HE AROSE!  

Do you see the head profile at the left hand of this photo?  I thought it looked like a face looking heavenward in awe, with a little puff of breath coming from the mouth as Jesus disappeared into the sky.

 We celebrated Easter a little different this year.  Dennis and Abby and Gabriel drove up to Medford and meet John and Emily and Joshua and John and Me. The kids all listen to sermons on CD by Jon Corson, the pastor of Applegate Christian Church.  His church is near Medford, so the boys thought it would be really nice to hear him in person for Easter.  Rachel had a huge pile of homework from her first week of Master's studies to deal with, so she took advantage of a quiet house while the family was gone, even though she really would have rather gone too.  Jessi and Ariel  decided that it was too long of a drive for Josiah for such a quick short amount of time, so they didn't go either.  But the rest of us met up on Saturday afternoon, had dinner together and stayed up late talking.  The next day we had breakfast and off to church it was.  John and I headed home and made it in time for the usual dinner and  Easter Egg Hunt at my parent's place.   

I made these little deviled egg chickens instead of the usual deviled eggs.  You can probably guess that I found the idea on Pinterest. 

 Mom's daffodils are always so pretty!

 Every now and then it just hits me at how much time has past since my kids were little...that happened to me on Saturday when we went to pick up a few things at the store.  Emily and I were walking behind John and Dennis and I looked up and realized that my little boys were MEN!  

Here are a few of the other sights from the weekend.

   Mom's white magnolia.

 Ducks...one of my favorite birds...we found a whole pond full of them, it was so pretty with the cherry blossoms reflecting on the water.

I am not sure how it happened, but I just love the bubbles on that drinking fountain below...

I hope your Easter was full of blessings and good memories too!

My latest little find has been PINTEREST.  http://pinterest.com/

It could be really addicting, but so far, I have managed to keep myself reigned in.  It is hard to describe what it is all about, I have tried and to those I have told about it, they just don't get it.  I guess it is just something you have to check out for yourself to see what I am talking about.  There are pictures, you can click on the picture and see the recipe, knitting project, book, funny quotes, travel destination, craft idea, fashion, decorating, remodeling, it is ENDLESS the ideas people have pinned there.  If you really like it and want to save it, you 'pin' it to your 'board'.  You make 'boards' of anything you want to name them so you can save them in files and come back to them when you want to.  You can go and see what others have pinned and pin from their boards into yours.  Anytime you are surfing the Internet, you can 'pin' a photo or idea from there.  (sometimes you need permission)  You can pin your own stuff too.  It is really easy to figure out.  

So I know, I just didn't quite relay it right, so just go see.

Here are a few things I have pinned along with a picture of my version of it when I tried it.

 right is my version, different, but I still liked it.

 my finished glitter eggs...glad I tried them, but they were terrible to peel and got glitter all over the egg once it was peeled.  I guess it would be best to blow the yolks out and glitter the shells only

 The Pinterest version of these cinnamon rolls was way cuter than my version.  But the grandkids liked them anyway.  It used canned cinnamon rolls, really quick and easy.

Easter Bunny Peep S'mores. I thought this idea was so cute for a gift, but it was even better just as an Easter recipe. The original version was so sweet, even the grandkids said it was too rich.  I cut down the sugar and it was better the second time around.  I will use this again for another holiday that they have peeps.  I think I saw some ghosts and pumpkins at Halloween and something Christmas too, but who really needs a new recipe at Christmas?   Here is the recipe if you want to try it.

Easter Bunny Peep S'mores

1. Reduce 1 sleeve graham crackers to crumbs, mix with 2T brown sugar. Put mixture in a baggie and secure shut. 2. Pour 1-1/4 cup Easter M&M's into quart jar. 3. Place 8 marshmallow bunny peeps standing up, facing out around the inside of the jar. Press them up against the glass, but don't squash them. 4. Place baggie of crumbs on top.  Place lid over it all.

