Leftovers

No Hodgepodge this week so I’m serving leftovers from our March Spring Birthday Weekend!

Sister teaching older brother how Wordle works.

After Addy’s birthday party and naps everyone gathered at our place for a Shepherd’s Pie meal. Addy came dressed as British royalty for the meal.

Brothers and Grands learning how to catch a Unicorn.

On Sunday after church we had our final gathering before Andrew and Katie hit the road and Josh and Laura flew home.

Uncle Andrew is a fun Uncle, Funcle.

Sunday the 20th of March was a perfect first day of Spring.

Another weekend packed with memories. Soon we’ll gather again to celebrate JJ and Andrew, our April birthday boys!

Big Steps

This little guy made a big step in the month of March. He joined his big sister at the weekly trusted homeschool co-op that Addy has been part of since last year.

Getting dropped off together they go boldly ahead with no looking back, no hesitation.

JJ has entered a new phase both for Co-op and for Sunday School. “No cry” he told me. He goes in willingly and enjoys himself.

We are so thankful for this step and the growth that each one of them is experiencing. Thankful we can trust the content of what they are learning, too.

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?

It is a Thing Most Wonderful ~ Hymn

It is a Thing Most Wonderful

It is a thing most wonderful,
Almost too wonderful to be,
That God’s own Son should come from Heav’n,
And die to save a child like me.

And yet I know that it is true;
He chose a poor and humble lot,
And wept, and toiled, and mourned, and died,
For love of those who loved Him not.

I cannot tell how He could love
A child so weak and full of sin;
His love must be most wonderful,
If He could die my love to win.

I sometimes think about the cross,
And shut my eyes, and try to see
The cruel nails and crown of thorns,
And Jesus crucified for me.

But even could I see Him die,
I could but see a little part
Of that great love, which, like a fire,
Is always burning in His heart.

It is most wonderful to know
His love for me so free and sure;
But ’tis more wonderful to see
My love for Him so faint and poor.

And yet I want to love Thee, Lord;
Oh, light the flame within my heart,
And I will love Thee more and more,
Until I see Thee as Thou art.

Words: William W. How, 1872.

Sweet and Salty Snack

This sweet and salty snack is hard to resist. The ingredients are few and the method is simple. This is also a Gluten Free recipe depending on the corn chips you purchase.

1 cup sugar
1 cup light corn syrup
1 cup peanut butter
1 package of corn chips (10-1/2 oz.)

Prepare a 15 x 10 sheet pan lightly greasing it. Distribute the corn chips evenly in the pan.
In a medium sized pot cook the sugar and corn syrup until it bubbles and the sugar is completely dissolved. Take pot off stove top and blend in the peanut butter. Pour the blended sugar, corn syrup, peanut butter mixture over the corn chips evenly. Let it cool and enjoy!

Best enjoyed soon after making it.

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!

Truth for Today #12

Thursday March 24

On Thursdays my posts will include verses that stood out in my readings from the Bible during the week. One, two, three or maybe more. If you have a verse/verses that you read during the week and would like share, leave it/them in the comments and I will add it/them to the post. Let’s dig deep in God’s Truth this year!

Psalm 68:1-3

“Let God arise, let His enemies be scattered; and let those who hate Him flee before him. As smoke is driven away, so drive them away; as wax melts before the fire, so let the wicked perish before God. But let the righteous be glad; let them exult before God; yes, let them rejoice with gladness”

From Vera:

‭‭Colossians‬ ‭2:13-14‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.”

From Cheryl:-14

She’s sharing these verses from Romans 8:

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
As it is written:
“For Your sake we are killed all day long;
We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.”
Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.
For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

From Maristella:

Hebrews 13:8

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

Philippians 2 :14-16a

Do everything without grumbling or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, “children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation”. Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky as you hold firmly to the word of life.‭‭

From Leonard:

1 Corinthians 16:13-14

“Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be courageous; be strong. Do everything in love.”

Taking Time for the Hodgepodge

This past weekend we celebrated Addy’s 5th birthday on Saturday and my belated birthday on Sunday since our whole family was together. Addy loaned me her birthday crown for my celebration. She’s wearing her queenly outfit that her Granny bought her for her birthday. Her favorite color right now is yellow.

Jo From This Side of the Pond has some timely questions for the Hodgpodge this week. Click over to join in the fun.

1. What’s something you never seem to have enough time for? 

Being retired, I have a lot of time to do a lot of things. It’s a lie that convinces me I don’t have time. It’s an excuse. Getting my heart behind something I need to do is the struggle. The thing that is the biggest struggle for me is consistency with exercise. I should be getting my heart rate up everyday with a 30 minute cardio workout. That ‘not enough time’ excuse is really time I wasted away doing something else that isn’t as important.

