Easter Time!

Happy Easter Time everyone!!  Yesterday was Easter, and I hope you all had a wonderful day celebrating that Jesus came out of the dark damp tomb and He's alive!  Here's a favorite song that my Mommie loves to sing on Easter, but she said they didn't sing it at church yesterday like she hoped they would, so we can all sing it now:

We can pretend that I am singing here with all my pretend church friends! 

I hope you enjoy this with me.

Low in the grave He lay

Jesus my Savior!

Waiting the coming day

Jesus my Lord!

Up from the grave He arose

With a mighty triumph o'er His foes

He arose a Victor from the dark domain

And He lives forever with His saints to reign

He arose! (He arose)

He arose! (He arose)

Hallelujah! Christ arose!

Vainly they watch His bed

Jesus, my Savior!

Vainly they seal the dead

Jesus my Lord!

Up from the grave He arose

With a mighty triumph o'er His foes

He arose a Victor from the dark domain

And He lives forever with His saints to reign

He arose! (He arose)

He arose! (He arose)

Hallelujah! Christ arose!

Death cannot keep his prey

Jesus, my Savior!

He tore the bars away

Jesus my Lord!

Up from the grave He arose

With a mighty triumph o'er His foes

He arose a Victor from the dark domain

And He lives forever with His saints to reign

He arose! (He arose)

He arose! (He arose)

Hallelujah! Christ arose!

Up from the grave He arose

With a mighty triumph o'er His foes

He arose a Victor from the dark domain

And He lives forever with His saints to reign

He arose! (He arose)

He arose! (He arose)

Hallelujah! Christ arose!

So after church was over Mommie and Daddy came home and got ready for lunch. My big brother Benton and his wife "Auntie Rose" were coming over to join us, and my other big brother Scotty too.

Mommie had baked this "oatmeal cake", and my brother Benton had said he wanted a "Bunny Cake" on Easter, so she decorated this cake like a brown bunny eating a carrot! Isn't it a funny bunny cake? Mommie said the important thing is that it tastes good!.  If you want the recipe, you can find it HERE.

So here I am with my Easter basket and my doggy Bailey and all my little Fairy Friends.  Did you get an Easter basket?  It's a family tradition here at our house. But more about that later...

Here's some of my bunny friends along with my fairy friends:

And on the table there's this display of all the special bunnies:

When my big brothers were little boys our Grandma Mursch gave them each a special Easter bunny.  And then Mommie and Daddy added some new bunnies over the years, one for their grandson Noah, (who is a big boy now too)

And this year we added a new bunny for my big sister "Auntie Rose":

Isn't it sweet? Mommie said they picked that one because it was holding a flower kind of like a rose,

and Auntie Rose said it could be a "wild rose"...and we laughed and called her "Wild Rose". She thought it was funny too.

Here's "Wild Rose" and my big brother Benton now, being really sweet as we ate our delicious steak dinner.  Auntie Rose brought the steaks and my brother Scotty grilled them to perfection, and we had baked potatoes, salad, and deviled eggs! I said we shouldn't call them "deviled eggs" on Easter! Maybe they should be "Angel Eggs"!  Ha ha.

My big brother Scotty is kind of crazy sometimes and he likes to make funny faces,

but really he's quite cute.

Here's my Mommie enjoying her dinner.  She said to explain that we didn't all stay dressed up in our Easter finery after church because it was hot and we just wanted to be comfortable and casual.

Oh, Mommie is holding up her special Easter bunny, which was given to her by her Grandma Tedlie, when she was just a very little girl. She said that makes the bunny very very old!

Here's my Daddy enjoying his dinner!  

Now, back to those Easter baskets.  The tradition has always been in our family for the Easter Bunny to hide the Easter Baskets somewhere in the house, and everyone has to find their own basket. If they accidentally find someone else's basket (they have names on them), they have to keep quiet and not tell where it is. 

Anyway, here's my big brother Benton after he found his basket first:

And then my big brother Scotty found his basket next:

He took the bag off of it to show all the goodies inside:

And lastly, "Auntie Rose" found her basket. Usually she's the first one to find hers, but Mommie said the Easter Bunny worked extra hard to hide hers this year because she's so good at finding them so quickly, so she had to work a little harder to find it!

