Category Archives: Mother’s Day

All the Things

It wasn’t just Mother’s Day Celebrations like a Ladies Tea this past Saturday. We had other events stretching our calendars on Saturday and Sunday. Our First Baptist Ladies Tea and Blooms Luncheon was on from 11am to 1pm. My Beatrix Potter Tea Table was put together on Friday afternoon.

At 10am JJ had a Taekwondo promotion so his mom wasn’t able to be with us at the tea. (JJ’s daddy was working on Saturday). Uncle Andrew was able to be at JJ’s promotion, too, and JJ passed!

Uncle Andrew treated JJ to this monster of a sugar delight while we were enjoying our dainty tea sandwiches. We wrapped up our early events and spent a couple leisurely hours in the afternoon before we all met up for a Mother’s Day meal at a restaurant in Kettle Falls.

When our meal was done, Jamie and Addy left to get ready for Addy’s Irish Dance recital while the rest of us visited a local park for JJ to let off some steam before having to sit for two hours at the dance recital.

The park we picked had this great sculpture and tribute to the lady who started the school of Irish dance that Addy has enjoyed for a couple years now.

JJ had a lot of exercise while the adults kept a watchful eye on him and then we were off to the Woodland Theatre to get our seats for the performance.

Addy performed brilliantly for her dance routines and then as a leprechaun in the Giant potato play. I was busy with videos and did not get a photo of her in her costume but these group photos were shared with Jamie and she shared them with me. The narrated drama was fabulous and had us all in stitches!

Our Monday was full, too, with a drop in reception for our Assistant Pastor Candidate in the afternoon and then a  Q & A in the evening with an ice cream social afterwards. It was good for many or our church members to be able to get to know the candidate and his family in a casual setting.

I’m sure many of you had busy weekends, too. I’ll be away from my computer most of Tuesday. Hope y’all have a great day!

Looking Back at May

Awana Awards were at the beginning of May. Both Addy and JJ did well and completed their books. Addy completed some extra credit books, too. JJ graduates from Cubbies and will be a Sparky with Addy next year.

A fieldtrip to the local small airport was a hit!

Our church had a fun Mother Daughter Pajama Princess Party.

Popcorn and licorice at the movie at the party.

Saturday of Mother’s Day weekend we got ready for a Mother’s Day Fun 5K at our local Rotary Trail.

A run to the finish line!

After our 5K this little guy got a nice haircut!

Our dear Addy had out-patient surgery on May 17th and all went well and her recovery went smoothly enough that she was able to be at her Piano Recital on May 20th. We made it back from the Westside in time to enjoy her piano pieces.

A great smile the day after her surgery!

She played two songs, Stand Up Stand Up for Jesus, and Holy Holy Holy. Well done, Addy!

One more catch-up post for May will come soon.

Lake Washington Celebration

We arrived in Western Washington on Thursday the 16th of May. When we make it to that side of the mountains we like to stop at our old faithful, La Corona in Kirkland. It was was our weekly Tuesday hangout when we lived on that side. The owners still remember us and it is nice to be recognized by them. Our good friends met us for a meal and catch-up before we made a few more miles to Josh and Laura’s for the weekend.

On Friday the 17th of May our Westside kids took us out for dinner at El Encanto in Kirkland for a belated Mother’s Day celebration. It was a good time to be together. It was a cool evening with moody skies. This is a relatively new restaurant in Kirkland. I enjoyed an upscale Chile Relleno that was delicious. Kirkland is on the shores of Lake Washington in Washington State.

Before our dinner gathering Laura, Greg and I shopped at a few spots for mostly shoes. We had an appetizer lunch so we wouldn’t be too full for our main event on Friday night. We had those appetizers at another Westside hangout of ours and it was fun to be there again, Gratzie in Bothell.

If the Shoe Fits Hodgepodge

On the Kirkland waterfront at Carillon Point for dinner on Friday night the 17th of May.

Another Wednesday has rolled around and Joyce has a new set of questions for Hodgepodge.

1. What are you currently juggling in your life? 

I’m juggling exercise, eating, yard care, trip planning, garage sale preparations and understanding apps and catching up with events on my blog now that I have a way to post photos again.

