These kitchen helpers took over and whew after a few hours things got done.
Addy has mastered the art of kneading. She says it’s because she helps her mom make tortillas often.
After chopping nuts, JJ decided it was more fun to wash the dishes. He said it is fun to wash dishes the ‘old fashioned way’.
We had to wait for a couple hours for this dough ball to double in size. In the meantime we also managed to get one tray of Russian Tea Cookies done. I did not have a resident photo taker available and sticky hands did not help for me to take photos. My helpers went home for lunch and we went out for Chinese giving the dough time to rise.
When we got home from lunch the dough was ready. The finished product will be delicious but both loaves cracked. I think I rolled the dough too thin before rolling it up and baking it with the nut filling.
I need to make these more than once a year so I can master the method.
Today is Christmas Eve Day. The main celebrations start tonight into tomorrow. I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas.
Saturday the 29th of November we shopped small on Main street in Colville.
While we shopped the guys entertained themselves with chopping a lot of wood and then enjoyed table games.
Plans were afoot on this day to celebrate Auntie Lolo’s birthday early since we wouldn’t be together for her actual birthday on December 3rd. The birthday theme was lemon/lemons, a favorite flavor for Laura.
Jamie embroidered this special sweatshirt for Laura with her beloved title, Auntie Lolo! Addy and JJ helped with some of the embroidery.
Laura looked at this purse while we were shopping and she admired it enough that Katie snuck it up to the register to purchase it for Laura’s birthday gift. I didn’t take a photo of the solar decorative hummingbird lights that we gave her for their outdoor patio.
Lemon and pistachio Macarons that our son Dan made were the ‘birthday cake’. Dan has mastered the art of making them!
There is a back story to this drink that Katie had never tasted. While the guys were at the grocery store Andrew found it for her to try.
More Skyjo rounds commenced. The younger ones among us stayed at Bayles Mountain well into the evening while Gramps and Baba headed home.
Sunday morning most of us were in church together filling out a row.
Before the last of the Westsiders left for home after church there was some fun in the snow to document.
Another full and thankful time was spent over the long Thanksgiving weekend.
Our focus shifts now to preparations for Christmas.
Hello December! Before we go full speed ahead we’ll catch up with our long Thanksgiving weekend festivities!
Thursday, Thanksgiving Day, we had a quiet start to the day as we waited for Andrew and Katie to arrive. Our Thanksgiving meal was slated for 5pm at our Colville kids’ home. Our only responsibility was making sweet potatoes with marshmallows toasted on top. Katie and Andrew arrived safely mid afternoon. We drove together to Bayles Mountain for our Thanksgiving meal.
What fun to get photos from both sides of the mountain and see that both of our sons decided to try to spatchcock a turkey this year. On this side of the mountains besides the spatchcock, Dan and Jamie cooked a traditional turkey with stuffing. Spatchcock was a huge success. Another favorite this year was Jamie’s homemade cranberry sauce with added raspberry, so delicious!
Addy and JJ both enjoyed having Andrew and Katie to help them with some projects while we waited for our meal.
Friday morning dawned beautifully as we waited to hear that Josh and Laura were on the road to our home.
We got the ‘on the road selfie’ and we counted down the hours for their arrival.
JJ was pleased to see they brought the vintage G.I. Joe sleeping bag from the 80’s!
Very few photos were taken on Friday. Gramps made his tomato rice soup for us to enjoy and we added BLT’s to the menu.
After dinner we enjoyed some rounds of Skyjo.
Saturday morning found us eating together again!
Greg was on cooking duty again for his Swedish Pancakes and we all love to gather to eat them!
The agenda for Saturday included shopping ‘small business’ for the girls and for the guys chopping wood and preparing for Saturday meals including a birthday celebration for Auntie Lolo!
More about Saturday will come in a separate post.
Our Westside kids made it home safely on Sunday and we are thankful always for traveling mercies!
December is coming in hot with something on the calendar for each day this week! Whew! I’m going to have to be intentional about pausing in the midst of this busy schedule to enjoy this Advent season.
We are in the midst of our Thanksgiving family time here in Colville. This post was prepared ahead of time to publish until I gather the current family photos from activities we are enjoying in real time.
A ‘before’ photo of the queen size bed and accessories in the ‘Blue Room’. We sold this bed complete to my cousin who lives here in Colville.
We have two guest bedrooms in our Country Bungalow. We call this room the ‘Blue Room’. The other guest room we call the ‘Play Room’ because that is where any toys and books are stored for our Grands.
The Blue room was ready for an upgrade with a new king bed set-up. It was fun to pick wall art and linens for a new look. Most of the wall art came from Hobby Lobby on a week when they were all 50% off. It wasn’t as much fun for Greg to assemble the platform for the mattress. It also was a complete clown-show for Greg and me when we took off the wrapping on the mattress that came in a box, rolled up tight. It pretty much explodes into it’s flat king size shape. We were tossed about until we gained control of it and slid it on to it’s platform! Whew!
Andrew and Katie arrived here on Thanksgiving and got to enjoy the ‘new look’.
