Category Archives: Family

How Much Fun Can We Pack Into 12 Days?

The answer seems to be a lot. Not surprisingly most of the fun is centered around food.

 

On Tuesday night the ladies, Avery, Jackson and my dad had dinner together at Mom and Pop’s. It was good to get together. Avery is 5 months old already. Wednesday I met Willow for a pot of Earl Grey at All Things Tea in Camarillo.  I ate a Cranberry Shortbread cookie, too. Wednesday night Dear and I ate at El Tecolote, one of our favorites in Camarillo. Thursday morning I’m meeting some of my sisters and nieces for breakfast and I’ll get to see Jackson and Avery again!

 

Don’t worry Avery, I’m sure someone will step in and there will be lots of fun things to do without me.

I’ve been busy getting the oil changed in vehicles, shutting services down, booking hotels for our trip up to Seattle, etc.

Photobucket is holding all my photos that I stored on their site from 2007-2015 hostage replacing them with ugly grey and black boxes and asking for a large ransom to retrieve them. It is a slow process to go through all my posts deleting the ugly boxes.

Celebrating Family and Friends!

 

We invited family and friends over to celebrate our son Dan.

 

When our youngest little guest arrived she stole the show!

 

Just 9 days old here. She’s our son Dan’s best friend’s first baby.

Precious!

 

The new dad and Dan.

 

Jamie, Dan, Josh, and Scott

 

 

 

I managed to not get a decent photo of the mom…bummer!  Hey Beth if you see this could you send me Sarly’s email so I can send photos to her…thanks.

Hope all is going well wherever you are…

Photobucket is holding all my photos that I stored on their site from 2007-2015 hostage replacing them with ugly grey and black boxes and asking for a large ransom to retrieve them. It is a slow process to go through all my posts deleting the ugly boxes.

The Wedding Gown

Katie in my wedding gown in February of 2001. She is 16 here.

 

Our Wedding Day, December 6, 1974 ~ Ellen b. with her niece Jenna…

Our Anniversary is tomorrow and Dear is in New Orleans at a conference and I’m in Seattle. We’ll have to put off celebrating till later in December. Oh and that wedding dress…the only way it would fit now is if I cut myself in half.

Our tree is arriving today so you know what I’ll be doing for the rest of the day…

Have a great Saturday!

Photobucket is holding all my photos that I stored on their site from 2007-2015 hostage replacing them with ugly grey and black boxes and asking for a large ransom to retrieve them. It is a slow process to go through all my posts deleting the ugly boxes.

Katie on the Hobbit…

 

  • The Hobbit brings me back

A little girl, tucked into bed, Daddy reading confidently from a book with a soft green cover, always knowing what all the words meant and how to say them and how to shift his tone as he read for the dwarves, that mysterious wizard, and poor poor Mr. Baggins who was so imposed upon when they scratched his pretty green door, tramped into his house, and dragged him on an adventure. It was years before I would pick up “the sequel” Lord of the Rings that my Daddy said I needed to be older to read, in the three pretty red-bound volumes on that high shelf. I loved Tolkien’s world and I loved the bedtime ritual, stories from Daddy and songs from Mommy and all my stuffed animals tucked around me sleepy-eyed and relaxed as we dreamed of dragons and magic rings and floating down a river in barrels. Hmmm maybe I need to pick this one up again. 🙂

Photobucket is holding all my photos that I stored on their site from 2007-2015 hostage replacing them with ugly grey and black boxes and asking for a large ransom to retrieve them. It is a slow process to go through all my posts deleting the ugly boxes.

Homecoming!

Today two of my sisters are meeting me at Montebello High School for a Homecoming BBQ. It’s special this year because our High School is celebrating their 100 year anniversary. Kathy graduated in 1964, Vera graduated in 1966, Fred graduated in 1967, and I graduated in 1968. It wasn’t easy following my older sisters and brother through school because they were a lot more compliant and successful then I was. I’d always hear comments like “you aren’t like your sisters”,or “I thought you’d do better because you are a Bagdanov”. My sister Kathy was G.A.A. president. My sister Vera was Valedictorian of her class, a wiz in mathematics. Back then there were no calculators and you should have seen her work that slide rule…amazing. My brother Fred was ASB president. Our 4 younger brothers and sister graduated from high school in Whittier. Was it Monte Vista Lana?

I’m looking forward to meeting a couple who I’ve met through my blog who graduated in 1951 and 1954. I’m also hoping to see other people I haven’t seen for 41 years.

Have a great Thursday everyone.

I Am A Blatant Thief!

This is too cute not to share so here’s my Ruby Tuesday! Visit Mary at Work of the Poet to see more Ruby!

 

Yes, I admit it! I stole this photo of my cutie patooty niece right off of Facebook without asking. I just had to have it on my blog so I could look at it every time I log in today!! Sorry brother dear and sweet SIL! Blame it on Pooh cuz this was just like honey that I couldn’t resist…

Speaking of thieves. Before we left Seattle to return to California I received a letter from a local police dept. in Washington informing me they had made an arrest of some person who happened to have my mail on them. They sent me a copy of what they found on this person. I immediately called a credit card company to cancel my card and let them know to be on the lookout for bogus charges from me. Yikes!! We will be informing our local police and the neighbors who share our mailbox kiosk of this ugly incident.

I am back at the Condo in California readjusting again to the simple life with the two of us. We were so thrilled that the temps have cooled down here in Southern California. We didn’t even turn on the A/C since we’ve been home!

Hope you are enjoying Fall wherever you are except for our friends down under who are enjoying Spring!

Photobucket is holding all my photos that I stored on their site from 2007-2015 hostage replacing them with ugly grey and black boxes and asking for a large ransom to retrieve them. It is a slow process to go through all my posts deleting the ugly boxes.