2. How often do you buy new clothes?

When I see something that I know will work on my current body size and is a reasonably priced item I purchase it.

What was the last piece of clothing you purchased? 

This past weekend was all about shoes! We were visiting our kids on the Westside of the mountains. There is a Brooks Shoe outlet that is convenient to where our kids live. I like a particular Brooks brand that works well on my feet. I bought a pair, Dear bought a pair, and a pair was purchased for each of our Colville kids. They gave Laura their sizes and pictures were sent back and forth and purchases made. I found a pair of Merrill waterproof shoes in my size at REI on the clearance table so those were purchased, too. Dear found a pair of dressier/casual Clark shoes at Nordstrom Rack. We had lots of shoe boxes to juggle! 🙂

I’m defaulting to shoes as a form of clothing. 🙂

3. What food festival would you most like to attend? If you need help here are links to some of the bigger and more popular food events around the world-

For many reasons food festivals do not call out to me.

4. May is the 5th month of the year. Tell us something you remember about your 5th grade year. 

Oh boy…fifth grade was a can of worms for me. There are only two teachers in my schooling experience that I had reasons to believe did not like me. One of those was my Junior High Geometry teacher (he’s the one that gave me a D even though my tests, etc. were a solid C) When I questioned him and tried to show him my test results, etc., he blew up in front of the whole class and said quote, “Are you calling me a liar?”. Then he sent me to the girls vice principal. She was sympathetic but I still received the D.

My fifth grade teacher, Mrs. Helm, was the other teacher that gave me the impression that she did not like me. I was an avid reader in my elementary years and beyond and a quote that came into my head one day in her class when she told me to sit down was, “I might be sitting down on the outside but I’m standing up on the inside.” 

In 5th grade running out to the playground the girl right in front of me stopped and bent down to tie her shoe abruptly. I fell over her and ended up chipping a bone in my wrist. The office called my mother and they had to order a cab to take us to our doctor who x-rayed and put my wrist in a cast. Our mother never learned to drive. Our father was unreachable when he worked on different sites around the Los Angeles area.

The good thing I remember about 5th grade is that a girl from Scotland moved to our school and came to our class later in the year. I was fascinated by her and struck a friendship with her and enjoyed her friendship.

5. What are your favorite five words right now? 

Jesus ~ Truth ~ Lovingkindness ~ Rescued ~ Maranatha

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

We enjoyed a long weekend on the Westside of the mountains with our ‘Coast Kids’. I’ll be posting about that and the other events I couldn’t add photos for in the month of May. Blog catch-up including this event…

Monday at the Bungalow

Looking back on our busy weekend before we are full swing into a new busy week. I still can’t upload any new photos but I have many photos that show the state of the yard from years past and things look quite similar for this time of year.

Friday May 10th: On Friday evening we had our Princess Pajama Party at church and it was a hit! I joined Jamie, Addy and Granny at church and we were all in our comfy jammies. I had my Ugg slippers on, too. There was a hair braiding station, coloring stations, nail polish stations, animal face masks that were facials, wonderful snacks and then an hour long movie where the littles plopped down on their blankies and pillows with popcorn and licorice! Those adults who were still young enough to plop down easily and get up again got comfy with the littles, too. I stayed in a chair.

Friday night into the wee hours of Saturday we had a wonderful treat of the aurora borealis. I wish I could show you my photos. Amazing pinks and greens and blues looking straight up and for a time more on the horizon view we got the typical green frosty views. Those were clearer to the naked eye but the views right above were visible from camera photos which was very strange. You could see swaths of something looking up but no color until you looked at the images you snapped! A bucket list item to check off without flying to Iceland!

Saturday May 11th: On Saturday morning I met up with these two along with their mommy and granny and we walked the Rotary trail with an added loop to make it a 5k Strong Mom Walk that the City parks put on.

Saturday afternoon our now not as new Pastor and his creative wife had an open house for our church body to show us how things have shaped up at their new to them home. Many of our church body helped them move their stuff into the garage and get flooring pulled out and new flooring in etc, etc. and they wanted to have a little thank you for helping gathering. Our Pastor’s wife painted most of the walls in the home, used their stuff and gathered new stuff and decorated the whole home in such a lovely way. It was fun to have seen the before so we could really enjoy the ‘after’!

