Showing posts with label Easter. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Easter. Show all posts

Sunday, April 5, 2015

Easter 2015

My parents arrived in town late yesterday, while I was still airborne en route from Panama to Dayton. They spent the evening with Rob and were ready, bright & early this morning to attend the Easter service at our church. It is after all the day on which we celebrate this fact:
amen! 
It was a mini reunion of sorts, seeing Marissa, Aaron, Chris & Quinn all there. We had all transformed our appearances from what we'd known last week, and it seemed almost strange that we were all there together in our normal routines, that aren't nearly as connected as our reliance on each other had been over the past 8 days.

My church does a phenomenal job of integrating the perfect amount of worship into a message, without overdoing it and making it into a show production. I was so thankful for the praise team and their ability to work the music into my heart and mind, as exhausted they both still were this morning. I stood with my parents and Rob, praising the God we love and sharing the joy that He lives!
It was a gorgeous day out today. My body and mind are still spinning from the past 8 days of my life, but to have my parents and future husband here with me today made for an Easter celebration with my family. We of course were missing one, but I was fortunate to speak with her as she spent this year with her Dad.


Mom & Dad stayed for a mid-afternoon lunch before they took off homebound again to Mt. Vernon.

For now, it's time to catch up with Rob, and start digging into these bajillion pictures I feel as though I have from the trip.

Panama, I miss you already. Just so you know.

Happy Easter, world.
Jesus LIVES; take a moment today and for the next several even, to download that, and more importantly what it really means for all of us.

Amen?
Amen!

xo | cmd

Saturday, April 26, 2014

Easter Eggs & Kites!

I slept on the couch in our greatroom last night, and I don't regret that decision at all. This house, the house in which I grew up, boasts an open greatroom with gable windows, and when the sun rises, so do you.. in a great mood. I was up and moving before the rest of the house; the first thing I did was step outside onto the deck. The trees have yet to sprout their full sets of leaves, but that barely detracted from the beauty that always surrounds this place.

** Deck morning pic

My mom is a machine. I think we'll all be shocked if I actually outlive her. Haha. Seriously, though: My mother is the definition of a healthy woman, and I'll never get over the fact that she can run circles around us. She had us up and going as soon as her feet hit the floor this morning, and we haven't looked back since. ;)

|| ONE ||

First, it was an Easter Egg hunt & the unveiling of Easter baskets.
[The Easter bunny was busy this year!]
egg hunt...... go!
basket o' eggs
nana & pappy!
With all the eggs collected, we noticed there were some strange prints on the deck... [yes, this Easter bunny walks, like a human... haha]
where did he go?
easter baskets, of course!!
ransack.
easter basket goodies!
Showcasing some spoils:
new sock-shoes? lol (:
ninja bunny here....
little capsules that become sponge animals
|| TWO ||

We survived the explosion of Easter basket fun and gathered ourselves together for a trip to the new and still in-progress development of Mt. Vernon's Foundation Park. They still have some big work to do, but it's already beautiful and I'm excited to come back in a few months to see how it's finished.

Our reason for the visit today?
butterfly kite!
I didn't realize until today that my mother has never before flown a kite. Never. This won't sound like much to most, but today will stay special if for no other reason than the fact that I was with my mother and my daughter for their first time flying a kite. How.. awesome (:
she's good!!

she insisted she could do this herself ;)

but finally enlisted mister rob's help ♥
heading out to get started
my girl ♥♥
mom!!!
showing mister rob how it's done ;)
she's a pro now!
mama, reeling it in after an hour of flight time (:
We flew that thing for almost an hour before finally bringing it down. Luckily for us, we also brought snacks... and bubbles.
snacks with pappy
bubbles with nana

