My daughter does not care to eat eggs.  Not at all.  She’d scrunch up her nose, clamp her mouth shut, vehemently shake her head, and stomp her foot.  “No, no, no!” she insists.  (And that was just last week . . .)

However, I do think that she would be willing to eat THESE fried eggs.  I know I certainly would.  And, I predict that any grandchild (who has teeth and eats ‘adult’ food) would snarf these eggs down faster than fast.  (For right now, only two of my grandchildren fit into the I-can-eat-this-food category . . .)

I am so grateful for Grandma Lisa (of the famed Grandma Briefs blog) for highlighting Grandma Judy.  The egg idea is on Grandma Judy’s site.  Being a very gracious person, Grandma Judy has given me permission to use her photo of her eggs and link to her recipe for these eggs.  Thank you, Grandma Judy!  (My daughter wishes that I had learned to make these eggs LONG ago . . .)

Now.  About making these fried eggs.  Wouldn’t this be a great activity to do with your grandchildren?  I think grandchildren of all ages (yes, even teen-aged ones) would have a hoot making (and eating) these eggs!  They are so totally easy to make — and so totally delicious.  Like, totally.  Easy enough that Ms. Maker-of-Pathetic Cake Pops (me) could even make them.  Probably. Your grandchildren will be begging for more so make sure you have plenty of ingredients to make a whole slew of these eggs.

Basically, you get some pretzels, drop a dab of melted white chocolate over the pretzels (that are your sausage links), and press one or two yellow M & Ms in the chocolate before it cools.  Here’s Grandma Judy’s recipe and directions. (You’ll need to scroll down a wee bit to get to the egg recipe.)

Grandma Judy’s has a couple other recipes that sound downright delicious.  Like the candy cookies.  These cookies would be another easy recipe that your budding chefs (aka your grandchildren) could make.

Let’s hear it for fried eggs — hip, hip, hooray! (And you, dear daughter, can especially cheer for these eggs!)

And, hip, hip, hooray for Grandma Judy!

It never ceases to amaze me just many creative people there are in the world.  Like my nephew’s wife, Stephanie.  She did a little activity for my daughter-in-law, Lisa, that I thought was spectacularly fun.  So I wanted to share it here (of course) so that you, my Dear Readers, could learn about it and adapt it for an activity to do with your grandchildren.

Here is what Lisa found recently when she came home from doing a wee bit o’ shopping. (Make sure you click on the pictures to see a larger version.)

	This is what she found on her front porch.  The sign on the string said, “Follow me.” So she did.  Around to the side of the house and into the back yard.
	She followed it around and around the backyard, from bush, to nook, to cranny.
	Occasionally, the string held a special treasure.

This activity made her day!

So take this idea, twist it on it’s head, and turn it into something that you can do with grandchildren. What do you get? Why, a party on a string, that’s what!

If you have only two or three grandchildren, you could have them do this activity together as a group.  If you have  more, divide them into teams.  You’ll have to make different sets of treasures on a string so that there is one set to follow for each group.  You might want to make sure that you have different colors of string so that it will make it easier for the groups to follow their own string.

It might be wise to do this in a big area if you have very many groups.  That way, the yarn from the different groups wouldn’t be overlapping very much.  (If the string did over lap, it might become a frustrating tangled knot for the grandkids — and grandmother!)

This could be a just-because activity.  Or, it could be a fun birthday party for a grandchild.  Or, you could adapt it for holidays by having holiday themed special treasures (i.e. patriotic things for the 4th of July, Halloween things for a Halloween party, etc.).  You could also do this inside the house.  Wherever it’s held, it will be fun for grandchildren.

To top it off, you’ve just GOT to have some treat to eat.  (Of course.  Food = grandma.  At least that was the math that I learned in school . . .)  You might want to have S’more cookies, or Rollo Candy Treats, or Peanut Butter Cup Bars.

Or, you can stay tuned for my next posting to learn how to make a treat that is absolutely a scream!  (I’m just dying — I can’t wait to make them!!!)

Make it a great day!

Sometimes teen-aged grandchildren might feel that it isn’t cool to hang out with Grandma.  But, if you’re a cool Grandma, then it will be cool to hang with you.

And, how do I become so cool? you ask.

Simple.  Do bokeh photography with those teenagers.

Bokeh?  Bokeh?  What’s bokeh?

So glad that you asked.