Sunday May 12th, Mother’s Day:

Sunday service was full with moms and their kids and our service was God honoring as usual with some very nice tributes to moms as well.

Sunday evening our Colville family came over for a Mother’s day meal and we had a good time catching up with them. JJ was eager to fill us in on all the things his dad and he did while the girls were at the mother daughter event at church.

As I type I hear the washing machine going. I’m putting fresh linens in both of our guest rooms.  Our guest rooms will be used this weekend by our former Pastor’s parents and brother who are traveling here for the wedding of our former pastor’s son on Saturday. We will miss the wedding since we are leaving for a long weekend on the other side of the mountains with this lovely crew below.

Planning: Laundry, a little dusting, mowing and packing is on my agenda for the week.

Organizing:

Things for our guests who will arrive while we are gone and leave before we return.

Continuing: 

With the missions prayer challenge.

I didn’t mention it last week but I’ve been doing a workout with a video daily except for Sundays. Today will be my 31st day!

Weeding out photos from past blog posts. Tedious and a little frustrating.

Reading:

Our church handed out a 31 day devotional for Women on Mother’s Day. All ladies 18 and up received one if they wanted one. Gospel Meditations for Women.

My daily Bible readings this week are in 2 Samuel, 1 Chronicles, Psalms and Acts.

I’m still reading through the Discipline of Grace by Jerry Bridges.

Quotable:

John Owen: “If you have any regard to the constancy of your faith, to the comfort of your life, the honor of God, for 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.”

Thankful:

So thankful for all the love showered on me by our children and grandchildren. God is good to me.

Have a great week ahead everyone!

Our State Bird

We’ve been enjoying some summer weather here the last few days. Things are growing fast.

It was fun to spot our state bird in the bushes of one of our planters and it stayed long enough for me to zoom in for some photos.

The American Goldfinch was designated as the Washington State Bird in 1951. This beautiful golden bird is found throughout our state and is commonly seen in flocks in fields, bushes and trees.

The state bird proved a point of contentious debate in the state of Washington. After more than two decades of voting and arguing, the state chose the American Goldfinch (Spinus tristis) officially in 1951.

We had a good weekend with lots of outdoor work that takes it’s toll on my wrists and back but still gives a measure of satisfaction to get the work done.

We had a nice Mother’s day starting off at church and having dinner at our Colville Kids’ home. Thanks for stopping by.

Quatro, Cinco, Seis, and Siete!

We traveled to the West side of the Cascades for 338 miles to visit our kids on Thursday the 4th of May. We met up with friends in Kirkland at La Corona on the way and the Mexican food theme began. Good time catching up a bit then we said Adios and headed to our kids home with a stop at Fred Meyer on the way. We had a nice quiet evening recuperating from our drive.

On Friday Laura drove us to Business Costco and regular Costco. Friday was Cinco de Mayo and we met up with our other Westside kids and we all enjoyed a meal at Viva Jalisco.

Saturday morning we baked up some Lemon Scones to enjoy while watching some of the Coronation. Laura pulled out a puzzle for us to work on over the course of the day.

The girls enjoyed a dry spell in the morning at Pickin’ at the Barn in Monroe. A market of all things vintage, antique and artisan. We all made some purchases. On the way home from the market we stopped at The Maltby Cafe and Laura and I split Huevos Rancheros. Another day of enjoying the Mexican theme. Saturday afternoon we worked on the puzzle before we headed out to an early Mother’s Day meal at Feast and Fire in Edmonds.

I had the Osso Buco (Pork) which was fall off the bone delicious. The others enjoyed Halibut and pasta dishes.

 

You can see the Edmonds/Kingston Ferry loading at the dock if you squint.

After a stop at the waterfront in Edmonds we went back to Josh and Laura’s. I opened up some sweet Mother’s day gifts and we continued watching some of the Coronation while finishing up the puzzle.

On Sunday we went to Josh and Laura’s church and were encouraged by an amazing sermon by a visiting Pastor from Southern California. “God’s mercy is God’s goodness to us despite our sin.” What a blessing that was along with Communion. We also ran into friends from our former churches there. An extra sweet encouragement to see and talk to them.