Here’s a recent photo of Katie with her latest hair coloring. By now we have taken many family photos while celebrating the Thanksgiving extended weekend together. I’ll be sharing those soon.
And in other news we had our first wee snowfall of the season.
We hired a couple of young men from our church to come and clear our planters for winter. Little did we know when we scheduled that we’d have snow to deal with. Thankfully it was just an inch of snow that melted quickly. The guys persevered with freezing fingers and did a great job for us. I’m so thankful to have this task behind us in time for Winter.
1. Do you feel like you have a ‘full plate’ at the moment? In what way?
Yes, yes I do have a full plate at the moment. The calendar is as full as can be with Thanksgiving festivities, both spare bedrooms full for a few days. Monday after Thanksgiving ladies ministry meeting plus decorating our church for Christmas. Tuesday escape to Idaho for an overnight to celebrate our 51st wedding anniversary (December 6th is the actual day). Ladies Christmas party on Friday the 5th. I’ll fit in some Christmas decorating, too.
2. How did you learn to cook? If you have children did you teach or encourage them to cook? Do you like to follow a recipe or is your cooking style more ‘let’s wing it’.
Mostly I learned the basics in my Home Economics classes. I didn’t cook with my mother growing up. My learning was hands on after I got married and it became my responsibility. My kids have the skills on their own initiative. Our sons are both good cooks. Our daughter can tackle any recipe. We modeled openness to invite people over to share a meal and our kids picked up on that. I follow recipes for baking but wing it a lot for spur of the moment meals.
3. Last time you bit off more than you could chew? Elaborate.
Winterizing our property, namely the planters, this is more than I can chew. I’m hoping to bring in some help to complete this task. It’s more than my back can handle.
4. When did you last say ‘the more the merrier’ and mean it?
Anytime my kids or family or friends want to travel to spend time with us I feel like the more the merrier.
5. Write an acrostic using the word T-H-A-N-K-S.
Thank you, LORD God
Hope of Heaven
Acceptance you give me in Jesus
Nothing to doubt
King Jesus my Savior
Salvation assured
6. Insert your own random thought here.
Last Saturday we attended JJ’s promotion at Taekwondo. He did very well and received his Tiger Badge.
He answered all the questions the Grand Master asked of him. One of the Tiny Tiger Creeds is “Tiny Tigers will obey their parents”. The Grand Master asked JJ why he should obey his parents and JJ answered, “because it is written in the Bible, Sir!” Well said, JJ!
Later on this day our Colville kids enjoyed their yearly tradition of a Christmas lights boat cruise on Lake Coeur d’Alene.
Thank you to all who stop by here. I’m thankful for visitors to my blog and fellow bloggers!
Our first event of the day was Addy’s basketball game.
Those dribbling skills are really coming along this year.
After lunch we piled into our vehicle with Dan doing the driving for the rest of the day. We were headed to Spokane for an afternoon performance of the Nutcracker. Granny Great bought the tickets as a Christmas present for each of us.
As soon as the show began there were no more photos. The sets and performances were top notch.
Addy appreciated the dance moves and JJ enjoyed the more acrobatic part of the show. We all enjoyed the show and were ready for dinner. We managed the extra traffic leaving the show and all gathered for dinner in North Spokane.
At dinner our selfie taker, Addy, stepped in for Auntie Lolo since Auntie was on the other side of the mountains.
Since it was a long day these two started fading and needed cuddles with mom.
We got home at bedtime for most of us! Thankful for safe travels there and back again.
It was a full day and we were thankful for good times with family and friends of family.
On Tuesday November 11th I was able to capture some of the colorful night sky with my phone camera.
“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.” Psalm 19:1-2
During this past week we got some photos of our loved ones via text. I am so grateful this kind of communication is available at our fingertips.
Addy getting a kick out of herself and her Skyjo skills! She was “getting ready for her victory dance”.
Katie and Laura on the other side of the mountains at ‘nail time’ that they enjoy together. Our westside beauties!
Woohoo! Look at who is Clubber of the month. Great job, Addy, memorizing all your verses! Baba and Gramps are thankful you enjoy learning about our God and Savior and storing up Scripture for your heart and mind.
Leaving off with a beautiful sunset viewed through the window at Addy’s Irish Dance studio on Thursday the 13th.
What are some of your ‘thankfuls’ this time of year?
It means honoring and obeying the laws of my country and doing whatever is in my power to insure the freedoms our founding fathers established. I love singing the National Anthem at sporting events. A little flag waving is good, too. Displaying the flag on holidays and other key times during the year.
2. September-October-November…your favorite fall month? Tell us why. If you live in the southern hemisphere use these months but sub spring for the word fall.
I’m cheating and naming something that is special to me for each of these months.
September ~ it always seems like the fresh start back to routine activities that make me feel grounded and we get to celebrate Greg’s birthday in this month.
October ~ where Fall colors shine the best and we enjoy the annual corn maze.
November ~ the Thankful month. gathering with family on Thanksgiving.
