Category Archives: Grandchildren

Changes

Sometimes it just takes a little change to brighten your prospect.

This past weekend we decided to do a little jimmying of our furniture to see how we’d like it. Of course as soon as the huge heavy sofa was moved, the rug had to be moved, tables had to be moved, lights had to be moved and wall art went to more suitable locations.

I’m adding a daytime photo of the room after this post was published. I’ll share a couple more on my Hodgepodge post, tomorrow.

In total bloggy fail, I did not take a before photo.

We are happy with the change in that it gives us regular sitters a new prospect around the room and to the outside. We are looking forward to a full house to see how our ‘people’ like the changes.

Our ‘littles’ who aren’t so little anymore gave the room a thumbs up!

It was JJ’s afternoon yesterday while Addy was at Irish dance. He looked in the refrigerator and announced to me that he was making guacamole. He had the avocados out and said “Baba, I need onion powder and lime juice, and a little salt, please.”

“I don’t think we have any chips so you’ll have to use crackers.” He was good with that. He did end up having a favorite of the two crackers. Note to Baba.

I’m happy that our grands can come up with good snacks and have kitchen skills that will serve them well.

How is February starting off for you?

Winter Sunshine Roundup

On Friday I took some photos of our country bungalow.

We finally got some sunshine and blue skies here. But…

Baby, it’s cold outside!

At the Irish dance studio it is cold inside, too. The dancers appreciate the coolness once they are dancing hard.

Friday was lovely on the other side of the state, too. We got this sunshiny photo from J & L enjoying the sun.

While being cozy inside, I finished the World of Jane Austen puzzle. It was fun to put together.

Here’s a closeup of some of the details.

I’ve been practicing with the panorama feature on my phone.

In the kitchen, I’ve been trying some easy lower calorie high protein meals for us. It’s been an adventure.

Late Breaking news on this Sunday is that our Seattle Seahawks are going to the Super Bowl LX. Brings back some memories.

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The photo above is from 2014, the last time the Seahawks won the Super Bowl. In 2015 they went to the Super Bowl again but lost to the New England Patriots. This will be a repeat match-up. Truth be told we are fair weather fans. We don’t typically watch NFL Football. That said, we will root for the home team again this year from our comfy seats in front of the TV.

The photo below is from 2014, also. Greg worked in downtown Seattle back then and this was the building he worked in at the time with the nod to the 12th man. If you know, you know. Congratulations to the Seahawks for reaching another Super Bowl.

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This is what it looked like in our family room the last time the Seahawks won the Super Bowl.

Back to the present…

Hope all of our bloggy friends and family in the path of the arctic blast are doing well and have power! Stay safe y’all.

A Deep Hodgepodge

This photo from January of 2016 (10 years ago) was from a few days spent in San Francisco while Greg was at an Oncology Conference. The words below the first photo are about that day in 2016.

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Today was a full day of sight seeing with an old friend from my college days who grew up in San Francisco. She happens to be Russian/Chinese and knows the city well. We had several stops and enjoyed lunch and shopping in China Town where everyone is getting ready for the Chinese New Year. I don’t think I need to tell anyone what bridge they are looking at in my photo…

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My friend, Alice, at our delicious lunch in Chinatown. She did the ordering. My friend passed away in 2018.

Back to…

…Another winter Hodgepodge with a flashback to ten years ago thanks to Joyce From This Side of the Pond.

1. Ice skating, skiing, sledding, snowshoeing, playing in the snow, or a snowy walk…which winter activity do you choose? Have you done any of these activities so far this winter? 

Nothing this winter. We have not had any measurable snow this season.

At this stage of life, the only winter activity I would choose are the walking kind.

When we have a good dump of snow I have gone out our door to snowshoe. This is from 2019.

This one is from 2022.

2. Everyone is posting pictures from ten years ago on their social media sites so let’s jump on the bandwagon too. Share one photo and one thought to go with said photo from the year 2016. And maybe everyone isn’t doing this, but many are and we’re going to be part of the fun. 

This was one of the best memories of 2016! This is the photo that was shared with us and I shared it on the Hodgepodge with the words below the photo.

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We have the best of news that we have permission to share now with the world. Dear and I are grandparents for the first time and will  be able to see our new little granddaughter for the first time in person sometime in March or April of 2017 depending on when she pops out. Even though our little granddaughter is not born yet we consider her our granddaughter already as God is wonderfully forming her right now.
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At the end of 2016, this review of the year from July to December was published on my blog. What a year!
~

3. What’s a trend you hope disappears in this new year? 

Stalking, attacking and verbally assaulting Law Enforcement.

4. ‘They’ say there’s a day for everything and January 21st proves it. National Granola Bar Day. Do you like granola bars? How about just regular granola? Do you like bars of other kinds? 