Attach a gift tag giving the following instructions:
1. Empty the jar contents into a bowl. Snip the bunnies into bits with kitchen sheers or cut up with a knife. Return the bunny bits to the mixture. Mix well. 2. Melt 1/3 cup butter; add 1 teaspoon vanilla. Pour this over the dry ingredients, mixing well. Pat into a greased 9" square pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes. Cool and cut into bars

For my recipe at home, I used 18 bunnies and left them whole.

THE HUNGER GAMES

As with the Twilight series books, which I just did not think I would like, but was persuaded to read and then was amazed at how much I liked them, I was again persuaded to read another series called The Hunger Games.  The first book in the series was so captivating that I could NOT put it down, I read and read and READ and finished it in ONE DAY!  I could not wait to get my hands on the second and third books.  They were good, but not as good as the first one.  Then began the countdown to the movie premier.  Almost everyone I know has read the books, including Emily and so I told her that I thought that we should get a whole bunch of us together to go see it when it came out as a movie.  A couple of weeks before the premier date, she called me.  "Grandma...don't you think we should go see the midnight showing so we can see it as soon as possible?"  My answer was of course..."YES!"  We had quite a group... my grand daughter, her good friend, me, my daughter, my friend, my sister AND MY MOM!  Yes, I think we were the only adults in the room.  We showed up about 2 hours early, even though we had tickets already in our pockets, we wanted to make sure and get seats together.  With all the cold and snow we have had, we bundled up and were ready to hunker in and tough it out to get a place.  To our surprise, the theater let everyone wait inside...and not just inside, they had the auditoriums open and ready for us to wait in our seats.  8 auditoriums were showing a midnight Hunger Games!  Jessi and I went and looked and every one of them was full!  

Now, normally when you read a book and then see the movie, it is a little bit disappointing.  But this time, I am happy to report, they really did a great job.  The actors really were close to what I had pictured in my mind and even though they had to cut a lot of the book out to make it fit into a movie time-frame, it was a good job of keeping with the story line.  It was one of the best book made movies I have seen!  

Emily and her friend got to stay the night, as well as Joshua who had not gone to the movie, but had stayed home to keep Grandpa company.  It was a short night, we didn't get home from the movie until about 3am.  After sleeping in we celebrated with a special breakfast and I drove them back to Salem.  I could hardly keep my eyes open on the drive back home alone.  Maybe I am too old for this kind of thing...but don't tell Emily!!!

 Lindy and I walked in the Shamrock Stride for St. Patrick's Day.  It was predicted that we might have snow so we bundled up and prepared for it, but we made it to the finish with only a couple of drops of rain on us.  It is a fun event to be in.  A fundraiser for the Doernbecher Children's Hospital. All the participants dress up in green.  There is a 15k run, an 8k run, a 5k, the 3.5mile stride that we did and a leprechaun lap for the kids to run. Of course we had to do it with our maiden name being McCOOL!  And YES, it was COOL and WE ARE COOL!

Spring has arrived!  But nobody has told that to Spring!  After a winter of barely any snow, we have woke up to snow every morning this week!  One day we had so much hail it piled as high as snow and lasted all day and was still here the next morning covered with the night's snowfall.   

 It is pretty rare to get flower and snow photos, so I have been taking advantage of that.  Kinda pretty huh?

 My poor daffodils don't know what to think!  I go out every morning to brush them off so they don't break off.

Well, for us here in Oregon, the old saying "March comes in like a lion' held true.  March 1st, we woke up to one of our biggest snowfalls of the year.  So late for snow, but it was still an exciting sight to wake up to!   

Jessi and Josiah were staying with us for a few days while Ariel was still in the Dominican Republic, so I got the fun of taking pictures with him in the snow.  He just loves to be outside, it does not matter what the weather, but you better prepare yourself, because once he is out, he does not want to come back in.  The snow melted off by afternoon, but the next morning, this was what we woke up to.

Everything was covered with hail.  It was so pretty with the sun rising, it looked like diamonds sparkling.  I wish I could capture all the glitter in a photo.

So from snow on the buds to the buds bursting out, we have had quite the start to the month.

Last week, Josiah came to visit and it was so warm and sunny that he was out there with no shoes or coat on.  What a dramatic change from the first day of the month.

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!!  

XOXOXO

 HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO GABRIEL!!!  

