Old PVC pipe

New bathroom installation

Indoor rain shower

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I know, I know...it IS Spring.  And around here, a beautiful and pleasant one.  But I'm looking forward to NEXT Spring, because the boys and I planted 2 lilac bushes this afternoon. These are going to be monsters...the planting information said one may get to be 8 feet tall, and the other 10-12 feet tall.  Won't the smell be delicious?  The boys will be pleased, too, to see the fruits of their labors a year or so from now.

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I love where I live!

I love the way the air has been warming to the most comfortable temperature in the world.  I love how the air smells like green things growing. I love how the gentle breezes have brought me the smells of my neighbors' honeysuckles, catalpas, and lilacs.  I love that my geraniums are blooming. 

I also love that my hometown is celebrating it's annual festival.  It's a week-long event full of fun stuff. 

Last Friday we went to the kick-off parade, where my 2 year old daughter waved to everyone and everything that went by. 

Monday night we went to an Opera for children--a very clever educational program geared to entertain and give children an appreciation for opera.  All four of my pumpkins enjoyed it immensely!

Tomorrow I'm taking them to the local Art Museum (free admission during the festival!) which is putting on a sort of challenge/hunt that I'm sure we'll jump into with both feet. 

Friday the local arboretum has free admission, and is advertising activities for the children (potting plants, etc) as well as a delightful concert in the early evening. 

AND THEN...Saturday!  Saturday evening is the traditional concert with the local Orchestra playing "Pops" music. The first part of the concert varies every year, although you can be sure of having some sing-along segments, but the last 2 pieces are always my favorites.  The Stars and Stripes Forever, including a flying fingered piccolo, and the 1812 Overture, complete with cannons on the bridge and all the downtown church bells ringing at the appropriate times.  I've got goosebumps just thinking about it.  After the concert we get treated to a spectacular fireworks display.

Hubby and I have been to the Saturday portion of this festival every year we've been in Kansas since we were dating.  It's a family tradition, and everyone of the clan gathers and camps out for good seats (and a picnic) for the outdoor concert.  It's such a fun time of year.  I just love living here!

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(an idea stolen shamelessly from my friend Nicole and Charles Schultz's Happiness Is book )

...public libraries

...3/$1 children's books

...curriculum catalogs

...geraniums in bloom

...100 calorie snack packs

...wet toddler smoochies at 7am

...new pens

...rising bread dough

...email

...book recommendations from your best friend

...historical fiction chick flicks

...English Church Music

...clorox wipes

...Christian weddings

...newborn babies

...fresh sheets

...embroidered fabric

...text messaging

Any simple pleasures for you today?

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Of course my friends are real...real women, dear friends, sisters in the Lord.

I had a wonderful time at the wedding, and I looooooved getting to meet some dear ladies in real life.  Here's a picture of the lovely bride with one of her adoring public.

I have the nicest husband in the world to provide a way for me to go!

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My husband has a theory. He suspects that a large percentage of "women" who participate on women's message boards are actually 40+ year old, extemely hairy, smelly, unemployed men who live in caves somewhere.  He likes to tease me with this "theory" when I speak about an online friend as though I was speaking about a friend down the street.  If I mention that "so and so" has met "what's her name" in real life, and they took pictures and shared them with the rest of the board, he'll smirk and tell me it's all a set-up and the pictures are probably from a search on Google Images.  You can see how this can be quite a source of entertainment in our home.

Well this weekend, I get to prove his theory wrong, at least on a small scale.  A dear online friend's daughter (who is also a dear online friend) is getting married this Saturday.  I'm travelling to the wedding, as are several other ladies from the same message board.  I've never met any of them in real life, but I'm looking forward to it as a "reunion" of good friends.

I'll take lots of pictures, and show them to my husband...I wonder if that will cause him to alter his theory? Or maybe, it will cause him to suspect my age, gender and personal hygiene...

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Andy: (watching Mom brown sausage) Mom, you're so pretty when you're cooking.

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Sean wants a dog.

No. Let me rephrase that.  Sean (my 6'2" mountain of a husband) wants a dog that looks more like a bear.  He wants a dog whose bark will make the windows rattle.  He wants a dog who will guard and protect his family and make a nice (huge) hot water bottle on chilly evenings.  He wants a dog strong enough to bear Ellie on its back for the next 2 years.  Behemoth...that's what he's going for.

