Meet Mother Goose and Maggie. We ventured out Sunday to the Renaissance Festival. Who would have thought that in the middle of all of the jousting and camaraderie would be a charming gazebo with Mother Goose and her pet goose Maggie. There was a short line (I wonder why) for children to pet Maggie. There were two babies in line ahead of us and they were hugging her so I knew it would be safe. Upon entering the festival, we were greeted by renaissance staff members that were standing on a bridge above. They started making a big commotion about me as I was turning in my ticket. They were shouting that there was royalty among us. It was because I was wearing one of my 4, yes 4 crown necklaces. After all, I am known as "the queen" in my family. We all got a big kick out of that. I tried to be more inconspicuous for the rest of the day. We also saw this amazing walking and talking tree. I loved his face. I'll leave you with one last image of a few members of our royal family. I was pleasantly surprised my this event. It wasn't too crowded, no long lines and great family fun.

I love this keepsake photo of my husband and daughter taken at the "Daddy and Daughter Date Night" at our church. It's kind of dreamy looking. It's not often that they get out together on their own. My son and I had a date of our own that evening. We just picked up the photo but it was actually taken a week before he went into the hospital.

Easter Joys is what this darling vintage greeting says that my sweet pals Tina and Carmen sent to cheer me up while my hubby was in the hospital. We want to try making these. Aren't they darling? They know how to cheer me up all right. I also received my Paper Bella kit in the mail and these darling vintage cards from Amanda. Love them. I need to find some time to make my little spring birdy. Can't wait.

My husband and I watched this totally fun, romantic, upbeat movie last night. I highly recommend it. It seems lately that so many of the movies that we rent are violent. This one was such a nice change. It's PG13 but I would not recommend it for kids. So if you're a hopeless, romantic sap like me, you'll enjoy it.

The Spring Swap was so much fun. I received this beautiful beeswax birdy from the ever so talented Cari Kraft. I made her a soldered Easter charm from this vintage postcard that was mixed in with some of my Grandmother's photos. The postmark

on the back is dated 1909. She would

have only been 9 years old at the

time.

Welcome to my tea party. I was invited by Miss ArtsyMama<.

Isn't the invitation beautiful??

While you are here, I wanted to tell

you a little about our party. Today I'm serving cookies, toffee scones

and jasmine tea. I meant to order

flowering tea similar to the tea that

was served in the Marie Antonette

movie, but time got away from me.

Maybe next time. Today I'm using one of my Grandmother's vintage tablecloths and my Great Aunt's silver. My theme is Easter today and so I thought it would be appropriate to use my daughter's tea party china. My mother and I and sister started her on these when she was born, adding one piece for each birthday. They are getting more difficult to find so as the years have gone by, we are mixing patterns. Some are Wedgewood, some are Royal Dalton and a few are Brambly Hedge. Enjoy!

I am a Snapdragon What Flower Are You?

So, the description of my personality is that "mischief is my middle name, but I am first a friend and that I am quite the prankster." I don't believe that, not one bit. Take the quiz and see what kind of flower you are. I just started reading the book "The Secret" for my book club. Oprah featured it on her show. I adore Oprah and think that she is such a true heroine, but her books are not my favorite choices to say the least. After getting 1/3 into the book, my opinion is that it is very new-agy. I won't be asking the universe for anything, anytime soon. I'm first and foremost a Christian and I make my requests to God. However, I think I will learn something from this book including how to be more in charge of what I want from life. It will make for an interesting book club discussion.

Welcome Home Dad and Praise the Lord! After 7 days of hospitalization, my husband is home. We thought he had the flu, but we were wrong, so wrong. Friday we decided to take him to urgent care to see if we could get something to control his temperature. He mentioned that he had a pain in his side, where his appendix used to be. The physician told us not to panic, but to get to the ER immediately. Six hours and a cat scan later, the ER physician informed us that it was most likely a tumor. It took a few more days to find out that it wasn't, but instead was an infectious disease. After a surgical procedure and several other cat scans, mri, etc. he remains a mystery patient, but hopefully is on the mend. Life can be so scary. I'm so grateful for so many things this week. For a wonderful hospital, the care of several specialists, friends, prayers and all of Mark's family that helped take care of our kiddos this week. I've been home for 10 minutes and now I'm off to take my daughter to piano lessons. This is what I've been dreaming of all week. Getting back to my routine. I hope I don't take it for granted anytime soon.

I'm not the first scrapbooker in our family. This one belonged to my Grandmother Mary. I love looking through it. It's pages are very fragile, but oh so dear to me. Thank you Grandma for keeping all of these wonderful family records for us. I remember when I was growing up, it was bound with leather strings. It's full of baby pictures, wedding announcements and family memories. On the hard cover of the inside back of the album, she has recorded the births of family members. This album is one of my treasured possessions.