Tag Archives: Family

Aren’t They Cute?

 

Our drive to and home from the funeral on Saturday was quite treacherous at times with rain squalls that turned the freeways into rivers. We saw a few cars that had hydroplaned and ended up in the medians or in accidents with other vehicles.

 

But we made it there and home again just fine and it was worth it to see these cuties, my mom and dad.

 

Here are the song sheets from the funeral with the same songs in Russian and English side by side.

 

A closer look at the same song here in English and below in Russian…

 

I was pleased that I understood most of the Russian message at the funeral service. The English message delivered by my brother Steve was challenging…

Welcome to my bi-lingual world…

Some of you asked if Dear is Russian and the answer is no. He took Russian in college and he can read Russian. He sang with our Russian choir when we were dating. Dear is half Swedish and half English, Welsh and Cherokee. :0)

Photobucket is holding all my photos I stored with them from 2007-2015 hostage unless I pay them a lot of money. I’m slowly cleaning up many posts from this time period and deleting their ugly grey and black boxes with a ransom request. Such a time consuming bother.

Friday’s Fave Five ~

Time flies when you’re old having fun. Here it is Friday already and it’s time to list our favorites from this past week. Visit Susanne from Living to Tell the Story to join in on the fun.

 

1. We had two good walks on the weekend. Our first walk was to the Farmer’s Market on Saturday morning while it was drizzling. Then on Sunday we walked to our usual Mexican Restaurant for lunch. We were feeling oh so European.

2. On Saturday my brother Tim and his wife Letty came over for most of the day and we had a special birthday dinner for Tim. We served barbecued Rib Eye Steak, roasted fingerling potatoes, mushrooms sauteed with onions with a cream and white wine reduction, and a salad with persian dressing. For dessert we had a limoncello cream cake. From some of those descriptions can you tell I watch Top Chef? Anything is fancy if you put the right description with it :0)

3. We’ve experienced some “weather” here in Southern California and it was nice to have rain and big fluffy clouds around. Now we are in another Santana Wind pattern which warms things up considerably. Willow and I had quite a windy walk on Thursday.

4. Every couple of months my mom and dad have the “girls” over for dinner. This past Tuesday my sisters, my SIL’s, and my nieces along with grand nephew Jackson met at mom and pop’s for dinner. It’s always so much fun to get together. We laugh a lot.

5. One more of my favorites was to meet up with my bloggy friend Cori face to face for the first time this past Tuesday.

To read more Fave Fives visit Susanne at Living to Tell the Story.

Photobucket is holding all my photos I stored with them from 2007-2015 hostage unless I pay them a lot of money. I’m slowly cleaning up many posts from this time period and deleting their ugly grey and black boxes with a ransom request. Such a time consuming bother.

The Beach at Dawn

Welcome to the 2nd Outdoor Wednesday hosted by Susan at A Southern Daydreamer. This past weekend Dear and I spent a lot of time on several different beaches in California. These dawn photos are taken at Emma Wood State Beach in Ventura, California on Saturday morning.

Being walkers with the dawn and morning,

Walkers with the sun and morning,

We are not afraid of night,

Nor days of gloom,

Nor darkness–

Being walkers with the sun and morning.

– Langston Hughes

Visit Susan at A Southern Daydreamer to view more Outdoor Wednesday posts.

Photobucket is holding all my photos I stored with them from 2007-2015 hostage unless I pay them a lot of money. I’m slowly cleaning up many posts from this time period and deleting their ugly grey and black boxes with a ransom request. Such a time consuming bother.

Happy Birthday Josh!

Our first born son Josh turns the big 3-0 today! Happy birthday to you, Josh. We are so thankful to God that he has blessed you with the perfect wife in Laura. Your love for people has always been such a blessing in our family’s life. God is good to you and we thank Him for that. We are amazed that 30 years have flown by so quickly. May God continue to richly bless you and Laura all the days of your life.

Okay, since I did a delivery story for Dan I’ll add one for you, too. You were a little late in deciding to enter the world so you put on a few pounds. In the delivery room while I pushed the nurse had to push down just below my diaphram to help you exit into the world. Considering your size it was amazing that it only took 30 minutes of pushing to have you out and breathing air! When they weighed you and announced you were 10 pounds we were all amazed. What joy we had and what a spiritual moment it was when we experienced the miracle of birth for the first time.

Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007 to 2015 hostage and has replaced them all with ugly black and grey boxes asking for a ransom to have them re-published. Such a frustrating bother as I go through each post to delete the ugly boxes.

Metamorphosis Monday

Welcome to Metamorphosis Monday hosted by Susan at Between Naps on the Porch. I really think this is going to be fun. I’m in different stages of metamorphosing some things so for today I’m digging one up from the past. Now don’t be too shocked when you see the “before” shot.

My daughter’s room before…

My daughter’s room after I helped her clean up (What a nice mommy, I am)

Now all we have to do is re-decorate!!

For more transformations visit Susan at Between Naps on the Porch.

Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007 to 2015 hostage and has replaced them all with ugly black and grey boxes asking for a ransom to have them re-published. Such a frustrating bother as I go through each post to delete the ugly boxes.

Happy Birthday Dan!

