Unconventional, Squishy, and First Time in Years

At our Good Friday service I helped downstairs with our children's ministry. They put on something like a Stations of the Cross event that draws hundreds of kids! There were a couple of kids that found all the noise and excitement of the evening just too overwhelming so we hung out in our Special Connections room. I read the Easter story and we played with glow sticks.

 

 

On Saturday Beth and I colored eggs. Haven't done that in years! I kind of fumbled around with the whole process, couldn't remember how to dry the eggs without wiping off the coloring, and I think our food coloring is old because it wasn't sticking to the eggs... it was quite the spectacle! But we had fun!

On Sunday after church we waited until about 3:00 and then went out to The Old Spaghetti Factory for lunch. Not your typical Easter cuisine but we all like Italian and we figured they wouldn't be too busy at that time. And we were right. It was just a five minute wait.

 

After lunch we came back to the house for Easter baskets and Mexican Train. Although I don't really do baskets anymore. I just use small tupperware dishes. I remember my grandma used to make our baskets out of strawberry baskets. Remember when strawberries came in those little, square green baskets?

 

 

And we did a video chat with Diana, Peter and Adelaide. We all miss them SO much!

 

 And... we got a picture of Adelaide in one of her Easter weekend outfits. I've put it as the wallpaper on my phone and every time I pick it up to text or call I say - through clenched teeth, 'She'sh so cute and shqwishy!!!' And then I forget what I was doing. 😊 Happy Easter!

Christmas on the 19th

Diana and Peter are spending Christmas with his family in New Jersey so we had a partial Christmas on the 19th. Chuck read the Christmas story and then Diana and Peter gave us their gifts and we gave them ours. Peter made lasagna the day before and put it in the oven after we opened presents. Plus homemade garlic bread. And those meatballs! Everything was SO good! 

Sharaya created a trivia game that was so much fun! She had questions that everyone in the family could answer. One category was Musical Lyrics where she would just read the lyrics and I can't believe how hard those were to guess! When she sang them we're like, "Of course!!" Another category was Whose Hairline is it Anyway? with celebrity photos of just their forehead up and you had to guess who it was. The whole game was so creative and fun! She even had prizes for the winners. Hint, it wasn't my team. But it was a close score! Then we ate too many sweets and played Mexican Train and laughed way too hard!

We kept forgetting that it wasn't actually Christmas day!

Turkey Toss, 70, and No Surprise About the Winner

Sorry it's been so long. I've been thinking about you and hope you had a great Thanksgiving.

Last Monday through Thursday I worked 40 hours and walked more than 70,000 steps preparing for our Thanksgiving Outreach. We served 850 people on Thanksgiving Day! A delicious meal, great entertainment, family photos, games, prizes, then those that wanted to could go upstairs to our clothing bank. And everything throughout the day was free. Every year I'm a little more sore at the end of the week, but it really is a privilege to serve our community.

 

A few weeks ago our office manager decided to do a turkey toss. We all went out to the south parking lot and... tossed a turkey! I tried to hide in the back but I was spotted and called to the front. 😁 It was fun though! It was definitely the topic of conversation for the day!

This is me. Gotta love my good form! 😂

 

This was Diana and Peter's first Thanksgiving with us and he brined the turkey. We'd never had it that way but it was really good. The white meat was juicy and tender, like it was falling off the bone. Did you ever brine a turkey? Or eat one? We had all the usual food: green bean casserole, dressing, rolls, Sharaya made the mashed potatoes... for dessert I made an ice box pie and Diana and Peter brought a pumpkin cheesecake. That's something else we'd never had before. 

Then we played Mexican Train. Sharaya won. Again. She wins a lot and we always take the opportunity to tease her about it!

We ate way too much and laughed too hard! Exactly like time with family should be. I hope you and yours had a wonderful Thanksgiving too!

Saturday Snippets - Totally Missed It

I came home from work on Tuesday and Chuck was cleaning out the garage and side yard! He had rented a truck and had already taken one load to the dump. I changed my clothes and went out to help. He got the side yard completely empty and we got about 2/3 of the garage cleaned and swept.

Sharaya and Allie came over for dinner on Wednesday and we played Mexican Train again. One of the reasons we love it so much is because we can all play it.

I completely missed Thankful Thursday. It was a long day at work for me because I redid a few things at my desk.

Earlier this year I had put up a taller wall to get some privacy between me and the front office. I had so much work and trying to help run the front office was just too much. It worked well for a while, then a couple months after I did this, Covid hit and we closed. Now all the reasons that caused me to put it up no longer exist.

I also needed more storage space. There was always stuff piled on my filing cabinet, I just didn't have the room to store everything.

Before

After

Now I can't wait to go back to work on Monday!

Beth and I took the ferry over to Kingston yesterday. This time we walked to the little shop and ordered ice cream. (We had crepes there when my sister was visiting.) It was so good on a hot day!

I took this hoping Mt Rainier would show up better. I've outlined it so you can get an idea of how big it is. The small shapes below it are the skyscrapers in downtown Seattle.

Have you been on any adventures lately?

Saturday Snippets

We drove up to Leavenworth on Tuesday. We had a call from the oncologist that morning and decided to just take off for the day, see some new scenery for a while. We all wouldn't fit in one car so Sharaya, Diana and Allie drove mine. The scenery was gorgeous, we did drive-through for lunch on our way there and stopped at a 50's Diner for shakes on the way home. It was a good distraction from all the doctor visits, Zoom meetings and phone calls back home.

Leavenworth is a small, Bavarian style town nestled in the Cascade Mountains about 2 hours from us. None of the shops were open but we were able to walk around town and look in the windows!

When we're home and not talking to doctors we bake, play games and we try to go for walks every day.

 It's been cold and rainy for a couple of days but it's supposed to be in the high 70's next week! 

I pray your week is filled with sunny skies!