We flew to California to celebrate Gabe's birthday last weekend.  My parents drove down and met us there.  It was a lot of fun helping get ready for his party and spending time with him again.  At first he was shy and pretended we were not even there, but he warmed up eventually and showed off all his new skills.  You see it even more how fast they grow up when you are not with them on a regular basis.  I came home determined to spend more time on Skype with him so that we don't waste time warming up to each other the next time!  

BIRTHDAY MONTH IS OVER!

NINE birthdays!...9!...all in ONE month!  January is our biggest month of birthdays.  We start right in on the 1st and it goes until the 28.  Every weekend we have 2 or 3 birthdays to celebrate.  Not that I mind at all, they are for some of the most special people in my life.  You know how everyone is always remarking that the Christmas season starts earlier and earlier each year?  Well, I call it the Holiday of Birthdays Season, because we have our first birthday to celebrate on the 30th of October, then a week later on the 6th of November is one grandson's birthday, and another grandson the next week as well as a grand niece and two more birthdays at Thanksgiving.  December, there is an anniversary which we don't really celebrate anniversaries, but it is always my chance to have two grandkids for a couple of days while their parents celebrate their anniversary.  Then on the 23rd we have a birthday.  It is followed by Christmas Eve and we always have a birthday cake for Jesus, to celebrate the most important birthday of all.  We get a week to take down the Christmas decorations and jump in full force for BIRTHDAY MONTH on the 1st.  Birthday Month, most people know it as January, the month to begin diets and getting back in shape from all the splurges they had in December, but come on!  How can a person even begin to diet when you are faced with this kind of party schedule?  I love cake, but by the end of January, I am really ready for a nice tossed green salad instead!

So here it is the end of the month.  I have taken my last bite of cake for a while...oh wait...did I forget to mention that we are headed to Los Angeles to celebrate our grandson's birthday in two weeks?  

 SNOW!!!!  

 We woke up to snow yesterday morning!  What is it about snow, especially waking up to it that gives me such a thrill?  

I know that as a kid it was partly because we knew that there would be no school for the day.  Not that school was a bad thing, but because it meant a fun change of routine.  It meant getting up and dressed as fast as we could to rush out all bundled up to make a snowman.  We sometimes would bridle up our horses and take them for a walk around.  One year  we had silver thaw on top of about 3 feet of snow...maybe it was more, but I am trying to make a realistic adult guess on the depth, it seemed more like 6 feet in my mind back then.  There was a good inch of ice on everything and the horses had to stop and crack the ice with every step.  Then, snowman built, horses back in the barn, going in and standing over the heater vent to get warmed up again, and having hot chocolate and cookies.  Sometimes it meant no power, which to a kid that was fun too.  Sitting by candlelight to eat, and no TV meant sitting and talking to everyone while we played Monopoly or worked a puzzle.  It meant more time together than the normal routine gave.  

That same excitement happened a few years later when I became a Mom.  Instead of me rushing out, I helped the kids bundle up, watched as the neighbor kids joined mine on our hillside with sleds, sheets of plastic and skis.  Then all of them would come inside, hang their coats by the wood stove and munch on cookies and another generation would pull out the board games and play by candle light. 

 This shot shows the view of the hillside when we first woke up, a little while later it was starting to melt and then even later, another storm moved on through giving us an ever changing view throughout the day.

 I took advantage of the break and took a walk around the yard.  All bundled up of course and hurried back in to make homemade chicken noodle soup.  mmmm....nice cozy way to spend the day.  Can you believe that Netflix now has a video of a fireplace...yep, nonstop fire going, with sound...it pops and cracks and hums.  You can get it with music or just fire.....looks and sounds like the real thing and on our TV screen is bigger than life.  Now just add a scented candle and crank up the furnace and bring on the board game.

THIS was an amazing sunrise to witness.  I did not do anything to make this picture any different than what was actually out there.  The colors were unbelievable.  Jessi was driving home from her nurse's night shift at that same time and called to ask me just how many pictures I had taken.  She knows her mom!!!  I have been so blessed to be able to live here and see God's handiwork.

