Category Archives: Family

Choo Choo Train Hodgepodge

Our second born, Dan, enjoying his Choo Choo Train engine at his 3rd birthday celebration.

It’s time my friend for another Hodgepodge thanks to Joyce From this Side of the Pond.

1. What do birthdays look like in your house? How are they celebrated? Any special traditions?

We always tried to have a special celebration for each of our children on their birthdays. Their first birthday was an extended family and friend event with lots of adults and kids. As the years progressed birthdays morphed. After having the inspiration to have a Choo Choo train cake for Dan’s 3rd birthday, it became a special tradition for him.

The photo above is from his 5th birthday celebration.

From Dan’s 19th birthday celebration.

When Dan met Jamie and before they were married, she made him a Choo Choo Train cake for one of his birthdays. This next cake was her idea, too, at his 40th birthday celebration in Arizona.

Dan’s 40th birthday Pokeman choo choo train cake.

What about birthdays growing up? 

Birthdays were celebrated growing up but they were not the over the top brand of today. Simple cake and ice cream. Sometimes there was a gift and sometimes there was not a gift. One unique thing my parents did for my older sisters and me was to buy us a special birthstone ring for our 16th birthday.

2. Someone is sending you a dozen roses…what color are you hoping for?

I enjoy roses with subtle color, not the bold reds or yellows. You don’t have to send me roses but do bring a bouquet from your garden, please.

 Are you someone who gets accused of seeing the world through rose colored glasses? Is your accuser correct? Elaborate. 

I would say that I lean toward black and white, not rose colored. I’m more of a realist and less of a poet. Saying that, I do choose joy and am filled with hope for a future in heaven that far exceeds anything on this earth. I will be upbeat and have a smile on my face in many circumstances of life.

3. June 4th is National Cheese Day…will you celebrate? What’s something (besides a burger) you make in the summer months that calls for cheese? 

There is nothing specific that calls for cheese but we’ll add cheese to egg scrambles, burritos, tacos, and some salads.

Summer reminds me of Bible Camp and Bible Camp reminds me of the classic grilled cheese sandwiches with tomato soup!

4. ’tis the season…any weddings on your June calendar?

No June weddings on our calendar.

What’s the first word that comes to mind when I say marriage? 

It was a jumble of words because of our current climate where the marriage covenant has been so mistreated and undermined and attacked. It’s not a surprise since marriage was ordained by God and the model is His model. The original is the standard, a man and a woman, leaving mother and father, becoming one in marriage. I believe in the Word of God, the Bible, and what it has to say about marriage.

Mark 10:6-9

But from the beginning of creation, God made them male and female. Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate.

This is a great month to celebrate and affirm marriage as God intended. Marriage reflects Christ and His Bride, the church.

Ephesians 5:31-33 ~Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. This mystery is profound, and I am saying it refers to Christ and the church. However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.

5. What are you most looking forward to this June? 

Having our epic garage sale behind us. The dates for this sale keep shifting but we hope to get it accomplished by July!

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

The above photo is from a Happy Birthday meal on the Westside for Greg in 2024 just before we flew to Scotland for more celebrations.

From September of 2024 through April of 2025, we celebrated all 10 of our ‘family’ birthdays.

We sing, we blow out candles, we eat cake or pie, we gift, and most of all we love and affirm one another on birthdays and other days, too.

“The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance.”

May Catch-Ups…

Looking back to Mother’s Day weekend and Addy’s dance recital with the Great Potato play. She had the part of one of the leprechauns. None of us got good photos of her in costume but her mama saved the day after the fact. The costume was pulled out of storage at the dance studio and Addy played the part in the still photos!

Thank you, Jamie and Addy, for filling in the gaps.

Towards the end of the month Addy and JJ attended a Shakespeare in the park event.

Throughout the month of May several deer came through our acreage looking for tasty nibbles of this and that. When they start nibbling on the clematis, I shoo them away.

June has started sunny and warm on the Westside of our state and on our side of the state, too. Josh and Laura, loyal fans at the Sunday afternoon Sounders Soccer game.

Our Colville ‘kids’ working hard in the garden and in the background you’ll see the lawn being mowed all on the first day of June 2025.

I tried to catch the aurora borealis on Sunday night but it wasn’t the right time. If I would have stayed up till 2am on Monday I might have seen some better color but I was fast asleep while the lights danced in the sky.

Gathering the Long Weekend

The Long Memorial Day weekend gathered many of our family together in different environments in person and with the help of media. We enjoyed seeing loved ones near and far enjoying each other and growing together. Relationships grow intentionally with the help of God. We love each other, correct each other, sharpen each other, forgive each other and encourage each other. God builds these relationships on the foundation of His saving grace and His forgiveness. Because He has forgiven us much we can forgive and love others.

