my blessed life

April ...what does that bring to mind for you? Taxes? Spring cleaning? Playing outside? All of the above? Well, that's pretty much what I've been up to lately. I am totally doing the happy dance over having our taxes finished and filed! Just got it all wrapped up this morning~ hallelujah ! My hubby and I are a great team: I get all the info together and he enters it all online and files it. Oh, and by the way, being self-employed is slightly more challenging when it comes to filing taxes...I'm just sayin'. The weather was so gorgeous today that I was completely inspired to clean out my car. Can I just say... disgusting ? I found all manner of dried up foods and old candy under the backseats (aka: the kiddos' seats ). I'm tempted to ban food in the car forever, but I know that won't last long. But maybe I should clean out my car more often than once a year. Usually I do it twice: in Spring and Fall. But it had been one year, one move, seven road ...

A couple of weeks ago we invited one of my aunts and one of my cousins over for dinner one evening. My sweet aunt brought me the yummiest-looking pineapple as a hostess' gift. I tucked it in the fridge, while deciding what to do with it. I mean, it's a delicious, fresh pineapple~so I wanted to make it count :) I saw a recipe the other day that I knew I had to try: Pineapple Salsa! Since I had some cilantro leftover that needed to be used, I decided that was just the thing for last night's dinner. So I give you: Grilled Salmon with Pineapple Salsa . Wonderful! The salmon was simply the *wild caught* salmon fillets from the freezer section of the store. I just thawed it out, then we brushed it with a little melted butter and sprinkled some seasoned salt on top and let it grill. Then I served it with this: Pineapple Salsa 2 cups chopped fresh pineapple 1/2 cup finely chopped red sweet pepper 1 green onion, sliced (I used chopped red onion instead) 2 Tbls. lime juice 1...

0131. the excitement of the kids to learn the Easter story with the Resurrection eggs 0132. listening to The Princess read the Easter story to Mr. B 0133. making Easter cookies with my kiddos 0134. hunting eggs with my kiddos 0135. not worrying about mud puddles 0136. having my family over for a lovely Easter afternoon 0137. listening to my mom and aunt tell stories about growing up 0138. my two precious treasures from the Lord 0139. the joy of my family 0140. serving a risen Savior!

Well, I finally got some inspiration for my dinner plans for the week (thank you, facebook and twitter friends!). I think I was just a little too tired after Easter to think about it. So, I've got the main dishes all planned out...and the side dishes will have to come together as I go:) I hope you all had a great Easter weekend. Ours was wonderful ! Yesterday we had a delicious dinner at our house with family and friends. This week I'm looking forward to putting the grill ( and the hubby! ) to work a little more! Monday: Grilled Salmon w/Pineapple Salsa Tuesday: Green Chili-Chicken Casserole (carryover from last week) Wednesd ay: Spaghetti and Meatballs Thursday: Garlic Lime Grilled Chicken Friday: {Small Group Nite} Charlie's Pasta Salad ( from this cookbook ) Saturday: {possible date night} This post is linked to Menu Plan Monday at I'm an Organizing Junkie.

Our Easter Family Dinner Salad *** Deviled Eggs *** Rolls *** Coke~Glazed Ham *** Hashbrown Potato Casserole *** Asparagus Bundles *** Corn-on-the-Cob *** Cheesecake *** Pound Cake *** Sugar Cookies *** Sweet Tea

May you have a blessed Resurrection Sunday!

This is a re-post from last year, but definitely worth repeating! Happy Easter! ***** You may have seen sets of Resurrection Eggs at the store. They are sets, usually of a dozen eggs, that have inside each egg a symbol of the Easter story. There are scriptures to go with each, too. They are a wonderful, visual way to teach your children the story of Christ's death and resurrection. I've been wanting to get a set for over a year now, but just haven't gotten around to it. Then, of course, we've been tightening the budget lately and I just couldn't justify buying a set for $10, when I could just read them the story from their books. But then I saw some great ideas online for making your own set. Each site that I looked at varied just a little, but the concept was the same. Vince and I looked over several and chose the symbols we wanted to incorporate and made our own set. It was really very easy~and we didn't buy a thing! I've already ...