ribbons!
Soon it was time to go...
getting chilly ... zip up!
my love...
... and the love i most admire ♥
|| THREE ||
We headed home after the park; Dad, Rob and our neighbor Fred got together to switch out the dryers and hang out for a bit, and Sydni and I took to the yard.
in love with today
her snarly monster face
if you guessed that she's singing the frozen soundtrack, you're not wrong...
more bubbles!
This picture, which is now one of my favorites:
baby girls being raised right ;)
Before long, it was time to settle down for dinner. Mom, as usual, outdid herself and left the family with bellies so full we didn't know what to do with ourselves. Dad's solution? Teach Sydni chess. 
ok, so maybe it wasn't by real chess rules, but hey, it's ok!
After dinner, we forced Mom out of the kitchen and took away all her dishtowels and parked her in a seat with the family to watch................. you guessed it.. Frozen. I'm fairly certain my parents are were the only two remaining people in the U.S. to have seen this movie. Haha.
it's movie time!
hey pappy! dooooooo you wanna build a snowmaaaaan?
They loved it. She recited it. We just laughed watching them the whole time.
Oh, and when you're here at the Dren Lodge, this is how you end Saturday movie nights:
homemade chocolate & caramel sauce!
Whoa. Saturday = SUCCESS.
We're aiming for the same thing tomorrow (:

xo | cmd

Vernon Bound

Some memoirs of my dietary relapse today at work:
this avocado-filled veggie burger..
& this. this decadent little work-out-canceller.
Meh. It's Friday. (:
It's probably not gonna get much better as far as the amount of food we intake this weekend, what with us heading to my parents'. We made a quick a getaway as possible this evening, after loading up my old dryer and a couple of our things for the weekend. Before long, we were ready to head out.
nobody panic. we weren't moving.
Fast forward through the bumpy diesel jaunt across the landmarkless farmland that exists between Cincinnati and Columbus, to us arriving at my parents'.
yep. this is my homeland ;)
We. Are. HERE!

Mom had chicken paprekash ready when we walked in the door. Nobody's surprised... but nobody's starving, either. Haha.

We're in for an awesome [Post-]Easter [celebration] weekend, loves!

xo | cmd

Tuesday, April 22, 2014

Post-Dated Easter Cards & Mini Pot Pies

Happy MONDAY!  
love love loooooove!!
My little Easter egg is back, and we started off our week with a mama+mini selfie, because... we can (: We had big plans for this evening, so we made it a point to get started as soon as we got home.

1. DINNER!
I'm going to share this one with everybody, because it's just... that easy. And delicious.
Here ya go. Here's the scoop on making mini chicken pot pies:

NEED
2 cans pillsbury grands dinner rolls
1 bag frozen veggies (the peas/corn/green beans/carrots work well)
1 can cream of chicken soup
2 cups of shredded chicken (or 1 can.. if you're into canned meat)
Shredded cheese, if you please!
Muffin tin
Cooking spray (or flour, if you do it that way)

DO
1. Pre-heat oven to 375. Thaw your veggies & cook your chicken if you need to. Put all the ingredients in a ziploc bag.
looks great. uhhhh.. haha
2. Prime your muffin tin with either cooking spray or flour, whichever method you like best. Try not to have a heart attack while opening the grands container.... even though we all know what's coming, if you're like me, it still scares the crap out of you every time.

3. Stuff grands rolls into the muffin tins. 


gettin' there.
4. I used 2 tablespoons of the bag mixture per dough cup. Spoon everything into the muffin tin. Bake at 375 until the dough starts browning slightly. Since everything in the mixture should be cooked already, be sure not to overdo it.
noms.
5. EAT!
deeeeelish!
These were a huge hit tonight. I wouldn't say I have a picky eater, but it was exceptionally easy with this one. No, not the healthiest thing we could've done, but we don't regularly eat this way.

Anyway, that was the solution to dinner. The rest of the night was dedicated to the creation of Easter cards! Okay, correction: Post-Easter Easter cards. It's never too late for well-wishes ;)
prepared earlier last week!
here we go!!!
Our dining room table transformed from an eatery to a craft bench:
colorful girl
mister rob, come help!
markers & colors & eggs, oh my!
love these nights
After what seemed like "fooooooreverrrrr, Mommmyyyyyyy," the glue had dried on all the eggs and our cards were ready:
egg cards!
artwork compliments of miss sydni herself ♥
........... Whew! That's a lot for one evening, but we're caught up now and relaxing together like we should be. Here's to a great week!

xo | cmd