just us, hanging together

        [this picture is of Cyndi enjoying a good laugh during the shower ;-) ]
      Yesterday I told you about the baby shower / come visit time we had last weekend, for Byron, Cyndi and Analyse. We had rented our church's lodge for it. For church members, the cost is extremely minimal. But it gets even better. It is less expensive to rent it for a whole day, then to just rent it for three hours, so we did!
   Brandon had got his work schedule switched around so that he had it off, and after all of the party guests left, the nine(9) [actually, ten (10) if you count Boo ;-p] of us stayed at the lodge. It was such a relaxed atmosphere, low key, nice evening. :->
   I claimed one full sized couch and crashed. Sigh. It felt good. For awhile my eyes were closed, relaxing them and slowing the dizzies. That is, except when Boo would wander over and stick his nose in my face. Or when Analyse came over to show me her new baby, or a balloon, or just to touch grandma and say "Hi!". Bliss, I tell you!  :->
   We had brought along small sub buns and the fixin's for sub sandwiches, plus there were still  foods from the party left. Everybody could munch as much as they wanted. And Analyse wanted to! She could easily reach up onto the serving table, and if she stood on tip toe, she could even see what it was she was reaching for. Seeings how what she was reaching for was fruit, or carrots, and occasionally a cracker, we just watched her in amusement. She made no pretense of being sneaky about it. In-fact, most of the time she would proudly show off what she had taken. So-o cute!
    Here's a picture of her cuteness just because  ;->


   The "boys" were all excited about what their entertainment for the evening was going to be. Originally it was going to be a video game play-off, but then Byron and Cyndi brought along the WII  they had gotten with what was left of their tax money, after certain debts were paid off.
    It was so-o fun to hear the bantering and laughter of our four "boys" playing together again!!!
    It was also fun to watch their antics. The concentrated faces each of them still makes. The silence of concentration being pierced by excited victory, or the gaff of 'how did that happen?!??'  Even though their motions often sat the waves inside of me reeling, they were so fun to watch. Brian must have thought so to, because amidst his putter-in at taking care of everything in the kitchen, he'd wander in to watch their antics for a bit, he usually left shaking his head in amusement.
   Yes, the 'girls' (Cyndi and Kayla) got turns too. Cyndi seemed to want to more than Kayla. In-fact, one time Byron went into the kitchen to get food and Cyndi took up his controller. ;-p A different time, Brandon had.
   I have no idea what this game was, but they sure did enjoy doing it!

    Once everything was packed up, the floors vacuumed and swept, etc. we were all ready to watch the new Elmo (TM) DVD grandpa had bought for Analyse and go to bed ourselves. ;-p

    Lord, THANK-YOU for the good time we can still have, just being our little family. What a blessing!!!!!

 

"Baby Shower / Come Visit Time"

    Several of our friends had commented about either a. or b. .  a.) was that they hadn't seen Byron and Cyndi since the Michigan Reception, and thus also had never seen Analyse (except via my posted pictures).  b.) was that they had seen them, but mainly only from glimpses when the kids were at church, but that they hadn't really talked to them, seeings how they were always surrounded by family (two of my (Cheryl's) siblings and all of their now grown children attend the same church).
   Just like we had done our own "Christmas" with our little family, it had been voted on to do our own "Easter" as well.  This year, Palm Sunday (the Sunday before Easter) had been the selected date.
   Brian and I had decided that that weekend would also be the perfect opportunity to invite some of our friends to something, so that they could have a chance to both see and visit with our out of state kids. Seeings how before she was born, they had know Analyse was going to be a girl, most all of their infant stuff is "girlie". But this time they are having a boy, so we went with a baby shower as the basis of our get together.

    I made the invites myself. I sort of told about them  HERE.  I thought I'd show you what they looked like.

     Our 'plan' was to keep the party casual and simple.

     We kept the decorations simple by using my blue and white checkered table cloths on the main food table, a plastic pink table cloth on the dessert and beverage table, and a few pink and blue balloons here and there. (Analyse and Marly Jo [Kayla's niece who is two months younger than Analyse] found great enjoyment in playing with a few of the balloons!)
     In the middle of the main food table, we put a glass vase with silk off white football mums - Cyndi's favorite kind of flower ;-). Coming up out of the bouquet, was one pink and one blue balloon.
    
