Happy Birthday Margie!

Happy birthday to you... happy birthday to you...

Today is my sweet niece's eighth birthday.  It just seems like yesterday that I was meeting this cutie pie for the first time.  To celebrate I put together this collage of the many faces of Margie.
Love you!  Auntie Ruth

P.S. Photo collages are super fun and easy to make with Picasa :)

Homemade Mac 'n Cheese

This week I was signed up to bring a meal for a friend and her family.  So I decided to try The Pioneer Woman's recipe for macaroni and cheese.  I figured it should be a hit with the kids, right?  

So I gathered the cast of characters.  These are the usual suspects...most likely you will find most of them hanging around your pantry and fridge.  Nothing too out of the ordinary but when you put them together that's when the magic happens!

Oops!  These two were camera shy and didn't make it into the "group shot" :)

   You can find Ree's step by step directions here.  I used whole wheat penne instead of regular macaroni just because that's what I had in my pantry.  Hope you give it a try sometime.  It's an easy recipe that delivers lots of great taste!

My lunch date

I had a lunch date today!  Lena and Charis (and Kim) joined me for a beautiful al fresco lunch by the fountain.  It was so good to see the girls and to catch up with Kim.

Looking forward to more of these.   

Lena was eating peanut butter and jelly "scrolls"

Charis was just hanging out in her stroller taking it all in

Grateful for all the friends in my life... big and small!

Beautiful sun!

"Love comforteth like the sunshine after the rain"
-  William Shakespeare

Rain, rain, rain...

We haven't had much rain this year so I'm not complaining!  I decided to look on the bright (though wet and cold) side and play with the raindrops.  Rainy days are great days for having some fun with the macro setting on my little point-and-shoot camera.  Enjoy!