At couple of weeks ago, my husband and I went to St. George, Utah, for a little get away in the sun and the warmth. Delightful place. Beautiful red sandstone hills. Clear blue skies. Within one-half hour of getting home, it started to snow. From our 78 degree warmth and sunshine experience, we plummeted to 36 degree snow and dreary gray weather. Sigh.

I have been able to finish sewing the edges of the quilt that we tied at the baby shower that we had for our daughter-in-law. (With weather like we’ve been having this winter, she will need quilts clear into July for our grandson!!!)

Here are two thumbnail pictures of the quilt. Click on the picture to see a bigger view.

A thimble-wearin’-needle-wieldin’ Digi-Gram

I’ve decided which photo gallery plug-in I want to use and have finally installed it and got it working . . . sorta . . . The placement of the pictures on the page is still a little weird.

If you click on Photo Gallery in the navigation on the right side of this page, you will see a gallery of a few of the pictures we took while we were in Costa Rica in March 2008.

Not wanting to inundate my readers with ALL of the pictures I took, I’ve only put up a few. Hopefully you will be able to get an idea of what the beautiful country of Costa Rica is like. I would highly recommend you to visit that country if at all possible. We had a grand adventure!!

More photo galleries will be forth coming in the days ahead.

Digi-Gram

The other day I stumbled upon another grandma’s blog and she has some great ideas! Connie’s site is Play Wit Me Nana.

She celebrated National Visor Day with her granddaughter. She purchased a soft rubber visor from a local craft store and together they decorated their visors with glitter, sponge flowers, sequins, and jewels. You can read her post and see the pictures of the visors they made. What a fun activity for a grandmother to do with her granddaughter!!

You can make up your own ‘national days’ to celebrate with your grandchildren. Here are a few ideas that I came up with:

• National Puzzle Day (put puzzles together and/or make your own puzzles)
• National Candy Making Day (spend the day making, eating, and sharing candy)
• National Puppet Day (make hand puppets, write skits, and put them on)
• National Dress Up Day (play dress up with some of grandma’s clothing and shoes — be sure to take pictures!)
• National Photography Day (take pictures with a digital camera and make a book out of them)
• National Park Day (go from park to park to park and play on the different playgrounds)
• National Rock Day (hunt for pretty rocks to collect and display)
• National Bubble Gum Day (have a bubble bum blowing contest with 5 different varieties of bubble gum)
• National Bike Day (weave crepe paper in your bike spokes and ride bikes around the block in a parade fashion)
• National Blogging Day (help your grandchildren start their own blog)

Be wild. Be wacky. Come up with your own ideas for a national holiday. If it is a success and is enjoyed by your grandchildren, you can continue holding it every year. Make it an annual event. Then, your grandchildren would look forward the tradition of having a wacky national celebration.

Connie also has done crafts with Perler beads , made collages, and has done wood burning on boxes. I recommend that you take a look at her site — you’ll find some fun activities to do with your grandchildren.

Happy celebrating!
Digi-Gram

I have a remarkable neighbor, Gay. Gay is always kind and nice. Caring and giving. Serving family and others. An example of goodness and integrity. I admire and respect her greatly. Someday, I would hope to be like her. The other day, she shared with me some of the things that she has done for her grandchildren. She wrote:

“I think traditions are important and create memories that carry on. We have a monthly family home evening on the first Sunday each month for all our our children, their spouses, and all the grandchildren. Each family has an assignment such as a story, an activity, music, or treats. We sing happy birthday to all who have a birthday that month and have a report from each family on their activities, honors, and plans. We have been doing this for many years and have scaled down a bit lately because our numbers are so great. Many of our children and grandchildren who live close visit on Sunday night on a weekly basis and we fix waffles when they come.

“One Sunday in connection with a family home evening, the grandchildren and I planted sunflower seeds. All summer, they watched the sunflowers grow. The grandchildren loved it.

“We have a reunion each summer at Bear Lake and it is a highlight of the year. The grandchildren really look forward to it. Activities include building sand castles, playing with water toys, having a treasure hunt, holding a tennis tournament, playing basketball, and having a piñata for the little ones. The night before we leave, all adults are treated by grandma and grandpa to a raspberry shake. (Note: Bear Lake, Utah, is famous for its raspberries!)

“We have an Easter egg hunt at our house for all the grandchildren the Saturday before Easter. Each family brings filled plastic eggs and the older ones hide the eggs. We usually have a wiener roast and picnic afterward in our back yard.

“I have made a play tent to go over a card table, made cookies with them, read to them, and I make play dough that they like. And of course being available to baby sit is a good way to bond and to strengthen relationships. Just knowing you love them is the most important.

“We keep in touch with those who live far away with a phone call every Sunday and a visit when we can, along with birthday and e-mail cards, especially on holidays.”

Thank you, Gay, for sharing!

I loved the idea of having a tent that goes over the card table. Before I can do this with my grandchildren, I guess we’d better get a card table with sturdy legs! I also liked the idea of planting sunflower seeds and growing sunflowers. Not only is it fun watching them grow, it would be fun eating the seeds.

I’ve been thinking that since we have plenty of garden space that it would be fun to let the grandchildren have a spot where they can plant either flowers or vegetables and watch them grow. I’ve seen where you can put a growing pumpkin in a milk jug. Let it grow and fill the jug. After a while, cut the jug away and the pumpkin will be square and keep that shape for the rest of the growing season! I think that would be fun to do.

We just had another snowstorm two days ago so thinking of spring and planting things and growing flowers and vegetables is very appealing right now. I think I’ll start planning my garden . . . .

Digi-Gram