      Neither Cyndi nor I like shower games, for a multitude of reasons. But Kayla said that we had to have a game. Brian suggested just a simple answer the questions game, with some of the questions being about our kids, and others being silly questions thrown in just for the fun of it.  As I thought of them, I jotted them down. Here's what I came up with:
1.) Which of our sons is Cyndi married to?    [Byron]
2.) Which of our sons is Kayla engaged to?  [Brent]
3.) Which of our other two sons does Brian want Kate to marry?  [either  o;-p]
4.) What is Analyse's middle name?  [Christine]
5.) If a baby is born ON it's due date, from the time of conception, how long was the pregnancy?   [nine months]
6.) If the mother is carrying twins, is the pregnancy then twice as long?  [no, it just seems that way]
7.)  What children's TV character does Analyse get to watch an episode of before nap and bed time?   [Elmo]
8.) Where exactly do Byron and Cyndi live?  [_____]
9.) If 2 + 2 are 4 and 4 plus 4 are 8, what was it Little Miss Muffet' ate?  [curds and whey]
10.) What two words does this grandma often use when describing Analyse?  [adorable imp]
11.) If  o/~ I love you and you love me o/~  what kind of  o/~ fam-i-ly o/~  does that make us?  [happy]

    There were two winners. They both got a long shopping list / note pad, with a magnet on the back.
    Cyndi was suppose to get a T-shirt. Yes, 'suppose to'. I know it's in this house somewhere... it just wasn't where I was sure it was... 8-/   A-n-y-ways, it's a M+M's (TM) T-shirt, which states "I'm the nutty one".  I thought it would make a wonderful maternity shirt. ;-)

   Everybody was then instructed to help themselves to the food. Everybody all at once, no this person having to go first. However, once they got their food, they were to sit with somebody whom they either didn't know at all, or somebody they knew, but seldom got a chance to talk to. They did, and we heard later that many of them had enjoyed it. :-)

    What did we serve?  Here's the list.  I'll be doing postings down the road  for most of the items.
    ~ two (2) types of Cheese-Balls - the cheesier one was rolled in real bacon bits, the other in chopped pecans.  (By 'cheesier', I mean that it contained more cheese, not the other kind of 'cheesy'! o;-p)
    ~ Three (3) kinds of crackers: Town House (TM), Wheat Thins (TM) and Triscuit (TM).  (No recipes will be posted later for these  ;-p)
    ~ Fresh Veggies: Red and Green Pepper strips, Broccoli, Califlower, Carrots, Mushrooms, Green Onions.
    ~ My mom's recipe for Veggie Dip.
    ~ Fresh Fruits: Apples, Bananas, Musk Melon, Watermelon.
    ~ was suppose to be fruit dip, but I forgot to bring quite enough cream cheese along, so it was just marshmallow creme. 8-/
   ~  Veggie Pizza
   ~ Chocolate Cupcakes with a blue peanut M+M (TM) on top.
   ~ Unsweetened Ice Tea (with a bowl of sugar nearby) and Strawberry Lemonade.

     Here's a picture of some of the food.

     As instructed, our sons then arrived on the scene. After all, our friends wanted to see Byron too.  Together, Byron and Cyndi opened most of the gifts. But lots of our friends had brought gifts for Ms. Analyse as well, and they let her open those.

    All in all, it was a fun time. In the future, like once a year, or at the least every other year, we plan on hosting 'come visit with all of us' parties, so that our friends can 'see' our family.

My 'Shepard's Pie' was the inspiration .... :-)

I also found this email in my in-box this morning -
"PERMANENT POSIES has left a new comment on your post "Soothing Shepard's Pie":

Hey, Girl.....I mentioned your Shepherd's Pie on my blog. Did you see it? Here is the link:

http://permanentposies.com/2011/04/crockpot-shepherds-pie/

Have a great day. "

On her blog, she had written, "Well, after reading the recipes last week, I decided to cook something I haven’t cooked since my kids were little.  Shepherd’s Pie!  The idea came from Cheryl at The BZ House That Love Built because the recipe she submitted under last week’s Meatballs and Potatoes was a Soothing Shepherd’s Pie.
   Of course, I had to put my own spin on it so, my recipe is my own.  Also, I had 1/2 pound of cooked hamburger meat left from Saturday and needed to stretch it into a meal.   Yesterday, I cooked a pot of navy beans in my Crockpot (which were delicious, by the way) and it was still sitting on the cabinet…..the Crockpot…not the beans.  So, I decided to make the Shepherd’s Pie in the Crockpot.  Great idea!  It was delicious and I hope you like it."

