I am a lazy blogger.  Sorry about that! 

Last Sunday was, of course, Easter.  Hallelujah, He is risen!  The choir and orchestra showed up at church starting at 6:30 a.m. (I was a slowpoke and didn't get there until a few minutes before 7 a.m.) to have a hearty breakfast prior to singing/playing at the four services that day.  Skipped the Tenebrae service but, by jingo, I sang at all four services!

After we were released from duty at 1 p.m. (we got to leave the loft as the sermon began), I scurried home to frost the 3D lamb cake I'd baked the previous night.  Considering the transport issue of getting it from my house to Kirstin's house in Keller, I decided against having it sit upright, though it would.  No way it'd stay upright for that distance.  Still, it came out pretty well, though Elaine's chocolate cheesecake beat my dessert, IMO.  Chocolate cheesecake beats almost everything.

There was a bunch of family gathered at Kirstin and Matt's that afternoon, though we missed Jessica (at work), Jonathan (in Costa Rica) and Alex (working at Irving Bible Church, where he's an intern).  We had lamb and ham, and John's bodacious mashed potatoes, and a wonderful corn dish, and a lavish spinach/strawberry/pecan salad, and I don't remember what all.  It was delicious, that's for sure.

There were three egg hunts:  one in the back yard, one inside, and one in the front yard. 

While the children rushed around like mad monkeys, the adults would chat:

My bro-in-law, Richard (Don's eldest brother), came as well, and he sensibly stayed on the sidelines:

Rarely has an Easter gathering been so photographed, between Mom, Elaine, Jeanne, Jill, and me.  Here are Mom and Elaine examining a shot:

Jeanne is an Ultra Aunt, who brings goodies for all the children:

Above is my nephew, Justin, and Charles.  I uploaded more than these, but when I went to "choose" pictures, the first bunch weren't there, which was Highly Annoying.  Oh well. 

Hope everyone had a good Easter!  We sure did. 

Edit:  Ha!  The errant pictures showed up:

Above is Elaine holding Baby Brielle, and here's Joe, Dmitry and my sis-in-law, Mary:

.....and I am....the only reason I haven't every cool thingummy comes out is because they, well, cost money.

Now, considering how many gadgets I have/had, obviously this is not always viewed (by me, anyway) as an insurmountable obstacle.  Amazing how I can rationalize purchasing something I don't actually need, but just really, really want. 

The Big Release at the moment, i.e. the Apple iPad, hasn't been able to tickle my "I want it!" bone. 

What's its point?  It's too big to fit in my purse.  If it's not going places with me, why wouldn't I just use my iTouch?  I love my iTouch for checking email, FB, weather from bed, without having to get up.

The main problem with it is that, like the iTouch, it doesn't run Flash, meaning my favorite FB games won't work on it, either. 

I suppose it's as well.  Had the iPad run Flash, I might be tempted to spend money I can't afford on yet another digital goodie. 

I can promise you it's bogus:  Update Your Account to Avoid Suspension.

Yahoo! Customer Care

Case number: 8941624
Property: Account Security
Contact date: 31-03-2010

You'd think these phishers would take the trouble to learn basic English grammar, not to mention how we write dates (mm/dd/yyyy format).

If you responded to the phishing email, you need to hurry and change your password (plus let Yahoo! know).

She turned five yesterday, can you believe it?  Incredible, how fast time flies by.  Before attending the festivities, though, Brianna, Bridgette, Dmitry, Zhenya and I met the Kloesels at the Dallas Arboretum, where Kirstin had arranged for a session with Natalee Raymond, a wonderful photographer (and friend of Beth's):

Daffodils!  Tulips!  Hyacinths!  Simply stunning, and also stunning was trying to convince Bridgette she wasn't permitted to pick the pretty flowers.  ;^)

Brianna took some photos, including this one of me, and then me with Dmitry and Zhenya.  She's got talent, ISTM:

Naturally, I got my turn with the camera, too:

Here's one of Dmitry and Zhenya, drinking in the beauty of God's creation:

Boys.  Sheesh.

Then it was on to Hannah's house; here's the birthday girl, bless her heart:

I don't recall what caused this less-than-happy expression on our birthday girl's face:

She was miffed about something, though!  It was a charming party with lots of games, such as Musical Flowers:

I believe Bryson won that particular game; here he is being high-fived by Matt:

There was also a frisbee being tossed around:

Plus a (plastic) horseshoe toss:

Bridgette was outside some, but mostly entertained herself with Hannah's and Faith's toys:

Naturally she and Faith partook of birthday cake!

The children tried to pin a wand on Tinkerbell:

Then it was back outside for the traditional pinata.  I think everyone had rather hoped to have a replay of the Decapitated Dora pinata of three years ago, but Alex and Beth were careful to have one with the weight more evenly distributed.  That was so funny when that happened, but no one caught the moment on film.  Pity! 

Oh well.  Can't have decapitations all the time, I suppose.  Here are Bethany and Cole having a whack at it:

Pinatas are the dickens to crack open, and the children were on the second round when Bethany managed to do the deed.  Trouble with being the one who actually opens the pinata is it usually means you're the last to get started grabbing candy.  Nothing's perfect, is it?

