Tag Archives: Macarons

Shopping and Celebrating Auntie Lolo!

Saturday the 29th of November we shopped small on Main street in Colville.

While we shopped the guys entertained themselves with chopping a lot of wood and then enjoyed table games.

Plans were afoot on this day to celebrate Auntie Lolo’s birthday early since we wouldn’t be together for her actual birthday on December 3rd. The birthday theme was lemon/lemons, a favorite flavor for Laura.

Jamie embroidered this special sweatshirt for Laura with her beloved title, Auntie Lolo! Addy and JJ helped with some of the embroidery.

Laura looked at this purse while we were shopping and she admired it enough that Katie snuck it up to the register to purchase it for Laura’s birthday gift. I didn’t take a photo of the solar decorative hummingbird lights that we gave her for their outdoor patio.

Lemon and pistachio Macarons that our son Dan made were the ‘birthday cake’. Dan has mastered the art of making them!

There is a back story to this drink that Katie had never tasted. While the guys were at the grocery store Andrew found it for her to try.

More Skyjo rounds commenced. The younger ones among us stayed at Bayles Mountain well into the evening while Gramps and Baba headed home.

Sunday morning most of us were in church together filling out a row.

Before the last of the Westsiders left for home after church there was some fun in the snow to document.

Another full and thankful time was spent over the long Thanksgiving weekend.

Our focus shifts now to preparations for Christmas.

Olympic Sized Hodgepodge

Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, The Gateway of Dreams statue. Greg had a conference in Atlanta and Katie and Andrew flew down from Jacksonville, North Carolina to join us for a couple days. This was in October of 2012.

Another summertime Wednesday Hodgepodge is up and running. Thank you, Joyce!

1. The Olympics kick off this coming weekend. Will you be watching? If you could watch just one event in person, which one would you choose? 

I will watch some of the Olympics depending on the timing of favorite events.

Gymnastics is always a favorite.

Greg was a torch bearer for his company in the 1984 Olympics that took place in Los Angeles. As a family we were able to watch rowing events at Lake Casitas close to our home. We lived in Ventura, California during the 84 Summer Olympics.

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2. Have you ever been to Paris? Is this a city you’d like to visit? What’s your favorite ‘French thing’? 

I am not pulled with the desire to travel to Paris. French food is probably my favorite ‘French thing’.

3. Macaron, creme brulee, chocolate soufle, mille feuille, or an eclair…your favorite French patisserie from the ones listed? 

Our son has mastered the art of making macarons. We’ve enjoyed many flavors of his melt in your mouth treat. Above are some of the macarons he made for Addy’s Birthday Tea Party and below are the ones he made for our family gathering to celebrate our 50th wedding anniversary. Our actual 50th is on December 6th of this year but we chose to enjoy summer weather for our big celebration.

4. July 24th is National Cousins Day…do you have many cousins? Are you close to them? Will you see any of your cousins on July 24th? 

I have cousins that I love and enjoy visiting with when we can. Lately it’s mostly at funerals that I might see them.

Our kids get together with many of their cousins at least twice a year. Their cousins from California came up for a visit so all our kids gathered in Leavenworth, Washington on July 16th for a quick visit.

Josh, Laura and Katie had several days of enjoying their cousins in the Seattle area last week. Josh and Laura made a quick trip to California over the weekend to spend time with more of their cousins and some aunts and uncles!

Cousins with an aunt and uncle thrown in! Huntington Beach, California this past weekend.

5.  Last time you went somewhere that felt like ‘everyone and his cousin‘ was there? 

Lately this will only happen when we travel. The last large crowd event we were in the midst of was in Liverpool at the Anfield stadium for a football/soccer match in September of 2023. Everyone and his cousin was there!

Even though it’s been several years since we visited London, that city is a sea of humanity that you cannot separate yourself from easily.

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

One more cousin shot from Huntington Beach. My brother and his family were visiting from Dallas which was a very good reason for many family members to come together. Josh and Laura flew down from Washington to join in the fun.

“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.

In other news, things have cooled a wee bit and later this week they are promising the 80’s instead of 90’s!

See you soon Hodgepodgers!

