Spring Ramblings…and Explosions…

Is it just me, or does it seem as if we all only recently took down our Christmas trees, and here it is already April!

Time is flying by, yet plenty is happening.  Warm days and cold, bright days and stormy…

My dear Uncle from my mom’s side died unexpectedly.  It’s still kind of hard to believe.  He died on the exact day of my grandmother’s death (his mother) 16 years before, which was really something.  We will miss him, terribly so, but we can also rejoice because not only has he gone to be with the Lord, and his mom and dad, but also his much loved son that lived only 20 years.  You might recall mention of them in my post “My Cousin had a Pet Alligator.” 

On a more cheery note, a dear friend gave birth to a sweet baby girl.  Several households of us sat up all night waiting with anticipation.  Grandmamma and Auntie kept us all informed with text and Instagram.  My oldest daughter was in another household a couple of hundred miles away, yet we all still got to share the excitement.  Oh how we breathed a sigh of relief when we got word that Mom and Baby were safe.  She is such a little doll and bringing much joy!

Another dear friend got a big surprise with the discovery of their fourth little one on the way.  I believe God loves to give His children surprises, just like we love to surprise our children with special gifts!

This is a birthday season for us, so there has been lots of surprises and gifts in the works around our household.  I’ve also found some great little surprises at thrift stores recently.  This vintage Betty Crocker Cook Book was one such treasure that I couldn’t pass up.

And also, for my youngest daughter’s hope chest, 36 cups and 36 saucers featuring delicate little roses in her favorite shade, violet, were a fun find.  All for only $20! 

 

Children do grow up so fast.  Since she turned 16, she got to try her hand at driving…DRIVING…MY BABY!!!

Have I mentioned that I’m not READY!?

We all got a little surprise while we celebrated her birthday when the candles on her ice cream cake were lit.  We I didn’t pay attention to the packaging, so…   

It went like this:

“Uh Mom, why are my candles sparking.” 

“Oh, it’ll be fine.  Look at me,” I casually said as I snapped pics. 

More sparks…then lots more…as if she had sparklers on her cake…
Wait, what?…

Blow…blow….BLOW… by several of us without success as another grabbed for candle packaging and read…

The packaging may as well have said FOOLED YOU!  But it didn’t exactly.  Only it was clearly labeled “trick candles,” which I failed to notice, AND, in addition it said “no more than 10 candles per cake…” 

She had sixteen, being that it was her 16th birthday and all… WHOOPS!

Hubby grabs them ONE at a time and runs to the kitchen sink…with HOT fingers, I might add.

You can imagine how quickly he was moving, but to the rest of us it seemed as if he were in slow motion while her cake flamed and sputtered.  One at a time wasn’t getting it, since the sink wasn’t right next to the cake.  But none of the rest of us had the courage to grab them so we just all stood and WATCHED…   

Leave it to me to nearly catch the house on fire on a very special birthday…

But not all was lost…

And the icing on the cake - well not the fire hazard ice cream cake (good thing she had two cakes this year and believe me, no trick candles on the second one!) - was that with her birthday money and a significant amount of work saving up, she finally got to buy her much anticipated laptop.  My diligent girl is good at saving. 

And she can cypher too!

And much to my delight she has already finished up her physics book for the school year.  At this rate, she will get to enjoy a good amount of time off for summer break.  Although her pencils usually need sharpening, and last week her history textbook seemed to have dropped off the planet, I have not one doubt that she will still get the job done.  My little history buff, she is!

She got a chance to attend a Civil War reenactment several weeks ago which she always loves. 

And if you ask me, she was the bell of the ball at the reenactment ball, in spite of our last minute attempt to throw together an 1860’s costume with no plan whatsoever…

The cannons at the reenactment weren’t the only explosions happening.

No cannon balls came flying through the windows, and nope, not from the trick candles;  

just the furniture…  Who knew that my baby getting a laptop would somehow cause us to need to rearrange our entire house!  Does that ever happen to you?  I mean one tiny thing leads to another and another…

The desktop computer found a more discreet location in a different room with the arrival of her laptop,

which caused the TV to move to a better looking spot in the family room,

which caused a few chairs to be relocated,

which caused curtains and chairs to clash,

which caused… I could go on but I won’t. 

Needless to say, after a while, hubby and son looked about like the reenactment guy that is playing dead in my picture above. :)

Well, it’s a wonder that Pinterest hasn’t exploded, with the pinning rampage that I have been on lately (you can find me here)!

That just about sums up life in the Smith household this spring, I think.  What you been up to?