On Sunday these two enjoyed a scoop of ice cream in an ice cream cone after our dinner.
Such a simple good dessert.
What is your favorite brand and flavor? We are partial to Häagen-Dazs. One of our favorite flavors is Vanilla Swiss Almond. We only buy it when it goes on a good sale.
The grands above are enjoying Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough.
Our grandson turned 5 this week and his new bike is already getting a workout. Riding a bicycle is a good skill to have! JJ at 5 already has many good life skills! We enjoyed a fun bowling party to celebrate JJ this past Saturday.
Thank you to Joyce From This Side of the Pond for skillfully posting questions each week for Wednesday Hodgepodge!
1. What’s a skill you think everyone should have?
Tying your shoes. Personal Hygiene. Use of basic tools. Cooking skills enough to be able to feed yourself. Basic Math. Reading. Writing. Following a Map. Driving. Putting gas in a vehicle. Earning money. Making a bed. Cleaning a toilet. Running a washing machine, dryer, and dishwasher. How to use a computer.
I could not stop at just one.
2. Do you have a special place or organizational system for gift wrapping?
I have a general bin with gift bags, wrapping paper and tissue and a separate Christmas bin with the same items. I also have a basic ribbon bin and a Christmas ribbon bin.
Do you still buy ‘real’ cards to send for birthdays, anniversaries, get-well, etc?
I do still have real cards that I send for these events. TIP: Buy your cards at the Dollar stores where many cards are 2 for a dollar or a dollar each!
3. It’s National Banana Day…are you a fan? What’s your favorite thing to make with bananas or, if you’re not a cook, your favorite thing to eat that contains banana?
We don’t keep bananas around here typically but when we do have bananas that have fully ripened we enjoy our favorite, Banana Bread.
4. Do you believe in second chances? Elaborate.
Where would any of us be without second chances? We all fall, fail, make mistakes. We need to be forgiven and we need to forgive. We need reconciliation in this world.
Matthew 18:21-22 Then Peter came and said to Him, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Up to seven times?” Jesus *said to him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.
5. What is your idea of fun?
Fun for me is any event that makes me smile at the end of the day. The feeling of satisfaction that comes from time together, good conversations, worthwhile projects completed. Good things and good interactions that satisfy and improve your heart and mind. Time well spent.
Something specific that I enjoy is planning a trip. I like to research areas and consider all the choices of things to see and do. This is a fun exercise for me.
6. Insert your own random thought here.
Besides all the birthday fun for JJ, Addy had her first Irish Dance Recital with the Haran Dancers.
Full post coming soon.
Happy Birthday to our favorite 5 year old!
Warning: This post is loaded with photos and could have been even more loaded!
Great Uncle and Auntie came prepared.
Granny and Granny Great watched all the shenanigans.
Auntie Katie pulled out the overall win with the best score and enjoyed beating out her brother with the most flamboyant of shirts.
She does own her own bowling ball and shoes!
I came in with the lowest score…too bad this isn’t golf.
Some of us have really good form!
And style…
The oldest bowlers.
One of the youngest first time bowlers!
The youngest first time bowler and birthday boy!
Sometimes he used the dino helper to roll the ball.
JJ waited patiently for Cake and Gifts!
Finally…time for cake!
It was worth the wait to see his new bicycle!
He ripped through the rest of the presents with ease.
His great uncle Scott made this holster and belt for him!
What a great keepsake!
JJ jumped up from opening all his presents and gave a thank you hug to us all.
We gathered up all our belongings and headed up to JJ’s house to spend a few hours before Addy’s Irish Dance Recital!
JJ ran into the house to change clothes and get his helmet on so he could ride his new bike! When he entered the house he exclaimed, “home at last”! What a character!
Happy birthday dear grandson of ours. Baba and Gramps love you so much. You are full of life and have an adventurous spirit. You are great at building things and coming up with ideas to hold things together. You give the best hugs. We love your vocabulary. You have the best laugh! We look forward to seeing the new things you learn while you are 5! God bless you and keep you all the days of your life!
We all gathered on Friday afternoon and evening when all our family arrived from Colville and across the mountains for the beginning of a big weekend to celebrate JJ’s 5th birthday and Addy’s first Irish dance recital. We were able to celebrate Andrew’s birthday, too!
I will post the photos from JJ”s Bowling party tomorrow. Addy’s recital photos will come later in the week. A full happy weekend.
On Friday evening we enjoyed Thai food and desserts which included Andrew’s favorite Pecan birthday pie!
Happy Birthday, Andrew!
The rest of these photos are from Saturday and Sunday between the other major happenings. Thank you so much to Laura for all these wonderful captures!
Addy was very excited to show Auntie Lolo the frog or whatever they are called when they are this small. They may be small but they fill the night air with their songs in Spring. It can be deafening.
Addy and JJ are also excited to show us all their small chicks that they hatched from an incubator.
The weather was amazing with sunshine and temps up into the 70’s.
What is that and where are you going with it?
All too soon the weekend was over and our ‘coast’ kids headed home.
We again have happy thoughts and full hearts as we recuperate from all the fun!
Happy U.S. tax day to all of my friends in the USA. Happy Monday to my friends from other parts of the world!