Gathered Together

We made plans months ago for an early celebration with our family of ten in Walla Walla for Greg and my 50th wedding anniversary. Our actual anniversary is on December 6th but getting the ten of us together that time of year can be difficult. We decided on Walla Walla which was a place none of us had been to before. Laura researched the areas Airbnb options and we looked at a couple possibilities and decided on the Italian Villa. We locked in our dates that were good for each family unit and started making plans. On Saturday the 29th of June our four vehicles had driven equal distances from the northeast of Washington and the Western Puget Sound area of Washington to arrive here.

When Greg and I arrived at four we were in for a special surprise from our kids.

Who are those young kids!?

Dan’s macarons arranged in the numerals to celebrate our 50 years!

Laura retrieved photos from each of our kids’ weddings to add to ours for this special memorial photo collage. This is the message included in the photo collage…

They also had t-shirts made for us. All these things were a fun surprise and great beginning for our time together.

Thank you to all our kids for how you love and honor us!!

We all had our own bedrooms and each couple had their own bathroom. Not too shabby. Plenty of room for all of us to spread out.

We got settled and then got ready for dinner out at Yama’s Greek Eats in downtown Walla Walla. This would end up being our family favorite out of three restaurants we ate at. If you find yourself in Walla Walla eat here!

Our first day of celebration came to a close with excitement about pool time on Sunday and another special event. More to come, soon.

Our gifts have found their special place in our home.

We are currently in a heat wave and staying cool inside as much as possible. Hope all is well in your corner.

Full to the Brim

Our kids from the ‘Coast’ arrived this past Thursday and Friday for a weekend of celebrations. The title of this post is accurate and be forewarned that this is a loaded post, full of photos. These days I don’t put together photo albums anymore. I use my blog as my photo album. This is a special birthday album.

On Friday we worked on potato and beef filled piroshky using Jamie’s sour dough, delicious! Our Grands have a presentation coming up at their Homeschool Co-op on Russia and these goodies will be part of the International pot-luck. A labor of love.

We gathered on the mountain on Saturday morning to create a heart filled atmosphere for Addy’s 7th birthday celebration. She chose the theme of hearts.

Addy’s mommy baked and decorated the three tiered heart cake which was so good!

Addy’s daddy made these heart shaped macarons, delicious!

Chillin with uncle until the festivities begin.

Addy loves her Aunties!

 

Auntie Lolo and Uncle Joshie

Auntie Katie and Uncle Andrew

Granny

Granny Great

Four generations!

Great Uncle Scott and Aunt Rhonda

Lifetime friends

Baba and Gramps

Mommy, Daddy, Addy and JJ.

Gramps prayed over our meal and said a special prayer for the birthday girl.

Hooray for presents!

 

She received wonderful presents and was so excited when her special wish for a pair of roller skates came true!

Auntie Katie and Uncle Andrew were in on the surprise present from Addy’s mommy and daddy and bought her all the safety pads for her wrists elbows and knees!

Time for Cake!

 

Let the games begin. We had a quiz on Addy’s 10 favorites. Afterwards we had to create some critters with our eyes closed.

Addy got to choose the winners.

I’m sure by now I’ve lost several of you dear readers out there, but there is more! When all the guests departed we drove back to our country bungalow to chill a bit before all the family arrived at our place to make dinner and dessert to celebrate me. We had to take advantage of all of us being together.

The kids prepared a wonderful stir fry with chicken and veggies with a sauce from scratch. I sat in my recliner and listened and enjoyed the aromas coming from the kitchen. Strawberries were prepped for Strawberry Shortcake dessert. Happy Birthday to me! I received lovely gifts, too. My favorite gift is being together.

Our weekend was not over yet. We had one more surprise in store for us at our church service on Sunday.

Addy had been practicing a piece on the piano to play at church on this Sunday. Our church has a place for special numbers from the congregation from time to time.

Addy was announced and went up to the Baby Grand and played the piece she had prepared, O How I Love Jesus. She is so brave and confident and played sweetly in front of 300+. It brought tears to my eyes.

A perfect song to play on Palm Sunday and the beginning of Holy Week. It is all about Jesus and His love and sacrifice for us!

The sermon on this Sunday was a continuation of our series in Colossians. From Colossians 3:18-21 we heard about Home~Where we live like Jesus. Christ changes the home and how we live in it.