He likes the looks of Great Pyrenees.  He likes German Shepherds.  I have a hard time not thinking of the latter as "Nazi dogs"...don't ask me why.  I didn't claim it was rational. ;)

So where are we going to find a pup of one of these breeds that is not going to cost $1000?  Yikes!  Seriously, that's the price I saw on some of these pups.  I'm not saying they're not worth it...but isn't there another route to take?

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And the girlies loved their dresses. 

We had a lovely weekend, including a Sabbath Feast with Sean's folks and grandmother on Saturday night, worship with God's people Sunday morning, and another feast with family on Sunday.

Today we also played this amazing game called "Where in the World". It's a geography game, very cleverly designed to be fun and challenging for ages 8ish on up. (Seriously, if you're looking for an OUTSTANDING enrichment game for geography, check it out!) We played the easiest version, and my 8yo Andy skunked us all.  We knew he was a little odd this way...he loves checking out geography books from the library, he's decorated the walls around his bed with maps of all varieties, and he loves poring over this tome called Geographica during his rest/reading times.  We even gave him a world map shower curtain for his last birthday.  We knew he loved it, but we had no idea how much he'd absorbed until we played this game.  The kid is scary.

I heard a wonderful anecdote in the sermon this morning.  Apparently some communist bigwig had travelled from somewhere in Russia all the way to Kiev to speak at a large gathering.  His purpose was to disprove Christianity using reason, science and rhetoric.  He spoke for an hour and seemed to feel he had demolished the case for faith.  He asked if anyone had any questions, and one man came up to the platform.  He surveyed the crowd and raised his voice to confess: HE IS RISEN!  To which the entire crowd with one voice responded: HE IS RISEN INDEED!

All glory to our resurrected King!

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If you watch sports, you know the player commonly referred to as the "Choke artist".  That athlete can be on top of his game anytime EXCEPT when it's down to the line and the whole team is counting on him.  It's a head thing.  For some reason, this poor athlete can't do the most fundamental things when the game is on the line.

I've decided I must be a sewing choke artist.  I can sew garment after garment with few to no errors, all year long...except Easter.  Three years ago, I was picking out the seams of 14 tucks at 1 a.m. Easter morning, after realizing that I'd "tucked" unevenly.  Two years ago I forgot to measure my oldest girl's arm curcumference and GUESSED at it Easter Eve, rather than wake the girl up to measure.  The poor child's fingers had poor circulation that Easter due to some very very snug cuffs on her puffy short sleeves.  Last year I bought fabric that looked lovely, but turned into the most horrendous wrinkled mass in the dryer.  I went and bought different fabric, which was also lovely, but I didn't manage to buy enough.  That year I justified the existence of my fabric stash by finding enough "scraps" to put together a coordinating bodice.

This year I really wanted to be ahead of the game and actually finish the dresses before Saturday night. I took my daughters fabric shopping and we found a lovely fabric.  I promptly got that fabric washed, went to skim the pattern, and it hit me like a freight train...I didn't have NEAR enough fabric to make 2 dresses.  WHAT IS THE MATTER WITH ME?!?  I can read the back of a pattern envelope.  REALLY.  I CAN. I do it all year long.  Except, apparently, at Easter.

So we went back to Joann's yesterday, got more fabric, washed it, and I set to work today. Cutting went as well as cutting could go, although I realized hours later that I hadn't bothered to read the pattern piece which would have given me the oh-so-helpful information that I needed 4 sleeve pieces and not just 2.  Nothing like dragging out the fabric scraps after you think you've finished the cutting job.

This afternoon, during nap/quiet time, I finally got a head of steam.  I was cruising along, congratulating myself on a relatively simple pattern choice this year, when I discovered I'd left off the sashes I had wanted to add.  Rip-rip-rip.  Not long after, I sewed a sleeve to the inside of the dress.  Rip-rip-rip.

So, tonight, I'm sitting on the couch enduring a self-mandated time out from the sewing machines.  My choke fest needs a breather.  I still have to gather and attach the skirts, put in the zippers, hem the dresses, and make some fabric roses to put at the waists.  I ought to be able to finish those tasks tomorrow morning.

If I don't choke.

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