Bokeh is an area of a photo that is out of focus.  (On purpose.  Not like the blury-ness caused by grandma’s shakey hands.)  Bokeh comes from a Japanese term that means “blur” or “haze.”  Hence, the area of the photo that is blurry.

See the cool picture here?  Click on it to see a larger version.  Those are examples of pictures using the bokeh technique. (Thanks to Amanda Bottoms for permission to use her fabulously creative pictures.  You’re wonderful, Amanda!)

Now, I’m not a professional photographer.  Not even close.  Which is why I was out-of-this-world delighted to discover this easy tutorial by Amanda demonstrating how to create some snazzy lookin’ bokeh photos.

(I’m warnin’ you folks right now.  Don’t go pokin’ around on her site.  It’s a dangerous one.  There are pictures of scores of decadent delights.  There are recipes where you’ll gain 30 pounds just reading them.  If you’re so weak that you succumb and make one of her divine recipes and then you gain 50 pounds, don’t come whining to me.  I warned you!)

Got scissors?  Tape?  Paper?  And a decorative punch thingie (that punches out shapes like stars or hearts). Good.  That’s all that you need — in addition to a SLR camera with a 50mm lens.

So if your teen-aged grandchild had a SLR camera, you’re good to go.  Or maybe grandpa has one that he would let you use.  Or, maybe you could ask around to see if a friend would lend one to you for the day for this fun activity.

(Mmmm . . . would this work with a consumer digital camera?  Not sure.  But it would be a great adventure to try it.)

I think I’m going to share this idea with my youngest son and his wife.  They have a digital SLR camera.  Maybe they could take some photos so that I could post them here.  If you take some bokeh photos, feel free to send them my way so that you can share them here!

(If you promise to feed your grandchild supper, that might give your grandchild just the extra amount of incentive necessary to share this activity with you.)

Last week, a wonderful lady contacted me about an app for the iPhone that she has created.

Let’s pause here for a moment.

I took a computer programming class eons and eons ago (well at least a long time ago in technology chronology).  I learned lots.  Like the fact that I didn’t want to spend my life looking for errant semi-colons and brackets in computer programs that I wrote.

However, I thought I was a pretty hot shot beginning programmer when I created a fun little program that was like the ‘Choose Your Own Adventure’ books that my children enjoyed while they were in grade school.  But that programming euphoria dissipated as I realized programming wasn’t for me.

While I don’t know the exact age of the woman who created the application that I’m going to talk about, I do know that I can claim her as a peer.  I am SO impressed that she (at her age) knows how to develop applications for the iPhone.  I’m even MORE impressed to know that she taught herself how to code for the iPhone.  Let’s bow down and worship her — and give her a big round of applause.  (Clap, clap, clap.)

Now.   Back to our regularly scheduled post.

Dawn has created the application ItsAGranddaughter with companion programs for a grandson, son, daughter, niece, nephew, and twins.

The idea is that after you’ve been snapping photos with your iPhone of the new darling little grandchild, you can add one of twelve background designs, all of the birth stats, and then e-mail the photo to all of the folks in your contact list on your phone.  (That’s grandma’s bragging on steroids!)

I don’t have pictures of our new granddaughter, Kaylissa, on my phone (because I had my camera there that took higher quality pictures).  However, I did have a couple of our other granddaughter and used those pictures to try out this application.  They weren’t taken when she was born but that’s okay.  They will still work.

The pictures here are examples of what the program creates.  (The cute pink background is my favorite background!)

This program is exceptionally easy to use.  Maybe I’d better qualify that a little.  If you know how to use your iPhone it is easy.  (I know people who only know how to call out and receive calls on their phones.  Those folks might need someone to provide a wee bit of tech support at first. But just a little bit because the program is so simple to use.)

You can find these wonderful applications at http://www.dawnkempf.com.

There’s only one eensy weensy bug with the program in my humble opinion.  You can’t have a weight that is in even pounds (like six pounds even).  You cannot set the ounces to zero.  While that really isn’t a big deal, it doesn’t let you give the correct birth weight if the baby weighed say an even seven pounds.

Don’t have an iPhone?  (My sympathies go out to you.)  However, do the parents of your grandbaby have an iPhone?  If so, you could give the gift of this application at a baby shower or before the baby was born so that the proud parents can be ready to shout out to the world that their little bundle of joy has arrived.

Now, I just need to get the application ItsAGrandson and then I’ll be set for the arrival of our next grandchild regardless of what flavor it is.  (My phone is ready, are my children ready to give me another grandchild???)