Katie and Andrew had to hit the road for home right from church. The rest of us enjoyed another meal on the mountain before Josh and Laura headed back home. Greg and I headed home to put our feet up. Our local kids had one more party to go to for Great Uncle Scott. Full to the brim is what this weekend was. I’ll save the Elk herd we saw on the way home for another day and post. I will post the words from the hymn Addy played a stanza from here for the sake of context.

O How I Love Jesus

There is a name I love to hear,
I love to speak its worth;
It sounds like mu­sic in mine ear,
The sweet­est name on earth.

Refrain

O how I love Je­sus,
O how I love Je­sus,
O how I love Je­sus,
Because He first loved me!

It tells me of a Sav­ior’s love,
Who died to set me free;
It tells me of His pre­cious blood,
The sin­ner’s per­fect plea.

Refrain

It tells me of a Fa­ther’s smile
Beaming up­on His child;
It cheers me through this lit­tle while,
Through de­sert, waste, and wild.

Refrain

It tells me what my Fa­ther hath
In store for ev­ery day,
And though I tread a dark­some path,
Yields sun­shine all the way.

Refrain

It tells of One whose lov­ing heart
Can feel my deep­est woe;
Who in my sor­row bears a part,
That none can bear be­low.

Refrain

It bids my tremb­ling heart re­joice;
It dries each ris­ing tear;
It tells me, in a still small voice,
To trust and ne­ver fear.

Refrain

Jesus, the name I love so well,
The name I love to hear!
No saint on earth its worth can tell,
No heart con­ceive how dear.

Refrain

This name shall shed its frag­rance still
Along this thor­ny road,
Shall sweet­ly smooth the rug­ged hill
That leads me up to God.

Refrain

And there, with all the blood-bought throng,
From sin and sor­row free,
I’ll sing the new eter­nal song
Of Je­sus’ love to me.

Refrain

God bless you with knowing and believing in what Jesus has done for you as we begin Holy Week 2024!

 

Celebrating Our Risen Savior

After church we all gathered at Dan and Jamie’s for a delicious lunch of several different soups, chili and homemade bread. Before the day progressed to the Easter egg hunt and opening the treats in the Easter Baskets we stepped outside for our Easter photos.

There were some serious conversations going on while enjoying the soups.

Four baskets full of fun to dig into after the hunt. I found these cute baskets at the Dollar Store, which is now the $1.25 store.

The dad’s snuck out to hide all the eggs. Ready, set, go!

Everyone got a basket full.

There was lots of delight in opening the eggs to see what was inside.

The adults and kids enjoyed Dan’s creations. He is perfecting his macarons masterfully!

The day was not over yet because before dinner we all jumped into our cars and drove north several miles for Jamie D’s baptism. It was the perfect culmination on this Easter Day.

I still will be posting all the photos from our grandson’s 3rd birthday party that we enjoyed on the Saturday of Easter Weekend. That will wait until Monday. Happy weekend to all!

Baking and Snowmageddon!

For Katie’s birthday Addy and JJ helped me mix up the cake.

Thank you to Laura for capturing the moments.

Macarons ~ a small round cake with a meringue-like consistency, made with egg whites, sugar, and powdered almonds and consisting of two halves sandwiching a creamy filling.

Our son Dan surprised us all with his perfected Macarons for us to try. They were amazing!

We had our first snowstorm of 2022 starting late Sunday night into Monday the 3rd of January. It snowed all day on Monday. We shoveled off the deck but kept a section to measure our snow falls. Our neighbor plowed our front drive up to our garage on Monday and for that we are grateful. Here are photos of our snow piles!

The photo above is just for perspective. It was taken on Christmas. Notice how far up off the snow laden deck Joseph, Mary and the Baby Jesus are.

Here was the snowfall from early Monday morning with Mary just barely visible.

After we shoveled off the deck.

We have an accumulation of about 20 inches out in our yard right now. This is the most snow we’ve had accumulate since we moved here in 2018. Other years the snow melted off in between storms. This year is different with temps low enough that the snow has not melted off. We have more snow coming.

Snow hats all around!

Hope 2022 is starting off well for you!