I’ll have one if I’m desperate but they aren’t something that is purchased and available in my pantry. I do enjoy granola as a cereal with milk.

5.  A frozen lake, a trickling stream, a raging river, or a deep well…which one describes something about your life right now? Elaborate as much or as little as you like. 

A deep well. There is so much to learn that I do not know. So much to see that I haven’t seen. So much about God that I do not know. I believe the ache to know more, see more and do more comes from a deep longing from our inner being that wants to see God as He is. It is a hard thing to explain. Someday that will be a reality. Until then I’ll keep digging in God’s truth and in the world God created for us to enjoy and give glory to God in the discoveries along the way that show me more of Him. My deep desire will become reality when I graduate to heaven.

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

Speaking of 2016, this is another amazing memory and experience we had in September/October of that year.

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The “Girls” and most of our husbands have just returned from a seven day trip to Indiana and Ohio to see a production using our name in Amish/Mennonite Country. The Blue Gate Productions hosted us and treated us as VIP’s. All ten of the girls were together at the Blue Gate Garden Inn where we enjoyed “Faspa” on Sunday night before we had our cooking show and saw the production for the first time. As you can see from the first photo above we have fun together.

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We took this opportunity to get some photos of all ten of us since Betty and Charlotte live in Manitoba and miss many of our get togethers in British Columbia and Seattle.

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I shared many posts about our time in Amish Country. This is the initial one here.

Happy Wednesday, Hodgepodgers and all who stop by here.

Spokane Celebration

We gathered together to celebrate these two at the Rusty Moose in Spokane.

We enjoyed our meal and our time together.

This little guy had a cavity filled before our lunch time celebration so his smile was a little off kilter. He did great for the procedure but wasn’t a fan of the numbness and the ‘weird’ feeling as the novacaine wore off.

The restaurant that we gathered at was in the neighborhood of the airport so Greg and I took the opportunity to stop at the airport before our lunch and apply for our TSA Pre-check. It was a smooth process and we are happy to have it done.

Partying

Our church hosted a Princess Pajama Party this past Friday evening. It was a fun night for girls and their moms from our church and from our community. There were all sorts of stations of fun. Addy chose the Lego station and she along with some friends each built part of this Princess Lego Castle.

Granny, Addy and Mama chose some animal facials.

Addy won a prize for her coloring.

On Saturday on the other side of our state, our Westside kids all enjoyed our son’s annual employee appreciation party. Our daughter works for her brother so she gets in on the fun, too. Josh and his partners treat their employees well.

The theme was 80’s – Prom Night. It was fun to get photos from the event.

JJ has his own special party every Monday afternoon at Baba and Gramps’.

He found that our family room ottoman was just the right size for a cozy spot to watch TV.

I tried introducing him to the Lone Ranger which was okay for a bit but then we moved on to Silly Symphonies.

Here’s my kind of party…

I started my World of Jane Austen puzzle which was a Christmas gift from Andrew and Katie. This will be a fun one to put together.

Today is massage day. What does your day hold?

I’ll come around later to see what my blogging friends have been up to.

Hello 2026 Hodgepodge

A new year for Wednesday Hodgepodge.

Here’s to aiming higher in 2026!

Starting off the first Wednesday of 2026 with a new set of questions that Joyce From This Side of the Pond wants us to ponder.

1. What are three words you would use to describe your 2025? 

Feet: In January I developed Plantar Fasciitis for the first time in my life so a lot centered around my feet and getting around the pain. Purchases of shoes, socks and inserts were contemplated. I did not do any walking trails, hikes, to speak of in 2025.

Plans: Lots of plans for travel and parties and carpooling and gifting in 2025. A lot of those plans are for 2026, too. I keep sane with my lists.

Yo-Yo: Up and down and up and down and up when it comes to my weight…again. I’m working on the down trend as I type.

2. I ask this question every January, and I always get comments about how we shouldn’t be banning words. This is fun and games so just play along : ) 

Every January 1st since 1976 Lake Superior University has published a list of words they’d like to see banished from the Queen’s English. Words may be banished due to misuse, overuse, or just general uselessness (go here to read about how the words are chosen). Here’s the list for 2026- 

67 • demure • cooked • massive • incentivize • full stop • perfect • gift/gifted  • my bad • reach out 

Which one (if any) do you use most often? Which one of these words/phrases would you most like to see banished from everyday speech and why? Is there a word you think should have made the list? 

I did a word search on my blog to see what if any of these words I used. Since I talk about the Lord Jesus Christ on my blog and share verses and hymns that center on Him there were a lot of posts with the word perfect in them since He is the only perfect person that has ever lived on this earth. It was not the same kind of perfect people use these days, though. Just this last week I got a response to a text message that said ‘perfect’. When we’ve made restaurant choices the wait staff have responded with ‘perfect’. That’s not the form of perfect that I’ve used.

