Category Archives: Addyson May

R is for…

For April I’m challenging myself to an A-Z photo a day excluding Sundays and in addition to any regular posts that come to be.

Today is Monday April 21st and we are on the letter R.

R is for the Resurrection of Jesus Christ our Redeemer, our Risen Savior!

Our greater family and friends were celebrating Easter from Washington State, California, Texas, Utah, New York and North Carolina. We had such joyous, meaningful, epic celebrations in our church gatherings and in our homes.

There will be a ridiculous amount of photos to document Easter 2025.

I’m starting with First Baptist Colville and our Colville Kids. Our Pastor’s Easter sermon was exceptional, focusing on why the Resurrection is the keystone of Christianity. God is good. The whole service was wonderful.

We were in charge of our continental breakfast between the first and second service on Easter Day.

Canyon Hills in Bothell, Josh and Laura’s church, had an epic service renting Angel of the Winds Arena in Everett so their very large congregation would be able to worship together instead of having many services.

Laura’s family gathered at Josh and Laura’s for their Easter Meal.

We gathered at Dan and Jamie’s after our church services for our meal and for the Easter Egg Hunt!

JJ and Addy posed as bunnies.

We were able to dodge the rain showers for the hunt.

Our Texas Family attended services at Watermark Church and had their Easter meal of Shashlik (Lamb Shish-kebab) and other goodies at our sister’s home.

Lana got creative and formed her Kulich/Paska (Easter Bread) into a tomb with the stone rolled away.

One of the California gatherings with the more traditional Kulich/Paska (Russian Easter Bread) and the Seernaya Paska (sweet cheese spread).

I stole borrowed some of these photos off of the family texts. It was a full day of Rejoicing!

Today, Easter Monday, will be a rest and recuperation day for me.

 

The Wheels on the Bus

Our ‘Grands’ had a fun mini fieldtrip last Wednesday arranged by their awesome mom. She thought it would be fun for them and the other children in their Homeschool Coop to have a school bus experience. She arranged for our church bus and a CDL driver from our church to pick up a group of children at our church and then travel to our ‘Grands’ driveway to pick them up for a little bus ride.

Besides Addy and JJ being picked up at their driveway, neighbors who are part of the coop gathered for the pick-up, too.

Moms were able to ride along, also.

I’m pretty sure the song ‘The Wheels on the Bus’ was sung somewhere along the journey. Jamie also had the bus driver make a couple stops and had the kids all switch seats so they could sit with different friends along the way.

Everyone had a great time on their mini field trip on the big bus!

It’s No Mystery…

…we love her to pieces!

On Saturday we gathered to celebrate Addy turning eight. She requested a Hardy Boys Mystery Themed party. We were each given a character from the books to be on this day. Wigs, scarves, and other costume choices were made.

Mr. Hardy, Mrs. Hardy, Frank, Joe, Iola, Calli, Belinda, Biff, Ethel, Chief Collig, were all present and accounted for. A few more characters were due to arrive.

Eight is Great!

Mysteries were solved and clues were followed. Which shoe made what print?

I’m sorry I didn’t take a photo of the 3×5 treasure hunt clues we found all over the house that Addy’s dad wrote out for us to follow to find the treasure!

When all the characters arrived, we enjoyed baked potatoes with many toppings for lunch.

Orange Creme soda and root beer right out of a bottle will be a fun memory.

After lunch it was time for presents before we enjoyed the cake.

It’s getting easier each year for Addy to read the cards on her own.

The last present to open was her new scooter and she was thrilled! Uncle Andrew, the aeronautical engineer, was given the task to put it together!

Time for Cake!

 

The cake was another masterpiece by Addy’s mom. It was a delicious S’mores cake!

When you are eight, you get to light the candle on the cake!

 

Another great birthday celebration in the books.

And for the record this wasn’t the only celebration on this day. After Addy’s party was done, we gathered again at Gramps and Baba’s for a Chinese themed dinner of Hot and Sour Soup (homemade). Our kids put this meal together while Baba watched a movie with Addy and JJ. We gather the moments when our kids from the Westside are in town! After dinner we introduced SKYJO to everyone.

Our family highly recommends this game and it can entertain a wide range of ages! Tested at our home for 8 year olds and up!

On Sunday we all gathered at church for the early service and we were surprised with a special number by Addy on the piano. Our country church includes from time to time special numbers that anyone from the congregation can share with the church. Addy chose to play It is Well with My Soul as a special gift for me. Yes, there were tears.

Thank you, Addy. Baba loves you and is so happy that you love Jesus. Baba and Gramps pray that you will grow closer and closer to Our LORD and Savior, Jesus Christ each new year of your life.

Because of Jesus, It is Well With My Soul.

A Grand Birthday

Both Addy and JJ created happy birthday greetings for me with a candy cane treat attached. JJ also included a finger knitting bracelet and necklace. Addy got creative with a musical greeting, ‘It is well with my soul’.

A very lovely birthday celebration with our Colville Kids and Grands. Addy nailed it, It is well with my soul. Thank you, LORD!

On Friday, my actual birthday, I received these greetings from near and far.

Thank you to all my friends and family for your sweet birthday greetings, yesterday.

Puzzles

While in Texas my sister and I enjoyed puzzle time. This was the first puzzle we completed and it was the first puzzle with letter codes on the back of the pieces to determine what section of the puzzle the pieces belonged in. We found it very helpful especially with the black areas.

I always appreciate a puzzle company that includes a poster.

