Category Archives: Grandchildren

Last Minute Trip…

…over the mountains and through the woods to see this little one and her parents!

We decided Friday evening to hit the road on Saturday morning to see our kids in northeastern Washington. We wanted to see them since they won’t be traveling to be with us at Christmas this year. I’ve been absent from visiting blogs because all my time has been spent chasing and enjoying our little Addy.

Addy recognized us and was willing to come to us with no hesitation. That is always a relief since there are weeks that pass between our visits.

Addy is cutting a new tooth and she continues to take a few steps at a time. Snow fell for most of the day on Sunday. We are heading home on Monday because of weather forecasts and the conditions on the roads and…I still need to decorate our tree.

It was a short and sweet trip getting caught up on all the new things Addy is enjoying from food to chatter to movement.

Fun times with gramps!

The Christmas tree was found and cut down on our kids’ property.

You have to catch a photo of her fast as she’s always on the go! She’s enjoying “pat a cake” and she can really move about in her walker!

It was fun to visit and have some sweet cuddles until next time.

The adults were able to complete a couple of projects, too, with extra hands keeping an eye on Addy.

We are hoping for clear sailing on the roads between Colville and Seattle today. Christmas is just one week away. Are you ready? We are more ready now that we’ve spent time with our kids in Colville.

Update: Thank you all for your good wishes and prayers. We made it home in great time and with very nice conditions most of the way home. We are very thankful we decided to come home on Monday as Tuesday welcomed snow and bad conditions on most of the roads we traveled yesterday. Today I will finally put the ornaments on the tree and since it is so rainy and blustery outside maybe I’ll even start wrapping some gifts.

Saturday’s Critters

Our little Addy loves Rayna. Addy’s mom says that Rayna tolerates Addy. I’m sure when Addy is older Rayna will appreciate her more.

It’s been almost a month since we’ve seen little Addy face to face. Hope a trip across the mountains can be accomplished before too long.

Here’s some other critters Dear and I saw on our overnight trip to La Conner. These lovelies were very curious when we stopped on the road to take photos of them at South Fork Farms in Mount Vernon, Washington. Love their faces!

The alpaca is a member of the camelid family, which also includes the llama, guanaco, vicuna and the camel.

Alpaca produce a specialty fiber in 16 different natural colors – white, beige, lt. fawn, med. fawn, dk. fawn, lt. brown, med. brown, dk. brown, bay black, true black, lt. silver grey, med. silver grey, dk. silver grey, lt. rose grey, med. rose grey, dk. rose grey.

Alpaca fiber is five times warmer than sheep wool and more durable than cotton.

Linking up to Saturday’s Critters at Viewing Nature with Eileen. Thank you Eileen!

Happy to say our mystery tree is up with most of the lights on it. As soon as another string of lights go up I’ll be able to put the ornaments on and show you what it looks like this year. Are you ready for next weekend? We’re enjoying our Christmas music and worshiping the one who came for us to live among us and to die on the cross to save us, Emmanuel.

Angels From the Realm of Glory

Angels from the realms of glory,
Wing your flight o’er all the earth;
Ye who sang creation’s story
Now proclaim Messiah’s birth.

Come and worship, come and worship,
Worship Christ, the newborn King.

 

This little one continues to delight us. We were texted a video of her taking steps already. The video showed her taking three steps. Yikes! She’s not even 9 months yet. Mommy and Daddy are going to have to be on their toes to keep track of her.

All our Christmas decor is up now and all that is left is the purchase of our mystery tree and decorating that mystery tree. In the meantime Dear and I are escaping  for a night away to celebrate our anniversary. Hope you all have a good week and that you are enjoying holy nights with the bright lights of Christmas.

This and That…

It’s still a little messy around here but we are enjoying running water and a cook top again.  The backsplash should all be on the wall sometime later today and then tomorrow or Monday the grouting can be done. It’s nice to know that for sure it will all be done well before Christmas.

Our little Addy is enjoying new foods introduced into her diet. Our DIL sent us this latest photo. It makes me smile. She’s eating pumpkin, chicken, and pear. Jamie makes Addy’s food instead of using overly processed baby food from the store.

Last night we had a little birthday party dinner for our Daughter in law/love, Laura. We enjoyed Lovella’s Cocktail Sausage Wreath as an appetizer and it was a big hit! I’m going to make it again on Wednesday for our Small Group Christmas gathering. Click on Lovella’s name to head over to Mennonite Girls Can Cook to see the method.

I’m learning so many new things from my SIL Kelly’s Advent in Art series. Today is Day 2 Mosaic in Chora Church, Turkey. I’m getting an art history lesson that I’ve never had before.

Happy first Advent weekend everyone!

Eight Months

And so it begins. Two teeth and more to come.

Addy’s mom was happy to capture these photos of Addy before she crawled away as fast as she could go, out of the room and down the hall. We say it over and over again…these little ones grow so fast and change so much in the first year of life!

