. This group has a weekly theme and daily assignments within that theme. This shot was for the weekly theme “music” and the daily assignment was “telephoto Tuesday.” Taking part in the assignments for a few flickr groups has upped my photo production and I believe it has improved my photography skills.
August ~ While taking shots for one of my flickr groups, I used this mirror with the hand-carved frame. My youngest daughter began playing with the reflected light and I happened to catch this favorite photo.
September ~ This was shot for the flickr group Macro Mondays. The assignment was “Straight out of the Camera,” meaning no editing of the photo. We were to post it as it was taken. For those of you familiar with flickr.com, this picture made Explore.
October ~ We attended our sons’ wedding and captured this cute picture of our three grandchildren. 🙂
November ~ Another shot for Macro Mondays. I love the color! This one also made Explore.
December ~ We hosted a house concert with Nathan Clark George, Ross Sermons, and Mark Stoffel. This picture reminds me of how much fun we had that evening. We’re planning to host another concert next December.
I couldn’t pick just one for this month. I also love this photo of our youngest daughter as she listens to her dad read Luke 2:1-20 on Christmas morning.
It was hard to pick just one photo for each month (couldn’t do it in December)! But fun to look through them again and relive the year through the photographs. I hadn’t realized, before looking at them today, how much my photo production has increased since I began taking pictures for the flickr groups in which I participate. Photography is a favorite hobby of mine. It’s creative, and fun besides. I hope you’ve enjoyed viewing a few of my favorite photos. Now get out there and take more of your own!
~~Rhonda 🙂
Taking Christmas down is a long term project around here. We usually wait until after Epiphany (celebrated January 6) to begin taking apart the holiday decor. The season was so busy that I feel I haven’t had time to enjoy the decorations as much as I usually do. And, if we weren’t planning a vacation for January, I’d be tempted to leave the decorations up for a while. But, strike while the iron is hot, as they say. The girls are home and able to help. This morning they helped clean up the kitchen which was still harboring party debris from Tuesday evening. DH had washed a lot of the dishes, but the tabletops and the counters were still a mess. After cleaning the room, I asked the girls to meet me in the living room at 1:00. We’d start on the Christmas decorations.
By the time I had printed my storage list and made it to the living room, the girls already had the mantle decorations down, wrapped and stored in the box. One down…103 to go.
Here’s a picture to show how we use books to create varying heights under the nativity display. After the books are placed, all are covered with a large piece of gold, star-spangled tulle. Of course, this picture is working backwards…we’ve taken the nativity down, the tulle has been removed and the books are on their way back to the library shelves.
The nativity set is stored carefully wrapped in bubble wrap.
We separated the 16 boxes into stacks…those needed for the tree, those needed for the garlands, and those needed for the rest of the room.
Then it was time to remove the tinsel from the tree. This year we had trouble finding tinsel, so we saved a box full for next year, just in case.
We took a break at 3:00 and met again at 4:00. The living room tree is the biggest part of taking Christmas down in the living room. The tinsel had been removed, so we moved on to taking the ornaments from the tree, sorting them onto storage box lids on the dining room table. The ornaments that belong to DH and to me were placed on two lids, then DD#1’s, DD#2’s and DD#3’s followed down the row.
From there, we turned to DH for help. He’s the ladder climber. He finished the top of the tree…took off the last of the ornaments, removed the beads and popcorn strings. Then he moved on to the garlands over the arches and the windows.
All that’s left of Christmas in the living room is the big tree with the lights still on it and the small tree on the box grand piano.
Feels good to have so much done!
~~Rhonda
Buttercream frosting is easy to make and delicious on cakes and cookies. I used it to frost the snowflake cake earlier this week
and also frosted DH’s birthday cake with it today.
The recipe I started with is here. In a nutshell, this is how I used that recipe.
6 tablespoons butter, softened
1/4 cup heavy whipping cream
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract (I used clear vanilla extract)
1 tsp. almond flavoring (I added this to the recipe)
3 cups confectioners’ sugar
I beat the butter until smooth, then added the cream, salt, and extracts. When they were well mixed, I added the powdered sugar and beat until smooth.
I needed about one and a half times this recipe to barely frost a four layer cake (two pans of cake, each cut into two layers). If I were piping some of the frosting to decorate the cake, I think I’d double the recipe. I could have used more this morning when I was frosting DH’s birthday cake. Better too much than not enough. I like to be generous with frosting. 🙂 And, besides, you need extra to make graham cracker cookies, don’t you??
~~Rhonda 🙂
Today is DH’s birthday. I made his favorite…red cake. Used the leftover snowflakes from Monday night’s dessert to decorate the cake. DD put five candles on one side and four on the other to mark DH’s 54th birthday. “You HAVE to have candles!” Well, of coure you do!
I used a butter cream frosting instead of the traditional cooked frosting for the red cake. Easier for me, and all approved of the frosting choice, so it worked out well. 🙂 The traditional frosting isn’t my favorite. Tastes odd to me. I also dusted the sides with some cake crumbs just for fun.
First piece is for my honey. Happy Birthday!
~~Rhonda 🙂