One of the great parts of Easter...

Photo 365 + 158 - February 28

This "great part" is on the Easter bunny side. White chocolate M&Ms...mmmmmmmmm.

Still Winter...

Photo 365 + 157 - February 27

Yup - still winter. And a brand new storm to boot.

New Project

Photo 365 + 156 - February 26

During one of my visits out to Kayla's, I found a scrap afghan pattern book. My sister-in-law gave me all of her surplus yarn, so I find myself with multiple skeins of mismatched colors and patterns, and I figured a scrap pattern would be just the trick. Lately, I've started making triangles while watching TV (I should be cross stitching but there's usually not enough light to see the little holes, since Dale likes to watch in the semi-darkness). At first I thought the colors would be really obnoxious, but the more pieces I make, the more excited I get about how it's going to turn out.

Thinking Spring!

Photo 365 + 155 - February 25

I love sunsets...and this blog shows that. But if you look close, you can see that the maple tree is starting to think spring. Those messy prebuds that come out before the leaves appear are already forming up. I think it still looks a little too much like winter, but if the trees think it's almost spring, I'll play along.

Chili Supper!

Photo 365 + 154 - February 24

Fifteen Nescos later, and it's time for the annual Chili Supper. Dale and Laura did most of the cooking this year, and except for a couple of "it's too spicy" comments, the chili was well received.

Just hanging out

Photo 365 + 153 - February 23

Dad's busy at church making the chili, and I'm at home cleaning the house. And Trinka? Outside doing what she does best - just hanging out.

For the craft fair

Photo 365 + 152 - February 22

I was asked to donate a few of my pictures to the craft show for the Chili Supper, and was really happy with how they turned out. After not being able to find the white mats I originally wanted, I ended up getting black and think I even like them better. Hopefully someone will be interested - these are just a sampling.

My New Toy

Photo 365 + 151 - February 21

Looking back, I think it's been at least 8 years since I decided I wanted this lens. At that time, I wasn't even close to being able to afford it, and settled for my 200mm 2.8 prime lens, which I used to take photos at James' soccer games. I'm very excited to see what kind of shots I'll be able to take with this lens.

Council's turn

Photo 365 + 150 - February 20

Lenten meal at church - and these are some of my favorite times for fellowship. Tonight it was the Church Council's turn to provide the meal...and we had grilled cheese sandwiches down to a science!

It's hiding...

Photo 365 + 149 - February 19

Yes, that is the sun. These are actually the first pictures taken with my new lens. It's not what I would have liked to try it out with, but it was the only semi-noteworthy thing to take pictures of this afternoon.

Lemon Cake!

Photo 365 + 148 - February 18

Dale has this unnatural attraction to everything lemon. It was just time to buy Girl Scout cookies, and he ordered me zero boxes of Thin Mints, but made sure to get himself at least 4 boxes of lemon cookies. Tonight he baked a lemon cake with lemon frosting. I'm starting to think it's a sickness.

Drowning in snow...

Photo 365 + 147 - February 17

OK so he's not really drowning, but I'm sure the snail would like the snow to go away as much as I do.

Waiting for the garden

Photo 365 + 146 - February 16

Laura and I went out shopping today after her first dress fitting, and ended up with a new friend for the garden for next year. With all of her gardens, Laura is starting to accumulate some outside decor, too, and one of these (different color, of course) will be taking up residency in one of her gardens too.

Waiting for color

Photo 365 + 145 - February 15

At least the dried flowers from last season provide some nice contrast against the snow, but I sure am looking forward to colors again.

Be My Valentine

Photo 365 + 144 - February 14

Flowers from my valentine...

And this was Trinka during dinner...apparently Dale's shoes make a pretty nice pillow.

Pancakes!

Photo 365 + 143 - February 13

It's Ash Wednesday, which means it's time for the youth pancake supper! Here is part of our stellar crew fixing a wonderful dinner.

Looks like spring anyways...

Photo 365 + 142 - February 12

It's nice to have a little brightness in the house in the midst of this dreary winter. This was the centerpiece from our table from the dining out on Saturday.

Resting?

Photo 365 + 141 - February 11

I was very sad to see that the leaves on my plumeria all decided to shrivel up at the same time. I'm hoping it's a dormancy issue, and that come spring time it will come back to life again. I don't like Wisconsin winters, so why should it like them any better?

Baby!

Photo 365 + 140 - February 10

You know you're in a different place in your life when the people you play volleyball with are starting families, and you've progressed to the next generation. Congratulations, Jenny and Dan! For being due April 1, I think she looks amazing!

Dining out

Photo 365 + 139 - February 9

I hate dressing up...but tonight was Dale's unit dining out, so dressed up we got. You can see that dressing up doesn't seem to make a difference to Dale - he still marches to his own drum.

Snow on the rooftops

Photo 365 + 138 - February 8

Our storm left us with about 6 inches of pretty wet snow. And yes, there was snow on every rooftop.

Nature's frosting

Photo 365 + 137 - February 7

This is what you get when the temperature hovers around the freezing mark while it's snowing - snow that sticks to everything. It's very pretty - everything has that frosted look.

Step away

Photo 365 + 136 - February 6

It's really hard to not stick my hand in the bowl every time I walk past the kitchen table. I really love Peanut Butter M&Ms.

Playing in the snow

Photo 365 + 135 - February 5

There is no shyness from Trinka when it comes to finding her ball. A little digging in the snow and there it was.

Tired Out

Photo 365 + 134 - February 4

After a little shoveling and playing ball, this is where I end up - all tuckered out.

Pretending

Photo 365 + 133 - February 3

Since the weather won't cooperate, I have to find tools to help me pretend spring is coming. Welcome to my new Pony Tail Palm. Here's hoping that the sunshine in the front window will trick it into staying alive during this wonderful Wisconsin winter.

Smokin'

Photo 365 + 132 - February 2

Coming home from Laura's today and the smokestacks at the power plant in Port were awesome to watch. The smoke pouring out made quite the impression.

Lessons

Photo 365 + 131 - February 1

Dale's such a good teacher. Today's lesson was taping and mudding. Looking forward to putting my new lessons to good use.