Grandma Jane's funeral and a quick trip to Coeur d'Alene

We drove to Pomeroy, Washington on Friday morning to meet with family for grandma Jane's funeral service. I really didn't know what to expect and tried to prepare the kids as best as I could. I have only been to one other funeral (which was 15 years ago). We meet up with my sister and her family at grandma Jane's house to change and we took a family photo in front of her house one last time before it is sold. Then headed down to the funeral home. It was a nice simple service with lots of grandma's paintings, flowers and fun memories shared. We all followed in the funeral procession to the cemetery to her final resting place next to grandpa Jack. Everyone meet at the golf course afterwards for a potluck meal and visited for the afternoon.

Molly, Will, Mason & Delaney in front of grandma's house

Kids at the golf course

We had decided to drive up to Coeur d'Alene to see Steven and meet his girl friend Tree since it wasn't much farther to drive after the potluck. We stopped by their place to say a quick hi then went to the hotel to let the kids swim in the pool.  Steven met up with Mike and I later and we walked a few blocks to the Hog Fish where our nephew Richard was the DJ for the evening. We had a lot of fun dancing and listening to the music.

Saturday, we all walked around downtown and looked at some of the shops, walked around the boardwalk, went to lunch, then we went back to the hotel for more swimming. That evening we all went to dinner then let the kids swim some more. Sunday, we headed home. We had a nice visit even though it was short.

Steven, Tree, Mike, Stacy, Alysha, Ashley & Owen

Kids in window at a shop in Coeur d'Alene

Candy store

Toy Store

Boardwalk

Fish tank in the Coeur d'Alene Resort - Owen & Steven

Swimming at the hotel

Family dinner

Tree & Steven

more swimming

Grandma Jane

My grandmother, Jane Wassard passed away a few days ago. She had a long full life of 92 years, most of those years she spent in Pomeroy, Washington. She has six children; Carol, Christy, Becky, Cosy, Jack and Bill. She loved chocolate, wine, birds, nature walks, growing plants and painting. My sister and I have been able to see her a lot more this last year since our parents have been overseeing her care. She put up a strong fight against cancer these last few months with a lot of grace and a wonderful sense of humor. She will be missed by all her family and friends.  Her funeral will be this coming Friday in Pomeroy, Washington.

Grandma Jane with Delaney

Great Grandma Jane with Great Grand kids, Delaney, Ashley, Alysha, Mason & Owen

Grandma Jane with Grand daughters Molly & Stacy, daughter in-law Francee

Molly and Grandma Jane

Grandma Jane and son Jack

Grandma Jane with her birthday/Mother's Day cupcakes from last year.

Where has April gone?

The end of April is almost here and I haven't taken very many photos this month. Between working, school and teaching art classes I have barely managed to keep up with things around the house and time is flying by.  We did manage to plant a few seeds in the garden and some in recycled containers on the kitchen table. The kids are having fun watching the peas sprout and since they are in clear plastic they can see the roots growing to. This month for my art classes I've been doing recycled art projects so we have been experimenting at home to make sure the projects will work. The kids had a great time playing with aunt Kristey's new kittens and we finally made it home without bring one home with us. I managed to finally get out and pull some weeds and am hoping to plant some flowers soon. 

Ashley helping with my recycled art projects for the school

Owen testing out an art project for me

Alysha and one of Aunt Kristey's kittens

Owen with another kitten

Ashley with yet another kitten - NO, they are not coming home with us!!

End of Spring Break

For our last afternoon of Spring Break we headed to Boise to see the Bodies Revealed exhibit at the Discovery Center. Mike has wanted to see it since Halloween. Alysha enjoyed it but the rest of us felt a little ill after seeing all the preserved human body parts. Then we played in the main section of the Discovery Center for a little while. We met up with nephew Jasson for ice cream while he was passing through town. Time to get ready for school and work starting back up in the morning.

Mike at Bodies Revealed

Mike and Ashley at the Discovery Center

Owen and Alysha at the Discovery Center

Mike, Alysha and Ashley blowing bubbles at the Discovery Center.

Ice cream with Jasson

Happy Easter

This weekend was all about Easter. Friday we spent the afternoon dyeing Easter eggs at Grandma Reva's house followed by a yummy Easter dinner. Saturday, my sister Molly and family came over for a backyard egg hunt and we BBQ'd. Today, is Easter filled with baskets of chocolate bunnies, eggs, toys then hunting for more Easter eggs in the backyard.

Dyeing Easter Eggs at Grandma Reva's house

Alysha dyeing eggs

Ashley and the Easter eggs

Owen with the Easter eggs

Ashley and Owen dying eggs

Alysha, Amanda, James and Kristey dyeing Easter eggs.

Backyard egg hunt with cousins

Owen and Mason with their eggs

Delaney with her eggs

Ashley with her eggs

Alysha with her eggs

Ashley and Alysha trading candy and toys from their eggs.

Mason and Will playing with the finger puppets

Delaney holding Banjo

Owen on Easter morning with his eggs

Ashley on Easter morning with her eggs

Alysha on Easter morning with her eggs.