Author Archives: Ellen

4th of July at Our House

Do you know why bloggers wear aprons when they are hosting a party? Why to have a pocket for their camera, of course! So convenient, always at your side, or front as the pocket may be…

So we ended up having 14 over for a meal, conversation, Ticket to Ride, and more. The doc and his wife couldn’t make it because someone’s baby decided to be born on the 4th of July.

 

Of course there was enough food for 24. That’s the curse of growing up in a large family, you tend to make way more and buy way more than you really need :0)

 

Some of the “Usual Suspects”. We always love it when little Finn gets to come and he brings his parents along. Oops, I didn’t get pictures of his parents but I did get some of his Auntie Jamie.

 

Finn loves our son Josh. He’s helping Josh make some strategic moves in the game Ticket to Ride. Ticket to Ride is a cross country train adventure.

We learned this great trick from Finn’s grandmother, Jody. This is the quick way to baby proof your cabinets. This is a hair thingee, pony tail thingee, you know what I mean. You just twist it around the knobs.

 

We ended our meal with some Russian Royal Tea of Czar Nicholas II.

It was a wonderful day and a lovely celebration of our freedom in the USA. Blessings on y’all.

Photobucket is holding all my photos I stored with them from 2007-2015 hostage. They have blacked out all those photos on my blog posts. OH BOTHER! I’m slowly cleaning up my posts.

Photo Hunters ~ Pointed

 

The godwits are a group of large, long-billed, long-legged and strongly migratory wading birds of the genus Limosa. They form large flocks on coasts and estuaries in winter. I took this photo of the Godwit in March at Emma Wood State Beach in Ventura, California. I think it’s bill qualifies for “Pointed”.

For more Photo Hunters head over to tnchick’s!

Photobucket is holding all my photos I stored with them from 2007-2015 hostage. They have blacked out all those photos on my blog posts. OH BOTHER! I’m slowly cleaning up my posts.

Walk About the Yard

I’m in the Seattle area spending 6 weeks at my home here. I took a stroll about the yard to see what was blooming and growing.

 

We’ve got some wild blackberry blossoms, our apples and pears are maturing, the hydrangea is promising a few blooms, the lavender is in it’s glory and the blueberries are still green but plumping up.

I’m still getting my bearings here in my house. I decided to tackle a few rooms at a time for cleaning and organizing. On Tuesday I deep cleaned the kitchen and dusted the living room. Yesterday I got everything presentable except for my Master Bedroom. We’re having 16 for the 4th and I wanted the main living areas clean. Saturday I’ll tackle my bedroom, it’s on the 3rd floor all by itself so I felt fine leaving it till last and after our company on the 4th. Dear goes back to California on Sunday and then he flies back up to Seattle for the first two weeks in August. I’ll be able to get a lot of weeding in while he’s gone.

A very happy 4th to all you in the U.S.A.  and a very happy Friday to my friends in other parts of the world. My flag waving post for the 4th is just below this so scroll on down if you’d like…

Photobucket is holding all my photos I stored with them from 2007-2015 hostage. They have blacked out all those photos on my blog posts. OH BOTHER! I’m slowly cleaning up my posts.

Fabulous Flag Flying Fourth

I saw this great blogathon idea for the 4th at  Ivory Spring and am joining in at  Kari and Kijsa‘s blog through the 4th of July. They say…”The time has come…to lift our flags high…to honor those who helped to create this incredible country we live in and celebrate the freedom we treasure. These are freedoms that have been valiantly fought for, defended and upheld to this very day…so in honor of our Grand Old Flag, and all she stands for, let’s fly our flags high!!”

 

My parents escaped out of Russian into Iran in the 30’s.  Shortly after WWII they and my oldest sister immigrated to the USA from Iran. We are very thankful to God for leading them here. We have been blessed to live in this great country and to be raised and raise our children here. When my parents took their first trip back to Russia after becoming citizens of the USA they were so glad when they flew back into the USA from Russia that they kissed the ground.

 

These are some of the patriotic things we have around the house and make special displays with during 4th of July celebrations. The couple on the bottom of the collage are Martha and George Washington. Dear’s grandmother Nettie gave them to us on one of our trips to visit her in Illinois. The rest are self-explanatory. The next photo is of Dear’s dad who served in WWII.

 

Rex Roy B. (February 19, 1917 – October 5, 1985) served his country in New Guinea during WWII

We plan to have friends and family over for food and fun on the 4th. Hope you all have some fun planned, too.

For more proud flag waving posts head over to Kari and Kijsa’s.

Photobucket is holding all my photos I stored with them from 2007-2015 hostage. They have blacked out all those photos on my blog posts. OH BOTHER! I’m slowly cleaning up my posts.

Sky Watch ~ Seattle Skies

 

I’m in the Seattle area for the next six weeks so I’m hoping for some great skies to show you. I took this one last night from my upstairs bathroom window. A storm was blowing in and it was a great one. We had lots of dramatic thunder and lightning. Nope I wasn’t able to catch a lightning photo. Someday…

For more Skies from around the world visit our great humble host Tom at Wiggers World. Thanks Tom!

Photobucket is holding all my photos I stored with them from 2007-2015 hostage. They have blacked out all those photos on my blog posts. OH BOTHER! I’m slowly cleaning up my posts.

WFW ~ Genesis 2:24

 

Genesis 2:24 ~ “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.”

This photo was taken this past Saturday at the wedding of my nephew Tim to his bride Jessica. Timely for sharing this verse for Word Filled Wednesday.

For more WFW click on over to The 160 Acre Woods and our lovely hostess Amydeanne!