We packed up the car and headed back to Colville after church with Laura as our passenger. Laura traveled back with us so that she could be in town for Addy’s Piano Recital Monday evening. We stopped in Cle Elum for a fill up of gasoline and lunch at El Corporal…if you guessed Mexican food, you guessed correctly! That’s why the title of this post is cuatro, cinco, seis and siete because I enjoyed Mexican food on the 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th of May! After lunch Laura took the wheel and drove for a couple hours and then we switched back to me for the ride into Spokane. Dear drove from Spokane to Colville. We dropped Laura off at Dan and Jamie’s and it was a great surprise for Addy and JJ who had no idea Auntie Lolo was coming to stay a couple nights with them.

I think they are thrilled to have Auntie Lolo in town!

 

Thankful for a wonderful weekend from beginning to end.

Mother’s Day Weekend

Dear and I drove over to the West side of our state to spend time with some of our family and friends who live there. We met up at two separate restaurants on Thursday afternoon and then Saturday morning with dear friends and spent a couple hours eating together and enjoying conversations and catching up. On Mother’s Day we attended our kids’ church for a great time of worship and preaching. I’ll share some quotes from the sermon at the end of this post. Words I want to remember.

At 1:00 on Sunday this group met up for a Mother’s Day Brunch. It was an honor to enjoy this meal with our westside kids and my sister and her husband. Thank you to Laura for making the reservations and getting everyone together.

Me and my baby sister.

Me and our firstborn son.

Josh and Laura on the waterfront in Kirkland, Washington. The sun finally crept out from behind the clouds for a glorious afternoon.

Josh and Laura created this embroidery together for me as part of my Mother’s day gift. They also treated me to an ornament and tea towel commemorating the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee. We enjoy so much about Great Britain and remember fondly traveling together in England back in 2013!

A meal out with our daughter and her hubby was another special treat and this lamb shank was a delicious surprise to see on the menu.

We drove back home on Monday morning and it was a rain free event until we entered Spokane, on our last stretch home. We stopped at our Eastside kids’ home to deliver gifts and greetings and were happy for sweet hugs and time with our grands. Home again we get busy with laundry and the need to mow the lawns!

Back to the Sunday service we attended at Canyon Hills Community Church in Bothell, Washington. Dr. Nicholas Ellen from Houston, Texas was the guest preacher for this Sunday. His sermon was titled The Premise and Process of Trusting God. I’m sharing the link.

Some quotes from the sermon that I wrote down…

“The God of reality is bigger than the God of your imagination.”

“Stand Under so one day you will Under Stand”

You Can Obey God ~ some hindrances…

  1. Lack of knowledge
  2. Lack of skill
  3. Lack of will

Don’t be strong and wrong!

God has called us to the process. We need to follow God’s direction. He gives promises and in those promises we need to follow the process He provides.

May is ticking away at full speed. We are enjoying all the color that Spring brings.

A Bright Hodgepodge

It’s time again for Wednesday Hodgepodge. Thank you Jo From This Side of the Pond for asking the questions.

1. What do you never get tired of? 

A beautiful sunny and puffy cloud filled day.

2. My mother made the best ________________________________. 

So many things that she made were the best but I’ll choose her blintzes.

You can see our mom’s recipe and process that we learned and copied here.

3. What machine or appliance in your home aggravates you the most? Why? 

If my machines and appliances are working I’m happy for that!  That said, the oven we have in this home has a loud fan that is annoying. That is something new that we haven’t experienced with other ovens we’ve had in other homes.

4. What are three things that brighten up your day when they happen? 

An unexpected card or letter in the mail always brightens my day. A surprise visit from our kids. A photo messaged to us of our grandchildren.

5. Thursday (May 12) is National Limerick Day…write a limerick about relating to spring weather, spring blooms, or a spring event (five lines, the first two lines rhyme with the fifth line, the third and fourth lines rhyme together)

May brings with it much to discover
With growth and color to uncover
But do not neglect
and do not forget
To love and honor your Mother

and here’s another one that’s a life lesson and not just Spring related…

There is an old Book that is treasured
With worth and wisdom unmeasured
Stick to it’s truth
And value it’s worth
Or your life will be tragically severed

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

It was so good to catch up with family and friends on the Westside of the mountains over Mother’s Day weekend.