Family and Friends in Huntington Beach…

***Please Scroll Down for Let There Be White!!

Since my brother’s family was here from Dallas for a week we had an “Open House” on Saturday for friends and family to drop in to visit.

My BIL Nick and sister Vera hosted the event. They always treat us to an amazing amount of food. We all contributed salads and dessert while Nick and Vera served turkey, chuck roast, lamb, regular potatoes, Smoked Gouda Potatoes, Gouda and Cheddar potatoes, plain rice, rice with nuts and raisins. I brought a Tiramisu cake for Nick since his birthday was coming up on the 25th!

 

ellen b. and my daughter Katie b. She was here for a week with her boyfriend Ben.

 

Katie with her cousin Hope and her cousin once removed Jackson! Jackson and Katie enjoyed playing Jedi Knights together…

 

Katie and her cousin Hope. Katie was the youngest granddaughter until Hope was born.

Katie and her boyfriend Ben. They enjoyed all the dizzy parks during their time in Southern California.

 

My BIL Steve (Lana G!’s husband) and my better half…Dear.

Lana G!

Lana G’s twin, Hope’s daddy, both dressed in seersucker!

Our sweet Miss Hope!

The Bagdanov sisters…Lana G!, ellen b, Vera, and Kathy.

 

Niece Michelle and our daughter Katie.

My nieces Michelle and Melissa, sisters…

The girl cousins! Debbee, Katie, Michelle, Hope, and Melissa.

 

Our dear friends. I love the matching expressions on Svetlana and my brother Steve’s face. Our celebration had a time of great singing at the table of good old hymns in Russian and English and some modern worship songs. Good ole 4 part harmonies. Great Is Thy Faithfulness, Peace Like a River, It is Well with my Soul, How Great Thou Art, O the Deep, Deep, Love of Jesus, The Good Shepherd is Seeking (A favorite Russian song of ours).

After all this excitement on Saturday we were up bright and early on Sunday for an airport run (4:30 am) to deliver Katie and Ben for their 6:30 am flight and then a drive across L.A. for my niece Michelle’s baby shower. Thankfully Dear did the airport run while I packed the car for the shower. Dear stayed home during the shower and when I got home at 8:00 PM he had the condo all cleaned up including washing all the bedding from our overnight guests. What a guy!!

I’ll be posting photos from the Pink and Brown Tea Party we had for Michelle and Ryan’s baby girl who is due to arrive somewhere around September 21st.

Photobucket is holding all my photos that I stored on their site from 2007-2015 hostage replacing them with ugly grey and black boxes and asking for a large ransom to retrieve them. It is a slow process to go through all my posts deleting the ugly boxes.

Disneyland With Jack and Miss Hope …

On Wednesday me and a million of my friends showed up at Disneyland. I picked my closest 10 friends to hang out with and they just happened to all be related to me…

My brother Leonard and his wife Mandy along with their daughter Miss Hope flew in for the week so we have lots of fun activities planned. First on the list…conquer Disneyland!

First stop was the Carousel.

My nieces and my twin siblings Leonard and Lana. Melissa, Lana G!, Debbee, Michelle, and Leonard…

 

Next was “It’s a Small World”

 

My niece Michelle is due in a month with Jack’s little sister so she made use of this wheel chair. Ryan, Jack’s dad, and Melissa my niece are the designated pushers, transportation assistants.

 

Miss Hope loves Jackson and Jackson got some practice in dealing with little girls…

 

 

 

Here’s Jackson the Jedi Knight!

The longer we walked around the crowds the worse my photo skills got. I’m glad I at least got these heads in the photo!

The later it got the goofier we got and we started fighting taking turns in that wheel chair!

It’s always nice to get to see my brother’s family and spend extended time with them. Today is beach day (I’m home having rest day) and then on Saturday an Open House and on Sunday a baby shower for Michelle. Fun times…

Photobucket is holding all my photos that I stored on their site from 2007-2015 hostage replacing them with ugly grey and black boxes and asking for a large ransom to retrieve them. It is a slow process to go through all my posts deleting the ugly boxes.

Sophie is Finally Home…

Welcome Home Sophie…Your Hope has been realized! Glory!!

 

My sister’s MIL passed away on Thursday night. She was 95 last Christmas Day. She really would get put out that the Lord didn’t take her sooner. It got to be where my sister wouldn’t want to tell her about someone else dying because Sophie would get upset that they died and she hadn’t yet. She wanted to be with her Savior and was tired of this earth. We are rejoicing with her now that she is in the presence of her Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. My sister and BIL have been caring for her and living with her for a few years now and she was privileged to be able to die in her home and in her own bed without being hooked up to anything. Sophie’s been a widow for several years. She has 3 daughters and one son (my sister’s husband) Her 3 daughters (2 of which are widowed) live in Canada, Michigan, and Colorado. The daughter that lives in Colorado has been on a mission trip in Russia and had to have an emergency appendectomy in Russia this last week. She is recovering in Russia and will not be able to attend the funeral. Please pray for the family to be at peace with all the circumstances that they had no control over…

I’ll be flying back down to LA on Tuesday night for the funeral at Rose Hills on Wednesday. I’ll stay at home in Camarillo until Monday the 20th and fly back to Seattle then. It will be nice to have this unexpected time with Dear and make the time shorter for us to be apart.

ht: photo of Sophie taken Christmas day 2005 from my niece Michelle. Sophie is her Baba…

Photobucket is holding all my photos that I stored on their site from 2007-2015 hostage replacing them with ugly grey and black boxes and asking for a large ransom to retrieve them. It is a slow process to go through all my posts deleting the ugly boxes.