Some snapshots from Arizona where cousins got together for their annual Memorial Day Weekend in Surprise.

Our son Dan gifted Jamie with the weekend away while he stayed home and was Mister Mom. Our DIL’s enjoyed lots of ‘girl’ time with our nieces from California and Arizona.

Our oldest son and some of our nephews from California and Arizona had their annual golf tournament and for the first time it ended in a tie!

The cousins, original and by marriage! These are our kids, my sister Vera’s and my sister Kathy’s.

On Saturday our son Dan came over with Addy and JJ for fun and dinner with Baba and Gramps.

There was an inspection of the hole dug for the new hydrant.

A vehicle got washed and a couple kids got soaked.

Big Wheels were brought out of storage.

This year all the effort to get those wheels moving were up to Addy and JJ. We did not have to give them a push or carry the Big Wheels up to the top of the walkway.

There was a lot of exploring on our acreage.

Some searching of unsuspecting bugs commenced.

They know to not disturb the Bumble Bees.

After all this outside fun we all came in and enjoyed a crock pot roast beef dinner with mashed potatoes, carrots and broccoli, more conversation, reading a story book and time to head home for bed. We are proud of our son for giving his dear wife the gift of a much deserved break from her constant excellent mothering.  He is a great hands on dad to Addy and JJ.

Our daughter and her hubby enjoyed some outside time on the weekend, too. We love seeing their smiling faces and that beautiful rhododendron in their front yard.

We were blessed with amazing weather over the Memorial Day Weekend. That is something we do not take for granted here in the Pacific Northwest!

On Sunday after church we took an hour long drive to Curlew Lake State Park to enjoy some time with several families from our church who were camping together. We had some long conversations, enjoyed dinner together and then headed back home. We crossed the beautiful Columbia River at Lake Roosevelt going and coming back home.

On Monday, Memorial Day we had some rain and thunder in the morning and I thought I’d have to move my mowing to Tuesday but the sun broke through and dried things up enough for my weekly mow. I’m happy for God to water my Spring planters! Our deep red peonies are the first to pop here so I’ll show them sometime soon.

Tea ~ Three Cups of Tea

Welcome to Tea Time 2025. These posts will be about Tea Rooms we’ve been to, Teas we’ve given for friends and family, Church Tea events, and High Tea in restaurants from 2008 to the present. Tea in the U.S.A., Tea in England and Tea in Canada. Many of the Tea Rooms are no longer in business, which is sad.

This post is from December 6th of 2009.

The girls in my extended family have started a Black Friday tradition of shopping at Goodwill and then going to Tea. We were so happy to find this relatively new Tea Room in Bothell, Washington. Three Cups of Tea has a well rounded combination of great teas, really good food, and a wonderful ambiance. We would all highly recommend it!! Lea Miller, the “Tea-preneur” has the perfect personality to run this Tea Room.

There is a main eating room with gift items displayed all around in great cabinets and then there are two specialty rooms divided from the main area.

The back of the business card reads;

First cup of tea as a guest

Second cup of tea as a friend

Third cup of tea as family

This is the Alice in Wonderland room. So delightful. We took our tea in the more formal room with the fireplace and it was lovely.

Letty, Katie, Katy K, Me, Lana, Grandma Wilma, Pat and Laura.

This was close to Laura’s birthday so it’s fun to honor her.

The ladies with their tea. That’s my sister Lana in the center photo. She treated us all on this day. She is so generous. Thank you Lana!

We were all happy with our food choices. Everything was excellent. Our tea included fresh scones with clotted cream, jam, and lemon curd, Soup and 1/2 Sandwich of our choice, and a dessert. Most of us had to take our dessert home.

Three Cups of Tea is worth a visit. You can pop in for breakfast, quick lunch or plan a more formal get-together. We’ll be back!

Thank you Lea for treating us like family. We appreciated you and your great staff!

We had a second visit to this tea room with a smaller group on Black Friday 2010

Again we were close to Laura’s birthday and it is always fun to enjoy something special with her.

We enjoyed this tea room twice and I think Laura and her mom visited another time, too. It is no longer in business.

A Proverb a Day…

Here comes Memorial Day Weekend!

Time for Wednesday Hodgepodge with fresh questions from Joyce this week.

1. May 20th is World Bee Day…what’s something that’s kept you ‘busy as a bee’ lately? 

I see weeds everywhere. I should be busy weeding.

2. Do you like honey? What’s something you make or enjoy that calls for honey? 

My favorite honey treat is Peanut Butter and Honey and I like that combo on toast.

