Category Archives: Our Country Bungalow

Goodbye to March

A month to climb and hide in trees.

A month where birds return and greet the morning with song.

A month to wrap up homeschool projects.

A month to try new things…

Sweet Tamarind was a thumbs up. Don’t swallow the seeds.

Red cactus pear was a thumbs down.

Trees are blossoming at Josh and Laura’s.

We are still waiting here on the northeastern edge of Washington State to see blossoms and blooms. The daffodils are just shooting up out of the ground. No yellow blooms quite yet.

What’s blooming in your neck of the woods?

It’s No Mystery…

…we love her to pieces!

On Saturday we gathered to celebrate Addy turning eight. She requested a Hardy Boys Mystery Themed party. We were each given a character from the books to be on this day. Wigs, scarves, and other costume choices were made.

Mr. Hardy, Mrs. Hardy, Frank, Joe, Iola, Calli, Belinda, Biff, Ethel, Chief Collig, were all present and accounted for. A few more characters were due to arrive.

Eight is Great!

Mysteries were solved and clues were followed. Which shoe made what print?

I’m sorry I didn’t take a photo of the 3×5 treasure hunt clues we found all over the house that Addy’s dad wrote out for us to follow to find the treasure!

When all the characters arrived, we enjoyed baked potatoes with many toppings for lunch.

Orange Creme soda and root beer right out of a bottle will be a fun memory.

After lunch it was time for presents before we enjoyed the cake.

It’s getting easier each year for Addy to read the cards on her own.

The last present to open was her new scooter and she was thrilled! Uncle Andrew, the aeronautical engineer, was given the task to put it together!

Time for Cake!

 

The cake was another masterpiece by Addy’s mom. It was a delicious S’mores cake!

When you are eight, you get to light the candle on the cake!

 

Another great birthday celebration in the books.

And for the record this wasn’t the only celebration on this day. After Addy’s party was done, we gathered again at Gramps and Baba’s for a Chinese themed dinner of Hot and Sour Soup (homemade). Our kids put this meal together while Baba watched a movie with Addy and JJ. We gather the moments when our kids from the Westside are in town! After dinner we introduced SKYJO to everyone.

Our family highly recommends this game and it can entertain a wide range of ages! Tested at our home for 8 year olds and up!

On Sunday we all gathered at church for the early service and we were surprised with a special number by Addy on the piano. Our country church includes from time to time special numbers that anyone from the congregation can share with the church. Addy chose to play It is Well with My Soul as a special gift for me. Yes, there were tears.

Thank you, Addy. Baba loves you and is so happy that you love Jesus. Baba and Gramps pray that you will grow closer and closer to Our LORD and Savior, Jesus Christ each new year of your life.

Because of Jesus, It is Well With My Soul.

Snow Fun

We finally got enough snow for our Grands to enjoy sledding on their driveway.

JJ told me he learned how to turn the sled, too.

Meanwhile at our Country Bungalow we enjoy the views from inside.

We try to figure out what animals are leaving what tracks in the snow.

When our kids come to our place they pull around on our drive before they park by the front door. This next photo shows the fun result their truck tires made. This is what I see from our office window.

Double hearts!

Are you enjoying a winter wonderland?

A Love-ly Recap

On Valentine’s day we had a surprise delivery of flowers from Josh and Laura. It was unexpected. We were thankful for the thoughtful gift. Addy and JJ came over in the afternoon for a movie and dinner while their folks enjoyed some time on their own. We watched Milo and Otis and then enjoyed tacos for dinner. JJ made guacamole out of the one avocado we had on hand. Ice Cream Cones for dessert and then we had some story time and just got started watching Davy Crockett and their folks came to pick them up.

Earlier in the day these photos were texted to the family.

Sending love across the miles!

Before Valentine’s day Katie and Laura met up for nail day getting ready with just the right color for Valentine’s day.

We are grateful for technology that allows us to see and enjoy what our loved ones are doing miles away and closer to home!

We had a nice dump of snow on Sunday. We couldn’t see our mountains and hills on the way to church.

After church the Grands had fun in the snow.

Don’t shake those limbs!

A targeted snow shower.

My Monday and Tuesday will be full of activity from morning to night as our church is having a Going Away plus 10 Year celebration for our Youth Pastor’s Family. I’m overseeing the food preparations for that event. My computer/blog time will be scarce over the next couple of days.

Happy President’s Day if you live in the states and if you live in Canada, Happy Family Day.

Valentine’s Day 2025

Hope you are having a lovely Friday and Valentine’s Day. This is my catch-up post for this past week and the month of February so far with photos I’ve taken and photos that were sent to me. Trader Joe’s tulips were too pretty to pass up last Friday and after pulling my Valentine’s Day bin down I found the sparkly hearts to add to the bouquet.

When we were at Costco a couple trips ago the adidas warm-up sets were $10 and a set in size 6 made it into our cart. JJ is growing right on schedule into size 6!

Basketball is going on this winter and Baba finally made it to a practice.

My sister and her hubby flew into Seattle to surprise a close friend who was turning 50 and they had a bonus visit with our West side kids. Makes me happy to see them all together. They had a great time and sent us photos to prove it!

