April Showers of Blessings

Good morning to you all on this last day of April! You know the old saying “April showers bring May flowers”. While that’s certainly true in nature, April has offered another kind of shower. The Lord has rained blessing after blessing on our family this month.

One of the reasons I blog is to remind myself of all there is to be grateful for amidst daily routine and even seasons of trials. It’s like my gratitude journal in the form of photos and stories. April has had its challenges, but as I scan through the photos on my phone, I’m reminded of everyday delights the Lord has granted.

And yes, one of those blessings is all the flowers popping up around my yard from that good April rain!

Beyond my own yard, I’ve enjoyed morning walks while watching the sun rise over the mountain ridge.

It’s like God gives me a new show every morning. What a magnificent Creator we have!

The weather this month has been spectacular, and has drawn us outdoors every day.

Country Girl has gotten in plenty of riding. And see her saddle below? She decorates everything she owns. At the barn one day, I noticed she had painted some Indian rock beads and strung them to her saddle. Sweet girl.

Incredi-Boy is so crazy over race cars these days. I looked out one afternoon to find that he had lined up orange cones as an obstacle course for his bike. So funny!

CG and IB are both playing spring soccer, and Joel is CG’s coach. It’s been such a fun season! And again, we get to start those Saturday mornings with a lovely mountain view.

We’ve also enjoyed our weekly visits to the granary down the road from us, where we purchase grains, produce, honey, and eggs. Their grits and pancake mix are fabulous!

We always stay a little extra to play with the goats. Lots of babies this spring! Aren’t they adorable?!

IB reached a rite of passage every boy anxiously awaits, and got his first pocket knife in his Easter basket. Joel took him on the patio one afternoon to practice carving on soap. He’s such a good daddy!

We hosted some neighbor friends for a simple little patio party that you can read about in my “Easter Tag Along” post.

God blessed us with a gorgeous afternoon of fun and sunshine!

And then Easter weekend arrived with its own list of activities!

Our Easter breakfast consisted of breakfast casserole, strawberry white chocolate scones, and an Easter tea from a local tea room. The tea was a heavenly blend of coconut, vanilla, pineapple, and raspberry flavors. The aroma was as perfectly pleasing as the taste!

On most Saturday nights we have games and snacks instead of a big dinner. For Easter weekend I tried to give our snacks a little bunny-inspired pizzazz. I found a cute idea for *carrot* cheese and dill crackers made with a fancy homemade cheese cream. For a quicker version, I used a can of squirt cheese and it worked just fine! Definitely repeating this next year!

We have a few special Easter decorations that I’m keeping up for another week before packing away. We are dog lovers and so I try to put out a little tribute to our pups each holiday. This year I found these funny little dog plates at Home Goods. Lottie is our golden retriever (well, partly) and Georgia was our late beagle who always had her nose to the ground!

My mom gave me the bunny towel last year and my great aunt made me the ceramic bunny vase when I was eleven years old! It’s very special. It’s also cute as a lollipop holder.

The bunny and egg tree was something I spotted about fifteen years ago at a Hallmark shop. My husband went back and got the tree for my birthday, and my mother-in-law gifted me the eggs to hang on it.

I got a LOT of use out of my Easter tags from Memory Makin’ Momma . I tied these pretty floral cross tags onto bags of cross-shaped sugar cookies to hand out at Joel’s grandmother’s assisted living home. I also made use of the leftover strawberry jam cupcakes I had in the freezer and packaged them up for special pop-in deliveries. Since the picks were too tall for the boxes, I tied them on top for an extra decoration.

You might be wandering about Piano Girl since I haven’t mentioned her yet. I don’t have photos to share here, but believe me, she’s been busy. Chorus performances, school classes, end-of-year social events, and weekly office cleaning have all kept her busy. This week is exam week so she’s got her nose in a book or two…or ten!

Some of her college friends came over for lunch after church Sunday since they’ll soon be going home for summer break. I asked ahead of time what they would like to eat and they requested pasta. Since it’s exam week, I decided to spoil them a little with two pasta dishes: chicken tetrazzini and spaghetti casserole. I also added Italian beans, salad, and garlic bread. (Recipes to come)

We concluded the meal with butterscotch pie and eighth note cookies (because they’re in chorus!). The friendships that PG has enjoyed at college this year have been another blessing and I’m so very thankful. They are all such sweet and outstanding young women! Some were already traveling or had other commitments, but there were still a few around to join us Sunday. And apparently I hit the mark with the butterscotch pie because I got a “bomb diggity” from one of girls! So cute! That just makes me smile every time I think about it!

Here’s to ending the school year on a *high note*, girls!! Hope your summer is the BOMB DIGGITY!