The Royal Wedding

I was all about the Royal Wedding of William and Kate and loved every minute of it. I asked my mom to spend the night and get up with me at 3am. She did and we did in fact get up and watch it all. We were very happy that we did it and didn't wait and DVR it.

We had planned on having tea and English Muffins during the ceremony but our eyes were glued to the TV and 3am just seemed to early to eat. We eventually (during commercials) got tea and Cinnamon Rolls and Quiche.   

When the wedding was over 6am we went back to bed. After waking up 9:30am we did what we planned before we realized we would be too tired. We had tea / cream / and cookies aka scones. :) 

We are having our carpet ripped up and wood floors put down so my house is in the beginning stages of boxed up "stuff" that needed to be off the floor, out of the china cabinet, off the desk etc. Reason for our little corner on the kitchen table with the lovely back ground. O well, I did get the English china out and held my cup with my pinky finger sticking out to balance the cup. Also notice the ring on my finger. Yea, like I said I'm all about the Royals. It's the princess coming out of me. Chesley had a hard time understanding this whole infatuation I had. 

Prince William was born on the same day as I was. Just saying.

Easter 2011

Early church service, celebrating the risen Lord, then a gathering of family. What could be better? Perhaps the rest of the family all together! But we rejoiced in the Easter Blessing.   

 The Easter Bunny came by our house and dropped off some toys and eggs for the Tootle boys.

 

Ryan found the eggs right away. (Two previous hunts) so he was pretty quick at finding all of the eggs.

 Sammy on the other hand was just delighted to run and play and pick up the eggs and throw them.

 No one heard me say, "Say Cheese".

 Sammy was so excited to show Nama Dotty one of the pink eggs filled with candy. I love his little arms outstretched with excitement.

 Family attempt. So funny. Parents were happy to pose but Ryan was being bit by a mosquito and scratching it and Sammy wanted to run.

 Poppy's tomatoes.

 Auntie Jenny is always a hit with the boys. Ryan's is trying to pose with his Auntie while looking at his "pick it up alligator".

 Jessica was shooting one of the rubber band kites. This girl has award winning expressions.

 Rod is trying to teach Sammy how to prefect the flying technique.
Note to self: get a picture of the flying kite.

 Auntie Jenny looks like she has it down pat.  Looks are deceiving! Ask Jenny where the kite landed. :) Hint: same place my first one landed.

 How to get a kid to take a picture: Give him two eggs to hold, one in each hand and put the sun glasses on him and say, "say cheese". Works every time.

 Ryan never needs any tricks when it comes to showing off sun glasses.

 Sammy took one of Ryan's eggs and Ryan sort of had a melt down. (church-hungry-tired). The look on Sammy's face cracks me up while poor tired, hungry Ryan broke my heart. Sometimes it's hard being a Nama.

 Sammy is fascinated with chairs. He climbs up on them and just sits there with those big brown eyes looking at anyone who will look at him with his ability to climb up and sit all by himself. What is going on in that precious little boys mind?

 One of the toys left for Ryan was a paddle with rubber band and ball at the end. Once again we see another expression of Jessica trying to master the bouncing ball.

 Jenny sits crossed legged and proceeds to get one bounce in.

 The turtle sun glasses were a huge hit and were passed around. And Jessica had another expression to flash at the camera.

 Micheal and Ryan were working very hard at getting the Toy Story stickers out of the egg, while Sammy was trying to convince Nama Dotty to empty one of the candy eggs out into his little hand.

 Poppy was great at getting the candy out and Sammy was great at stuffing it all in his mouth at once.

 Above, is Chesley giving the sling shot kite a try. He did it the first time. It went flying across the yard. Good job CE.

Below is Sammy with a mouth full of candy.

 

 

Easter Dinner! 

The Lord has risen! 

Hallelujah!

TOMATOES are here again!!!!!!

It's so much fun coming out each night to see how the tomatoes are growing. If I just get a chair and sat in front of them I'd see them grow, I'm almost sure of it. This is the first picture I took on March 16. I guess my handy husband's watering system is working.

Next one the beginning of April

 April 22

 Ahhh what's that I see---- A tomato.

Actually there are lots of tomatoes and blooms that are showing there pretty little selves. I've teased Chesley so much for the huge cage he built and continued to add to each year. WRONG!! We have trapped (in a heart friendly trap) a raccoon so far that has been digging in the other gardens. I'm sure that the tomatoes that are there would have be eaten by now. 

