Open House in April

We had a very busy weekend and full to the brim Sunday.

Back in the end of 2021 we invited several folk from our church to come over for a Happy New Year get together on January 3rd of 2022. We had to cancel that event because of snow and icy conditions with a promise to reschedule when our front area would be safe for walking without anyone breaking a hip on the ice! Well that day finally arrived and we rescheduled the event for April 3rd!

Twenty Five folk from our church stopped by after church for food and fellowship. It was a houseful with all possible seats filled in three different rooms. The food was enjoyed and I forgot to take one photo of the spread! We had pulled pork sliders, coleslaw (Kathy’s recipe without mayo that you should try, delicious), Vinegret (Russian Beet Salad), baked beans, and Applesauce Spice cupcakes for dessert. Some folk went back through the buffet line for thirds so we knew the food tasted just fine.

Everyone left by 3pm and then our kids and grands came over for leftovers at 5:30. We prayed that our food would be enough to feed all and it did with lots to spare. Thank you Lord.

Not expected at all but fun to receive these hostess/host gifts from some of the folk who came.

From sweet Diana, my trusty helper in the church kitchen.

From Gene and Marilyn, a newer couple who moved to Colville from Southern California.

Soup cozies for Dear and me.

From Gordon and Christine long time residents of Colville who host our Monday evening Bible Study.

A good day with a promise kept.

Happy first full week in April everyone!

Fun With Gnomes

With the help of my daughter we finished this huge puzzle Saturday the 19th of March. I started it well before and worked on it for a couple of weeks. It was good to have the help of Katie at the end. It was challenging but fun. I like this scene and the shades of blue and green.

Forest Gnomes by Jeff Tift. Item no. 36510

Me and my puzzler.

Oh…the weather outside has been lovely. We even pulled out a couple patio chairs to soak up some vitamin D.

We have a busy week and weekend ahead. How is life where you are?

All Good Things

What fun it was to open up these gifts to me from our kids. It will be fun to add our family favorite in this new recipe journal.

It’s hard to see but there is a line to write down the speaker, the date, the message title and then lines at the bottom to add scripture verses that were referenced in the sermon. I’m looking forward to using this. Our DIL bought it from Target online.

I love the theme of these next gifts and am excited to hear England is totally open to international travelers without any restrictions!

I’ve been enjoying my morning cuppa in this beauty!

The snow has mostly disappeared with our warming temperatures this week. We have even been able to get out and do some clean-up in most of our planters. It feels good to look out the windows and see that job accomplished. Speaking of windows our window cleaner guy called and we are booked for clean windows on this coming Tuesday. We have a quiet weekend coming up before we move into busy weekends in April.

Thankful to God for the love shown to me and for the ability to do yardwork.

It’s been so good to be in a study of the book of Isaiah as we approach Easter.

Hope all is well in your corner!

Friday Smiles

When we were in Spokane on Monday we picked up a couple bunches of daffodils at Trader Joe’s. We enjoyed them on our table on Tuesday night at an early St. Patrick’s day dinner. Photo fail again as I didn’t take a photo of the St. Patty’s Day table I set.

Daffodils are such a happy flower. They make me smile. Another thing that is making me smile is that the snow is melting and it’s such an easy walk to the garage now. Watching the birds is making us smile, too. Photos coming soon.

Speaking of smiling, today our kids are arriving for the weekend and we have a special 5 year old to celebrate so I will be scarce on the internet. Hope you all have a great weekend and you find something to make you smile.

The Birds Are Back

Bay Breasted Warbler

Watching the birds makes me realize how much our windows need a good Spring cleaning!

Happy 11th Anniversary to our daughter and son-in-law! God bless you with many more!

Looking forward to this weekend. Do you have plans on this Spring forward time change weekend?

Winter Puzzle Finale

This will be the last puzzle I complete this Winter.

This one has oversized pieces which makes it a lot easier than the last one.

Spring is coming and there will be projects starting around our country bungalow!

Sunset last night. When driving through town last evening we were so surprised to see that gas prices have gone up over a dollar here in one weeks time. Yikes.

Time to work on our schedules to make our drives into town worth it.

Emerging Slowly

We are having daytime temperatures above freezing so some of our yard art and rocks are becoming visible.

Our sea glass float is just popping out of it’s snow blanket.

There is our gentle shepherd planter poking up his head.

Two out of the three bunnies are enjoying the sun on their faces.

The other things that are being revealed are the plants that need some trimming.

Soon enough more needed gardening will be revealed. I’ll just consider that work and enjoy the winter rest from it for a few more weeks. A little less than 2 more weeks before it is officially Spring.

Hope you have a good week ahead!

February Family Fun

Thank you to Auntie Lolo for most of these photos that capture the love we have of being together!

Auntie Lolo has been in our neck of the woods since Valentine’s day.

Our Grands are not afraid of the ‘elements’, embracing the outdoors in all kinds of weather.

Still enjoying the Igloo that daddy built for them.

Uncle Joshie arrived for the long weekend!

We celebrated Uncles arrival with Swedish Pancakes for breakfast!

Even though he was full already, Uncle Joshie bit into the huge sandwich Addy and JJ made for him from their Deli stand.

Craft time commenced…

Me and my buddy.

Fun times with these cheerio books.

Planning what to plant in the garden. Our daughter-in-law asked each of us to choose something we’d like her to plant in the garden this year. I think Uncle Joshie picked a variety of pepper, JJ wants watermelon.

Our beautiful gardening daughter-in-law and our grands.

The guys soaking up some more time together in the office before Josh flew home on Monday evening.

Good times packed to the gills!

There is no Wednesday Hodgepodge this week because Jo From This Side of the Pond is soaking up some family time, too!

What would you like grown in a garden?

My Latest Jigsaw Puzzle

This is another tough one but a good challenge.

Little by little, inch by inch…

I retreat to the living room away from the TV and turn on some worship CD’s on low and plug away at the challenge of this puzzle. The scene is perfect for this time of year and what I can see outside our windows.

On Thursday evening we had our daughters-in-law and the grands over. We enjoyed dinner together. We tried a new recipe for a pork loin that was cooked on a bed of sauerkraut, apples and brown sugar. Yummy. I didn’t take any photos of the meal. Auntie Lolo is visiting. I’ll be sharing lots of her great photos.

Happy Friday everyone.