Bloom Swap

I particpated in the Sister's Shoebox Swap for the first time this Spring! My partner was Joyce and it was a lot fun shopping for the goodies for her box. I'm not creative so I bought all her gifts.

And, I totally forgot to take a picture of what I sent her!

Here are the wondeful goodies she sent me:

Note cards, picture frame, and a cute little bunny

Two colorful tea towels

More picture frames, journal book, and a book mark.

Thanks, Joyce!

And thanks Carrie and Monica for hosting and organizing this fun event!

Signs of Spring!

Spring has finally arrived! Warm days and cooler evenings. Ahhh!

This is the rhododendron bush in my front 'yard.'

Mom's pretty flowers

And an engagement! My sister Corie is engaged to Scott. They both lost their spouses at young ages, so this is such a blessing. And Scott has two sweet daughters so we will now have granddaughters/nieces in our family! Yea!

Here's the happy couple

Their kids - C, J, and H

The soon-to-be H family!

The wedding is August 1st and we're all excited!

Congratulations, Corie and Scott!

Vacation Memories

Last Saturday, I left for a week-long vacation in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania with a "more mature" lady from church and her sister. We had a nice, relaxing time. I finished four books and started a fifth, did some scrapbooking, and napping! We also did some tourist-y things.

We stayed in a villa for the week. I had the upstairs bedroom and bathroom with a huge walk-in closet. Too bad I didn't bring a lot of clothes. LOL

Here are some pictures.


Our dinner Saturday evening. I made turkey burger meatloaf. YUMMY!

We stopped at a Welcome Center.

Betty and Sue at breakfast at the Shawnee Inn.

On Wednesday, we took a tour of Delaware Water Gap on a trolly.

The Trolly

Two ranges of mountains, covering two states - NJ & PA. The ones on the right are the Blue Mountains of Pennsylvania.


I took this picture out the window of the trolly. I just like the house.

On Thursday, we went to Bushkill Waterfalls. Amazing! Sue and I did some 'hiking' on the trails. And my thighs can tell!


Spring hasn't really sprung yet, but I can imagine it will be pretty. And I bet the Fall colors are amazing.



Afterwards, we stopped at this local general store. It had wooden floors, but nothing else really fascinating. We expected it to be more of a "back in time" kind of store. It was more like a convenience store.

Buttermilk Waterfall

It was great to get away, but it's nice to be home.

Easter Egg Hunt and Birthday Celebration

Last Sunday, March 30th, I had an Easter egg hunt at mom and dad's for my three nephews! We all weren't together on Easter Sunday and we were getting together on the 30th to celebrate Ben's and Wendie's birthdays, so we had our egg hunt before the birthday celebrating!

B hunting for eggs.


Mommy helps B get the egg on the bird house!


M found an egg!


C spots an egg!


B, C, and M

After they found all the eggs, we went inside for them to open the eggs. They each had 10 eggs and 7 of the eggs had 'tickets' inside for the boys to claim a prize! They said it was like Christmas!


One of C's prizes!


M opens a prize


B got a coloring tablet


Time to celebrate birthdays! Ben turned 39 on March 21st and Wendie turned 38 on the 25th.

Mom made an ice cream cake! There was a layer of vanilla ice cream between the two-layer cake! It was yummy!


Making wishes!


B liked his Daddy's card from Corie and C

For dinner, we had chicken and Polish noodles! All delicious!