He is Risen!

Happy Easter to all!

This post begins a bit before Easter, but that's where we'll end up. :-)

We've been continuing to have gorgeous warm sunshiny weather mixed with beautifully cool rainy overcast weather. This week we pulled out the card table and ate outside on the patio for the first time (you can see that both our yard and my husband's hair need a bit of trimming).This was a fun leftover brunch in the fresh air--the last of the lemon scones and fruit salad, the end of the swiss cheese, and poached eggs on english muffins.
Our cats have spring fever and want to be out all the time! Miss Mini Rose stalks around the house yowling and trying to lead us to the back door while Samwise goes more for the plaintive and pitiful whine.
Once outside however, Sam has been keeping us busy. He escaped from his harness twice this week, the little stinker!
Pippin and Thomas are enjoying the weather too.We had an exciting New Stuff week! Erik's work has a reward system where employees can accumulate points for longevity, safety, etc. and then spend them in a Catalog of Stuff. Erik had a bunch of points and we finally sat down and found some things we knew we wanted--and now didn't have to spend anything to get them! Two out of the three items we've been enjoying (one is getting sent back). They are scattered throughout the rest of this post.

Item Number One: The grill/smoker
After seasoning it, Erik gave it a trial run this week.
We were pleased with the results. :-)
Erik and Sergio, Grill Masters
While they were outside doing manly grill stuff with the steaks, I carmelized onions, fried mushrooms and made sweet potato fries and salad . . . yum.
How come all my posts lately seem to be about food?

Item Number Two: The Digital Film & Slide Converter
This was the one I was MOST excited about! I have boxes and boxes of slides from my 10 months in Spain way back when and have no good way to look at them; I don't think I've ever seen all of them. I was hoping with this little gadget I could eventually get them all on my computer and then do a lot of organizing and deleting and maybe someday put together a scrapbook. Hmpf. Not so much.

The three slides I grabbed for the first attempt weren't from Spain, oddly. I must have had some leftover film. Here are Ben & Mike, fuzzy and oddly colored, with a blue line across the bottom. Which is how they all came out. The slide however, is perfectly sharp and free from odd coloration and blue lines. Some of the pictures came out cock-eyed on top of all the rest. :-( So this little doodad is getting sent back with a wistful sigh. We had a busy and fun Easter weekend. To see pictures of our Saturday jaunt, check out my Facebook photo album. :-)
We started Sunday with a Sunrise Service at the future building site of our church (we're in a rental space right now). It was a COLD morning, but beautiful, and the music and sermon were worth the effort to be there. After the service we went to breakfast with some friends from church and then went to the regular service. Well, Erik went. I was back with the kiddos. I wish I'd taken my camera for the egg hunt we had after the lesson--what fun! :-)
In the afternoon our friend Bill came over and joined us for lunch.
Olives!
Bunny ears from outside
Item Number Three: The Ice Cream Maker
Our friends Theresa and Anthony introduced us to the joys of making your own ice cream when we visited them last. Our first attempt this week was Strawberry Ice Cream.

When the cream and sugar and stuff starts to thicken, you add the berries for the last five minutes . . .
and voila! (Well, after a few hours in the freezer).
And that's how we ended our Easter dinner.
Again with the food! Anyway, we've been enjoying our new toys. :-)
And Kirsten, you should be getting your fill--I've been posting LOTS lately!!
oxox
cmr