Gift and gifted have popped up in my blog posts, too, but they are appropriate to what I was expressing.

I have talked about what was cooked but again I don’t think that’s the ‘cooked’ they are talking about here.

I vote for 67 getting the ax.

3. What are your nightly rituals? Is that different from your ‘ideal’ nightly ritual? If so what’s your ideal? 

If you talk to our grands, they’ll tell you (even though they don’t spend evenings with us) that we sit in front of the tv eating ice cream every night. They might not be too far off.

Ideally, I’d like to read more and be done eating by 6pm.

4. January 6th is/was National Bean Day. Do you like beans? Which one is your favorite? Last thing you ate made with beans? 

Yes, I do like beans. Pinto is probably my favorite and the kind I have most often since Mexican food is comfort food for us. We had refried beans with our Mexican meal on this past Sunday.

5. Are you easily embarrassed? Elaborate. 

Not unless I’m caught naked! 🙂 I’ve done embarrassing things in my life that I’m ashamed of. I have been forgiven for those things. I’ve learned over the years to avoid embarrassment whenever I can. In general, I’m not easily embarrassed.

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

I was impressed with the way our daughter-in-law, her mom and our grands started out the New Year. They walked the Rotary Trail. Check out that temperature!!

I also need to share this sweet embroidery that our grandson JJ completed and his mom made into an ornament for me. I love it!

Birthday Party x Four!

Saturday the 27th, the girls arrived home from our Tea Party in Idaho to the aroma of ribs cooking on Bayles Mountain. Dan was in charge of dinner for our birthday x4. There was a happy birthday sign up and a helium balloon for each of the 4 along with presents for each. Laura and I got busy decorating the little bundt cakes that were baked the day before. Each cake had it’s own unique twist.

Applesauce Spice cake for Katie who turned 40 on this epic day, the 27th of December.

Jamie’s birthday will be the first of 3 family birthdays in January. Her cake is lemon with lemon frosting.

Dan’s follows the day after Jamie. His cake is Applesauce Spice cake.

Three days after Dan comes Joshie’s birthday. He is our firstborn. His cake is chocolate with chocolate frosting.

Lots of birthday love all around.

Our birthday girl with dad.

After dinner and before cake we had each one open their gifts. Josh is reading a hilarious card he received from Andrew and Katie. We were all laughing.

Photo Fail: I did not get photos of each of the birthday kids sitting in the birthday gift chair.

The brothers got matching jogging suits. The girls were each treated with a very special gift from Tiffany’s from Josh and Laura. Fortieth birthdays are treated with special flare in our family and I’m sure in other families, too. There were other gifts for the four like, hoodies, coats, a massage certificate, and a Buck Skinning knife. There is one other special event planned for our two fresh forty year olds, a trip to Maui in October of 2026. There will be 12 of us making that trip, Lord Willing, our ten and Jamie’s mom and granny.

The four with their individual cakes and balloons.

When it was time for the oldest in the group to go home, another surprise was lit!

We all went on the front porch for some unknown reason and there to our surprise was an epic fireworks display preplanned by Dan! What fun that was. I wish I was able to share the video here.

It was a wonderful day from beginning to finish.

After all our birthday celebrations on Saturday we were all in church taking a full row for the last Sunday of 2025. Addy played a special number, Hark the Herald Angels Sing, on the piano.

Addy does not have that common fear of performing in front of a crowd. It will be interesting to see how that plays out in her life.

The last sermon of 2025 was excellent and we all were challenged and encouraged.

After the service, Andrew and Katie started their long drive home. The rest of us gathered again on Bayles Mountain for the day. Table games, Prime rib sandwiches for lunch, hearty soup for dinner that the two oldest of the crew had ‘to-go’.

The Grands helping gramps get up off the couch. He made it more fun by being a ‘dead weight’!

On Monday morning after Josh and Laura left for home, I changed up the table linens and pulled out this puzzle gift from Josh and Laura.  I finished it on New Year’s Eve. It was a fun one to put together.

The last days of 2025 at our country bungalow were quiet with little accomplished and that was okay.

New Year’s Eve we spent at home. We got a photo of our local kids enjoying the fireworks in town.

Those sun roofs come in handy!

Moving on to 2026 and trusting God for what He has in store for us.

A Hodgepodge Happy New Year!

A Very Happy New Year to All! Welcome very soon to 2026!

This is my Happy New Year Post for Hodgepodgers. This post card was sent to Greg’s Great Great Aunt Emma. The card was sent from Chicago to Denver in 1906! It is a hundred year old Happy New Year greeting! The stamp was one cent. The written greeting is in Swedish.

Making room for the last Hodgepodge of 2025! Thank you, Joyce From This Side of the Pond.