This is one of my favorite photos of Kirstin and Brielle (though you know that'll change once I see the pictures Natalee took):

And it was delightful, the pleasure Brielle took in her Uncle Charles.  She simply beamed upon him!

It was a wonderful day! 

Isn't that tacky?  The next opportunity to try again is five days later, on the 29th.  He thinks he may have squeaked past but isn't anything close to certain, so graduation plans have been put on hold for now.

It's also a smidge up in the air as to whether Dmitry and Zhenya will be able to go to Russia after all, as the latter's father somehow got hold of the Russian embassy, and was told if the boys plan on entering on American passports, they must renounce Russian citizenship first (which I'd figured), and after that apply for visas, which may not be given, seeing as how they renounced Russian citizenship.

We didn't see THAT coming! 

Doesn't mean they won't get the necessary visas, of course, but there's a definite chance they won't.  Which will leave us with a pair of nonrefundable tickets to Moscow via Air Singapore (or Singapore Air, or whatever it is). 

No point getting all undone about it.  If the LORD wants 'em to go to Russia, they'll go.  If He doesn't, they won't.  Just keep a-goin' and wait to see what His plans are. 

There's been another addition to the house!  Well, that might be overstating the case a trifle, but instead of the cheap some-assembly-required, laminate-over-pressed-wood bookcases that have been in the short hall, I wanted some nice cabinets.  Kenny and I went to Lowe's and I bought some more unfinished cabinets, but as the most they could stick out from the wall is 12", the lower cabinets also had to be wall cabinets.  The top caused some concern until Kenny's eye was caught by an $11 piece of butcher block.  I wanted the beautiful rope twist that takes the poor man hours to finish, but look at what he created:

 

Isn't it gorgeous?  I love the top, especially:

So does Kenny:

He's justifiably proud of this, and so signed it for me on the back:

He does such lovely, painstaking work, I've thought he should start a business:  Cabinets by Kenny.  It's got a ring, don't you think? 

Tomorrow morning Dmitry takes the TAKS Science test.  It's all that's left for him to get his high school diploma, and he's been working hard, preparing for it.

He can have another shot at it later in the month, but he's ready for this to be o-v-e-r!  So please storm heaven with prayers for him to stay calm, collected, and be able to retrieve the necessary info from his memory banks.  ;^)

On another topic, does it happen to anyone but me that when I start cleaning, something winds up messier than it was before I began?  Started in on the bookshelves in the dining room, plus some boxes that had been in there, and now the dining room table that had been nice and clean is a cluttered mess.  I swear it seems as if I spend most of time merely relocating things from one out-of-place location to another out-of-place location. 

I've decided to officially announce what everyone else seems to know:  I'm a Crazy Cat Lady.  The cats drive me insane, but I love them.  Pretty soon I'm going to have a crack at taking pictures of each of them.  Don't know how successful this venture will be, as cats are about as cooperative as babies when it comes to having portraits made.

In the last couple of days spring has finally sprung in Fort Worth!  First, there are - finally - tiny green leaves on some of the trees, and second, I saw a Mayfly today.

That's a sign of spring I could do without, but there it is.  Along with a bumper crop of bluebonnets, which is expected due to the rainy winter, we'll indubitably get bombarded with a bumper crop of insects.  Boo.

Tomorrow Mom and I are going to get culturated, as we will go to the Kimbell art museum in the morning (plus have lunch), then in the evening go to CCBC to hear the annual orchestral concert (plus have supper).  Mustn't overlook the culinary arts, after all! 

The number of phone calls, mostly automated though a couple were actual human beings on the line, urging me to vote for this, that or the other candidate has been mind-boggling. I'll come home and find four messages on my voice mail, all candidate calls.

Not to mention the stuffed-to-overflowing mail box!

My normal behavior is to hang up immediately (or hit 3 and delete the message as soon as it starts, just about), but next primary I'm considering taking a count of who bothers me the least and vote for that person.

Politics. Blech.

I'm Anne Ivy, and I approved this message.

Dmitry and Zhenya leave on May 23d from Houston for Russia, returning on June 20th.

Dmitry's filling out his passport application right now; we'll go to the post office tomorrow afternoon.  AAMOF, my passport has expired so it needs to be renewed, seeing as how less than a month after the boys return, I'll be heading out on the cruise with Mom!  We'll massacre three birds with one stone. 

Their plan is to poke around Moscow for a day or two, then separate, with Zhenya going to Shumerlya and Dmitry heading to the town I can never remember where Sveta lives.  It's a 12 hour train ride! 

Mind, Don and I made the thirteen hour trip to Cheboksary and back, but at least we had each other and experienced Russian travelers.  I am sure Dmitry will manage nicely.  He's very sensible.

Won't Sveta be surprised!  Wish I could be present when they see each other again after six and a half years, but perhaps someone will take pictures.

.....but they're even worse on men, ISTM.  Of course, to be fair, neither the men nor the women in ice skating actually have low-cut outfits  -  they're flesh colored in places  -  but it still looks tacky.  Particularly when the pair is skating to "Ave Maria" and some other theological song.

On the whole, the ice dancing free skate has been phenomenal! The last team, the Russian pair who did that weird "aboriginal" dance, is skating now.