Little Love Bites!

This one's about Valentine's Day. And fellow grandmothers. And the way those two heartwarming topics recently wove themselves together into one tidy little celebration of the season of love!

No matter how vintage, the most endearing portraits of grandmother and child capture moments of sharing. Reading, cooking, gardening, sewing, crafting.....For those of us given to entertaining our grandchildren in this fashion, every day is Valentine's Day!

The kids and I often cook together. Sometimes we stock inventory for our family bake sales, where mommies and daddies and aunties and uncles line up to gobble the cookies and muffins we make. Most often, though, we create for ourselves, warming a winter's kitchen with the alluring scent of well browned banana bread - one loaf for nibbling now, one for taking home.

Now, I'm betting that you've done the same yourself - numerous times, testing many recipes. And, that you might also be pondering the perfect Valentine gift for your little cooking companion. Just the right thing: a reminder of how precious those grandma-and-me moments are for both of you.

I never would have considered Kaylee's personalized apron and chef hat had I not been a reader of Leslie and Kay's GrandparentsLink blog. I was the lucky give-away winner of this adorable set - a product of Growing Cooks, designed by Alice Meoni and available in a range of sizes for both girls and boys! Would this gift solution work for you? Packaged, perhaps, with a kid's cookbook and an invitation to pick out something yummy and come bake it with grandma very, very soon? I hope so! Expect beautiful craftsmanship, prompt and efficient service, gift-worthy packaging - and lots of memory making fun for yourself and your little sidekick-in-the-kitchen!

My friend, Teresa, is a grandmother. And a blogger, blueberry farmer, dog lover, and entrepreneur. All of the above! Roxie and I followed our noses to her Bellview Blueberry Bones site, drooling in unison over home baked specialty dog treats. We were soooo gonna try these! They're healthy, you know. Not a speck of artificial junk. Wholesome goodness only! Door step delivered!

Clicking to submit my order, I was firmly nudged at the elbow. "What about Mickey?" Roxie urged. (She's in long-distance-love with yet another grandma blogger's handsome pet!)  So, two bags it was, both of them "large!"

"So, who's this Roxie who thinks I'm a hottie?"
and
"When might I expect another treat delivery?"

Without a whimper, our treats were promptly whisked to us, states away in two directions. What a hit! Mickey's mama (Lisa, of Grandma's Briefs) reported "four paws up!" Roxie offered "five stars" and a giant "slurp!" of satisfaction!

Maybe these "little love bites" will gift a furry snuggle-bug in your life, too!

This is not a sponsored post. I just enjoy sharing good things that come into my life! 


                  XXOOXX

Born Yesterday

If this little guy tries to tell you that he "wasn't born yesterday," don't be fooled! Channing is my ninth grandchild and fifth grandson, so I know for a fact that he did, indeed, show up for the first time one day ago, on January 19, 2017 at 10:57 A.M., weighing in at a very healthy eight pounds, ten ounces. He's little brother to Brielle and Austin, and he's got lots of fun ahead of him at grandma's. Hmm, let's see.....digging for dinosaur eggs, building robots, hiking through the woods, and printing those perfectly cute little hands and feet in every color of the rainbow for every holiday on the calendar!

You came to the right place, little guy. Grandma's waiting for you! xxooxx

The Family Dictionary: Pyders, Tonkings, and Tickers!

Around here, there's no need to ask for translation. We get it. All of it: "Where you wented? The quirlows were drinky so we thought it was o-tay to serve chalk-it koo koo ka doo! Then we ate cheesy balls and bingoed til we were done-done!"

We also fully understand that Tanta fills tonkings on Kitmutt. That a few of grandma's cats "talk" when they're cornered. And while pyders and monstas are best disposed of by daddy, mommy is the one who locates pajas, brings home ticker books, and makes sure no buggedies enter the house!

The Family Dictionary. Every home has one. Most often, though, its pages are stored "upstairs." But ours? Well, it's time to preserve them within a fluid volume that I hope will become a generational treasure.

Not only will our dictionary list and define alphabetically, I'll also illustrate entries with photos and anecdotes because some of our best have an unfortunately short shelf life. Like, "I'm drinky," for example. Brielle invented that one when she was three. "Thirsty?" What a weird word! What does it even mean? We like "drinky" and we're sticking with it, even though Bree, now six, has moved on!

And "koo koo ka doo?" That invisible gourmet concoction, stirred to perfection inside a play kitchen coffee cup, was described by two year old Kaylee as something to enjoy in a down moment because "it makes you happy." It's not unusual to hear any one of us sigh deeply, after a rough day, that a nice steaming cup of koo koo ka doo would sure hit the spot right now!

Austin was eighteen months old when he entered a phase that found him checking for "monstas" around every corner. When the coast was clear, he signaled with a hearty, "o-tay!" I like that word. It makes me feel safe!

Grandma Camp for our three year old little ladies this past summer was a gold mine of material for my dictionary. Ava, especially, kept me on task with reminders. I didn't dare promise cookie baking or a squirrel peanut feeding session unless I was prepared to promptly deliver. "What about those 'quirlows' you said we were going to feed?" Ha! "Q" is for quirlow! I wonder how many other family dictionaries have an entry for "Q!"?

Some descriptions were initially difficult to decipher. "Doo dah, whee!" for example. Angeline was two when she declared that her favorite destination. The rest of us scratched our heads until a light bulb went off over mommy's head. Swings and slides! Of course! Get it? You slide and you shout "WHEE!" Now, the "doo dah" part has never fully been defined. Perhaps some day, though. I look forward to paging through my dictionary with the kids long after they've forgotten the delight we found in their unique expressions and pronunciations. And who knows? They might even satisfy some long held curiosities for me. At that point, I will close the cover of this volume and sigh wistfully, "done-done!"*






*Done-done (dun-dun), adj. 1. completed 2. sufficiently filled with food and ready to be removed from high chair (Kaylee, 2014) 3. blog post written and ready for publishing (Grandma, 2017)

P.S. This is a good scrap-booking type project for those of us who enter a post "Kitmutt" slump like I do every year. Nonetheless, there are others who always have it worse. My grand-kitty, Marshall, for example. Imagine a full month of blissful snoozing beneath the softly lit, comforting branches of your very own toy-laden indoor tree - abruptly, and rudely interrupted, leaving you forlorn, unsheltered, dazed, and confused!