3. “Gracious words are like a honeycomb, sweetness to the soul and health to the body.” Proverbs 16:24

What’s a proverb you love, or one that speaks to you or has helped you in some way? 

There were seasons of my life where I read through Proverbs in the Bible each day. There are 31 chapters of Proverbs and I’d read a chapter that corresponded with the day. There are those months without 31 days but that was okay. I think I’ll add that extra reading along with my scheduled reading through the Bible for the rest of this year. There are so many underlined verses from Proverbs in my Bibles.

How shall I narrow down my choices? Hodgepodge falls on the 21st of May. I will choose a verse from chapter 21 in the Book of Proverbs.

Proverbs 21:23 (NIV)

“He who guards his mouth and his tongue keeps himself from calamity.”

Same verse in the ESV,

“Whoever keeps his mouth and his tongue keeps himself out of trouble.”

Another one from Chapter 21…

Proverbs 21:30

“There is no wisdom, no insight, no plan that can succeed against the LORD.”

The Bible is full of Proverbs, a whole book in fact, if that helps with your answer. The word proverb is defined as ‘a short pithy saying in general use, stating a general truth or piece of advice’. 

4. Tell us about a ‘sweet’ moment in your life recently that filled you with joy, gratitude, or peace. 

So many moments of feeling grateful for the peace of God in our relationship with our kids.

I’m also grateful to God that I can have the joy of sitting with our grandchildren each Sunday at church worshipping our great God together.

5. When you were a child, what did you want to ‘be’ when you grew up? How close did you come to that? 

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When I was a child I played school and wanted to be a teacher. I did get a teaching credential and I taught elementary school for a few years until we had our first child. I homeschooled our daughter for her 4th-6th grade years. Later when our kids were in junior high and high school I did some substitute teaching.

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

 

Proverbs 8:34-36

“Blessed is the one who listens to me, watching daily at my gates, waiting beside my doors. For whoever finds me finds life and obtains favor from the LORD, but he who fails to find me injures himself; all who hate me love death.”

Four Days on the Westside

On Tuesday the 13th of May we drove west across the state to Bothell to stay four days and four nights. Our niece and grandniece had arrived from Southern California the day before. They traveled to see our niece’s son, Jack, perform with the Master’s University Chorale on their West Coast Tour. The bonus was that we all had time together with them, too. The concert on Tuesday night was in Marysville at Grace Bible Church.

Jack hadn’t expected to see so many of us for this concert.

The music was exceptional and we were moved to tears and worshipped along with joy.

Jack’s rendition of Amazing Grace was performed and the director gave him acknowledgement for his work. The choir sang it beautifully. I’m sad I can’t add it here.

Jack’s mom is our kids’ cousin so Jack must be a cousin once removed? We are happy to claim him as our grandnephew.

We had some time together before the choir headed off to homes to spend the night before their bus took them south to their next concert on Wednesday in Gig Harbor. Their tour would take them through Washington, Oregon and California stopping at several churches along the way.

On Wednesday morning before it was time to take Michelle and Avery to the airport the ladies enjoyed brunch at The Rusty Pelican in Woodinville.

Everything we ordered was delicious!

I drove with Laura to drop Michelle and Avery off at SeaTac airport. It was a bonus to be able to ride in the carpool lane. Laura made tacos for dinner on Wednesday night.

On Thursday we spent a few hours at Katie and Andrew’s. Their cats entertained us. We enjoyed some Thai food together and had a short shopping run. Later that evening we had dinner with Josh and Laura at one of their favorites, Azul, in Mill Creek.

Friday we went to our old standby in Kirkland, La Corona, to say goodbye and cheers because we found out that the restaurant was changing hands at the end of May.

We had our finale dinner with Josh and Laura on Friday night at Emory’s in Silver Lake (Everett).

After dinner Katie and Andrew came over to Josh and Laura’s and we enjoyed playing the card game, Sky Joe. When we were done with cards we hugged and said our goodbyes. We would leave Saturday morning before anyone was awake.

We packed as much as we could on Friday night and then we snuck out on Saturday morning at 5:30 AM for our journey back home.

We are so thankful that we could enjoy this time with many of our loved ones. We are also thankful for safe travels there and back again. God has been good to us in small and big ways and we don’t take it for granted.

 

Over the River…

We drove to Bothell last Tuesday early and spent several days with our Westside kids and we had a bonus visit with our Niece and our Grandniece. We were able to see our Grandnephew, too, at a choral performance. We drove back home on Saturday. I’ll post soon about our time away.

The photo collage is from our drive home on Saturday as the sun was rising and as we crossed the Vantage bridge over the mighty Columbia River.

On Saturday after we got home and unpacked this beauty entertained us.