Oh, here's my sweet big sister "Baby Elva", in her pretty Easter dress and bonnet, and she has a chocolate bunny and a "real bunny" to play with! Isn't she sweet? She is wearing one of my Mommie's baby dresses from when she was a little baby, so again, Mommie said it's very very old. And the bonnet may have also been either hers' or my Auntie Doris' bonnet when she was little, and that also makes it very very very old! Ha Ha!  (Mommie said I might get into trouble over those "very very very old remarks" so I'd better be careful!)

Oh, and guess what? I got a chocolate Bunny too!! Yum yum!

I am sharing my Easter basket goodies with all of my friends: 

Rebecca, Valerie, (me), Margie, and Anne of Green Gables.

Here I am with my special sister Margie. Mommie has had "Margie Doll" since she was a little girl of seven years old, which is when her Aunt Margie gave it to her for her birthday!  Aunt Margie was my Grandma Mursch's sister.  Grandma made that pretty dress for Margie Doll a long time ago. Sometimes Margie lets me wear it for special occasions, but she wanted to wear it special for Easter.  

So today my sister "Baby Elva" and I are on baby bird alert:

Here we are sitting by the window looking out toward Still Waters Pond and the Bluebird house.

Bailey and Boo Bear are helping us watch for the appearance of the baby bluebirds.

Mommie said that the Mama Bluebird seems to be slowing down in her feeding of the babies in the birdhouse, because she thinks they are trying to entice the babies to come out of the nest soon.

Here's Mama Bluebird watching the nest:

And lookie who's peeking out the window!

That's one of the babies, watching and waiting for his next meal, but he may have to learn to fly out of there to get it...

So he's sitting inside peering over the edge of the window wondering when it will be safe to come out:

We are watching and waiting just in case he tries to fly!

Speaking of baby birds:

Here's "Colt", the baby Sand Hill Crane.  He is getting taller and taller every day!

His wings aren't big enough yet to fly, but he can swim in the pond to get across from place to place.

It won't be long before his wings will get much bigger and he'll be able to fly with his parents back and forth. And then like the baby bluebirds, he may eventually fly away to start his own family someday.

Well, it's time to bring this Easter time post to a close. I hope you have enjoyed this fun celebration with me.  However, let us not forget what Easter is really all about!

Remember what the Angel told the women at the tomb when they discovered that Jesus was not there:

"Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified.

He is not here; for He is risen, as He said..."

Matthew 28:5-6

And then, Jesus came and saw the disciples after He had risen from the dead, and He gave them this "Great Commission":

"Go therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age."

Matthew 28:19-20

We are supposed to spread the Good News to everyone that Christ is risen from the dead, and also, He told His disciples before He was crucified:

19 “A little while longer and the world will see Me no more, but you will see Me. 

Because I live, you will live also." 

John 14:19

That's pretty Good News, Don't you agree?

Happy Easter everyone!!

 

April Showers! A Good Day for Bluebirds, Sand Hill Cranes, Geese, and Snickerdoodles!

Hi all my friends in bloggy land!  It seems like I don't get to visit with you as much lately. Mommie says it's all her fault because she hasn't been taking me on as many adventures as before, and she says she apologizes!  But today we tried to make up for it!  It's the 2nd day of April, and it's been raining almost all day!!  Mommie said April is living up to its reputation of "April showers brings May flowers!" 

Well, this picture on the calendar says, "A Good Day for Ducks"

(John Sloane, artist, Country Seasons Calendar)

Mommie said it is a good day for ducks here at our own Still Waters Pond.  We don't have very many ducks...but we do have geese, Sand Hill Cranes, and Bluebirds!

I wanted to go outside and see the raindrops and also see what I could see on or around the pond. So I put on my rain poncho that Mommie's friend "Auntie Pamela" made for me last spring, and we went out on the back porch to see what we could see.

If you look really really closely at the birdhouse, you will see Mama Bluebird sticking her head out to look at me!! I guess she was just as curious about me as I was about her!! She poked her head out for a second or two,  and then...

when I looked again, she was gone!!! She flew away to the nearest tree, even though it was pouring down rain!  I hope I didn't scare her! Mommie said most likely she just needed to go get some more food for her babies, because she and Papa Bluebird have been very busy lately feeding the babies!

Oh lookie! There's Papa Bluebird now! And he's got a juicy bug or something to feed to his hungry little family in the house!!

