Well, here I am again…over halfway through the month, and I haven’t posted my favorites from the previous month yet! But today is one of those all-day rain days, so since I’m stuck inside, it’s a good day to catch up!
Favorite #1
We started and ended April hanging out with some of our most favorite people: our daughter Cara and her family! The girls share an April 1st birthday, and the way things worked out, Cara and Paul closed on their new home that same day. So we met them in Louisiana to help them celebrate the girls’ birthdays AND their return to homeowner status!
When we got to the house, the girls were getting ready to open gifts that the realtor had brought them. How sweet is that?
Then later in the afternoon, candles were lit on their cookie cakes, and we serenaded them with “Happy Birthday”. The candles were the kind that keep relighting themselves, so that was fun!
After everyone had their fill of cookie cake, we headed to the main room (Living room? Not sure what they’re going to call it.), and had fun watching them open their gifts.
The last gifts they opened were new scooters from their parents, so we headed outside so they could start breaking them in!
I took the opportunity to catch this shot while we were out there:
Even though the weather was slightly chilly, Edie decided her birthday celebration would not be complete without a dip in the pool! Brrrrrrrrrrrr!
I love this picture that I took of Helen in the back yard:
I spent a good portion of the weekend doing this:
Watching trampoline performances!
Even Paul got in on the action!
Saturday afternoon, Big Eagle and I helped Cara put out an Easter egg hunt for the girls. They’re new back yard is PERFECT for hiding eggs!
We had to get on the road early on Easter morning to make the trip home, so we said our good-byes Saturday night. One of the perks about them living so close to New Orleans is that we were able to stop at a Cafe du Monde before leaving town for a breakfast of beignets and coffee! SO GOOD!😋
Such a fun weekend!
Favorite #2
During that same weekend, this picture was texted to us from our Lithuanian contingent:
Danny and Erin had kayaked 12 miles on the Neris River in Vilnius. This picture just makes me want to jump in that kayak and start floating away. The only thing that would stop me is that Danny texted that it was 4 or 5 degrees Celsius when they made that excursion. That would be around 40 degrees Fahrenheit! No, thank you! But the picture is still a favorite. 😁
Favorite #3
We’ve been wanting to do it for several years now, and we FINALLY did! We replaced all the doors and windows in our home!
We also had new siding put on the front porch. Everything still needs painting. The front door used to have clear panes, whereas the new one has a frosted oval. This picture was taken before the back door was installed. That’s it leaning against the siding. Our old back door had 12 panes. This one is all clear glass with mini blinds between the two panes of glass. I miss being able to see clearly out of our front door, but I LOVE the view through the back door!
Our old windows were paned, but the new ones are completely clear. I never realized how much the panes obstructed the view!
Favorite #4
It makes me happy each spring when our bearded irises bloom! They’re an April favorite!
Favorite #5
My book club resumed in April since we had all been vaccinated at last! I was supposed to host, but the windows were still being installed, so my friend Lynn so graciously took over the hosting duties. And what a hostess she was! She prepared a delicious lunch, and to celebrate us being back together again, she had a vase of pink carnations at each place setting for us to take home. Shout out to Lynn for having my back!
Aren’t these just the sweetest? 😍
Favorite #6
I missed this year’s AMC Awards, but my friend Lora shared this video on Facebook. I loved it so much, I saved it. Carrie Underwood is so inspiring singing a medley of classic hymns. I love all four of them, but two of them are personal favorites: Great Is Thy Faithfulness and How Great Thou Art. It’s 7 minutes and 12 seconds, but if you haven’t seen it, it’s well worth the time!
Favorite #7
After more than a year of having my account frozen, I finally went back to my Orangetheory studio in April. YAY! It’s nice to be racking up those splat points again! Thank you, Moderna! 💉
Favorite #8
Brought in our first spinach harvest from the garden on April 28th!
Since then we’ve had two more harvests of spinach, and with all this rain we’re having now, I’m sure there will be more very soon!
Favorite #9
As I said at the outset of this post, I both started and ended April hanging out with some of my most favorite people in the world! Cara and Paul’s shipment of their household belongings from Nigeria were finally arriving at their house in Louisiana on April 30th. It had been over a year since Cara had seen any of the things that make a home seem like home. I went down to Houston to stay with the girls while she went to Louisiana to help Paul sort through the shipment. Happy to say their things arrived in much better condition than some of the horror stories they had heard from some of their friends who also came back to the states from Nigeria.
On the last day of April while I was there with the girls, they each wanted me to take a picture of them playing with Sunny.
That’s it! Those are my favorite moments from April! My May favorites will begin right here where I left off with my visit to Houston. I’ll be back in the next few days with my book talk for March/April.
In the meantime, I’d love to read any comments you may have! Whether regarding this post, or some of YOUR favorites from April, or anything else, I hope you’ll feel free to respond.
Hello, my friend. So glad to see a post from you. I have been hit or miss on blog writing and reading and trying to catch up today but PC will be home soon and I have done practically nothing else. Need to do something around the house!!
LOVED the photos. The girls are growing like weeds. Great action shots on the trampoline. And lovely shots around the yard, Edie finding an egg, and Helen by the tree. I know Cara must be thrilled to have her own things finally. My goodness, that took forever. I used to have to wait several months with a move in the Army from one post to the next but never as long as year. They have a very nice new home.
Yay for unfreezing your Orangetheory account. We gave up our gym membership. Bought a few small pieces of equipment and have been working out at home. In fact, need to get on the treadmill for a spin right now.
Would love to grow some spinach. Had thought of several things I might like to try to grow but we don’t eat tomatoes, cucumbers, squash really enough to warrant trying to grow them. But I am eating the heck out of some spinach lately. How hard is it to grow? Could I do a container garden of spinach?
Big hugs!!
Hi, Leslie! Good to hear from you! Spinach is not difficult to grow at all, but from my experience, it doesn’t do as well once the summer heat begins. I would think it would do fine in containers, but would probably require more frequent watering. I hope you give it a try. I would love to hear how it works for you!