My all-time favorite movie as a child was the Wizard of Oz. Well, as I made my last post, I embodied almost all of the characters from the movie.

My husband and I are in the process of ripping out some shrubs so that we can put in paving stones and ground cover. It was hard digging — because of our rocky soil and because of the temperature. My hair looked as lovely as the hair of the wicked witch from the west. My eyes were as baggy as the lion’s eyes. I smelled as lovely as the witch’s winged monkeys. Afterwards, I was agile as the tin-man pre-oil treatment. And, I was as mentally acute as the scarecrow.

I’ve since had one or two hours of sleep since the other post, what little brain I have is working slightly better. Slightly. I have now realized that I should have referred you, my Dear Readers, to some of the previous postings and to some of the videos of activities you can do with your grandchildren during the summer.

Here are the directions to the candy bar game, a variation of the candy bar game, monkey ball, going on a lion hunt, secret codes, Zilch dice game, Panic card game, I’m Bored Jar, build and float a boat, rhythm cup game.

If you have successful activities that you have done with your grandchildren, please post a comment and share them with the other readers.

Enjoy!
Digi-Gram

Boy howdy it’s hot! It was only 97 degrees today. But, as we were doing yard work, it felt like 117 degrees!!

Some of my readers are very interested in doing activities with their grandchildren now that school is out. I’ve got several ideas up my sleeves. I need to finish writing up one activity. But, in the mean time, here are a couple of activities that you can do in the cool of your home.

A Wee Bit O’ Fun is a math activity. It is a square with blank boxes where you can put in numbers. However, there are math functions like add, subtract, or multiply between these boxes. The answer is given at the end of the row. You have to fill in the correct numbers to come up with the given answer. This activity is good for older grade school aged children to high schoolers. (It might be rather easy for grandchildren who are in high school.) Give it a try! It’s a wee bit o’ fun!

Baby animals is a very simple cross word puzzle where you have to figure out the names of different types of baby animals. This is fun for early elementary aged grandchildren to do. Grandma might have to help with the spelling — or even writing in the words.

Goin’ Crazy Maze is definitely a challenge for someone who likes to do mazes. This is more for older elementary aged grandchildren up to high school aged ones. This will keep a grandchild busy for quite some time!

These three documents are in PDF format which means that you can download them and then print them up for your use. You can make as many copies as you would like.

Will you be having a family reunion sometime this summer? I’m in the process of getting things set up so that you can get personalized puzzles and games that you could use at your reunion. If all goes well, things should be up and running by the end of this week (before I leave for OUR reunion!).

I hope you enjoy these three little activities.
Digi-Gram

I maneuvered the skinny spatula around and around the inside of the Nutella jar. “Leave no Nutella behind” is my motto. Scrape, lick, savor. Repeat.

We discovered Nutella on our first trip to Tahiti. We went to a small local market for lunch items. Nutella caught our eye. We bought a long, skinny loaf of fresh French bread and a jar of Nutella. That was all we ate. Not exactly what a dietitian would consider healthy. But we considered it absolutely divine. When we returned home, our memories of the glittering clear turquoise ocean, the palm trees gently swaying in the breeze, the white sandy beaches were interspersed with memories of French bread heavily smeared with Nutella.

Fast forward to about a year ago. Imagine my surprise — and my mouth watering delight — at discovering Nutella on the shelves at a local grocery store. What we thought was only available in the exotic clime of Tahiti was also available in our ordinary, humdrum neighborhood. Wahoo!!!

As I carefully scraped every last possible taste of Nutella from the jar, the phrase ‘Nutella Night’ popped into my head. From there, my imagination naturally ran wild. Naturally. Nutella and grandchildren — a perfect combination.

Invite your grandchildren over to spend an evening. Nonchalantly forget to tell Mom what is on the evening’s menu. Begin your Nutella Night by serving items that you can spread Nutella on: waffles, pancakes, toast, bread, crackers, bagels, English muffins, croissants, apple wedges, celery sticks. Whatever. These food items are merely the vehicle for getting Nuetlla into your mouth!! You might want to have Cool Whip or whipped topping in a can to spray on top of your Nutella. Maybe even top it off with a cherry.

After your Nutella feast, you might want to melt Nutella, drizzle it over popcorn, and plop down to watch a movie like Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory or Chocolat (with Johnny Depp).

The Nutella website explains how it came into being. If you plan long enough in advance, you could order a spreader for your Nutella Night.

I will probably get to babysit my four month old grandson, Spencer, on the 4th of July. I wonder how he will like it . . .

Mmmmm! Enjoy!!
Digi-Gram