Photobucket is holding all my photos I stored with them from 2007-2015 hostage. They have blacked out all those photos on my blog posts. OH BOTHER! I’m slowly cleaning up my posts.

The Wedding ~ Tim and Jessica

What a wonderful ceremony and reception to celebrate the marriage of my nephew Tim to his beautiful bride Jessica.

 

My Grand Nephew Jackson was the Ring Bearer and he was perfect!

 

He walked carefully and looked oh so like a little prince.

 

Jessica was a stunning Bride.

 

The Groom, my nephew Tim, with his brothers and family. Tim is the one on the left in the upper photo. That’s his brother Levi with him. My brother Steve’s family is excited to finally have another woman in the group. The boys are happy to have a sister.

 

So much fun to see all the cousins together having a good time.

The Sisters, Vera, Lana, Ellen, and Kathy

 

The happy newlyweds. My nephew Tim…if he thinks he needs a drink now, just wait! No worries that’s only Martinelli’s and he really didn’t seemed stressed with all the excitement around him.

My married kids! Hard to believe they’ve almost been married 7 years!

 

My parents, Tim’s paternal grandparents at the rehearsal dinner and the wedding. See that last photo of my dad hugging Tim and Jessica, he decided it was time to take my mom home because she was tired so he walked right up to Tim and Jessica while they were having their first dance to give them a kiss and hug goodbye. He doesn’t really understand the concept of the first dance, since none of his children danced at their weddings. It was a kodak moment and all of us kids were belly laughing. Such a Moisi moment!!

 

Here’s my extended family minus 10 who were not at the wedding.

At the end of such a long eventful day we were all ready to go to sleep just like our Princess Hope.

Photobucket is holding all my photos I stored with them from 2007-2015 hostage. They have blacked out all those photos on my blog posts. OH BOTHER! I’m slowly cleaning up my posts.

ABC Wednesday ~ X is for…

Well the best I could come up with for X is the Skull and Crossbones surrounding any Pirate Theme Mateys!

 

These were taken in a Model Home we walked through where they decorated one of the rooms in a pirate theme.

 

These shots were taken on one of our beach walks. There is one camper at this state park who camps every weekend and hoists the Pirate Flag! Ok, so I made the X in the sand before I saw the pirate flag and the X made out of sticks because I was getting desperate to find X’s!

For more ABC Wednesday Photos head over to Mrs. Nesbitt’s.

****Yikes, this happens to be my 1000th post! I should have given a prize or something or buried some treasure under an X somewhere…

Photobucket is holding all my photos I stored with them from 2007-2015 hostage. They have blacked out all those photos on my blog posts. OH BOTHER! I’m slowly cleaning up my posts.

Up To The Rehearsal Dinner and Beyond…

Praise God from whom all blessings flow everything came together beautifully for the Rehearsal Dinner. We served Brisket, Barbecued Chicken, Pasta Salad, Potato Salad, Barbecue Beans, Fruit Skewers and Rolls. For dessert we had assorted goodies, Nazook, Bite size Brownies, Madelines, Scones, and Bite size blueberry muffins. The picture above is Dear loading the Barbecue to take to the Bride’s house where we were having the rehearsal dinner.

 

It was so much fun to have everyone chipping in to help make this a night to remember.

 

Don’t ask, we don’t know what my nephew Levi had in mind when he put Jackson on Josh’s shoulders here but Jackson sure is intent on reaching up to the sky. Jackson is my Grandnephew and He was the Ring bearer at the wedding. And while we are on the subject of our Prince Jackson, here is a collage of our Princess, my new niece Hope!

 

She is 5 months old now and really got loved on during all our family gatherings surrounding the wedding. She lives in Dallas with her mom and dad so this was the first time most of her cousins and Aunts and Uncles got to meet her.

We know how to cram fun into a weekend people. On Saturday morning at 7:00 a.m. we met our dear friends from Seattle, Dave and Jody, for a walk at Emma Wood State Beach in Ventura. We met Dave and Jody 23 years ago in Ventura at Bible Fellowship Church and we’ve been great friends ever since. They live in the Seattle area now, too, and were down in Ventura for a medical function at Ventura County Hospital. Even though the wedding was later in the day we were thrilled to be able to have an hour to walk and talk with them.

 

On Saturday after our walk with Dave and Jody we met part of the family and wedding party at Brent’s deli for brunch/lunch. There were 20 of us enjoying good Jewish Deli food. Pastrami on Rye, Matzo Ball soup, kosher pickles, lox and bagels…

 

 

Look at the size of that Matzo ball in that soup! We really had a good time here and it was great to see the groom, our nephew Tim, before the wedding.

On the way home from brunch we fit in a little shopping trip to the Camarillo Outlet Mall. We hit Banana Republic, Puma, and Betsy Johnson where Katie tried on this fun coat.

 

We made it home in plenty of time to get all dressed up for the Main Event. Tomorrow or Wednesday I hope to post the Wedding photos.

Photobucket is holding all my photos I stored with them from 2007-2015 hostage. They have blacked out all those photos on my blog posts. OH BOTHER! I’m slowly cleaning up my posts.

Ruby Tuesday

These are the Fruit Skewers we made for my nephew’s wedding rehearsal dinner this last Friday. I thought they qualify for a Ruby Tuesday post.

Photobucket is holding all my photos I stored with them from 2007-2015 hostage. They have blacked out all those photos on my blog posts. OH BOTHER! I’m slowly cleaning up my posts.

 

For more Ruby Tuesday posts vist Maryt at The Work of the Poet