The Snowball Effect Hodgepodge

A new month of Wednesday Hodgepodge. Thank you to Jo From This Side of the Pond for coming up with the questions for us to answer.

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1. Feb 2nd is Groundhog Day in the US of A. Tell us about one day you wouldn’t mind living over again, and why you chose that day.

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I’ll pick July 9th, 2014. This was a day Dear and I spent in Oxford, England. I chose this day because it’s impossible for us to visit Oxford at this time in virus history and it is something we dream to be able to do again. Here’s a link to part of our day in Oxford in 2014.

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2. Something you know beyond a ‘shadow of a doubt’?

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God created me a woman and he created my husband (Dear) a man. Those are the only two genders that God has created.

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3. Give us an example of history repeating itself in some way, in your own life or the lives of your children.

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It’s fun to see our little grandson doing some of the things our son did when he was little.

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4. Snowed under, snow job, not a snowball’s chance, snowbird, on thin ice, snug as a bug in a rug, tip of the iceberg, snowball effect, run hot and cold….choose a wintry idiom and tell us how it best applies to your life right now.

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I’ll choose snowball effect. Building a shop on our property has had it’s own snowball effect. Once I think the hard part is over and done with another hard part presents itself. One thing leads to another. I think I should plan a huge completion party to celebrate once it is all done and all our stuff from our son’s shop finds it’s way into Dear’s shop.

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5. Your favorite sign of spring?

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It’s hard to choose just one.

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There is Easter and all that it means. Easter is my favorite holiday to celebrate. So much promise, so much hope because of Jesus’ resurrection. He is Risen, He is Risen Indeed!

Our very first grandchild was born on the first day of Spring four years ago. We get to celebrate her at the beginning of Spring every year!

Our grandson was born in Spring, too, in April of 2019. We have so much to celebrate in Spring!

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6. Insert your own random thought here.

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All this talk of Spring makes me want to go out and find a bunch of daffodils to bring in for cheer and the good promise that Spring is on it’s way!

Leftovers from Arizona

For our family archives I’m adding the rest of the photos I have from our time in Arizona from January 13th to the 19th of 2021. Jaymison’s first ride down the slide with his daddy.

Daddy made sure JJ stayed above the water!

Addy became quite a pro on coming down the slide all by herself!

I shared about the epic birthday party for our two sons on Saturday the 16th but our daughter-in-law Jamie had a birthday, too, on Friday the 15th. For her day we watched the grands while Dan and Jamie enjoyed brunch out all by themselves and also enjoyed shopping at Target after brunch without their kids in tow. On Friday night we went out to Texas Roadhouse for dinner and that photo of Dan, Jamie, Jaymison and Addyson was taken by Laura while we waited for our table.

Our grands are blessed beyond measure with aunts and uncles that love them and are attentive to them.

Instead of grass in Arizona people have rock or faux grass in their yards.

While the ladies had a shopping outing without the grands the guys took them to a couple parks.

Uncle Andrew and JJ.

Daddy and JJ.

Most everyone contributed some time in putting our Arizona Jigsaw puzzle together.

On Monday night the 18th of January we had another meal out at Amigos Restaurant. Dear tried a new to all of us dish called Molcajete Cielo Mary Tierra, mouth watering steak, grilled chicken, shrimp, chorizo, grilled green onions, grilled nopales, jalapenos, in a molcajete stone. Served with sides of rice, beans, tortillas, guacamole and pica de gallo. I should have shared this dish with Dear.

Such special times with our grands and all our kids.

Our trip to Arizona was the first airplane trip we’ve taken since the Covid restrictions on wearing masks were mandated on airplanes. I found out early in our flight that this cute mask that came From ‘Russia with Love’ was quite painful on my ears and I had to use my MacGyver skills to attach the mask to my glasses instead of my ears. On one of our shopping trips to Old Navy in Arizona we all bought 4paks of masks and they were so much more comfortable and adjustable. Hooray. I might try and replace the ear pieces on this mask to make it more comfortable.

On Tuesday the 19th we said our goodbyes to our temporary home in the sun.

Until the next time we treasure these memories.

We are back here in Colville for well over a week now and we had a few inches of snow overnight from Wednesday until Thursday. Thursday was a very nonproductive day at our country bungalow. We made good progress on putting together our latest jigsaw puzzle while enjoying the snow views out our windows.

This is a 1000 piece puzzle and the pieces are oversized so it is larger than most 1000 piece puzzles. We only have about 100 pieces left on this puzzle and it will be done on Friday for sure.

Hope January ends well for all of you with a lovely weekend! I’ve put up a few Valentine Day Decorations already. Do you have Valentine Day decor that you put up?

Round and Round We Go

The Wildlife Zoo called this ride their Carousel. Addy chose this horse to ride and JJ chose the dog.

Carousels and Merry-Go-Rounds, whatever you call them, kids of all ages enjoy them. I think this was JJ’s first ride on one.

Addy was cold and her coat was in the car so she borrowed Auntie Katie’s sweatshirt.

Our family of 10 were in Arizona from January 13th until January 19th. Our trip to the Wildlife park was on Thursday January 14th. I enjoy the desert in winter, how about you? Escaping a snowy winter with freezing temps to a desert winter in the 60’s and 70’s is a treat.

Back here in Colville we have had sunshine but our temps have been in the teens. We are promised some new snow showers on Sunday.

