Category Archives: Grandchildren

Hello Spring Hodgepodge

We are doing the happy dance because it is officially Spring!

Our local ‘kids’ treated me to a birthday meal on their mountain last Friday. It was fun to be together and enjoy some vitamin D outside watching the Grands on their bikes! We’ve been enjoying the glorious sunshine and temps above 60 the last several days.

Time for Wednesday Hodgepodge. Thank you, Joyce for hosting!

1. Spring is officially upon us, no matter what the weather may be in your neck of the woods. Is there any ‘spring cleaning’ on your to-do list? What’s your most dreaded task? 

I would say washing windows inside and out. But…I don’t have to dread it because the window washer is only a phone call away and he’s efficient and inexpensive.

2. What’s something many people seem to love, but to you feels like ‘watching the grass grow’? 

Nine innings of major league baseball.

3. Mint grows in abundance during the spring season. Are you a fan? What’s your favorite food with a ‘minty’ flavor? 
I am a fan of mint.
Ina Garten’s recipe for Tabbouleh is a favorite food that uses fresh mint. Here’s a link to the recipe.

4. It’s been said, ‘Absence makes the heart grow fonder.’ Agree or disagree? Explain. 

I suppose I agree. When something you enjoy isn’t available anymore you miss it and add an extra layer of fond memories to it that can make it seem even more important in your mind.

5. Are there any festive spring events in your city or town? If so, will you take advantage of them? 

Our best Spring events are celebrating Easter and the birthdays of our Grands. Today is Addy’s birthday and we’ll all be together to celebrate her birthday this weekend. JJ’s birthday is in the April, so we’ll gather again to celebrate him. I’ll say a lot about Easter next week.

Happy Birthday, Addy! Baba and Gramps can’t wait to celebrate you!!

The one in town event that starts back up in the Spring is our Farmer’s Market and I do take advantage of that.

6. Insert your own random thought here.  

Greg and I are having a little escape in Idaho doing many things that I’m fond like good restaurants and a large variety of shopping. The photo below is from a High Tea that I was able to enjoy in Idaho.

We are traveling home today so I will be late in coming around to see how you feel about mint.

Family Highlights

Keeping up with some family highlights from before Valentine’s day until now.

Our ‘Coast kids’ celebrated a late birthday brunch for Josh way back on Sunday January 28th.

Katie made these yummy looking marshmallow fluff cream cheese filled chocolate dipped strawberries for Valentine’s Day. Don’t you think these would be a great treat for a tea, also?

These two got a much needed few hours together without their kids last Friday.

These two enjoyed a long President’s weekend in Mexico with two other couples who they’ve been friends with for 25 years.

And drumroll please! Addy completed her Awana book 8 weeks early and is now working through an extra credit book!!

She is able to recite all the books of the Bible!

I couldn’t leave JJ out so here he is with his sister enjoying the great outdoors on their property. He loves to be outside. He has recently mastered riding his bicycle without training wheels. We are all anxious for him to master using the brakes successfully on that bicycle, too!

The weather cooperated and warmed up enough for us to do a little work outside on Thursday afternoon. I was able to clear one large planter of dead growth. Woohoo! Only 10 more planters to go. The nice part of this process was that I spotted new growth under all the dead stuff. Today looks like a good day to tackle another planter. I usually do this in the Fall but those days got away from me.

Here we go into the last weekend of February. Hope it is a nice one for everyone!

Valentine Treats With Love

Our favorite Valentine’s stopped by to give us some love and we returned some love to them.

We got a special homemade Sour Dough loaf from Jamie and Dan. She has the bread skills down!

This Friday will be busier than usual. Hope all is well in your corner of the world.

Sunshine Makes Us Smile

I finished this latest puzzle just in the nick of time before we needed the dining table for our dinner last Friday night. This was a fun puzzle to do. Garden scenes for each month of the year. There was enough variation in the patterns that it was easy to find where the pieces would fit.

We finally got some dry hours with sunshine breaking through on Wednesday the 7th and the grands enjoyed traipsing around their yard!

It made them giddy. Sunshine can do that to a person.

Happy Weekend

Josh and Laura arrived to our side of the mountains on Friday afternoon and we enjoyed a belated birthday dinner for Josh in candlelight. After we lit the candles JJ and Addy asked if we could turn off the other lights and just have the candles giving us light. It was a special dinner and weekend together. Friday night after dinner and cake, checkers and Legos and ‘Don’t Break the Ice’ were the entertainment.

On Saturday we gathered on the ‘Mountain’ and had a delicious lunch of Beef Stew with Jamie’s amazing sour dough bread creations. This time she baked regular and one with siracha.

