Smell the Hodgepodge

Time for Wednesday Hodgepodge where Jo comes up with the questions and we come up with the answers. Thank you Jo From This Side of the Pond.

1. What are some memories you associate with spring?

Strawberry Stands in Southern California. Fresh strawberries right from the fields were so juicy, sweet and delicious! Both of our grandchildren were born in the Spring and that is a very special memory being at the hospital waiting to hear about their entry into this world. Addy was born on the first day of Spring. Easter celebrations are also high on the list of things I associate with Spring. Easter is a favorite of mine to celebrate with joy. After we moved to Washington State a trip to the tulip fields in April make for a wonderful visual picture of Spring!

2. April showers bring May flowers…was that saying proven true where you live? Snapdragons, anemones, carnations, lilacs, sweet peas, tulips, lily of the valley, orchids, roses, gardenias…which one on that list is your favorite May bloom?

If I have to choose one I’ll say lilacs!

Here’s a lilac memory from April 2010 of my niece and grandniece at Descanso Gardens in Southern California.

3. What are your top three distractions and how do you deal with them?

Noise, Empty chatter, devices as in smart phones.

If I can’t get away from the noise I have my headphones.

If I can’t get away from the chatter I try to tune it out. I do tend to sigh when the chatter stops.

Devices, I turn them to silent, or turn them off.

4. Do you eat beef?

Yes!

In the course of a week, how often is beef on the menu?

I would say at least 3x’s a week.

A hamburger, steak, prime rib, or a roast beef dinner…which beef entree would you choose and yes you have to choose. Unless you’re a vegan, and then you may pass.

In a restaurant I would most likely choose Prime Rib if it’s on the menu. If not then I’d go with a hamburger.

5. In what way were you creative during the month of April?

I was creative in planning, organizing, recruiting, cooking and serving 58 pastors last Thursday and Friday. We served dinner, a dessert social, lunch and dinner.

6. Insert your own random thought here.

These grabbers are a favorite with our grands. Toys just don’t hold as much interest. They were trying to grab uncle Andrew’s feet.

Casting Techniques

Continuing with JJ’s Fishing party and the fun we had watching JJ and Addy casting their fishing line to catch some treats.

Enjoying his ‘catch’.

This girl has form!

There was some fishing out of doors, too.

Fishing was fun and we still have more to share from this special day.

This week we have a forecast of temps that rise each day reaching a forecast of 77 degrees this Thursday! What’s happening in your corner of the world?

One Down…

One of our two days in the kitchen is done and we are beat.

Very tired but satisfied that all went well today.

Tomorrow we’ll feel more like this when the day is over and our responsibilities in the kitchen are done till the next event.

Happy Friday everyone!

Sunset

On Sunday night of our birthday weekend together our family walked down our kids driveway to catch the sunset after dinner.

Psalm 19:1-6

The heavens declare the glory of God,
and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.

Day to day pours out speech,
and night to night reveals knowledge.

There is no speech, nor are there words,
whose voice is not heard.

Their voice goes out through all the earth,
and their words to the end of the world.

In them he has set a tent for the sun,
which comes out like a bridegroom leaving his chamber,
and, like a strong man, runs its course with joy.

Its rising is from the end of the heavens,
and its circuit to the end of them,
and there is nothing hidden from its heat.

A wonderful finale for us as we began our farewells to our ‘Coast’ kids.

Let the Parties Begin!

We are all together again and enjoyed Dear’s famous Tomato Rice Soup with some fresh bread for dinner and then we watched the Seattle Sounders Soccer opener. JJ was a little shocked when we all cheered mightily at the first goal. By the third goal Addy and JJ joined in with the celebration clapping and cheering and were ready for the excitement of the fourth goal. We won’t apologize for soccer indoctrination at our house.

Today (Saturday) we are off to have a Fishing themed party for JJ and then later this evening we’ll enjoy a meal to celebrate Andrew.

And speaking of weather we are heading into the 70’s today! Happy day to you all.

Sunshine, Bubbles and Sticks

We’ve had some sunny days with temps getting up to the low 60’s. The ‘Grands’ enjoyed some new bubble guns in the sunshine.

This little guy loves sticks.

This stick turned on him and smacked him in the face leaving a couple scratches. When I was over last week and we went on a little walk down the drive he pointed at that stick and touched his wounds filling me in on that accident. He is still in the process of forming words and learning to communicate more with words but we have to fill in the blanks and he’ll nod yes or no if we have it right.

All these photos were taken by their mommy.

No Wednesday Hodgepodge this week as Jo is taking the week off from coming up with questions.

Easter Day 2021

It was a wonderful Easter Day because we were able to gather and worship our Risen Lord with our church family. We came home after a service filled with joy and a clear message of the Truth of the Gospel and God’s love for all.

When the rain ceased we went out to hide Easter eggs for the grands to hunt.

It was a very casual Easter table this year with paper plates for the first time in the history of our home.

Dear and I dressed up for Easter service and we had many in our church family taking a second look. We are generally very country casual.

The kids and grands arrived after naps and the first thing on the agenda was to let Addy and JJ hunt for the eggs we had hidden in the back area of our home.

Addy is a pro being 4 already and was off to the races. JJ found a good number, too. Next year he’ll give his big sister a lot more competition.

Finally JJ managed a slight smile for the camera.

Our kids on the ‘coast’ snapped this photo and sent it to us. They were able to gather at their church for Easter service, too.

It was a glorious day!

A Few More…

March is almost over and it’s going out like a Lion!

Auntie LoLo takes the best photos and then she is kind enough to share them.

Let’s dance Baba!

The photos were from Addy’s 4th Birthday party on March 20th.

On Sunday the 28th of March we enjoyed a Raclette meal with a family from church. After our meal their 3 elementary aged children enjoyed our Ninja Warrior Obstacle Course. Our grands will enjoy that for some years to come. Sunday night we had a wind event that lasted into Monday and most of our area lost power off and on through Monday. When we lose power here at our country bungalow we lose everything including the flow of water because we are on a well and the pump requires electricity. Thankfully we only lost power for a couple hours. During the outage I made some good progress on the Owl Puzzle. There is light at the end of that tunnel!

Happy Easter Week everyone. We are fortunate here in our neck of the woods to be able to have a Good Friday Service and a service on Easter Sunday. I’m so thankful that we can gather this Easter unlike last Easter.

Playing, Working and Eating

Monday the 22nd of March we all gathered for Swedish Pancakes at Baba and Gramps.

After breakfast we had the littles test out the obstacle course.

JJ is at the fearless stage.

He found a stick again!

The guys managed to get some drywall up between eating and playing. They got 5 pieces up before it was time for lunch and for the kids to go home for naps.

JJ enjoyed feeding his uncle some homemade chicken noodle soup.

We had such a fun packed weekend together. Till next time!

Ninja Warriors

After church on Sunday March 21st everyone came over for Pelemeni (Russian Dumplings) with Spinach and fresh bread. After lunch everyone went out to work on setting up our new ninja obstacle course.