The first puzzles of 2025 got started and finished in the last couple of weeks.

JJ and I finished this glow in the dark puzzle during our Monday afternoon time. Later when it got dark we checked to see if it was glowing and it was. Woohoo!

This farm seasons quilt puzzle was a fun one to do. I finished it earlier this week.

A few close-ups showing the 4 seasons.

Addy and JJ went to a birthday party at Flying Squirrel in Spokane a couple weeks ago and we were sent these photos.

Tonight Addy and JJ are being dropped off at Gramps and Baba’s for dinner and a movie. Their parents are going to have some uninterrupted time together for a few hours.

Happy Valentine’s Day everyone. May love fill your hearts and minds and actions!

Snow and Winter Cleaning

We are finally getting a few inches of snow here in Colville. It was a great day to stay inside.  The inspiration came to do a deep cleaning of the kitchen cabinets, trim and the ledge that runs around the upper part of our kitchen filled with tchotchkes.

It is a very good feeling to have all the dust bunnies and the grime cleaned. I’m ready for a white glove inspection.

Spring will take us outdoors to take care of things we didn’t do in the fall so winter indoor cleaning will work nicely for us this year.

Welcome February!

Surprise!

We had the very best surprise this past Saturday the 18th of January. We had a meal cooking for a celebration of Jamie and Dan’s birthdays that were on Wednesday and Thursday of this past week. Dan, Jamie, Addy and JJ arrived a little after 4:30 for our meal together. About 5 minutes after they arrived and we were pulling the roast out of the oven for our meal the doorbell started ringing and we heard the front door open with shouts of surprise from Josh and Laura! They decided to hop in their car and drive over to Colville to join our dinner and celebration without letting any of us know. It truly was such a wonderful surprise. I had to add a name to our birthday sign…

Josh’s birthday was on Sunday. What a joy to celebrate all three of our January birthdays together.

JJ was so happy to have his Uncle Joshie  and Auntie Lolo in the house! His excitement was evident as he chattered throughout our meal together.

Our beautiful daughters in law.

This event called for confetti!

 

Being introduced to chess.

On Sunday we all met up at church and were encouraged with a powerful worship time with music and sermon. We enjoyed lunch together at our newest restaurant in town and then spent the rest of Sunday on Bayles Mountain.

There was exercise time outside and games inside.

 

The age of missing your front teeth…and the joy of reading in your fort with uncle.

A starry night with planets visible was the grand finale for Sunday.

On Monday morning before Josh and Laura drove back over the mountains for home we watched some of the Inauguration together. It was good to share this historic event with them.

Thank you, Josh and Laura, for your epic surprise! We all loved every minute of being together!

A Winter Walk

On Saturday the 28th of December our kids and grands started the day off with a nice walk along the Rotary Trail in Colville. Andrew and Katie left for home right after the walk but Josh and Laura hung around for a few more hours before heading back west.

The resident eagles still grace the tops of the power poles.

She didn’t get those two front teeth for Christmas!

Thank you, Laura, for all these wonderful photos!

After the kids left I pulled out one more puzzle with a Christmas Carol theme and was able to finish it before the New Year rolled around. This one wasn’t tough and was fun to complete.

2025 has started quietly for us at our country bungalow.  On New Year’s day I made Eggnog pancakes with a Vanilla sauce that we enjoyed on that day and then we had enough left over batter and sauce to repeat that breakfast on Thursday. The recipe was good and you can find it here. I chose this recipe because we had a lot of left over eggnog.

On Thursday we pulled down all the Christmas bins so we could put Christmas away but then we got side tracked in the kitchen re-organizing several of our cupboards and our pantry. Our garage sale/donation pile is getting larger and larger! Several very outdated items got thrown out, too. Friday (today) will be put away Christmas day.

Enjoy your first weekend of 2025.

The Last Week

On Mondays we have a set date with our grandson JJ. He gets dropped off for a visit with Baba and Gramps while his mommy takes Addy to her Irish Dance Class. Last Monday I snapped some photos of him.

On Tuesday we had lunch at the newest restaurant in Colville, El Patron. It took many months to open and we were happy to see that it finally did open. It passed our salsa test and our taste test, too. We will return.

On Halloween our bunny family got ready for the Harvest Festival Trunk or Treat at our church and then they came out to our place to get their treats.

 

Knowing they’d have a big bag of candy already from the Harvest Festival we had some fruit snacks, goldfish crackers, and a bag of change for their treat. Gramps cleaned out one of his piggy banks and they each got quarters, dimes and nickels.

Addy got busy counting out her cash!

On Friday there was something that I ate that turned my insides out and I suffered with nausea through the night and all day Saturday. I was happy to wake up on Sunday feeling like a new person with the nausea gone. It was good to be able to attend our Sunday church services and our Connection group on Sunday afternoon. I was so thankful to feel better.

Now we face the challenge of the Time change and adjusting our sleep back to a normal wake up time.

Today we are looking forward to our Monday date with this little guy.

Grace and peace to all of you as we face this new week.