This time you were right! :) You may continue to update that cage every year.

Seder Meal / Holy Week / Bible Study

.Our Bible Study teacher put on the Seder Meal for us during bible study this week. What an educational and informative day.
The Seder is a ritual performed by a community or by multiple generations of a family, involving a retelling of the story of the liberation of the Israelites from slavery in ancient Egypt. This story is in the Book of Exodus (Shemot) in the Hebrew Bible. The Seder itself is based on the Biblical verse commanding Jews to retell the story of the Exodus from Egypt: "You shall tell your child on that day, saying, 'It is because of what the LORD did for me when I came out of Egypt.'" (Exodus 13:8)

The Passover Seder Plate (ke'ara) is a special plate containing six symbolic foods used during the Passover Seder. Each of the six items arranged on the plate have special significance to the retelling of the story of the Exodus from Egypt. The seventh symbolic item used during the meal—a stack of three matzot—is placed on its own plate on the Seder table

Best thing to do if you are interested is go to www.Wikipedia.com and look up Seder Meal. They explain it all so well. Not as well as our Seder Meal but such a wonderful family tradition to follow. You will understand the picture below much better. Just to much to write.

Since the retelling of the Exodus to one's child is the object of the Seder experience, much effort is made to arouse the interest and curiosity of the children and keep them awake during the meal. To that end, questions and answers are a central device in the Seder ritual. By encouraging children to ask questions, they will be more open to hearing the answers.
The most famous question which the youngest child asks at the Seder is the Mah Nishtanah - "Why is this night different from all other nights?" After the asking of these questions, the main portion of the Seder, Magid, gives over the answers in the form of a historical review. Also, at different points in the Seder, the leader of the Seder will cover the matzot and lift their cup of wine; then put down the cup of wine and uncover the matzot—all to elicit questions from the children.

After the Seder Meal we were once again enlightened with Lynda Ryan describing the journey Jesus took starting on Good Friday through Easter morning. The 4th and 5th graders, over 7 1/2 months built the city of Jerusalem as it looked in the days of Jesus.

If anyone is interested in seeing the this model it is in the University United Methodist Church Atrium.

The children did an amazing job with Lynda Ryan heading it all up. What a blessing those children had in making this and learning about the Holy Week along with biblical times. They had to have gotten a real feel for what it was like to walk along side of Jesus.

Below is the poorer section of Jerusalem. The children made this houses. If you'll notice on some of the houses there are stairs attached to them. They would climb up the stairs to their roof tops. One reason to call out to their neighbors.   

I tried to show the whole city with the temple on the left.

 

Thank you Molly and Lynda. I have learned so much on that day and I will not forget it for a long time.

Happy Birthday MOM !! Happy Birthday Nama .T

April 15! A birthday party with a fiesta flair. Jessica and Jenny organized a fun girls dinner for their grandma. (Nama . (dot) T to the great grand kids.)

 We had Jenny's expertise in decorating and Jessica's gourmet cooking to celebrate the evening.

 This girl is serious about putting this dinner together. I really just chatted with her as she cooked.

 Sammy above and Ryan below were busy with their own way of getting ready for the party.

 When the birthday girl arrived we had a photo shoot with her birthday/fiesta attire on.

 Sammy was just to tired from the long day of preparing for the party to join the party so off to bed Auntie Jenny took him. He's waving good night and blowing kisses.

 The time is getting closer for the unveiling of the birthday dinner.

 Jessica made chicken crepes with home made crepes by Cassie Cassab and green salad with roasted asparagus.

 Fun picture of some pretty hungry people. Ryan didn't want that dinner and so he wasn't very happy when he was told he would have to eat dinner before the cake that he had been waiting for ALL day.

 Notice above what is on the TV. Can anyone guess?

 Happy Birthday Mom!

There isn't anyone more excited about birthdays than Ryan Tootle.

 Nama . T likes the pictures that Ryan drew today for her birthday gift.

 Maybe Ryan gets his talent from his Auntie Jenny. Below is her home made card. Always a treat for our family to receive one of her cards.

Thanks Jessica for the special idea and wonderful food to help celebrate your Grandma's birthday. We are all blessed to have you girls in our lives.