Happy Birthday to our son Dan. Dan was born 28 years ago today, on a Friday, at 12:30 in the afternoon. We barely made it into the delivery room and were just inside the doorway when he had to be caught. The nurses just didn’t believe how fast I tend to dilate from 5 to crowning. It’s fast people.  This wasn’t the first doctor I shocked. (JUDITH!!) Daniel’s doctor was so upset that the nurses didn’t call him on time that he hit the hospital floor yelling and cussing at them. When he continued his diatribe through the very quick delivery and with Daniel on my tummy, Dear leaned over, covered Daniel’s ears, and said “Don’t listen to him”. I thought that was so great on Dear’s part and it made the doctor finally shut up!

Our son Dan is a hard working strong man who can make us all laugh with his wit at the most unsuspecting times. We love you Dan!

Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007 to 2015 hostage and has replaced them all with ugly black and grey boxes asking for a ransom to have them re-published. Such a frustrating bother as I go through each post to delete the ugly boxes.

Three or More Thursday

Tam at The Gypsy’s Corner is the hostess for Three or More Thursday and I’m joining in for the first time this week.

 

Our two daughters (DIL Laura, and Katie) with my mother, their grandmother.

 

Our two sons with my father, their grandfather.

This is my first entry for Three or More Thursday hosted by Tam at The Gypsy’s Corner.

Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007 to 2015 hostage and has replaced them all with ugly black and grey boxes asking for a ransom to have them re-published. Such a frustrating bother as I go through each post to delete the ugly boxes.

ABC Wednesday ~ The Los Angeles Zoo

Welcome to ABC Wednesday. We are on the letter Z. Yikes, the end of the Alphabet.

What fun I had meeting my brother, his wife, little Hope, my niece Michelle and her son, Jackson at the Los Angeles Zoo the week of Christmas!

 

My brother was here with his family from Dallas to celebrate Christmas with all of us. Hope will be 1 in January. What a joy to spend time with them all.

 

My niece Michelle and her son Jackson live in the L.A. area and they joined us for the fun.

 

It was a nice cool day at the Zoo and the animals were out and about. The bird is a Kookabura. We were singing the Kookabura song for quite a while after we saw this beauty. But since we are on the letter Z, this song would be more appropriate…

Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah

Zip a dee doo-dah, zip a dee ay
My, oh my, what a wonderful day.
Plenty of sunshine headed my way.
Zip a dee doo-dah, zip a dee ay

Mister bluebird on my shoulder
It’s the truth, it’s actual.
Everything is satisfactual.

Zip a dee doo-dah, zip a dee ay
Wonderful feelin’.
Wonderful day.

Lyrics by Ray Gilbert and Allie Wrubel.

 

 

Since we are on the letter Z, I couldn’t ignore the Zebras!

 

This photo is of my brother Leonard and me pushing the strollers at the zoo.

For more ABC Wednesday posts on the Letter Z visit the ABC Blog.

Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007 to 2015 hostage and has replaced them all with ugly black and grey boxes asking for a ransom to have them re-published. Such a frustrating bother as I go through each post to delete the ugly boxes.

Blue Monday ~ Gifts From My Sons…

Welcome to Blue Monday hosted by Smiling Sally from Florida. Each Monday we’re invited to post something blue to share. Click over to Sally’s to see more blue or to join in with something blue on your blog.

 

Both of my sons gave me blue gifts this Christmas. My 2nd born son Dan gave me that soft Adidas warm up jacket that I’ve enjoyed wearing already. The Soccer jersey from my firstborn Josh and his wife Laura is an away jersey for our very own Seattle Sounders FC. This year is the first year Seattle has a MLS Soccer team. Josh bought season tickets. My boys know their mom learned to love soccer after years of driving them to and watching them play at school and in special leagues. Soccer became my favorite sport to watch. You’ll catch me watching English league soccer during the week on cable. When World Cup Soccer comes around I try to catch every single game televised even if they are on at 4:00 a.m.  One sport I’m sure to watch during the Olympics is Soccer.

Thanks for visiting my Blue today and I hope you all have a great week.

Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007 to 2015 hostage and has replaced them all with ugly black and grey boxes asking for a ransom to have them re-published. Such a frustrating bother as I go through each post to delete the ugly boxes.

Pink Saturday ~ L.A. Zoo

Welcome to another round of Pink Saturday hosted by Beverly at How Sweet the Sound.

 

The week before Christmas I met my brother, SIL, young niece, older niece, and grand nephew at the Los Angeles Zoo. Our very first stop was to have a look at the Pink Flamingos. Leonard and Mandy were giving me a hard time and as soon as we spotted the Pink Flamingos they said “Oh perfect for Pink Saturday”. After this stop we were off to see the other animals in the Zoo. My full Zoo post will be for ABC Wednesday next week since we are on Z. Yep they had to kid me about that one, too.

 

This is my brother Leonard with his daughter Hope who turns 1 this month and me and my grandnephew Jackson who just turned 4 in November. He’s holding the map and helping us navigate. Mandy, Hope’s mother and Michelle, Jackson’s mom were ahead of us and Michelle took this photo.

For more Pink Saturday Posts go click away at Beverly’s!

Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007 to 2015 hostage and has replaced them all with ugly black and grey boxes asking for a ransom to have them re-published. Such a frustrating bother as I go through each post to delete the ugly boxes.