Our counter tops will be installed late Tuesday or first thing Wednesday. Then Dear has to hook up the sink, disposal, dishwasher, attach the fixtures and install the cook top. Good thing he’s retired! After all that is said and done, he’ll be working on the backsplash. I’m happy it will be done and beautiful by Christmas! I will not start decorating for Christmas for at least another week or so…

Since things are already chaotic here, I cleaned out and set aside many glasses, goblets, vases, and other tchotchke to donate to Salvation Army. It’s amazing what you find in that cupboard above the refrigerator that you need a step ladder to get into!

tchotchke: (/ˈtʃɒtʃkə/ CHOCH-ka) is a small bauble or miscellaneous item. The word has long been used by Jewish-Americans and in the regional speech of New York City and elsewhere. The word may also refer to free promotional items dispensed at trade shows, conventions, and similar commercial events.

I would like you to all be thankful for your counter tops and sinks with running water to wash up or rinse and cook tops with power to boil or saute! Blessings!

Thankful

So thankful that she remembers us when we are able to visit her and she lights up and puts her arms out for us to hold her. Her many expressions captivate us and make us smile and some make us laugh out loud. We’ve been busy the last four days and we will hit the road back west over the Cascades early tomorrow morning. We’ve enjoyed work and play together. After Josh and Laura arrived from the Spokane airport on Friday we headed to El Ranchito for an early dinner. On Saturday the guys worked on the winter wood supply and the girls prepared a Thanksgiving meal and were able to fit in a craft show and a girls lunch out with Jamie’s mom, granny and friends.

Saturday night we enjoyed turkey, yams, stuffing, homemade rolls and gravy plus homemade pies. Sunday was a more relaxed day with Dear’s Swedish pancakes for breakfast and then more work on the wood supply followed by some family photo shoots. We said goodbye to Josh and Laura and are relaxing for the evening before our trek home tomorrow and back to work for Dan.

So thankful for our time together!

Smile

This happy girl always makes me smile.

What makes you smile?

And in the meantime we are dealing with a few more things besides our renovations like this…

When you look up or down all you see are leaves!

So we either rack or we mow or we blow them all to one spot to pick them up and fill our yard waste barrels.

Happy Birthday to the Marine Corps! Happy Veteran’s day weekend to our son-in-law and everyone who has served our country in the military!

Taken somewhere in Afghanistan a few years ago. Our son-in-law is holding the flag on the right. One of his Marine buddies took the photo.

Bushel and a Peck

This little cutie arrived at Baba and Gramps’ home on Friday evening after a long drive with her mommy and granny great. Daddy stayed at home. It was fun to sing to her (I love you a bushel and a peck, a bushel and a peck and a hug around the neck) and enjoy some nursery rhymes, too. Her new bibs were waiting for her here from Great Uncle and Auntie from Texas. Yeehaw!

Her aunties and uncles arrived for dinner and some hugs and fun. Photo fail on my part.

On Saturday morning we made a quick trip to Molbak’s in Woodinville for a little shopping and found that they already had their poinsettia tree up and their amazing poinsettia varieties displayed.

The Christmas displays were up already, too, so it was fun to see many new things for the season.

Responding to granny great and smiling and sticking her little tongue out at me.

After our morning together and a trip to Molbak’s they left for a cousin’s birthday party north of us.

We corralled a great play area with ottomans as borders so she could crawl and pull herself up without getting to other hazards in the room.

It was great to have all three in our home for a couple of nights. Thankfully they made it over the pass and through the snow and ice safely home before 5pm on Sunday. Addy will not be happy to get back into that car seat anytime soon!

Update: We are so so thankful that our girls left early and were over the pass by 10am because we just saw the news that 1-90 was shut down both east and west over the pass and beyond at 12:15 today! Whew!

We are again grieving the evil killing of people just going about their day worshiping together. May God comfort all the families and friends of those killed and wounded at the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas.

The Lord is near to the brokenhearted
    and saves the crushed in spirit.

Psalm 34:18 

November is Here…

…but I still have stuff to share from October.

Some fun times with Auntie Katie in the new outfit Auntie Laura and Uncle Josh bought.

These shots are still from our time at Dan and Jamie’s for the first annual family hunting trip in mid-October.

Fun with gramps and a box on Wednesday night before we left for home on Thursday.

On October 19th we said our goodbyes to Colville and to Dan, Jamie and Addy until next time.

Now back to the present. We have all kinds of interesting weather advisories across our state on this first day of November and the next few days. Snow has even been mentioned. The snow won’t fall on us but north and east of us it’s a possibility. Today I spent some time watching leaves fall from the huge maple in my neighbor’s yard. The leaves twirl as they fall and catch the light as they make their way to the ground. It’s kind of mesmerizing. We filled up our large yard waste bin plus one other bin yesterday and Dear rounded up mounds of leaves twice today.

Above is from our drive. The maple tree is just on the other side of that fence on the left.

Here is a reverse view with part of the tree pictured on the right. Half of the branches come out over our drive. Our privacy fence is on the left and you can’t see our home in this shot. We still have lots of leaves in our future.

This photo was taken in downtown Bothell at the Fire station. Fall really has been amazing here.

This was one of those random catch-up posts, a little of this and a little of that. What are you catching up on?