3. A song you love with the word thanks (or some form of that word) in the title or lyrics?
I’m sharing one of many songs that make me say thank you, Jesus!
My hymn of Praise shall always be forever Jesus! In Jesus I have sooo many reasons to say Thank You!
4. November is National Peanut Butter Month. Are you a fan? What’s the last peanut butter bite you had? Fill in the blank: peanut butter and _____________________ .
Oh, and you can’t say jelly.
It is peanut butter and honey for me. I had a piece of toast with peanut butter and honey for breakfast on Monday.
5. This week’s gratitude question-What event from this past year are you most grateful for?
The year started out with an epic surprise visit from Josh and Laura. We were having our local kids over for a birthday dinner on a Saturday. Dan and Jamie have birthdays 1 day apart and Josh has a birthday 3 days after Dan. Dan and Jamie arrived and 5 minutes later Josh and Laura came in the house with shouts of surprise!! It was such an epic surprise and so much fun to be able to celebrate all our January family birthdays together! I’m so grateful to God for the love he extends through our family.
6. Insert your own random thought here.
Speaking of patriotism I’m copying a post here from 2011. This is from the Orange Circle Flag Ceremony, a weekly event, in Orange, California.
Before they lowered the flag and folded it properly Mark Wayland acknowledged 5 veterans in the audience that had served in World War II. One of the veterans was celebrating his 90th birthday and his family brought cupcakes for everyone at the ceremony. We got to sing Happy Birthday to him. This vet with Mark in the photo above, served in WWII, Korea, and the Vietnam War. He comes to the ceremony every week. It was great to meet him.
Mark also acknowledged a young bride in the audience who’s Marine husband was serving in Afghanistan right then…our Katie. He made her cry but the tears were good tears and then when the big burly Vietnam Vets came over to give her a hug with tears in their eyes we knew they understood and we cried some more. It was great to hear these Harley riders tell her they would be praying for her and Andrew.
Dear’s brother Terry and wife Christina with one of their 3 daughters with Katie and me. Christina got to know Mark while working with the Orange County School Board. She invited Katie and me to attend this ceremony.
I got the following information from an Orange County Register article written by David Whiting although my sister-in-law who knows Mark from working with him at the Orange County School board also filled me in about Mark and his giving heart, a Purple Heart retired Marine.
“Mark Wayland, Marine Vietnam vet, retired firefighter and Orange school board member, looks like a biker with his denim vest and bushy mustache. And he is. So are many of the men in the Circle.
Most are members of the Patriot Guard Riders. In particular, they ride to remember fallen military brothers and sisters and to ensure things go smoothly at military funerals.
With his black Harley Electra Glide decorated with Marine logos parked just 50 yards away, Wayland explains tonight’s mission.
Every Wednesday night, Wayland, his buddies, their wives, friends and supporters gather in the Orange Circle. They come to lower the flag at 6 p.m. and honor, as Wayland puts it, “those who are in harm’s way.”
What an honor to be able to meet these folks and to honor them and others who have sacrificed so much for all of us. Thank you Mark for all you do and may your sacrifices return to you tenfold.
ht: Orange County Register, David Whiting.
The Patriot Guard Riders honored our brother-in-law at his burial on Veterans Day in 2015.
Thanks for the time you took to visit this very long and wordy Hodgepodge. I’m grateful for all who stop by here.
Our friend’s flights from Southern California came through without a hitch and we enjoyed a few days together. They arrived on Saturday afternoon and we were treated to dinner at our Colville kids’ home. It was a delicious gyro meal (all homemade) and homemade ice cream and huckleberry topping for dessert. Our kids grew up with Ken and Heidi’s kids in Southern California until we moved to Washington State in 1988.
On Sunday we all attended church together and split off after church for varied destinations. We spent a quiet evening at home on Sunday. I’ll share our full day of adventures on Monday in a separate posts. We drove around Colville and then up into Canada for lunch.
Heidi and I had many adventures together before we met our husbands and we’ve had some fun adventures since married, too. We can now add a Colville and Canadian adventure to our memories.
The last week of October was a very busy one for us. Soon the golden beauty of October will fade.
While JJ was here in the afternoon, last Monday the 27th of October, he was able to make friends with this neighborhood cat that we are calling Stubs. Gramps actually named him because of his lack of tail. He’s friendly but we found out that he also likes to nip.
Stubs came for another visit during the week to say hello. Then another neighborhood cat came on the scene.
Friday we had the well drilling company in town come and replace a brass fitting. We noticed water on the ground in the well pump house and they determined that the fitting was cracked and needed to be replaced. It’s all fixed and we are happy to have that taken care of before winter.
Friday night was Halloween and time for our Colville family to come and Trick or Treat. They are our only trick or treaters. They came after their stop at our church Trunk or Treat Harvest Festival.
The hunting family with all their gear. Addy and JJ are enjoying one of the treats that Gramps and Baba found for them, creepy gummy eyes!
I trust your last week of October was a good one. Onward we go into November and adjusting to the time change, again!
The Happy Wonderer ~ ellen b. 