The Ice Storm That Wasn't

The mega gigantic ice storm that was supposed to hit Thursday night fizzled.  We twice had a little ice overnight that melted in the morning.  Missouri was closed on Friday, so I got a day at home I wasn't counting on, which was much appreciated, but which turns out was unnecessary.  I don't mind, though.  I've been running on all cylinders since the beginning of December and an extra-long weekend was just what I needed.

Around my house since Christmas~

The amaryllis is finished, but the paperwhites are coming on.  I meant to plant these in time for them to be blooming about now, but note the above paragraph. . .  I love to have flowers blooming indoors at this time of year!

We had a cold snap right after Christmas and got a little snow.  The woods and the pond are beautiful this time of year!  (Not that I was actually outside when I took this.  Brrrrr!)

Dave is now the proud owner of a canjo.  

Hannah surprised by the camera~

Spending the night at Grandma and Grandpa's 😊

                   

This tree is five or six years old, we think, and it's blooming for the first time!  It's either a lime or lemon tree.  I guess we'll find out when the fruit appears. . .

                           

Day Trip to Kimmswick

Well, it wasn't even a whole day really, nor even a whole afternoon.  Once a month, Dave drives over three hours to preach at St. John's Lutheran Church in Pocahontas, MO, a church currently without a pastor.  I went with him this time, and we stopped at the tiny historic town of Kimmswick on the way home.  Truth be told, we had less than two hours there, but it was fun.

There are lots of cute little shops and restaurants.  Our first stop was The Christmas House, which was crammed with Christmas trees which were crammed with ornaments.

Sorry for the blurriness!

And that was just one room!

The town is full of old houses . . . old by American standards, anyway.  This one houses a museum, which we did not get to visit.  (It was closed.)

These buildings were (are still?) a winery.

Not all the buildings are made of logs.  The Kimmswick City Hall~

We saw this in a shop and it made us laugh~

{Pretty, Happy, Funny, Real}~ June 5, 2016

Whew! What a week!  Dave's brother and his wife were here from Washington state all week.  Lots of fun but also lots of activity, which left us all worn out (a good kind of worn out, though!).  I'll share some highlights.

{Pretty}

One morning, breakfast was soft-boiled eggs and leftover pound cake with apricot preserves.  (It's no worse than a doughnut, right??)  I was struck by how cheerful it all looked~

A couple close-ups of the flowers on the table, all of which came from the yard and the woods that border it.  Such a wide variety!  

The funny, umbrella, double- or triple-decker lavender blooms are the same as Rosie shared in her {phfr} post at Like Mother, Like Daughter.  I don't know what they are called.  Anyone have ideas?

{Happy}

Elizabeth and Justin hosted a big family party over Memorial Day weekend.  We had everything from an 80-year-old great-grandma

to the newest member of the family, a six-week-old darling baby boy

in addition to everything in between~

                            

Later in the week, we hosted a cook-out at our house~

Arane and Verity provided light entertainment~

{Funny}

Photo Credit: Arane

{Real}

Photo Credit: Arane

{Pretty, Happy, Funny, Real}~ May 1, 2016

I'm joining Like Mother, Like Daughter for {phfr}.  

We've been engaged in lots of hospitality the past week, which is always rewarding.  Among other things, Elizabeth and her family were here yesterday for a bar-b-que.  Arane found my camera and started snapping pictures.  All the pictures this week are hers.

{Pretty}

Arane did very well on this one!  Nice composition and angle.  These pansies, which she helped me plant in April, should last another month or so.

{Happy}

Oh, these pictures make me smile!  Those sweet little, pudgy little feet.  Absolutely adorable!

{Funny}

Then Arane walked around pointing the camera and saying, "Cheese!"  She had a little trouble keeping her fingers off the lens. . .

{Real}

. . .and keeping things in focus.

There were also the inevitable headless shots.

But for a three-year-old, I think she did a great job!

{Pretty, Happy, Funny, Real}~ January 3, 2016

Happy second Sunday after Christmas!  I love it that there are two Sundays in the Christmas season this year.  That means lots of time to sing Christmas hymns. :)

I'm going to share a montage of Christmas photos without a lot of explanation and without trying to divide them into {phfr} categories.  Each has a bit of all of them.

Our tree at home

Dave, Hannah, and I enjoyed Christmas together at home~

I later realized that all the pictures I took of Hannah are with her in her pajamas, and
since I don't think she'd appreciate me plastering my blog with those pictures, I'm just
sharing one rather discreet one.  We gave her a coloring book for grown-ups and she
loved it!

Our church's nave on Christmas morning.  Beautiful!

We spent almost a week in West Virginia with Elizabeth and her family.  So much fun!

Verity is 16 months old!

Guess who?

Elizabeth, Verity, Arane, and Justin

Story time

Is there a child alive who doesn't like to have a ride in a laundry basket? lol

Arane is three and a half.  I'm not sure when that happened . . .

We took so many group photos because in almost all of them, one or both
of the kids were wiggling and therefore blurry.  We were lucky to get even
one of  picture with us all relatively in focus!

Verity wasn't sure what to think of the pop! from our Christmas crackers, but
she enjoyed the crown.

A portable doll bed I made for Verity

This picture is of my mother-in-law, Sylvia, and her hot-off-the-presses book of poetry.  She has written poetry for most of her adult life, and some friends and family gathered 400 of them (more or less) into a professionally designed and produced book.  Here she is on Christmas Eve with her brand-spankin' new copy.

Visit Like Mother, Like Daughter for more {phfr}!

{Pretty, Happy, Funny, Real}~ November 22, 2015

Joining Like Mother, Like Daughter for {phfr}!

{Pretty}

We awoke to our first dusting of snow Saturday morning.  It soon melted, but it was exciting while it lasted!

I think winter sunsets are the prettiest of all.  The black outline of the trees is striking against the colorful sky.  This sunset was predominantly purple!

Sorry for the glare.  I took it from inside because, well, it was cold out there!

{Funny}

Dave said McDonald's has released its Advent cup a week early.  We hope it won't cause a controversy since it's not just plain purple but has a wreath and all . . .

We spotted this while getting a jump start on our Christmas shopping.  This is what I don't want for Christmas!

Thanks for visiting!