I’ve done a simple exercise in the past to show just how much I can accomplish in 15-20 minutes time. Set a timer for 15 or 20 minutes and get after a task you have been putting off. You’ll be amazed at how much you can accomplish in that time. Do that once an hour for 8 hours in a day and you’ll really be impressed with your accomplishments.

2. If you could turn back time and relive just one day in your life, which day would you choose and why? 

Truthfully I wouldn’t want to relive any day just as it was. I’d want to go back with what I know now and improve on the day by being totally there, relaxed, aware of what was going on around me, engaged and content.

3. Something you enjoy making that takes a long time to prepare/cook? 

Blintzes or what some call crepes. First we make the blintzes and then we fill them, roll them with either savory or sweet fillings and bake them to enjoy, with a crowd.

You can see the process and recipe by clicking here.

4. A time recently where you needed/gave yourself a ‘time out’? How do you do that? 

I give myself a ‘time out’ at least once a week. I choose a day that is event free and stay in my robe for most of the morning. When there isn’t a scheduled event in a day it is a most relaxing day for me even if I end up doing a project or two or three with no time limits or deadlines.

5. Something you’ve done recently that you’d describe as a ‘good time’? 

This past weekend all of our kids were together and that’s always a good time. We ate together, partied together, went to church together, listened to each other commiserating with one another, laughed together, and prayed everyone back home safely.

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

Our dear granddaughter Addy turned 5 this past weekend and we celebrated her with a wonderful Tea Party that her mom put together.

Addy’s mommy made the cake and in the next photo you’ll see the teapot pinata she made with Addy getting the first blows in to try and break it open for all the treats that were inside!

Full Tea Party post is here.

Happy Hodgepodge everyone. Thank you for taking the time to stop by and scroll through my post. I appreciate it!

 

Miss Addy’s Tea Party!

We enter Addy’s 5th Birthday Tea Party. Addy requested a Tea Party Theme and her Mama delivered big time!

I’ll mention it now that this post has an extraordinary amount of photos.

 

The Birthday girl’s brother hiding under the gift table.

Auntie Katie arrived to help with the party preparations. She was in charge of the balloons for the photo op!

Aren’t these the cutest paper tea cups and saucers?!

Jamie baked and decorated this amazing cake with layers of different flavors. Addy’s favorite color right now is yellow and she wanted yellow and pink at the party.

This is the teapot piñata (/pɪnˈjɑːtə/) that Jamie constructed. It is filled with treats that will be released once it is broken with a stick or bat. 

Peanut butter and jelly mini sandwiches, rolled tortilla cheese and lunchmeat bites, bagel bites, cucumber sandwich bites, egg salad sandwich bites.

I loved this idea of bacon, lettuce and tomato bites with small cut out slices of bread.

 

West Coast Chicken Salad Croissant sandwiches, veggie cups and fruit cups.

Look closely and you’ll see that the strawberries have pretzel tea cup handles on them!

The birthday girl and friends table.

First we had our savory course.

After savories it was time to break the piñata open. No blindfolds for this age group.

The break open moment caught by Laura with her phone!

Time for cake and sweets!

Dan made the macarons! The lemon macarons were incredible!

Have you seen this Safari book? The animals featured are in motion. Photicular.

I wish I would have gotten a photo of the three pretty dresses that Addy will be able to twirl in from Uncle Josh and Auntie Lolo. The musical jewelry box was also a hit.

 

After the party was over and most guests had left mom and dad remembered they forgot to give Addy the present they bought for her. So much going on…

She was happy to have a new bike that is a better size for her.

Happy 5th birthday Addy. Baba and Gramps love you and we thank our God that you are surrounded by family and friends who love you, too. You are a quick learner and eager to help. We are thankful for all your learning experiences at Homeschool and Homeschool Co-op, Awana, Children’s church, Piano lessons. We pray that God will continue to ‘bless you and keep you, be gracious to you and make His face to shine upon you and give you peace.’ 

Birthdays and Spring!

A beautiful first day of Spring in our neck of the woods after the early morning fog burned off making the glorious blue skies visible. We had a full family weekend. Our west coast kids arrived on Friday night. Addy’s 5th birthday party was on Saturday. A wonderful Tea Party theme. On Sunday after church our kids put together a brunch to celebrate my birthday which was last Monday. Our west coast kids traveled back home on Sunday. I’ll be posting all about our times together as soon as the internets allow me to upload all the photos. Things are very slow going right now.

Our snow is almost gone. The clean up list is getting long. Happy Spring Everyone!