 Last Weekend was John's Birthday.  He wanted to go to the beach.  He WANTED to have it be really stormy weather so that he could just sit there and watch the storm come through.  Well, at first it looked as if he got his wish.  It was raining when we arrived.

 We stayed at this place years ago.  At that time each room had a beautiful rock fireplace and they kept a pile of wood outside each door.  I was disappointed to find out that they had 'upgraded' and now each room has a fake fireplace.  It looks nice, but there is no crackle and pop, no smell of wood burning, no mess of little sticks to pick up and most of all, it never did feel like any warmth was coming from it.  But that was fine, I hunkered down with a new book and got lost in it.

 It had pretty much stopped raining by nightfall and that made me really happy to be able to get some blue hour shots.  I love the reflected lights on the water.  There was too much fog out there to get a good shot of the lighthouse.

 The next morning, all sign of his storm had gone and it was a nice sunny day.  Unbelievable that I was able to walk on the beach without a coat!!  There was no wind at all!!!  The Oregon beach at the first of January?  Unreal.  

 The waves were so foamy

evidence of the wind

 All the winds from the past make it look like the wind is still blowing.  It seems that every tree along the beach had this look to it.

I don't know why, but the beach, not just a warm sunny beach, ANY beach is one of my favorite places to be.  I can just sit for hours sifting the sand through my fingers while looking at the waves coming in and going out.  Or sometimes I start out for a little walk and then forget to turn around...until I have walked miles away.  Hopefully, I have my pockets full of great little shells and rocks by then to make it worth the walk back.

AHHHH!!!!  It has been over a month since I have put anything on my blog!  I have thought about it a few times...I have even actually come to my blog to try to post something...but that is as far as I would get.  Sometimes, figuring out which pictures to use and what to say just takes up way to much time.  And these days, time is a precious thing. The way I see it...better to be busy making memories and catch up later...who wants to miss out on the fun?  Below are some photos of what has kept me busy. 

Christmas baking...didn't want to disappoint anyone, so made way more than we should have eaten...cookies, peanut brittle, almond roca, pound cake, peppermint cake, cheesecake...and a few others I know I forgot to list.  A few things got the ax this year due to lack of time...peanut butter balls & popcorn balls ...sad, but true...and guess what, nobody seemed to notice.  

 John and Rachel celebrated their 15th anniversary in Seattle, they saw 'Messiah', and Emily and Joshua got to spend 4 days with us.  Jessi and Ariel bought a house, so we were busy for a while helping them pack up and move at the first of the month.  It is just a few miles away, so we were able to have Josiah over, too, while the kids were here.

 It was Ariel's first Christmas in Oregon, so Jessi made sure he got to see all that was possible for her to show him.  One of the places she wanted him to see was The Grotto.  

 The next week, we all packed into the car and headed to the Portland Zoo for the Zoo Lights.  Great Grandma & Grandpa McCool went with us.  As it turned out, that was the record day for attendance since the Zoo Lights first began!  It was not all that crowded once we got inside, but driving there and parking and shuttle bus???  Not to mention the HUGE line to buy tickets...believe me, we thought more than once about just packing back into the car...but it was all worth it once we got inside...the lights were spectacular!!!  If you click on the photos you can see them better...that is Emily's silhouette in the butterfly photo.  

 Finally, Christmas Eve...John's parents came out for a few hours in the afternoon, then when the kids arrived with their families, we made a Skype call to watch Gabe open his gifts while we chatted with Dennis and Abby.  After that we had our Christmas dinner.  We finished off with the annual 'Birthday Cake for Jesus'.

 Christmas Day.  

Since we opened up gifts the night before, we were able to sleep in and have a leisurely brunch.  Then everyone headed over to Grandpa and Grandma McCool's place in time for the Laker game (Joshua, son John and Ariel are the big fans).  We had the usual McCool feast with the aunts, uncles and cousins. We used to all fit into the dining room, but the past few years, the table has stretched across the whole living room to fit us all around it.  

This is a house just down the road from here.  One of the nights Emily and Joshua were here, I took them to look at lights.  They think that I need to light up MY house like this next year....hmmm...as busy as I was this year...I think NOT!