Dwayne had to travel to Pennsylvania for work a few weeks ago. Because of my work schedule, I couldn't tag along this time. He stopped at Shady Maple for a business dinner. It's one of our favorite places to eat, so I was sad to have missed it. But, he brought me back several jars of my favorite apple butter. It's the best apple butter on the planet. Period. I didn't even like apple butter till I tasted it from Shady Maple. It was so good of him to think of me. Don't you think? Anytime I see this apple butter, I hear the tune, "What a man! What a man! What a man! What a mighty good man!" in my head. I have several of these unfortunate melodies stored in my subconscious, left over from my middle school days. But, nonetheless, he is a mighty good man. "Yes he is! Whoop!"

Here are some photos from Easter. The girls woke up to baskets. Avril's had baby books and bath toys. Norah's had toys and candy.

We keep the same Easter baskets and fill them with new gifts every year. It is often more expensive and more inconvenient this way, since I could just pick up a whole basket filled with toys and candy for $10 somewhere. But, I can't stand the idea of buying a new basket every year, not to mention the fact that pre-made baskets are usually filled with cheap toys that will break in a day. Somehow, that seems more wasteful to me.

While we were making breakfast, Norah had to try out the 3-D chalk right away.

Pictures after church.

Our neighbor came over and snapped this one, so we could all be in it.

In the afternoon, I put jelly beans in plastic eggs and hid them all over the yard.

I put one or two jelly beans in each egg, but the golden egg was full of jelly beans. It took Norah forever to find it; I hide it so well.

A few more pictures of our girls before the sun went down.

I feel mighty blessed on days like this.

These girls just delight my soul.

It is the blessing of the LORD that makes a person rich. -Proverbs 10:22

Now.

And Then.

Now and then I like to compare my pictures, to see how quickly my kids have grown. This serves to remind me how quickly time flies, how what seem like insignificant minutes add up to hours, days, years.

For what is your life? It is a vapor, that appears for a little time, and then vanishes away. James 4:14

Back when Norah, my oldest, was a baby and I was just imagining what our home school days would be like, I thought, "At least she won't have to deal with all the distractions that come from a class full of kids. The little girl in the seat behind her won't be pulling her hair and all that kind of nonsense..." Well, fast forward five years and I am finding that the realities of home school are somewhat different than I imagined. With real experience, I realize that the question is not, "Will your child have to deal with distractions?" but rather, "What will those distractions be?" But, even as home school really is, with a baby sister who babbles loudly, crawls around her chair and tries to tickle her feet while she's doing her math, I still think homeschooling is the best choice for Norah. I'm not just imagining that.

I was given another cherished cake recipe from my youth. This one is a white cake with layers of chocolate icing. Everything's made "from scratch." This cake was always sliced thin and served in a bowl with milk poured over it. The milk would blend with the layers of icing and turn chocolate and we'd eat it by the spoonful, like it was morning cereal or something. For years, my mouth would water at the memory of this cake, so I am so glad to finally have it! But, don't ask me for the recipe, 'cause I ain't sharing. If you happen come for a visit, however, I'll be happy to give you a slice.

This week a ton of mental energy was spent on researching vehicles. I figured that since this data is now in my head I would share in case anyone is interested. Plus, it is a window into how I think… so stop by my blog for the full post. -Dwayne

It's that time again. Today's National Census Day.

We saw this painting on our trip to The Norman Rockwell Museum last spring. Like most of Rockwell's paintings, it was much more impressive in real life. I found myself, more than once, gasping at the simple beauty of these unassuming scenes or chuckling out loud as I walked around the gallery, the images were sometimes just so funny. The painting above was one of my favorites, since the large, red headed woman in the middle has obviously lost track of how many children she's given birth to. Some of her kids (they're obviously hers... look at their hair) are peeking out from behind her back and she has to take a second to think about it and count them on her plump fingers. I think the painting that hung in the museum showed more of the woman and her children, more of the details Rockwell painstakingly added to all his works. And, if I am not mistaken, the census taker was actually a separate painting altogether, placed over the woman and covering part of her for the purposes of fitting him on the magazine cover above. But, anyway, I love Rockwell's art for so many reasons. Rockwell did such a good job of documenting our thoroughly American lives, his paintings now allow history lovers, like me, to look back at the last several decades and review our country's more modern history, almost step by step. And, just as they did for the generation who received them on brand new editions of The Saturday Evening Post, Rockwell's art allows us to really see ourselves and celebrate the beauty and humor that often fill our everyday lives.