Tag Archives: Family

Snow at My House in Washington!!

 

My daughter sent me these photos that she took at our house in Washington State today! She measured the snow at 3 inches and said it is coming down steadily…

 

This is the view from our front door looking at our neighbors homes.

 

 

Views looking out to our deck and garage.

 

My kids are staying put at home today. I hope they have a good stash of food to eat :0)

We even got snow in our Southern California Mountains and in some lower elevations.

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.

2008 Christmas Tour of Homes

It’s time for Boo Mama’s 2008 Tour of Homes. You can travel all over the world and see homes all decked out for the most wonderful time of the year.

A very warm welcome to you from ellen b.  in Washington State and Southern California.

The tree above is our first annual Mystery Tree. I started a new tradition last year. I walk into Home Depot look at all the tied and wrapped trees, pick one without unwrappping it, bring it home all wrapped up, and surprise our Mystery tree is unveiled and we can laugh or cry at what we ended up with. Actually it’s quite fun to pick a tree this way. Good way to lighten up during the season…

 

Like many of your homes Jesus is at the center of our Christmas celebrations and Joy! This is what you’ll see at our entry in Washington.

 

And this is from our condo  in Southern California.

 

Let me serve you a festive drink and some chocolates and let’s start our tour before I serve dinner. These chocolates are the easiest things in the world to make. Just melt 1 bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips and 1 bag of butterscotch chips then throw in some pecans or walnuts or whatever nut you like, spoon them onto a parchment lined cookie sheet and let them cool and voila you have candy. I’m so darn sorry I forgot whose blog I saw these on. If you happen to visit here let me know if it was you and I’ll give you credit!!

 

Another collage of my little fake Christmas tree with lights that I bought for the condo from a local thrift store here in Camarillo, California. I’m usually in the State of Washington the whole month of December and only put up a tree there but this year is different and we’re not flying to Washington till Christmas day so we need something at the condo so people won’t think we are part of the Grinch family!

Now if you visit us in Washington I could serve you at this table.

 

Or from this Christmas table in Southern California.

 

Here is what I will be serving and what is part of our traditional Christmas Eve meal.

 

We’ll have a Rib Roast, Creamed Corn, something green, and Yorkshire Pudding. (Ok, it used to confuse me that they called Yorkshire Pudding pudding when it’s not pudding but a popover type bread that you bake using the hot drippings from the roast, I’m way over it now. You can make it in any pan but I bought this great popover pan that works great for them.)  After dinner we can sit by the fireplace and enjoy the tree with a cup of cocoa or coffee. If you stay for Christmas morning we’ll have those yummy Swedish Pancakes above that Dear makes for us every Christmas morning after we open our stocking gifts…

 

Now for some of the people God has put in our lives to share all the wonder of Christmas with…

 

I’d like to introduce you to our family. Our daughter Katie and DIL Laura. Our oldest son Josh with Dear. Our son Dan. Josh and his wife, our DIL, Laura. Another shot of our son Dan. Dan and Katie live in our home in Washington and take care of it while Dear and I are living in California. Josh and Laura live in Washington, too.

 

More shots of the family and extended family. The top left photo is of my sister Lana G! and I. She has a tour happening at her blog too, Above the Clouds . We have a great time blogging and tablescaping together. Dear, our daughter Katie, and me at Molbaks in front of the Poinsettia Christmas tree, Our girls…Katie and Laura, ellen b. and Dear at our 34th wedding anniversary celebration.

Thank you for taking my tour and meeting some of my family…

To see more tours click over to Boo Mama’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.

Happy Birthday Dear Laura!

 

We are so glad that God brought you into our lives. Josh is blessed to have you for his wife and we thank God for you! Praying God’s continued blessings on your life!

Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007-2015 hostage and demanding a ransom for me to access them. I’m slowly cleaning up many of my posts where PB have added ugly black and grey boxes where my photos used to be. So frustrating!

Tablescape Tuesday ~ Celebrations!

Before I dive into some old and new Christmas Tablescapes I have a couple fun tables from the long Thanksgiving Weekend. I’m at my home in the Seattle area instead of at the Condo in Southern California right now and we’ve had some fun celebrations with my kids and extended family. My brother and SIL from California have been here with us in Washington for Thanksgiving Weekend.

 

My SIL Letty is Mexican and she was cooking us a homemade Mexican meal so my sister Lana G! and my daughters decided to create an impromptu Mexican themed scape. We had a lot of good laughs creating this one. We went with the red, green, and white colors from the Mexican Flag. The cervesas were mandatory for a good Mexican scape according to my SIL Letty! The red and black center fabric on the table is actually one of my daughters skirts.

 

Here’s proof that people sometimes even sit and eat at my scaped tables :0)

 

My DIL Laura is celebrating a big birthday this next week and before our company and Dear and I left town we decided to do a birthday celebration on Sunday night. We went with a simple tablescape. I hadn’t made a turkey yet because we were invited to friends on Thanksgiving so I made the turkey and all the trimmings for Laura’s birthday dinner.

 

For those of you who were wondering if I’d ever get around to cooking while I was home here’s the proof. We enjoyed another meal around our table and for Laura’s birthday cake I made the Pumpkin Praline Trifle that I posted before on the blog.

It’s been wonderful to be with my adult children during my time in Washington. I’m here until Saturday the 6th of December and then I head back to California.