After lunch Addy had her nails done and then wanted to polish our nails, too. She did a fine job.

Saturday late afternoon and early evening it was time for the Awana Grand Prix. Addy was pleased with her car the Silver Star.

We were all there to cheer everyone on. We weren’t winners this year.

On Sunday we filled a row at church. It was good to worship together. We had lunch out and too soon it was time for Josh and Laura to travel back over the mountains home. We love you, We love you, We love you. Thanks for making the trek and spending good times with us!

Thank you, too, for sharing your photos!

Tomorrow I’ll post photos of the Birthday Candlelight Tablescape.

Our weekend was full and I did not spend time on the computer or make any blog visits. I’ll get caught up soon.

Tips For You Hodgepodge

If it’s Wednesday it must be Hodgepodge. Click over to Jo’s blog, From This Side of the Pond to join in.

1. Do you have a word for the year (WOTY)? If so, and you’d like to share, please share. How do you decide on a word? If you don’t have a word are you still on the hunt for one for 2024? 

I did not pick a WOTY for the year but I did pick a phrase.

Love Jesus More in Twenty Twenty Four

2. January 23rd is National Pie Day…will you celebrate? Do you like pie? What’s your favorite? 

We don’t celebrate except for in November before Thanksgiving our church has a pie and praise night. We enjoy pie but don’t have it often. My favorite pies were the fresh Strawberry or fresh Peach pies from Marie Callender’s. Growing up in Southern California it was a special treat to have boysenberry pie from Knott’s Berry Farm.

I just remembered Chicken Pot Pie and the all the great savory pies in Great Britain, yum!

The photo at the top of this post is of a Pear Custard Pie. Click here for the recipe.

3. Tipping. What are your thoughts, expectations, as to who, when where? Do you appreciate a store/restaurant giving a ‘suggested amount’? Have you ever left an extravagant tip? 

We do tip and we try not to skimp. When service is over the top exceptional we tip even better. We have left large tips for some of our favorite waiters/waitresses but extravagant is in the eye of the beholder. Before we moved away from the Seattle area, Seattle instituted a set tip and service fee in their prices. That change was confusing and we stopped tipping in Seattle. These days we avoid driving into Seattle to dine.

Since we are talking about restaurants and trends I’m not a fan of using my phone or a table top device to order food. I like the personal touch of the waitstaff coming to the table to take our order. I haven’t mastered the whole take a photo of the thingie that looks like a weird puzzle piece (QR Code) so you can connect with your phone. (yes, I’m old)

4. Share with us one household ‘tip’ that works for you. 

We got a tip from a dishwasher salesman that it is good to run the tap till the water is good and hot and then start your dishwasher cycle.

5. Influencers on social media are people who’ve built a reputation for their knowledge and expertise on a particular subject. Do you follow any influencers online? Have you made a purchase or tried something new because of that ‘influence’? If there’s one you particularly enjoy tell us who they are and why you enjoy them. 

The type of influencers we follow online are well known and knowledgeable teachers of the Bible who have proven they believe and teach the inerrancy of the Bible for all areas of life. We regard them as the best influencers out there.

Grace to You, John MacArthur, Ligonier, R.C. Sproul, Master’s Seminary, Tim Challies, Sinclair Ferguson, Keith and Kristyn Getty,  just to name a few.

We have purchased books, commentaries and music influenced by these folks. Keith and Kristyn Getty’s music is exceptional.

There are many ‘false teachers’ that we avoid like the plague.

The other type of following we do are the ‘how to people’, like ‘how to replace the hot water thermostat’, or ‘how to smoke a brisket’, or ‘how to clean your oven racks’.

On the lighter side of things this granny is fun to watch…

https://www.youtube.com/@memesrecipessc  Meme is a hoot to watch and I love her closing line! She is a cooking in the kitchen influencer.

I also like the jewelry this young gal is creating for sale; Nicole Joy Jewelry Design

https://www.instagram.com/nicolejoyjewelrydesign/?hl=en

https://06e86a-2.myshopify.com/

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

These two get to enjoy the snow with joy and then their mom adds more fun with these frozen colored water balloons to decorate their snow castle.

It’s still winter out there!

Update on our Water Heater, the parts arrived early and we should have hot water before this post is published on Wednesday. PTL! And yes, we do have hot water thanks to Greg!

Happy Hodgepodge, I’m looking forward to reading your tips.

Growing Up Before Our Eyes

This little guy has graduated to a big boy bed! He is a happy camper!

Both of these chefs made their own dinner this week, Alphabet Soup. Addy read the recipe. They loved the experience and ate two bowls of their creation!

They are growing up with good skills and we are thankful. Hats off to their mom and dad!

