I've always wanted one of the dark purple lilacs, and guess what we have blooming in the new yard. I wonderful deep purple lilac and next to it is a beautiful white one. I love to go out by them and just relax and take in their beauty and the lovely smell. I can meditate on life and remember those we have loved and lost in a peaceful setting.

On Saturday my sister brought my neice Morgan over and I helped her make her first quilt. She did a great job. I think she had a good time and may be a future quilter. She was really interested in all the fabric all around the room and kept checking out what was going on at my machine while working on her project. I started a quilt using the Swanky line from Moda. I really am liking these fabrics, so very well swanky.

Just a quick post to wish all my friends a Happy Mother's Day. Mine was very busy. I had to take Rich to his brothers Saturday morning at 6:15 so the guys could drive 6 hours, to see their mom for mother's day, then they had to turn around sunday morning and drive another 6 hours to be home with Mary and I. When I got home a friend of ours and I went to Rochester and bought the things we need so Rich can start a new hobby. He's going to try his hand at making wine. His first batch will be a Pomegrante zinfadahl. It's really ummy over ice. Since dad was gone the girls and I decided to go to a movie, Hannah Montana, it was actually not that bad. I enjoyed it more then I thought I would. Jassmine even said she would be ok with a move to Tennessee if she found herself a cowboy that looked like the one in the movie. lol Then we went and spent the afternoon with my mom and sister. When I got home Serena came over and Payton who is all of 3 months old now spent the night so mommy could work the night shift. Daddy is still very nervous about the night feedings, which is very understandable, after what happened 2 years ago. Saturday was also the anniversary of Olivia's death. She is such a good baby and didn't give me any trouble. Then Phil dropped off Lillie at about 5:30 this morning, and they stayed until about noon. Then the girls and I were off to pick up Rich at his brothers where we got to spend time with them and our son and his bride to be stopped. I got 2 new angels to join the colection and the soundtrack to Hannah Montana for mother's day. I will be back to post on the wine making progress. I can't post on the progress of my current quilt project until the end of the month after I see Shawn wouldn't want her to see her gift until I give it to her.

One of these mini-honeybuns will soon be turned into my friend Shawn's birthday present. The pattern looks simple enough and I'm very excited to try it.

Josh's birthday quilt. I hope he loves it as much as I do. It's even cuter then I had imagined.

These are some pictures of the quilt top and the components that went into it, I'm making for my nephew Josh. It's on my machine right now and about 2/3rds of the way quilted. I really need to practice my stippling. I get going good for a while then seem to loose my groove. I guess practice practice practice is what I need.

So how do you know that the rainy season has started in Minnesota? When you get up at 5 am and go to the basement to get the clothes out of the dryer and what do you find at the bottom of the stairs, but this:

Of course when I found it there wre many plastic totes sitting right in the middle of the puddle, and there are a few more smaller areas around the basement. rich spent his day carrying the totes up to the attic, so that the dehumidifiers could do their thing. This is actually quite good compared to what I found, and luckily there was nothing damaged by the mini flood.

It's Alli's birthday today. I can't believe she's a teenager now. All my babies are offically not babies anymore!!! Wasn't she cute 7 years ago when she was holding her new newphew Isaac, and she was only 6 then. Now look at her she'sgrown and a big old nut. There's a story behind the spongebob earmuffs, but lets just say she wanted them because Colton loved Sponge Bob. Rich and I are pretty lucky we've ended up with some pretty amazing daughters. Now lets just hope that we can survive the teen years of these last two. lol The top picture is of Alli and Kassidy. She was Alli" best friend when we lived in Oregon they still talk alot and Kass might get to come out for a visit this summer that would be great

It was cold and rainy today so I thought it was a good day for some homemade soup and bread. Then I got it reay and it looked so good I just had to get a picture of it. I made a loaf of cheesy onion bread and a batch of wild rice soup to go with it. The rice is Minnesota grown. It's probaly my favorite soup, but I don't make it very often, that way it's a real treat when I do. Rich is laughing at me for taking pictures of my food, he just doesn'tunderstand i guess after that much work when it looks so good you just want to take a picture.

The crocuses are blooming!!! It's spring in Minnesota. We had a gorgeous week and weekend here. Jassi took these pictures for me on Saturday moning while I was getting the food ready for the birthday/Easter BBQ. She did a great job maybe she should consider photography for a career. I'm glad she did it for me because 4 hours later I looked out the kitchen window and Lillie had picked about half of them and was floating them in my fountain. :) There's a new batch getting ready to open and some mystery plants pushing their way up. It's kind of fun watching to see what will spring up next.