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

Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007-2015 hostage and demanding a ransom for me to access them. I’m slowly cleaning up many of my posts where PB have added ugly black and grey boxes where my photos used to be. So frustrating!

A Shopping We Will Go…

But before the ladies head out on their annual Day After Thanksgiving Trip to the Goodwill I wanted to post some photos from our Thanksgiving Day Festivities…

The Day started off with a beautiful Sunrise.

 

We joined the Spiro family and friends for the Thanksgiving meal.

 

The court jesters created another group game for everyone to enjoy.

We slept off the effects of the turkey and now we’re off and running to see what deals we can find and then we are headed to Madame Fifi’s for tea at 1:00. The fun just never stops. See you soon…

Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007-2015 hostage and demanding a ransom for me to access them. I’m slowly cleaning up many of my posts where PB have added ugly black and grey boxes where my photos used to be. So frustrating!

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

 

May God bless you with a peaceful gathering enjoying good food, friends and family! Count your blessings, name them one by one!!

Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007-2015 hostage and demanding a ransom for me to access them. I’m slowly cleaning up many of my posts where PB have added ugly black and grey boxes where my photos used to be. So frustrating!

Thankful in Washington…

 

What fun we had waiting together at the Long Beach Airport for our flight to Seattle. My brother Tim and his wife Letty, my sister Lana, and Dear. We were all set and ready to go in total vacation attitude. Seattle here we come.

 

Got home to a very clean house with fresh linens on Dear and my bed and in the Guest room for our Thanksgiving company, Tim and Letty. Thank you Katie! The maple tree has lost all it’s leaves and our son Dan had them all raked up and the yard looked nice. The pot belly stove is warming up the house and we are settling in for a wonderful holiday with family and friends. The view from my bedroom window couldn’t be better!

I hope you all have a wonderful extended weekend here in the U.S.A. and enjoy your turkey and all the trimmings with joy and thanksgiving. Blessings…

Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007-2015 hostage and demanding a ransom for me to access them. I’m slowly cleaning up many of my posts where PB have added ugly black and grey boxes where my photos used to be. So frustrating!

Married Molokan Women

 

This is a photo taken in Mexico sometime in the late 40’s I think. A Molokan Community was established in Baja California years ago. This shows the typical Molokan outfit that married Molokan women wear to Church functions then and now. The head coverings are called a Kasinka. If you visited a Molokan church today you’d see this exact look that the women are sporting here. I think it’s a wonderful photo and wanted to add it to my Molokan Posts. My other posts besides my Russian Recipes can be found here and here. If anyone out there knows who these ladies are just leave a comment and let me know. Most of my immediate family left the Molokan church in the 60’s. I left well before I’d have to wear this outfit and I never intended to marry a Molokan so I never was in the position to have to wear it…

Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007-2015 hostage and demanding a ransom for me to access them. I’m slowly cleaning up many of my posts where PB have added ugly black and grey boxes where my photos used to be. So frustrating!

Trim the Tree Thursday

Brett is hosting a fun meme on Thursdays called Trim the Tree. You can see details here. The first Trim the Tree was last Thursday.

I’m starting simple and showing you a collage of some of my Christmas decor that also tells some of my story.

 

I was married to Dear in December of 1974 and the Christmas 1974 Ornament was a Wedding Shower gift from friends of ours Bob and Lela. Then there’s Jesus in the manger, Dear and I are both committed followers of Jesus Christ and our Christmas celebrations are centered around his coming “at just the right time”.  “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.”  The Wise men, could have been more than three :0) I love the story of the Wisemen who sought out the star to see prophecy fulfilled. I’m still on the look out for a Nativity Set. We have a little wooden set that I bought when the kids were little so they could play with it. The last little box to explain are ornaments that picture our 3 children, Josh in the mit, Dan in the soccer ball, and Katie in the Angel. We have been blessed to have these three unique individuals in our lives and since 2001 we have been blessed again with our DIL Laura who married Josh.

I’m looking forward to sharing more of our Christmas Trimmings in the weeks to come. You can see some lovely trees and trimmings by heading over to Brett’s at The Southern Hostess.

***and NO, my Christmas decorations are not up yet, these photos are from my archives 2007!  :0)

Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007-2015 hostage and demanding a ransom for me to access them. I’m slowly cleaning up many of my posts where PB have added ugly black and grey boxes where my photos used to be. So frustrating!

Pink Saturday ~ My Babushka Vera

This is my Maternal Grandmother at my sister Vera’s wedding in 1969. She looks so sweet in pink! I really loved my grandmother. She only had one hand. One of her arms was amputated from her elbow down when she was young. She immigrated to the U.S.A. alone without my grandfather who was murdered in Iran in the late 40’s. She did more with her one hand than a lot of people do with two. Her embroidery was amazing. My Babushka Vera died in March of 1980. She was a Godly woman who prayed for all her grandchildren and for all her grandchildren’s future spouses. I am so looking forward to seeing her in heaven.

The tablecloth above was the cloth she embroidered for our sister Vera as a wedding gift.

This is a tablecloth and napkins my babushka embroidered for us as a wedding gift. In keeping with the Pink Saturday theme here’s another tablecloth I have that she embroidered.

 

For more Pinkness visit Beverly at How Sweet the Sound.

Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007-2015 hostage and demanding a ransom for me to access them. I’m slowly cleaning up many of my posts where PB have added ugly black and grey boxes where my photos used to be. So frustrating!