ABSENCE MAKES THE HEART GROW FONDER

Last year my one and only grandchild moved what seemed like forever away. I thought my heart would break. I love him so much.
But somehow I knew deep down inside that he would get in touch with me. Guess what he did.
It is so wonderful to hear his magical voice each day and sometimes more than once. It's so fun to make believe with him. I think he thinks I can see everything he is doing thru the phone.  I love it.  We have played aliens,  Cowboys,  frozen, bear hunts, meatballs.  We have told stories and sent some of the funniest texts. 
I even go and visit him in our imagination.  We have even flown our space ships to Florida and back.
You know what, it feels like he really isn't that far away and I can reach out and hold his hand and even share those grandma cookies.

BRINGING THE WORLD OF READING TO LIFE!!!!

     I am so greatful that my mother loves to read!  She instilled in me the love of reading.  I especially love to read children's books.  So here is a fun idea to bring the world of books to LIFE and start making a love of reading apart of your children's lives.

     Pretty simple idea.  Find a childrens book and spend a day or week creating parts of that book.  In other words bring the BOOK TO LIFE.  I love doing this with my grandson Andrew.  Pretty much he has so many books memorized that he knows just what props we need for each one.  Take for instance the story Were Going On A Bear Hunt.  Well he first hands the book to me and says Oh Wait..........I will be right back and he runs off ,to of course find the much needed blanket and flashlight........ ha ha.  How I just love Andrew and knowing that we can read the SAME BOOK OVER AND OVER AGIAN, but he will STILL be just as excited as if we just read it for the FIRST time.
     But the fun part comes when you might add making bear pancakes and use chocolate chips for the eyes and nose.  Or maybe a pizza made into the shape of a bear and then add the toppings for the eyes and nose and mouth.  We love to march around the house pretending like we are walking through the mud and water and grass etc and of course making all the fun noises with it.
     Just think of ALL the different books and how making them come to life helps them to remember what they just read and of course the most important part create a love of READING.

     I can remember so many wonderful stories and poems and songs that my GRANDMOTHER found up in her attic.  I still go there often to find a book and dust the cobwebs off of it to read.  GOTTA LOVE THAT GRANDMA'S ATTIC!!!!!!!!!  BE SURE AND BRING THE COOKIES ALONG......xoxoxoxoxo

LIFE REALLY IS SIMPLE !!!!!!!

     As you all know one of the highlights of any adult is CHILDREN.  For some it's such a joy to add grandchildren to their lives.  I for one feel complete.  Today I had the privilege to have my grandson Andrew over.  Of course he does a wonderful job at watching his grandma lol.  But we had a wonderful time.

     I decided today to have some fun by not only helping my 3 year old grandson to cut paper but also to allow him to share some exciting stories.  Oh boy is he full of those.  They sure can make a person SMILE.

     Well what we did was take some leftover Christmas wrapping paper and I helped him cut some odd shaped paper out.  Then I gave him a pen and said hey Andrew would you like to give a special note from you to people for Christmas?  Boy did I say the right thing for once to him.  Why sure I would he said.  Then I listened closely as he would scribble away and share a message just for that person he wanted to give a note for.

     I listened then I took mental notes in my head of what he was saying.  After he was done, I then took a pen and wrote what he said by his wonderful writing.  Do you know that he wrote over 20 little notes, and do you know that even a 3 year old, almost 4 year old can think up more special words to say then most adults and they weren't even the same words,  well except that he wants CAKE for his up coming birthday.

    I sure was amazed and proud of Andrew. 

    So my simple idea for today is to THINK SIMPLE, AS A CHILD WOULD.  I am sure when everyone opens their special message from Andrew that not only will he be proud and beaming but every person on his list will be grinning from ear to ear just knowing that a SIMPLE 3 year old child, can make a whole bunch of people FEEL WONDERFUL!!!!!!!!!

    I want to thank everyone who reads GRANDMA'S ATTIC........  I am looking forward to so many more fun and exciting ideas headed your way in 2013.    In the mean time I sure hope that at this time of season you at least made ONE good old fashioned GINGERBREAD HOUSE with someone special.  I mean if there is ONE GRANDMA'S ATTIC COOKIE YOU DON'T WANT TO MISS IT'S THOSE YUMMY GINGERBREAD HOUSE COOKIES........ XOXOXOX

http://mormon.org/me/68S7

http://mormon.org/me/68S7

Thankful for those LITTLE HANDS!!!!!!!

     Do you know what the one thing I have learned the quickest about being a Grandmother is?   Just how those little ones LOVE to keep their little hands busy. Oh my, if you turn away for even a brief moment those hands are into something else.

     With the Thanksgiving season upon us and Christmas just around the corner, it's a wonderful time to combine your hands with those little ones and do some fun, creative things together.  Really for me it's a time for my grandchildren and I to let ourselves relax and as my kids say hang loose.

     One of our favorite Thanksgiving traditions is to help the little ones make a fun place tag/favor so that the guests know who sits where.  Now I didn't say for the adults to do it all and just let the little hands have a small part.  Does it really matter how fancy or perfect they look?  NO!!!!!!!  It's  far more important to help the little ones know that you trust them and believe in them that they can do something.  It builds their self esteem.

