Just Pure Lovely

GIVEAWAY! A Bundle of Hallmark Cards for 3 of You (closed)

I love Hallmark cards.  They are made of such fine quality and offer so many options now:  photo cards, recordable cards, inexpensive cards... You can even have Hallmark stamp and mail a card for you from their site!  (now, that's just lazy - and convenient!)

Do you remember those beautiful Valentine's Day cards from Hallmark that I gave away to a lucky reader earlier this year?  Guess what?  Hallmark wants to send out some more pretty cards to three of you!

Here is a sampling of Hallmark's Mother's Day (May 10th) cards:

I'm Still Around...

...and so is he.

Remember PNut? The stray dog I wrote about a couple of months ago?  He's still around, going by "PNut" or "The Nut."  We sure do like the sort-of-ugly fella.  Right now, as I write, he's sleeping on the veranda outside my bedroom door, where his favorite blanket is strategically placed next to the baby chicks' pen.   Before closing my door for the night, I give PNut a lecture about how important his job as The Guardian of the Chicks is.  He looks up at me very seriously with his big brown eyes, just like in the photo.  He's a good listener of lectures. 

I'm still around, too.  I've actually been online, but on a review blog for educational products.  It's kind of boring, that, but I had to complete an obligation I'd started a few months ago.   That assignment is over as of this week (yay!), so I should be back here a bit more.

Thank you for checking up on me when I've been away.  It not only makes me feel good that someone notices, but it also encourages me to come back.  You all are awesome!  Every one of you.  Tell yourself that a dozen times today from me, okay?

Hope you have a wonderful week!

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The Narcissus Are Blooming!

   

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The Four

Here's our crew!  I took this on Easter Sunday, just a few days ago (just thought I'd mention that so you'll know our little gal doesn't wear her new dress every day -- just every other day, mind you).  Our older kids had already shed their "church best" clothes for their normal wear, by the time I gathered them for a photo. 

Our little guy is 9, our ballerina is 11, our big fella is 13 (and 6'2"!), and our little gal is 6, but only barely 6 (it still bothers me to admit that).

And, again, because we can never get enough of these kids, you know...

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Easter Sunday

Yesterday, Easter, was such a happy day for all of us.  Since the holiday arrived unexpectedly - I must be incredibly near-sighted; the stores have been practically shouting about its arrival for the past two months! - I wasn't prepared well, but sometimes the simplest holidays are the best. 

The day was especially exciting for our little gal, who began the day with losing something.  Can you guess what?

She is of the age (6) that adores a beautiful new Spring dress, hunting candy-filled plastic eggs, and enjoying a morning of worship, remembering that this day is not so much about "Easter", and certainly not about the bunny, but about God's gift to all of us.

Okay, so she's still grasping that last part.

Even though I was a bit sad to see our littlest one lose her first tooth, it was easy to cheer up in the midst of her enthusiasm.  The photos below were taken as I followed her around the yard (whew) while she hunted the eggs our big fella (13) hid.

Yes, there's actually something to find there, in the river.  Oops.  One of the eggs rolled in. I wonder what a seagull downstream will think of a big bright blue plastic egg floating by?

Finally, we're done with the egg hunt.  Mama can put down the camera and rest until the sugar rush kicks in.  About 30 seconds, yes.

I hope you had a Happy Easter, too, and a beautiful Ressurrection Day!

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This Little Thing...

...and 6 other little things like it, have me very busy this week.

I have many more photos to share of our new babies (of course so; you knew that).   Come back next week to see them!  Between now and then,

Happy Easter!

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Puff

I found this in an old notebook. It was jotted down on April 25, 2008, almost a year ago ~

We were really enjoying Puff today, our ballerina and I.   Puff is a newborn duckling who has had some kind of lack of balance since birth. She walks like a drunk and even swims crookedly. 

Our ballerina put Puff  in a bin of water this morning in the sunlight and - oh! - she swam and swam and swam.  Sometimes she swam in a circle so quickly that she was an awkward duck-ballerina and would then fall backwards onto her back, little duck feet flailing, but soon she'd roll over and swim in circles again.

As Puff swam in the morning light, she was full of giddy ducky happiness.  It was so contagious that we were soon giggling - no, belly-laughing - at her. We talked of how we'd ever be able to walk away.  Puff  "fusses" at us if we leave her side. QUACK QUACK QUACK!  She is the loudest thing on the wee farm whenever we walk away from her. When we get close again, she chirps a sweet little tweet-tweet from her nostrils, not her mouth.

Our ballerina offered, with no prodding needed, to sit on the back stoop just to be in Puff's company so the little duck will stop fussing. Staying with Puff is no sacrifice.  She's so cute to watch, swimming, crookedly, collecting bits of grass in her mouth, wobbly, in the morning sun.

I find myself lingering, too.  Not every day do you see such contagious giddy ducky happiness.

~~~~~~~~~~

Tonight we lost Puff. She finally lost her battle to live.  We had a feeling she'd never make it, but we're still so sad.  Still, even though it meant that losing her is harder to take, I'm thankful for this morning...for our sweet moments with our little Puffy in the morning sunlight.

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Dad's Old Schoolhouse

Near the top of a hill, across a gravel road from a little church, in a farming community in Idaho with not even a convenience store or gas station, is this old schoolhouse.  My dad attended it as a boy in the 1950's.  His was one of the - I think the - last group of kids to enter the already-then-old building as students. Dad and other farmer's sons and daughters would walk from their farms to this schoolhouse on Gold Hill, going uphill both ways in several feet of snow, of course. 

Behind the old schoolhouse is a working outhouse.  I say "working," because you can use it if you like - it's simply a hole in a piece of plywood over a hole in the ground. 

This place makes me positively dreamy.

Wishing I could save it,

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