Pine Trees & Easter

A friend sent me this today & I thought it was pretty cool. As Easter grows closer, keep an eye on the pine trees!

Pine trees know when it's Easter!

Ever noticed the pine tree crosses on Easter Sunday?

Pine trees start their new growth in the weeks before Easter- if you look at the tops of the pine trees two weeks before you'll see the yellow shoots.
As the days get closer to Easter Sunday, the tallest shoot will branch off and form a cross.
By the time Easter Sunday rolls around, you will see that most of the pine trees will have small yellow crosses on all the tallest shoots.

It's a SNAP!

A few weeks ago, Sadie said she wanted to learn how to snap. It all started one Wednesday night at choir practice when I asked the children to try and snap. I always begin choir practice with a welcome song that includes every child's name. While we sing, the kid's try to keep the rhythm of the song. We might tap our heads, tap our laps, clap, stomp, nod, etc and this particular night, I asked them to just try and snap the rhythm for fun. There was only one child who could do it & he got a lot of praise for it! I guess Sadie got it in her head that she wanted to do it as well. So...she worked at it & worked at it for weeks. She was constantly asking me how to do it. Well, one day, she came downstairs and said, "Look Momma!!" Sure enough...she was snapping!! Ever since that day, Sadie snaps everywhere! Here's a little clip of our very proud girl showing off her newly developed snapping skills :0)

Be Mine~

We had a nice Valentine's Day! Danny gave me my anniversary gift a day early because he was so excited about it. It was a beautiful canvas print made to look like a painting of the girls. I love it!!! I'm working on redecorating our dining room & plan to put it in there. What a special gift!

Here are the girls with their box of chocolates & one of them with their heart lunch that Danny made them. When we got home from church he said, "I want to make them lunch using all heart shapes. Do you have a small heart cookie cutter?" Wow! What a creative Dad!!

First Grade Valentine Production...So cute!!

Elise was fabulous in her Valentine Production! I videotaped the whole thing for Danny, but wouldn't you know it...the one time I turn off the camera, Elise appears on a slide show & I miss it!!!! It was so funny! They had a few kids saying what they loved about themselves & Elise was first up. She said she loved her loose tooth & gave it a good wiggle. Everyone chuckled. Too funny! I'm working on getting a copy of it.

Here's a video of Elise singing one of her songs~

Super Bowl Celebration

I'm a little late on this post, but it's worth sharing! Although Danny is the only one who occasionally watches football, we always have a family Super Bowl Party. I guess it's just an excuse to eat junk for one night :0). While I was preparing the goodies, the girls decided to make Super Bowl signs & post them all over the house. We had arrows pointing the way, arrows showing where the food was going to go, & my favorite one reminding you to "Shhh..." while the game is on so dad can listen!

One thing I learned while we watched is that the commercials are definitely NOT appropriate for three little girls. I couldn't believe the stuff they had on there!!! When the commercials came on, most of the time they were asked to close their eyes or leave the room. Yikes!

20 Years~!~!

Danny & I have been a couple for 20 years today! I just can't believe it! I feel so old thinking we've been together that long! I was 15 when we met at our first job at Baskin Robbins. I can still remember him saying, "Fancy meeting you in this dipping case." I can also remember him asking me out to dinner at Chi Chi's, but because I said, "Sure," he said, "Never mind." In his mind, 'sure' didn't really mean I wanted to go. I'm glad we ended up going out after all :0). I should have known then what I was in for...HA!
Can you believe have been together for more than half of my life? Four houses, ten cars, thirteen jobs, three restaurants, three pets, and three kids later...here we are! We're so blessed and I greatly appreciate every moment we've spent together (yes...all of them). I look forward to the day when I can say, "Danny & I have been a couple for 60 years!"

A Frosty Morning Walk

This morning Elise & I bundled up to take a walk around the lake behind our house. What a beautiful site it was! I love how the snow sits ever so delicately on the tops of narrow limbs, the glittery snow mounds, the various shapes & sizes of crystals hidden within snowy footsteps, the contrast of the moving water & the stillness of the snow covered forest. Although I got a few good shots, I'm always diappointed when the photos I take don't capture what I truly see. Here are a few of my favorites.

Sledding Delights~

This past week the kids went to school for a total of 4 1/2 hours! Here's us on one of the days they were home sledding with friends! When the sun was going down, the hill got so slick that the kids were able to slide down like penguins on their bellies!

Sadie's Morning Announcement

At 7:30 this morning, Sadie shuffled into our bedroom and climbed under the sheets beside me. I tried to keep her quiet so Danny could catch a few more ZZZZZZZZZZs on his birthday :0). As she snuggled up beside me she began poking her cheeks with her fingers while staring at at the ceiling (obviously pondering something of importance). After a minute or two she said, "Mama?"
"Yes?" I half grumbled in a whisper.
"Mama? Do you know that we have four cheeks?"
"Hmmm??"
"We have two on our face and two on our hiney."
I had to chuckle..."Yes, Sadie...we do have four cheeks."

Gotta love it~