     So here are a few suggestions for those name tags/favors.

     One that I really like is taking a little paper nut cup and filling it with little dinner mints or nuts.  Then taking your child's hand and drawing the outline of it on paper and cutting out as many as you need.  This makes a darling turkey, just add two dots for the eyes on the thumb and a little red gobble and then glue it on the front of the little cup and write the names.  Easy and look who will get all the credit..... Why the little hands of course.

     Another one is taking a chocolate pin striped cookie, turning it on the chocolate side. Then taking a large marshmallow and slicing it into thirds,so it looks like the white trim on a pilgrims hat. Take some frosting and secure the white trim to the cookie.Then take some frosting and stick a Rolo for the top of the hat, and put it on the white trim.  Then cut a small, square piece of black licorice and stick it on the white for the buckle of the hat and attach a paper with your guests name on it.

    One idea I love a lot of course is, making Carmel apples.  If you have the funds then buying them is super, there are some darling, yummy made ones.  But if that's not a option because of a large group then, making them is really easy and you can buy the decorations and guess what?  The little ones love to do the decorating.  Now here we go with NOT worrying about having them look PERFECT!!!!!  It doesn't matter.  Then after they dry put them in a plastic bag and tie them up and write the name of your guest on a attached little paper or even a little sticker.

     Something I also like to do is take the time to share all the GRANDMA'S ATTIC information you have on what THANKSGIVING is all about.  A wonderful time to do this when your hands are busy at work.  Even take the time to share about their PILGRIM ANCESTOR'S.  I mean aren't we all immigrants! 

     Oh and don't forget that at this time of year,  that The GRANDMA cookies get even better.  Yummy Pumpkin Chocolate Chip, Oatmeal, and Applesauce, Raisin Cookies.  Add a nice glass of Apple Juice or Warm Chocolate Milk or even some EGGNOG!!!!!!!  Enjoy and most important be safe xoxoxox

A SHELF THAT KEEPS ON SHARING!!!!!

     I am so excited to share this fun idea with all of you.  In fact this idea comes from my wonderful, beautiful mother-in-law, that I call mom.  Since I started dating my husband, his mother always had what she called a HOLIDAY SHELF.  Now she kept hers in the main bathroom of her house.  I am not sure why there lol, but at least EVERYONE saw it time and time again.  It made going to the bathroom fun just to see what she had on her shelf.  It wasn't a huge shelf but she would decorate it for EVERY HOLIDAY!!!!  When it wasn't a holiday she would decorate it with seasonal items.

     I loved looking at this shelf time and time again.  It had little nick- nacks on it and sometimes lights and garland of some sort.  Since that time I decided to do that in my own home and I have for 26 of our married years.  I love decorating it and love having the children help me decorate it. I love the looks on their faces as they walk in the door.  I put mine up by the door in the hall so they would never miss it as they walked in.

     My daughter who just got married decided that she wanted one in her home and so she now has one.  I told her that you don't have to decorate it all at once by going out and buying tons of things.  The object is to ADD to it every year with something new and simple.  Maybe its a holiday gift that someone has given you or you buy a little something each year and then you keep the items all together as your shelf decorations each year.  Since we have relocated I have now combined my holiday shelf with my holiday plate shelf and I am totally loving it.

     I have enclosed a picture of my new shelf and I hope you enjoy it.  I hope you will put one up in your own home to share with others.  I promise that your neighbors and friends and family will make it a fun  tradition in their own lives.
     In fact why don't you head on up to GRANDMAS ATTIC  to find what things you can add to your New Holiday Shelf!!!!!!! xoxoxoxoxoxox

It's Time to Get Out the Fall Time Fun From Grandmas Attic!!

     Here are some fun ideas to do with your family for Fall time! The Game of GHOSTBUSTERS. I took some plastic WHITE kitchen garbage cans and cut out two black eyes and a round black mouth with black paper and taped them on one side.  They looked like a ghost lol.  Then I formed two barriers out of a table tipped sides way and a long couch and then I divided the group into two teams and handed them each a Nerf dart gun and 12 darts.  When I said go, the object of the game was to see which team could get as many darts in the opposite garbage can in the time allowed. It was so simple to do and so so much fun.  Children and adults loved this and they could all participate in this.  Trust me they ended up shooting each other and laughing and having fun.

     Then we did a different musical square BOOGIE walk.  I numbered each square on the underside and turned the music on and when it stopped I called out a number.  That person got to choose a prize first.  I loved this because everyone was a WINNER!!!!!!!

     It was such a great family party and tons of fun.......... My daughter Emily brought, I am sure one of her Grandmothers favorite sugar cookie recipe's to share with ALL of us and let me tell you they were YUMMY!!!! I think I ate a total of 4 of them myself!!!!!!!

     With the Holidays coming and so much gathering, we have to remember that things don't have to cost a lot, in fact hardly nothing at all.  It's not the amount of money that is spent, but on the FUN you can create.........  It just takes some imagination and who knows what you can find up in  GRANDMOTHERS ATTIC!!!!!!!!!!