All of our Christmas decor is stored except for the tree and ornaments. I’ll tackle that soon!

Leftovers…

Before I jump right into 2024 here are some leftover photos from our after Christmas family time. Three of us were under the weather but we managed to have good times in the midst.

Thanks to dear Auntie Lolo for taking all these photos. It was a nice finale to 2023.

Our son-in-law treated our daughter with an elegant dinner date for her birthday after they returned home from our Christmas time together. Well done, Andrew!

New Year’s Eve was quiet here, as usual. We had a wonderful church service. We came home and enjoyed a steak meal and we were in bed before midnight on the West Coast. We also put a pork butt in the slow cooker to make the recipe I posted on Saturday. We’ll enjoy that on New Year’s Day. I managed to ring in the New Year with folks on the East Coast of the US!

On New Year’s Day I enjoyed sitting with my coffee watching the annual Tournament of Roses Parade that has taken place in Pasadena, California since 1890. The parade is always held on January 1st unless the 1st lands on a Sunday. When it lands on a Sunday the Parade and Rose Bowl game are moved to the 2nd of January. During my thirty seven years of living in Southern California I only managed to go to the Rose parade a couple of times.

This was one of the times with a friend from Buffalo, New York and a friend from San Francisco. This photo is from 1971 or 1972.

Our own Washington Huskies from the University of Washington played in the Sugar Bowl on New Year’s Day and we watched that game since we have 3 graduates of the University of Washington in the family. Greg also earned his Pharmacy degree from UW.

Greg was at the University of Washington as an older student from 1988-1992. We were able to acquire Rose Bowl Game tickets easily since he was a student. During his time at the University the football team had some of it’s most historic players and wins. The Huskies played against Michigan on January 1st 1992. We and 102,000 other people were at the game and our team won!

I’m happy to report the Huskies won the game and are off to the National Championship Game which will be played on January 8th in Houston. The last 50 seconds of the game were intense but they managed to hold on for the win! Yikes.

It Was Merry and Bright

On Christmas morning Katie, Andrew, Greg and I enjoyed Eggs Benedict for breakfast before the rest of our crew arrived for our Christmas Day festivities. Josh and Laura left the Seattle area 8ish in the morning for their trek across the mountains to our country bungalow. We were so thankful it was clear sailing for them all the way to our place. After they arrived our Colville kids packed up their truck and headed over.

Before we opened gifts, Greg (Gramps) read from from Hebrews 1 which speaks of who Jesus Christ is and Luke 2 in the Bible which speaks of the birth of Christ in Bethlehem.

Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. 3 He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. Hebrews 1:1-3a


Addy and JJ made the wrapping paper for some of the gifts they gave.

 

This little guy was impersonating a Bah-bush-ka!

The Yorkshire pudding popped up well!

The meal (which I didn’t photo) was Prime Rib roasted to perfection, Yorkshire Pudding, Creamed Corn, roasted brussels sprouts and asparagus. After the meal was enjoyed we popped the poppers and enjoyed the crowns and gifts and jokes!

Since Andrew and Katie had to leave early on Boxing Day, Katie shared a cake with Jesus. Our Grands mommy made a two tiered cake that was chocolate and vanilla for Katie and Jesus. Addy requested both flavors. After we sang happy birthday to Katie and she blew out her candles, we closed our eyes while Addy and Jamie redecorated the top of the cake.

We all marveled at the wonderful cake topper for our celebration of the birth of Jesus. Great creativity Jamie and Addy!

 

What a wonderful treat to be able to be together on this special day to celebrate the birth of our Savior. We are thankful for the joy we can share with one another.

Katie and Andrew’s sleigh left on Tuesday, Boxing day. Josh and Laura are here for a few more days of fun and adventures.

Today is Katie’s actual birthday. Happy Birthday dear Katie. Dad and I love you and are so thankful for you and what you mean to our family.

 

Christmas Recital

Tuesday the 19th of December was the Christmas Piano Recital that Addy is part of. She is still the youngest student and always starts off the program. She has grown so much and her piano skills are growing with her.

Keep up the good work of practicing dear Addy. It’s good you are having fun, too.

 

The next photos are the last of our Christmas Decor that I’ll share this year.

This next Nativity set was purchased this year in downtown Colville at a shop that sells vintage and second hand decor. It is Italian and I thought that it was a good buy at $15.

It was so good to hear from friends and family near and far this year. Some new addresses in new states, babies on the way, beautiful family photos, and sadly a death we weren’t aware of.

Today is Saturday and we are expecting our first car load of kids to arrive this afternoon.

Tomorrow will be a good and busy Christmas Eve Day and Eve. Blessings on all who visit here.