The Ice Cream Craze, Mother's Day, & a Room Makeover

I just looked at the last entry I wrote for this blog...and it was all the way back in January (a lifetime in blog time). ;) Sorry for being absent, but I've been getting some much needed R&R with my family and adjusting to the changes that have come for us.

My mom has a new job at a local library and she's enjoying it quite a lot. With her job it means we've been doing a little better financially, but it also means my sister, youngest brother and I have to "pick-up-the-slack" at home more; cooking and making meals, cleaning and chores, and making sure the rest of the family can get out the door on time everyday! Whew! That's busy work some days. :)


Jessica and I enjoyed very nice birthday's this spring. Some friends of ours nicely sent us movie tickets to go see the new Cinderella movie *in theaters*!! It was exciting, as we haven't been out to a movie in years. And we really loved the movie, too, in fact. ;)

Sadly our large freezer in the basement had some problems around Jessica's birthday and we had a mad-craze to finish up ALL the ice cream left from her birthday the previous day before it all melted! :O {There was a sale on ice cream...otherwise there would never be THIS much ice cream in our house all at once. *wink*}

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Meanwhile life has been good, and I finally feel ready for some new challenges and changes that I feel God calling us to... well perhaps. *sigh* Change is hard.
One of those smaller changes was rearranging the room Jessica and I share together. She's a writer and that means a great deal of time at her desk, which means I need to find something quiet to do in the room, or go elsewhere. ;) Thus, she and Dad had this great idea for bringing up a desk I had meant for sewing in the basement, but haven't used in years.

 Tada! Now I have my very OWN workspace to write blog posts and emails, work on some crafts, and have my devotions without being disturbed.

*Oh, what a blessing it is!*

 We moved my bookcase over near the doorway. It's nice not to pile my little note papers and such on my pretty bookcase anymore!





This is Jessica's desk, now all her own and she doesn't have to share it with me. She's been very dedicated to her writing the past few weeks, so it's been nice for her to sit here and work. Each of us tries to create our own spaces within our shared room that express our own, unique personalities. :) And I have to say I love that about sharing a room with my sis. Everywhere you look you'll see inspiration of what touches us or what God is teaching us.

 As you can see, I love pretty florals in happy colors (pink and yellow! and sunflowers!), pictures of my friends and family...and I'm currently cross stitching a display of teapots for that green picture frame there (on the bottom right). It's been lovely to have more wall space in our room at last and a place to hang up all my favorite quotes (I've added a bunch more since I took this picture)!
 

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 We wanted to surprise Mom with a lovely Mother's Day this year, so I made a pretty "M.O.M." banner (of which I forgot to take a picture of. :/) and made sure to have some nice things ready for her.

We started the day with some yummy French Toast Roll-Up's! Jessica and I worked together to get breakfast ready. We made cream cheese 'n' strawberry filled, nutella filled, and pumpkin pie 'n' spice filled. Our favorite was the nutella, of course. ;) The pumpkin ones would have been tastier with pumpkin pie spice actually in the cinnamon-sugar mixture on the outside, as well as inside. :/ I also cut up some apples and drizzled them with fresh lemon juice to serve...mmm.

I ended up not feeling well, so Jessica and I stayed home while the family went on a walk at Winterthur gardens. Here are a few pictures Mom took:

Azalea's

 

Rhododendron

Lilac

 Quarry Garden

Peony

 I made mommy a little bear and sunflower cross stitch framed piece. She loves bears, and I love sunflowers - so I thought it was only fitting. :)

Daddy bought mommy some tasty-looking Godiva Strawberry Cheesecake chocolate. (I'm going to have to get me some now. ;) Yum!).

I made the cake and frosting, and Jessica decorated it. Then we had it with some ice cream.

*cough* ;)








We had an exciting surprise in the evening when we were having dessert - a lovely FULL rainbow in the sky! It certainly made a glorious ending to a lovely day for all of us, but especially for a lovely lady we were celebrating and so thankful for.

 Blessings in Christ, and I pray to be able to have more lovely posts to share with you all in the nearer future this time. :)