The week leading up to Easter our Grands Co-op had a cultural day with presentations from each family. I was invited to be part of that presentation since their country was Russia. It was good to be at Co-Op the whole day and see and hear from all the family units. Several families presented interesting facts about their countries that were new to me. In between presentations there were breaks and a lunchtime potluck with dishes from all the countries/cultures represented. Our DIL served Piroshky and Perog.
It was a full Thursday for everyone.
This is a new puzzle I completed before Easter forgetting to take a photo when it was finished. It is one from the collection of The Country Diary of An Edwardian Lady. There was so much going on between Addy’s Birthday weekend and Easter weekend!
Are you anywhere in the clear path of the Total Eclipse today?
Make sure you protect your eyes! We wore these for the 2017 Solar Eclipse.
Have a great week everyone!
Our kids from the ‘Coast’ arrived this past Thursday and Friday for a weekend of celebrations. The title of this post is accurate and be forewarned that this is a loaded post, full of photos. These days I don’t put together photo albums anymore. I use my blog as my photo album. This is a special birthday album.
On Friday we worked on potato and beef filled piroshky using Jamie’s sour dough, delicious! Our Grands have a presentation coming up at their Homeschool Co-op on Russia and these goodies will be part of the International pot-luck. A labor of love.
We gathered on the mountain on Saturday morning to create a heart filled atmosphere for Addy’s 7th birthday celebration. She chose the theme of hearts.
Addy’s mommy baked and decorated the three tiered heart cake which was so good!
Addy’s daddy made these heart shaped macarons, delicious!
Chillin with uncle until the festivities begin.
Addy loves her Aunties!
Auntie Lolo and Uncle Joshie
Auntie Katie and Uncle Andrew
Granny
Granny Great
Four generations!
Great Uncle Scott and Aunt Rhonda
Lifetime friends
Baba and Gramps
Mommy, Daddy, Addy and JJ.
Gramps prayed over our meal and said a special prayer for the birthday girl.
Hooray for presents!
She received wonderful presents and was so excited when her special wish for a pair of roller skates came true!
Auntie Katie and Uncle Andrew were in on the surprise present from Addy’s mommy and daddy and bought her all the safety pads for her wrists elbows and knees!
Time for Cake!
Let the games begin. We had a quiz on Addy’s 10 favorites. Afterwards we had to create some critters with our eyes closed.
Addy got to choose the winners.
I’m sure by now I’ve lost several of you dear readers out there, but there is more! When all the guests departed we drove back to our country bungalow to chill a bit before all the family arrived at our place to make dinner and dessert to celebrate me. We had to take advantage of all of us being together.
The kids prepared a wonderful stir fry with chicken and veggies with a sauce from scratch. I sat in my recliner and listened and enjoyed the aromas coming from the kitchen. Strawberries were prepped for Strawberry Shortcake dessert. Happy Birthday to me! I received lovely gifts, too. My favorite gift is being together.
Our weekend was not over yet. We had one more surprise in store for us at our church service on Sunday.
Addy had been practicing a piece on the piano to play at church on this Sunday. Our church has a place for special numbers from the congregation from time to time.
Addy was announced and went up to the Baby Grand and played the piece she had prepared, O How I Love Jesus. She is so brave and confident and played sweetly in front of 300+. It brought tears to my eyes.
A perfect song to play on Palm Sunday and the beginning of Holy Week. It is all about Jesus and His love and sacrifice for us!
The sermon on this Sunday was a continuation of our series in Colossians. From Colossians 3:18-21 we heard about Home~Where we live like Jesus. Christ changes the home and how we live in it.
Katie and Andrew had to hit the road for home right from church. The rest of us enjoyed another meal on the mountain before Josh and Laura headed back home. Greg and I headed home to put our feet up. Our local kids had one more party to go to for Great Uncle Scott. Full to the brim is what this weekend was. I’ll save the Elk herd we saw on the way home for another day and post. I will post the words from the hymn Addy played a stanza from here for the sake of context.
O How I Love Jesus
There is a name I love to hear,
I love to speak its worth;
It sounds like music in mine ear,
The sweetest name on earth.
Refrain
O how I love Jesus,
O how I love Jesus,
O how I love Jesus,
Because He first loved me!
It tells me of a Savior’s love,
Who died to set me free;
It tells me of His precious blood,
The sinner’s perfect plea.
Refrain
It tells me of a Father’s smile
Beaming upon His child;
It cheers me through this little while,
Through desert, waste, and wild.
Refrain
It tells me what my Father hath
In store for every day,
And though I tread a darksome path,
Yields sunshine all the way.
Refrain
It tells of One whose loving heart
Can feel my deepest woe;
Who in my sorrow bears a part,
That none can bear below.
Refrain
It bids my trembling heart rejoice;
It dries each rising tear;
It tells me, in a still small voice,
To trust and never fear.
Refrain
Jesus, the name I love so well,
The name I love to hear!
No saint on earth its worth can tell,
No heart conceive how dear.
Refrain
This name shall shed its fragrance still
Along this thorny road,
Shall sweetly smooth the rugged hill
That leads me up to God.
Refrain
And there, with all the blood-bought throng,
From sin and sorrow free,
I’ll sing the new eternal song
Of Jesus’ love to me.
Refrain
God bless you with knowing and believing in what Jesus has done for you as we begin Holy Week 2024!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
The Happy Wonderer ~ ellen b. 