Then during our relaxing afternoon after church this hawk paid a visit probably looking for that chubby quail!

Happy Victoria Day to our neighbors to the north in British Columbia.

Tea ~ Country Village

Welcome to Tea Time 2025. These posts will be about Tea Rooms we’ve been to, Teas we’ve given for friends and family, Church Tea events, and High Tea in restaurants from 2008 to the present. Tea in the U.S.A., Tea in England and Tea in Canada. Many of the Tea Rooms are no longer in business, which is sad.

Back to the year 2008 and to Madam Fifi’s with more of our family.

After our very successful trip to Goodwill the ladies arrived at Madam Fifi’s Tea Room at Country Village in Bothell for an Afternoon Tea. This was the day after Thanksgiving in 2008.

Madam Fifi (Christine) had our lovely room all ready for us. The usual after Thanksgiving Goodwill shoppers were in attendance and this year we inducted Pat (my DIL Laura’s mother) into the group. Katie, Laura, my sister Lana, sister-in-law Letty, Pat and me for tea.

We each chose our tea and enoyed a relaxing time.

Our sandwiches, scones, clotted cream, lemon curd, and sweets were divine!

 

All the Things

It wasn’t just Mother’s Day Celebrations like a Ladies Tea this past Saturday. We had other events stretching our calendars on Saturday and Sunday. Our First Baptist Ladies Tea and Blooms Luncheon was on from 11am to 1pm. My Beatrix Potter Tea Table was put together on Friday afternoon.

At 10am JJ had a Taekwondo promotion so his mom wasn’t able to be with us at the tea. (JJ’s daddy was working on Saturday). Uncle Andrew was able to be at JJ’s promotion, too, and JJ passed!

Uncle Andrew treated JJ to this monster of a sugar delight while we were enjoying our dainty tea sandwiches. We wrapped up our early events and spent a couple leisurely hours in the afternoon before we all met up for a Mother’s Day meal at a restaurant in Kettle Falls.

When our meal was done, Jamie and Addy left to get ready for Addy’s Irish Dance recital while the rest of us visited a local park for JJ to let off some steam before having to sit for two hours at the dance recital.

The park we picked had this great sculpture and tribute to the lady who started the school of Irish dance that Addy has enjoyed for a couple years now.

JJ had a lot of exercise while the adults kept a watchful eye on him and then we were off to the Woodland Theatre to get our seats for the performance.

Addy performed brilliantly for her dance routines and then as a leprechaun in the Giant potato play. I was busy with videos and did not get a photo of her in her costume but these group photos were shared with Jamie and she shared them with me. The narrated drama was fabulous and had us all in stitches!

Our Monday was full, too, with a drop in reception for our Assistant Pastor Candidate in the afternoon and then a  Q & A in the evening with an ice cream social afterwards. It was good for many or our church members to be able to get to know the candidate and his family in a casual setting.

I’m sure many of you had busy weekends, too. I’ll be away from my computer most of Tuesday. Hope y’all have a great day!

Tea ~ Madam Fifi’s

Welcome to Tea Time 2025. These posts will be about Tea Rooms we’ve been to, Teas we’ve given for friends and family, Church Tea events, and High Tea in restaurants from 2008 to the present. Tea in the U.S.A., Tea in England and Tea in Canada. Many of the Tea Rooms are no longer in business, which is sad.

I recently posted a Tea Room we enjoyed with our mom in Northridge, California in 2008.

Today’s Tea Room is Madam Fifi’s which was in Country Village, Bothell, Washington. This Tea Room didn’t last long and now Country Village is also gone and replaced with condos.

In August of 2008 I took my little sister Lana G! to Madam Fifi’s in Country Village for her belated birthday lunch.

The following was written in 2008…

We went to Madam Fifi’s Tea Room in Bothell at Country Village. I was wanting to share this Tea Room with Lana and since this is a rare day when we are both in Washington at the same time we took the opportunity. We were both delighted with the Grand Tea.

Madam Fifi’s Grand Tea
Pot of loose leaf tea or iced tea of the day
Cup of soup or garden salad
Fresh seasonal fruit
scones with cream & lemon curd
Generous tea sandwiches—
Smoked salmon cream cheese with cucumber
Crab salad
Chicken curry salad
Turkey with raspberry cream cheese
Grand assortment of decadent tarts, cookies and pastries.
~
We had the soup of the day and it was wonderful. We also chose the Lady Londonderry Tea. We really enjoyed it and both ended up buying some to take home to savor. It is really hard to treat Lana to a meal. She is very sneaky about picking up the tab. Today I was going to finally win but Madam Fifi thwarted me and insisted on giving us her Grand Tea on the house! Thank you Madam Fifi. We love your establishment and we will be back.