The second puzzle we started and didn’t finish before I left Texas was a very tough one without codes and with so many similar color themes. It caused quite a lot of grumbling but still nice to find those pieces that fit together. My sister sent a photo of the almost finished puzzle she’s progressed on since I left.

It was fun to work on these puzzles with Lana.

Meanwhile here in Colville we are in mud season.

JJ enjoyed that mud.

Addy had an Irish Dance performance while we were gone and we were sent a photo of her before her performance.

On Friday the weather was good enough to do some work outside. I finally got to a couple planters, only about 5 more planters to go.

Have a great Saturday everyone!

Sunday in Dallas

After meeting up at Watermark church in Dallas for the 11:15 church service we gathered at Leonard and Mandy’s for lunch. We enjoyed chicken fajitas with all the trimmings. We had some good conversation around the table with a good recap of the sermon.

My brother Leonard and his dear wife, Mandy.

Our hostess and host and chauffeur for our days in Dallas, Lana and Steve.

Our niece, Hope. (Leonard and Mandy’s daughter)

Our nephew, Andrew. (Leonard and Mandy’s son)

We finished off the day with a stop at Half-Price Books. It was the largest Half-Price bookstore we had ever been in but we were in Texas after all, where everything is bigger!

More from Texas coming soon.

While we were traveling we had Spring weather back in our corner of the world and our grands were happy to get the bicycles out of storage.

Is Spring coming early in your corner?

Once Upon a Hodgepodge

Speaking of Fairy Tales, I’m sharing some of my Russian Fairy Tale lacquer boxes above and below.

Winding down February with Jo’s Wednesday Hodgepodge questions.

1. February 26th is National Tell A Fairy Tale Day…have you read a fairy tale lately?

No, I have not read a fairy tale lately.

What’s your favorite fairy tale?

I’ll go with Cinderella.

Do you believe in ‘happily ever after’? 

It definitely is not a given. Life gives us more than happy. It gives us grief and suffering, too. I think a better ending line would be ‘joyfully ever after with contentment and peace through it all’.  Reminds me of that great song by Andrae Crouch, “Through it all, I’ve learned to trust in Jesus, I’ve learned to trust in God. I’ve learned to depend upon His Word”

2. Complete one of the following sentences with a thought relating to your life currently-

  • Once upon a time___________
  • A long time ago________________
  • In a place far far away__________

I’m getting ready to travel and be In a place far far away for a few days. Hopefully I’ll have lots to share when I get back, Lord willing.

3. Which of the following ‘fairy tale foods’ is your favorite?

Which have you made/eaten most recently? 

porridge/oatmeal (Goldilocks and The Three Bears), an apple (Snow White), a gingerbread cookie (The Gingerbread Man), pumpkin soup/pie/bread (Cinderella), peas (The Princess and the Pea), beans (Jack and The Beanstalk) or a cup of tea (Alice in Wonderland) 

I have not had any of these fairy tale foods recently except for a cup of tea. I do enjoy a bowl of Oatmeal with cream, walnuts, brown sugar and raisins.

4. What’s your idea of fun? 

Seeing my Grands interact with their aunts and uncles is a lot of fun. Listening to their descriptions of experiences is fun, too. I think it’s fun to plan a trip and then to take that trip.

5. Next week’s Hodgepodge lands in March. Is that right? I guess so.  Give us one noun, one verb, and one adjective that tell us something about your February. To make you think a little harder, you cannot use the words cold or snowy. 

A month where I needed my Brain to work calculations. (noun)

There was a lot of dusting in February. (verb)

The freezing temperatures increased my electric bill by 3x. (adjective)

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

This little guy is moving along in Taekwondo.

We enjoyed a brief hello as we exchanged some Costco items in the church parking lot last week.

Speaking of fun, it is always a treat to bump into these two in parking lots, stores, church and to see them at our front door!

Snow Fun

We finally got enough snow for our Grands to enjoy sledding on their driveway.

JJ told me he learned how to turn the sled, too.

Meanwhile at our Country Bungalow we enjoy the views from inside.

We try to figure out what animals are leaving what tracks in the snow.

When our kids come to our place they pull around on our drive before they park by the front door. This next photo shows the fun result their truck tires made. This is what I see from our office window.

Double hearts!

Are you enjoying a winter wonderland?

A Love-ly Recap

On Valentine’s day we had a surprise delivery of flowers from Josh and Laura. It was unexpected. We were thankful for the thoughtful gift. Addy and JJ came over in the afternoon for a movie and dinner while their folks enjoyed some time on their own. We watched Milo and Otis and then enjoyed tacos for dinner. JJ made guacamole out of the one avocado we had on hand. Ice Cream Cones for dessert and then we had some story time and just got started watching Davy Crockett and their folks came to pick them up.

Earlier in the day these photos were texted to the family.

Sending love across the miles!

Before Valentine’s day Katie and Laura met up for nail day getting ready with just the right color for Valentine’s day.

We are grateful for technology that allows us to see and enjoy what our loved ones are doing miles away and closer to home!

We had a nice dump of snow on Sunday. We couldn’t see our mountains and hills on the way to church.

After church the Grands had fun in the snow.

Don’t shake those limbs!

A targeted snow shower.

My Monday and Tuesday will be full of activity from morning to night as our church is having a Going Away plus 10 Year celebration for our Youth Pastor’s Family. I’m overseeing the food preparations for that event. My computer/blog time will be scarce over the next couple of days.

Happy President’s Day if you live in the states and if you live in Canada, Happy Family Day.