Friday night is usually our night to spend alone with them. As much as we enjoy having the rest of the grands and all the family over on Saturdays, we feel we need some time with just them -a chance to connect a little deeper. Saturday night is a free for all with any and all the grands (now numbering 8 girls and 1 boy!) spending the night. Sunday morning, Papa fixes a big breakfast of all their favorites and by mid afternoon parents come around to collect a few of them. This week the 10 yr. old from the other set stayed Sunday evening too.
While always a busy time when the girls are here, this weekend was filled with activities more than usual. We celebrated a birthday and did Valentine oriented projects.
The birthday girl actually turned 10 last week, but she didn't mind having a second party with us. This is Andrea's oldest and I cannot believe she is 10 already. Where does the time go when you are watching your grand children grow?
A budding tradition (just started last year) on or close to Valentine's Day is to decorate cupcakes. We made 6 dozen this year.
A long table was set out with icings, candy conversation hearts, Twizzlers, gummy bears, red licorice ropes, and pink and red candy corn. There were no rules except no arguing and all were allowed to decorate their cupcakes to their hearts' content.
This is the youngest showing off one of her creations.
And the birthday girl with one of hers. Each grand gets to keep the ones they have decorated and take them home. I put the cupcakes on a paper plate and slide them into a gallon freezer bag with their name on it. The kids love doing this and really it's not as messy as you might think. I'm fortunate to have help with some of the parents standing by with wet cloths.
I was surprised this year with Valentine presents. Usually Hubby gets me a box of chocolates, but this year he also gave me a book I have been wanting. Wilbur Smith is an author I found just about a year ago. I have enjoyed reading several of his books, Birds of Prey, Golden Fox, and Eye of the Tiger. This one is the 4th in his Egyptian novel series-River God, The Seventh Scroll, and Warlock. I have always had a fascination with ancient Egypt and even more so after having seen the "King Tut" exhibition in Chicago a couple of years ago. I will let you know how much I enjoy reading this book!
A long table was set out with icings, candy conversation hearts, Twizzlers, gummy bears, red licorice ropes, and pink and red candy corn. There were no rules except no arguing and all were allowed to decorate their cupcakes to their hearts' content.
This is the youngest showing off one of her creations.
And the birthday girl with one of hers. Each grand gets to keep the ones they have decorated and take them home. I put the cupcakes on a paper plate and slide them into a gallon freezer bag with their name on it. The kids love doing this and really it's not as messy as you might think. I'm fortunate to have help with some of the parents standing by with wet cloths.
I was surprised this year with Valentine presents. Usually Hubby gets me a box of chocolates, but this year he also gave me a book I have been wanting. Wilbur Smith is an author I found just about a year ago. I have enjoyed reading several of his books, Birds of Prey, Golden Fox, and Eye of the Tiger. This one is the 4th in his Egyptian novel series-River God, The Seventh Scroll, and Warlock. I have always had a fascination with ancient Egypt and even more so after having seen the "King Tut" exhibition in Chicago a couple of years ago. I will let you know how much I enjoy reading this book!
My daughter surprised my with this beautiful bird feeder. It's made of glass and metal and I am hoping the squirrels will leave this one alone. They have eaten 2 of my feeders this winter. Well, maybe not eaten, but chewed on them enough that they won't hold seed any more.
It is decorated with butterflies and dragonflies! I was very touched by her gift. She gave her dad a big box of chocolates and of course being the generous soul that he is-I will also have even more chocolates to enjoy. :)
The last gift was one I gave myself. You see about a month ago, I lost my camera. I know where and when...in the parking lot of a WalMart. As I got out of the car my purse fell to the ground. But it landed open side up and I thought nothing more about it until that night when I went to get my camera out of my purse to download some pictures. My camera should have been right in the top where I always keep it for easy access. That's when I realized that even though my purse landed upright, the camera had bounced out and under the car unseen! I was heart sick. I had developed a love-need relationship with that camera. Of course I wanted to run right out and get another! Finances were a little tight, though and I decided to wait until after tax time. So this past week I finally have that extension to my right hand. It's a Canon Powershot A470 with 7.1 mega pixels, macro and super macro, and a 3.7 zoom. There are a lot of other settings that I haven't had time to learn yet-that may take a while. But it will do pretty much what I want and was well within my price range. I am happy with it.
It is decorated with butterflies and dragonflies! I was very touched by her gift. She gave her dad a big box of chocolates and of course being the generous soul that he is-I will also have even more chocolates to enjoy. :)
The last gift was one I gave myself. You see about a month ago, I lost my camera. I know where and when...in the parking lot of a WalMart. As I got out of the car my purse fell to the ground. But it landed open side up and I thought nothing more about it until that night when I went to get my camera out of my purse to download some pictures. My camera should have been right in the top where I always keep it for easy access. That's when I realized that even though my purse landed upright, the camera had bounced out and under the car unseen! I was heart sick. I had developed a love-need relationship with that camera. Of course I wanted to run right out and get another! Finances were a little tight, though and I decided to wait until after tax time. So this past week I finally have that extension to my right hand. It's a Canon Powershot A470 with 7.1 mega pixels, macro and super macro, and a 3.7 zoom. There are a lot of other settings that I haven't had time to learn yet-that may take a while. But it will do pretty much what I want and was well within my price range. I am happy with it.
The picture of the hawk was taken from across the road. Not a great close up ( I'll never be the photograper that Mary and Robin are!) but much better than my old camera could have done. I am pleased. Now what kind of hawk is it??
Hope you had a great weekend and are keeping spring in mind!