The Best of the Birds

When our family of ten were in Arizona we enjoyed our time at the Wildlife World Zoo and Aquarium.

Not a problem for our time at the park.

Addy did not appreciate some of the animal odors.

Posting all our Arizona adventures for our family archives.

On Thursday we drove south to Spokane to buy a new toilet for our Master Bath. Besides the Home Depot we shopped at Hobby Lobby, Total Wine and Costco. On our trip south we listened to a sermon from Grace Community Church by John MacArthur. 2020 Clarity. We found it encouraging. We returned home and our new toilet was installed before 6 PM! Thank you Dear!! Friday evening and Saturday morning Dear and I are attending a marriage seminar at our church here in Colville.

Hope you all have a great weekend.

Running Nonstop!

Busy, busy, chasing these two! I’ll be back to normal living on Wednesday. Hope y’all are doing well.

We’ve been enjoying lots of family time in the home our son is part owner of here in Arizona. A nice large space with a pool for us all to enjoy! Each couple has their own room, too, along with a room for Addy. An amazing property. Two birthday celebrations down with one more to go!

I’ll be visiting blogs again later this week!

Family Photo Shoot

We were gifted a professional photo shoot of our family from our kids Christmas of 2019. We were going to try to schedule the shoot in the Spring but then COVID19 struck and it didn’t work. We finally got a date on the books during our annual Family Hunting Weekend in October. What we didn’t count on was snow on that weekend and temperatures in the 20’s!

I think we did a great job at not looking like we were freezing! This was the photo we sent with our Christmas card and letter this year.

Gramps, Addyson, Baba, and Jaymison.

Oh how we love these two little grands!

Our firstborn son and his love.

Our second born son and his love.

Their beloved family.

Our youngest and our only daughter and her love.

The original three who married three exceptional human beings that we love dearly.

God has been good to us despite ourselves! We are grateful and thankful to Him.

The Wonderful Leftovers!

For the benefit of our family and my memory bank I’m posting several more photos of our family time over Christmas. Some of these are out of order and some repeats in collages…

Thank you to Laura for all the photos!!

On the day of our Coast kids’ departure we gathered for more last minute fun at Dan and Jamie’s with a great lunch of leftover Rib Roast, creamed corn, salads and other goodies. A great clean out the fridge meal!

Such great uncles and aunties.

The day after our Coast Kids journeyed home we had seven more inches of snow at our country bungalow (Wednesday December 30th). In the next several days the temps will be above freezing and we have some rain in the forecast so the snow will become a sloppy mess with puddles everywhere.

Here’s the latest puzzle we are working on and hope to get done before Russian Christmas which is January 7th! Perfect weather for puzzle time.

Before the New Year

I posted this collage of our daughter Katie on Facebook with this birthday message;

Happiest of Birthdays to our little girl who was a special surprise from God all those years ago in Ventura, California. Your dad and I are so thankful to God for His watch care over you and for the place He has brought you to in your life. We love our beautiful, smart, kind, precise, meticulous, precious girl! We pray that the Lord will guide you continually. From Spurgeon, “There are no dilemmas out of which you will not be delivered if you live near to God and your heart is kept warm with holy love. You will not go astray in the company of God.”

Sunday December 27th was our Katie’s birthday and it was a full day of fun in the snow and then a snowflake taco dinner party with Spice Applesauce birthday cake.

The kids spent the day at Dan and Jamie’s playing in the snow and the guys helped Dan get caught up on chopping wood for their fireplace.

Santa brought JJ a new battery powered tractor.

Some steamed frothy milk to warm up before naps.

And a great finale to the B-I-B-L-E…Bible!

Now for some cuddle winding down time to calm down for his nap…JJ’s not Joshua’s. 🙂

The older crew came back to our place to get ready for the Birthday party.

It was a snowflake table setting for our winter girl. Now here’s the funny story about the candles on the table. The center candle in the table setting was a battery operated candle. All eight of the other candle holders had votives in them that needed to be lit. I asked Dear to please light the candles on the table while I finished up the taco shells for dinner. I heard some belly laughter from the dining room when everyone realized Dear also tried to light the battery operated candle. That candle looks even more authentic now!

Cake first or presents first?

A delightful birthday from beginning to end! We love you Katie!

Praying that God will increase your love and devotion to Him in this next year!

Ami the Amish Snowman

Snow!

It started snowing Christmas night and into Boxing day morning. We got between 2 and 3 inches. We bundled up and went outside and tested the snow to see if it was snowman worthy. YES!

Josh had help rolling the snow into the 3 portions we wanted for the snowman. He was placed in the back yard so that we would be able to see him from the family room.

How’s this for a fashion statement. I still had my festive jammies on!

Here’s Josh with Ami the Amish Snowman!

All the helpers.

We think Ami is going to be around for a long time…

Yesterday we celebrated Katie on her birthday. We ate tacos at a snowflake table. That will be a separate post.

Our travelers leave on Tuesday before the next snowfall that is predicted for Wednesday. That one promises several inches of snow.

Boxing Day 2020

We are all awake and Premier League Soccer is on the TV while Dear begins to make his Swedish Pancakes for us to enjoy for Boxing day breakfast. I can hear the false crowd noise while I create this post. All the photos are from Christmas Day 2020. Our Coast Kids arrived to our home shortly after noon and we enjoyed Dear’s Famous Tomato Rice Soup. Our Colville kids arrived to our home after the little ones woke up from their afternoon naps!