1. Did you make resolutions or set goals for the year we’re waving goodbye? How did that work out for you? Will you set any goals for this new year, new season, or new month? Share one or two if you’d like to share. 

The only goal I set for 2025 was to read the Bible through alongside Everyday Gospel, A Daily Devotional Connecting Scripture to All of Life by Paul David Tripp. I found it to be a good combination and encouraging. One other highlight was using our Church History Study Bible with notes stretching back from the first and second centuries and reaching forward to the twentieth century. As the introduction states about the contributors in the notes, ‘these are theologians, pastors, poets, laity, all offering perspective on God’s Word’ to aid us in escaping the ‘tyranny of the present to see wisdom from the past’.

The Puritan John Owen (1616-1683) offers us this encouragement:

If you have any regard to the constancy of your faith, to the comfort of your life, the honor of God, or the salvation of your own soul, labor immediately to get your belief of the Word better founded. Read the Scripture constantly, study it seriously, search it diligently, hear it explained and applied by others, meditate on it yourself, and beg of God an understanding of it and a right faith in it. 

2. When did you have the most fun this year? 

This was the family Christmas card photo this year taken over Thanksgiving weekend.

Hands down the most fun always happened when we were together with family or dear friends! The joy, the belly laughs, the support, the one liners, and the love flowing made for memorable moments all through the year!

One of the belly laugh moments of 2025!

3. What’s a song or song lyric you’ll associate with 2025? Tell us why. 

Phil Wickham’s Hymn of Heaven because it is the hope that encourages me in my daily life. Songs of life that are filled with truth inspire me and cause me to worship God. This is important to me. Artists like The Getty’s,  Chris Tomlin, Phil Wickham, and others who sing what is true to the Bible are my favorites. I’m not a fan of imposters. It is my prayer that these and others stay true.

4. Best (or a favorite) bite of something delicious you tasted this year? 

I grew up on my dear mom’s blintzes but I’ve not made them for several years. This year I made them twice and they are so good to my taste buds and memories. I choose them for my best bite this year!

Before you ask…you can find the recipe for Nadia’s Blintzes here.

5. What do you want to do more of in the new year? Less of? 

I would like to read more good books this year. I would like to decrease my sugar intake this year.

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

Happy New Year to all my friends who stop by my blog. I appreciate each and every one of you! Wishing you a new year of peace and joy down in your hearts to stay…

Christmas Day 2025

Christmas day started quietly with just the two of us enjoying a Fancy Egg Scramble. I was able to set the table and make a few of the food preparations before the two sleighs from across the mountains arrived 3 minutes apart. Soon afterwards the Colville kids arrived and quiet was replaced with joyful chatter and anticipation of what Christmas day holds at Baba and Gramps’.

(A fair warning: This is a many many photo full post)

The centerpiece.

No white Christmas for us this year.

The birthday cake for Jesus arrived with the Bayles Mountain crew. Designed and planned by Addy and JJ and brought together by their mom. The stable, the star, Joseph, Mary, Baby Jesus, sheep, shepherd, 3 wise men and a donkey were all included!

Use your imagination and you’ll be able to see all the main participants. It took me a while to figure out that the marshmallows with the little bit of pretzel were the sheep!

This little guy was hungry and excited to see it was time to carve the Prime Rib Roast. He said, “that smells good!”

(A shout out to our local grocery store, Super 1, who offered their prime rib roasts at only $9.99 a pound, cut and tied. )

The menu consisted of Prime Rib, Yorkshire Pudding, Roasted Vegetables, and Creamed Corn (not from a can).

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This year the readings were from Luke, Hebrews and Philippians.

Christmas Crackers ready set Pull!

Presents and time for belly-laughs! Even though this was a ‘stocking gift’ year, the gifts seemed endless.

Time for comfy jammies or putting feet up watching a video sent to Addy and JJ from Great auntie Christina.

A Marco polo. Do any of you or your kids participate?

Here are some of our photos for our Christmas card greetings that we took over Thanksgiving weekend.

And that is a wrap of our preparing for and enjoying the day of celebrating the birth of Jesus with Angels watching over us all.

Boxing day and our For-Tea will be separate posts coming in the New Year!

Christmas Eve 2025

On Christmas Eve after our Candlelight service Jamie, Addy and JJ came over for a simple meal of Blintzes. Dan was working.

We all enjoyed our Blintze snack!

We let A & J open one of their gifts. I’m so glad we did because the sizing was way off on both of their boots! Yikes. Size 1 was more like a size 3 and the size 2 was more like size 1. I tucked them away to return to the store where we bought them.

We were all in church yesterday. Andrew and Katie hit the road for home right after church. Josh and Laura will be leaving this morning.

It will take me some time to gather up all the photos and thoughts for all the events we enjoyed together.

Enjoy the last few days of 2025!