crafting with grandma - You Are My Sunshine Hand-Print Art for Mother's Day

Do you have a special song you sing to your grandchildren - especially as a lullaby? I sing, You are My Sunshine to my grandsons . . . or at least my version of the song! I've changed it a bit . . . "♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪  You are my sunshine, my little sunshine. ♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪  You make me happy, all the day!  ♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪ I love you forever and for always! ♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪  You are my sunshine today!  ♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪" 

grandma's cookbook - Spritz Cookies

I LOVE Spritz cookies! I love the buttery flavor and the crisp, yet soft texture and the fun shapes you can make with a cookie press. I love the memories I have of making Spritz cookie with my mom and of course I love the taste of these classic Holiday cookies! I mean, what would Christmas be without Spritz cookies???? Well, of course Christmas is so much more than Spritz cookies, but they are one of my favorite parts of the Holiday season!

crafting with grandma - My Crocheted Pocket Purse!

I was browsing on  Pinterest and found a pattern for a three pocket purse! I love to crochet purses, so this is one I went ahead and made. I love the design with three pockets . . . so I thought I'd show you a photo and tell you the few things I did to "tweak" the pattern! I made a few "tweeks" . . . I made it with two pouches instead of three, added a small pocket inside for ID and crocheted a handle. I like this pattern as it is quick and easy to make and you can use most any yarn you want - whatever colors you want for a look all your own.

Focused & Intentional Grandparenting with Generations Quest - Cultivate the Faith!

 

What kind of grandparent are you? Do you enjoy being a grandparent and are happy to be past the child-rearing stage? Do you enjoy spending time with your grandchildren and make time to do things with them? Are you focused and active in passing on a heritage of confident faith to your grandchildren? What kind of grandparent are you?

Family . . . a True Gift From God!

Family. What is a family? The On-Line Dictionary defines family as, "a. A fundamental social group in society typically consisting of one or two parents and their children. b. Two or more people who share goals and values, have long-term commitments to one another, and reside usually in the same dwelling place."

I like this definition. "Two or more people who have long-term commitments to one another." Who on earth would we be more committed to long term than to our family? When God created people He created them to live in a family. Both the Old and New Testament speak to the importance God places on the family. God wants families to grow together to know and serve Him. Sometimes families do a great job of this and other times families struggle with their relationships, but this "long-term commitment" is part of what can keep families together!

Try Praying Deeper Through the Psalms for Children

When we trust God, we are steadfast and are able to experience His perfect peace. This is certainly what we want for the ones we love; at all times, but especially now with the wars in Ukraine and Israel, the disaster in Gaza, the upcoming election, and the uncertainties of day-to-day life in 2024. Our grandchildren (and/or young children) may especially feel fear as they see and hear about the things going on in this world.

If ever there was a time to help them learn to be people who talk with God, this is it. So, to help you with this, I and my grandsons want you to know about our book, Praying Deeper Through the Psalms for Children. Look what people are saying about this book - 

Today is National Lemonade Day - & Lemonade Ice Cream Pie!

Today is National Lemonade Day - now the idea behind this special day is to help children learn how to set up their own lemonade stands, so they are able to learn what it means to run their own business. You are able to learn more about it at this link. 

Make Your Summer Count - Get the little answer book & the little answer book for children

Summer is almost here and it is a time when we typically are able to spend time with the ones we love and build memories as we do things we may not typically do throughout the year - such as have the grandchildren over for extra sleepovers, go on family vacations, try new things, bike, camp, swim, gather to celebrate special times, go on picnics, etc. All of these things are excellent things to do in the summer and help build strong ties with our family. They are able to help make a difference as you build strong relationships with your family.

grandma's cookbook - Orange Butter Cookies!

When it comes to cookies my family tends to favor the "classics" . . .  chocolate chip-peanut-butter-oatmeal, plain chocolate chip or plain peanut-butter cookies. But every once in a while I like to try something different and this recipe, which I found on  Pinterest, is certainly one I'd like to try! After all, what could be more "yummie" sounding than orange butter cookies?!!!!

illustrate my own - Check Out this Series

Quite a few years ago I wrote a series of books for children about
Bible people. I was motivated to do so because when you see books about Bible people, they are usually about just a few Bible people and there are so many more people in the Bible with fantastic accounts of how they were able to know and walk with God. I enjoyed writing the Bible stories, but am not an artist, so I thought maybe it would be fun to write a series of books with an "illustrate my own" "twist" - the children - and/or families - could illustrate their own books!

Today is National Montana Day

Today is National Montana Day. You may wonder why I post about national State days, well, because my grandsons enjoy learning about silly laws and interesting facts about the States, so by sharing them, you are able to share them with the children you love as well. So, let's look at some of Montana's silly laws and learn some interesting facts as well - did you know . . .

May 3rd is International Wild Koala Day!

Tomorrow is International Wild Koala Day - a day to celebrate koalas. These wonderful animals are instantly recognizable and much loved around the world, so let's look at a few fun facts about them - they are one of the animals in my book, Blue Dragons, Red Pandas, Hoopoes & More, which you are able to find at this link. Did you know . . .    

It Has Been a Bit of a Roller-Coaster Ride . . .

It has been a bit of a "roller-coaster ride" around here for the past few days. I had been feeling ill for about a week, but then I began vomiting and eventually ended up in the ER. After pokes, prods, scans, more scans, more pokes, the words - "liver cancer" were spoken. I admit, I was not expecting this and did "zone out" a bit.

just for fun - Today is Blueberry Pie Day!

Mmmmm! Blueberry Pie Day! What a delicious day to celebrate!!! I am personally a fan of blueberries; I like them pretty much any way they can be fixed and just plain, "as they are" is delicious, too!