Mommie said the Bluebirds take really good care of their babies!  She said God created them and gave them "instincts" so they would know just what to do to take care of their babies and each other.

And lookie here! There's another family taking care of its baby!  Mommie said she told you about the new baby Sand Hill Crane "Colt" HERE yesterday.  Well, this morning, before it started raining it got really really dark in the skies and was kind of scary. But when we looked outside we could see the Crane family way over on the little marsh island in the pond, and they had their baby Colt right there with them!

They were all walking around on that marshy little island poking their long beaks in the ground looking for food, and showing the baby how to hunt for his own food too.

Can you see him? Isn't he sweet?  I just love him so much!

Well, then the big thunderstorm broke loose, and there was lightning and thunder and lots and lots of rain! And the sky was really really dark.  I was scared and worried about the baby Colt, but Mommie said that Jesus was taking care of us, and He would also take care of the Colt and his parents out there on that little island.

Mommie said the mother crane was sitting on top of the baby, keeping him safe and dry under her wings.  She said the camera doesn't do a very good job of taking a picture so far away when it is dark and rainy like that, so please don't mind that these pictures are so blurry.

Mommie said this reminds her this Bible verse:

Psalm 91:4

"He (God) shall cover you with His feathers,

And under His wings you shall take refuge;"

Oh, the Sand Hill Cranes and the Bluebirds weren't the only ones out in the rain. Here are some of our Canada Geese swimming around the pond in the rain.  Mommie said it doesn't bother them because they live in the water most of the time anyway, and God created them to be in the water, so they, like ducks, are quite happy in the rain. 

Well, after all that, we came inside and decided to bake some cookies. Mommie says rainy days are good days to do some baking and make the house smell good with yummy things to eat!

Mommie said that today we would bake some "Snickerdoodle cookies!" 

"Snickerdoodles?" I asked.  "What kind of cookies are those?"  Mommie said they are really delicious cinnamon and sugar cookies, and that Daddy and my big brother Scott really love them,  and she thinks I will too.

Here's the recipe in case you are wondering what Snickerdoodles are too!

So here I am helping mix up the Snickerdoodles.  

And then Mommie said we had to roll the dough into little balls like the size of a walnut, and then we have to roll the ball in a dish of cinnamon and sugar:

I tried my best to help. It was a lot of fun!!!

And then I got to lick the beater!!!!!  Mommie said that she always got to lick the beater when she was a little girl, and that it never made her sick. And she said her three sons always got to lick the beater when they were little, and it never made them sick, and so I should also get to lick the beater, and she's quite sure it won't make me sick either!  Yummy! It was good!!!!

After a few minutes the hot cookies came out of the oven!  I had to wait a few minutes before I could taste one because they were too hot.

But when they were cool enough, Mommie let me take a bite, and WOW!! Those Snickerdoodles sure are delicious!!!!!

Oh, and then my big brother Scotty came out of his room (he's off from work today), and he tried one of the snickerdoodles, and he said, "WOW!"

 "These sure are GOOD!!"  I think he had to taste a few more just to be certain. At least that's what he said!

I asked Mommie if my puppy Bailey and I could have a little tea party and have some snickerdoodles.

She said sure, but that Bailey wasn't allowed to eat a cookie because she shouldn't have sugar.

So we got Bailey some of her special doggy cookies for her treat. She was happy about that!

And lookie! Her plate has a picture of Buster Brown and his doggy on it too, having a tea party!

The dishes we used for our tea party were my Grandma Mursch's Buster Brown Tea Set, which actually originally belonged to my mommie's Aunt Margie, who was Grandma's big sister. She said these dishes are very very old and special and we must be very careful not to break them. So we were careful, and we had a very nice little tea party.

Bailey loved her dog cookies, and I loved my snickerdoodle!

Well, it is still raining. And Mommie says it is time for us to quit writing and go cook supper. Maybe I can help?

Thank you for visiting with me on this rainy day. I hope wherever you are that you are safe and happy and warm.

Mommie said that this month we will celebrate Easter! I am very excited about that! And I am so happy that Jesus loved me enough to die on the cross for my sins, and that He rose again from the grave to show us how to find everlasting life!

I hope you are excited about that Good News too!!

Bye bye for now.

Love,

Lily Grace and Bailey

xoxoxoxoxo