Happy Birthday Miss Amanda Nicole

We had such a lovely time for Mandy's birthday! Ashley watched the little girls while Mandy and I spent the day together. We were *supposed* to be shopping for shoes-however, we got lured into our local Bi-Mart store who had their lovely flower starts, pots and potting soil displayed outside. We couldn't help but 'look around'! Both being flower-lovers we ended up leaving with 2 beautiful flower containers, potting soil and enough flowers to fill the back of the van!

The flower escapade threw us off schedule! lol.. after shoe shopping we were supposed to meet the family at Pizza Amore in Albany for a celebration dinner for Amanda! The family arrived right on time and ordered.. then waited.. and waited for us to show up! We were only 20 minutes late! Oops!

Signing the birthday card..

Grant kept calling.."ummm..where are you guys!??'

Mr. Patience (?) 

..and they waited..

The pizza was getting cold by the time Mandy and I had arrived!

They had been so kind to wait for us though!

Happy Birthday Amanda!

We love their food! I ordered the greek salad.. Mandy had requested the chicken, bacon & alfredo gluten free pizza. And the guys had gotten pepperoni pizza!

Grant signed the guest book for us! Its a good thing they didn't have many customers that night.

We were kinda a rowdy crowd! 

Once we got home, Mandy opened a few additional gifts.. What a fun day!

We are so proud of this beautiful and godly young woman. I can truly say that she is one of my best-friends and one of the most wonderful women I know. Her desire to follow the Lord and live a life pleasing to him is apparent in her way of life.

Her love for others is very tangible..She inspires me daily.We love you darling Amanda

Shellburg Falls hike with Grandma Barb

Grandma invited us to take a hike with cousins John & Dana. Ryan had to work and the little girls and I had other plans but Mandy, Ash & Grant had a great time! Although the day started out very cold and rainy, weather improved and the hike proved to be perfect for this gorgeous short hike!

Grant, 16

Cousins John & Dana

Left-over traces of snow! Brrr!

John and Grant

They pretty much had the whole hike to themselves..

Ashley & Amanda

John, Grant, Dana, Mandy, Grandma and Ashley

Cousins!

Helping out & Family Day at the Museum

Its been so nice to have the opportunity to help Nana and Ben with their new place. Despite the rain, my guys started on the project of scraping and gravelling their backyard. We ladies took to the museum where they were having a free family day with demonstrations and reenactors. 

A lovely scene from yesteryear. Let's bring back the cook stove! It is actually nicer to cook on than our electric one, imo! ;-) I loved using the one on the island when I was younger. Although getting up extremely early and building a fire *before* coffee? Not-so-much! :-)

We loved this little iron which would have to be set onto the top of the woodstove to heat up before using on clothing. Most families had 2 or 3 so those could be heating while the other was used.

The girls had fun pretending to be Mary and Laura Ingalls.

Teacher Ashley!

This woman was spinning wool from her own sheep.

I was imagining adding that to my list of chores! Whew!

She had a little photo of the sheep who had graciously donated it's wool!

Mandy was a sport and volunteered to be a living mannequin for a demonstration which illustrated how many layers a woman of the 1800's would wear! First the corset..

Then slips and hoops and crinolines... she was telling us that at one point the steel hoops were literally cages that you had to open the door to and step into! They were heavy and very cumbersome! That was one reason that the doorways of the era had to be so wide. Unlike the later bone hoops which could bend. Steel cannot. The women would perch on a special stool which allowed them to rest her arms on the top of her cage. I cannot imagine that!! I'm sure the introduction of the bone hoops caused for much rejoicing for those women!

14 layers later, Mandy was properly dressed!

This lady does reenacting and was thrilled to find young people who were interested in history. She tried very hard to recruit them for their reenacting group. :-)

The girls found some sweet bonnets as we were leaving the museum. So cute!

Meanwhile back at the ranch.. the guys worked hard all day putting in the yard. They rented this handy thingy.. yard mover.. which helped with the scraping and moving the gravel. 

It has been a blessing to be able to help my mom. Ashley and Amanda have also been able to help on some interior things-unpacking etc. More to do as the weather warms up!