I'm glad I was able to help 'inspire' (my wording) you Susan. ;-> 
Brian would enjoy having English peas added to our version, I on the other hand...  I'm an adult now, so I could pick them out, r-i-g-h-t?  o;-p

We are happy to display this button -

"Plan B" was featured :-)

I found this email in my in-box this morning -
"Dr. Laura @ WhoIsLaura.com has left a new comment on your post "When Plan A doesn't work, but you still need to tu...":

Thanks for sharing this adventure with Dr. Laura's Tasty Tuesdays! I'm featuring you this week, because I love what you did for Plan B and I am happy to know that I am not the only one who doesn't have things go the way they were planned to :)

Dr. Laura "

On her blog, she had written, "Next, because I love knowing that I am not the only one in the kitchen who has things that do not go according to plan, Cheryl captured my heart with her tale of dinner a la plan B at The BZ House That Love Built." 


therefore, we are now happy to show you this button:

Glad that my mishap IS encouragement to others!!! :-)

The Easter Snowman

   I slept in till 9:00 this morning. After visiting the bathroom, I walked across the kitchen to the fridge to fix myself a glass of orange juice. As I was starting to pull the O.J. out, my mind thought, "It's still coming down out there".  It immediately then registered "W-H-A-T?!?!!!".  I turned and looked out the window and then out loud voiced the thought, "OH MY GOSH!!".
   The "it" that was coming down, was white flaky precipitation (aka: snow). I walked over to the window to get a better look-see. We had about an inch of it. Everywhere except on the sidewalks, or the grass under the pop-up tent set up in the back yard. The rest of the grass, was covered. The vehicles parked along the alley, covered. The roof of the garage, covered. Goodness.
    I remember many an Easter here in Michigan, when we had fresh snow. But I had 'thought' they had always been when Easter had come early - in late March or early April. But Easter is coming late this year, and yet it very well could be a white one. 8-/

    A couple of hours later, as we were out loading the out of state kids up in their car  to head out again (yes, they were here this weekend :->!!!!!!!!!!  Postings about that soon ;-) ), I noticed the house directly across the street from us had a snowman in their front yard, sort of leaning against their lamp post. It was wearing sun glasses and a cap. I pointed it out to everybody.
   Then I started chuckling due to the 'prank' which had popped into my mind. I shared the idea with Benson and he not only liked it, but agreed to help me implement it.
    I went upstairs and got out the pink bunny ears, as well as some bright colored plastic Easter eggs. I came down stairs and nabbed the Christmas fabric lined basket Joanna T. had given me this year. I put a couple of wadded up plastic bags in the bottom of the basket and sat the eggs in on top.
    Benson then set off to change the snowman into the Easter Bunny Snow Man. Off came the green cap, on went the ears. The basket did hang from their limb arm (;->) . After coming back across the street, he took some pictures for me. I keep looking out the window and smiling hugely. He voiced that he didn't think you were suppose to enjoy your own prank for that long. I disagree. To the point that I decided to blog about it, thus making it a long term memory. ;-p Besides, I figured a bunch of you might enjoy the chuckle too. ;->

                         Merry Easter Everybody  0:-D

So, about that name ...

   You know how I  told you that the name they had picked out for our soon-to-be-born grandson, was going to be 'Toby James' ?

    It was. Going to be that is.  But then Cyndi liked this other name, and then,  and ....

   When Byron was apologetically telling me all of this, I laughed. Yes, right out loud. Told him not to worry about it till the baby is born (mid-July). They then must make a final decision in two days time, so they can sign a birth certificate. But mid-July is a ways away yet. 

   Currently Cyndi is favoring Eliot James. I really like that choice! It's sort of a 'proper sounding name' like we had gone with for our own sons.
    But if they decide to go with something different, I'll be okay with it.  It is after all their kid, so they get to pick the name. :-)

posting from Brian -

I will live my life according to these beliefs

GOD does not exist

It's just foolish to think

That there is a an all knowing GOD with a cosmic plan

That an all powerful GOD brings purpose to the pain and suffering in the world

Is a comforting thought however

It

Is only wishful thinking

People can do as they please without eternal consciences

The idea that

I am deserving of hell

Because of sin,

Is a lie meant to make me a slave to those in power

“The more you have, the happier you will be.”

Our existence has no grand meaning or purpose

In a world with no GOD

There is freedom to be who I want to be

But with GOD

Life is an endless cycle guilt and shame

Without GOD

Everything is fine

It is ridiculous to think

I am lost and in need of saving

And thats how I felt before Christ opened my eyes changed my heart and reversed my thinking

I am lost and in need of saving

It is ridiculous to think

Everything is fine

Without GOD

Life is an endless cycle guilt and shame

But with GOD

There is freedom to be who I want to be

In a world with no GOD

Our existence has no grand meaning or purpose

“The more you have, the happier you will be.”

Is a lie meant to make me a slave to those in power

Because of sin,

I am deserving of hell

The idea that

People can do as they please without eternal consciences

Is only wishful thinking

It

Is a comforting thought however

That an all powerful GOD brings purpose to the pain and suffering in the world

That there is a an all knowing GOD with a cosmic plan

It's just foolish to think

GOD does not exist

I will live my life according to these beliefs