Easter goodies

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Easter goodies

Easter goodies!

I have at least a few of my family's traditional recipes for nearly every holiday posted in my Grandma's Briefs Recipe Box. Not for Easter, though. I suppose it's because our traditional breakfast is the Easter eggs we colored a few days before along with blueberry muffins and sausage or bacon. Easter dinner has always been, like most folks, ham and the typical ham accompaniments. No recipes needed.

That said, I do have a couple non-edible Easter goodies on my blog. Goodies I've shared in the past, but the time is right to do so again. That would be these:

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Puzzles for grandmothers and others: Sudoku & Crossword puzzles on Grandma's Briefs

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Sometimes grandmothers and others need to take a break from playing games with the grands and play a few on their own. Games for grownups. Games such as sudoku and crosswords.

Now you can right here, right now, right on Grandma's Briefs. Without installing an app, creating an account, or selling your soul personal information to advertisers.

sudoku and crossword puzzles

Grandma's Briefs now has a Puzzles page featuring regularly updated sudoku and crossword puzzles for you to play on your computer, your phone, your device of most any sort. For free. For fun.

The Puzzles tab is at...

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On waterfalls and wildlife

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backyard waterfall

One of my favorite features of my backyard is broken. Our waterfall, which Jim — primary caretaker of the falls — likes to keep running through each and every season (despite it freezing for the most part during winter seasons), hasn't been running for several seasons now.

Because it's broken. Has a leak. Somewhere. Somehow.

Jim and I plan to spend much of Saturday figuring out the where and the how — and the what we need to do to fix it.

Taking apart the waterfall and putting it all back together again will surely be a pain in the butt. We don't look forward to it.

We do, though, look forward to once again having water streaming and splashing. We miss the sound, the peace, the tranquility of the special spot just off our patio.

Despite our reluctance to remove and replace liners and rocks and such, the special spot needs to be fixed. Not only to fulfill our...

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From the archives: Four for Valentine's Day

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The annual day o' love lurks right around the corner and Cupid will soon be sprinkling hearts and flowery fun far and wide.

Following are four of my previously published posts to peruse, a collection of sweet and silly sorts of stuff focused on ensuring grandkids feel the love — and laughter — this Valentine's Day.

valentine's day activities

 

Click each graphic to see the full post featuring lovey-dovey ...

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5 reasons I like to play games with my grandkids

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My grandmothers never played games with me. My daughters' grandmothers never played games with them, either.

Considering the grandmas who came before me, the ones from whom I most learned what grandmothering looks like, I'm unsure how I became a game-playing grandma. But I am.

And I love it. Here's why:

 

I enjoy watching them learn.
Kids learn so much from playing games. They improve motor skills and ...

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Simple skeletons

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Simple skeletons

We're officially one week away from Halloween, and I haven't put up or out or on one single holiday decoration. With all the truly scary stuff going on in our country and beyond right now, it seems rather silly to add some faux frights to the mix. And especially silly — well, especially a waste of time, to be honest — when the chances of grandkids of mine arriving at my door for a quick trick-or-treat or visit of any sort during Halloween season are zilch, nada, zero.

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From the archives: Four for fall

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Having blogged for more than seven years, I have oodles of goodies stored away in the Grandma's Briefs archive, goodies that rarely see the light of day because they go way, way back. At least seven years or so.

Today seems a perfect day to pull out some of those well-seasoned posts, a few of my favorite fall-themed features you just might have missed.

fall recipes and fun

 

14 THINGS I LOVE ABOUT OCTOBER

My shortlisted October loves... in no particular order:

1. The sun has shifted south. Whereas summer...

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Pinterest prize find: Build a Dinosaur

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Pinterest prize find: Build a Dinosaur

What in the world did grandmas do before Pinterest? I'd be half the grandma I am — at least in terms of the eats and activities I share with my grandsons — if not for the food and fun pinned and promoted by folks far more crafty then me.

Take for instance the super simple puzzle fun I shared with my dino-loving middle grandson, Mac. Without my stumbling upon a Pinterest pin leading to this post by a clever mama, Mac would have never had the opportunity to see how a few circles, triangles, and squares can be pieced together to create his favorite creature.

Now, I surely could simply say: Check out that post cuz it's perty darn cool. But then I'd have to come up with a post of some other sort to fill this space today. More importantly, though, I'd have no reason to share the photos of Mac making his dinos, photos that prove how Pinterest-worthy this quick, easy, and inexpensive activity actually is.

With that in mind, here are pics of the day Mac and I created the clever, captivating cutouts during my desert visit in April.

build a dinosaur

What you need:

• 1 sheet of craft foam (green...

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11 ideas for free (or super inexpensive) summer outings with grandkids

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11 ideas for free (or super inexpensive) summer outings with grandkids

So you have the grandkids for the week. Or the weekend. Or every work day throughout the summer as you (generously) help cover childcare while school-age kids are on summer break.

What to do, what to do?

Here are 11 ideas that won't bust your budget. Some are free, some are low cost, all are great ways for grandkids and grandparents to make grand memories together this summer.

free summer fun with kids 

FREE FISHING
This one tops the list because fishing is fun. Mostly, though, it's because...

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Documenting our outing: Mother, daughter, pink beach cruisers... and a selfie fail

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When my daughter and I visited Morro Bay in California a week or so ago, we were treated to two single-speed beach cruisers — pink! — for a bicycle ride around the Embarcadero, to Morro Rock, and along the sandy shores of Morro Strand State Beach. All courtesy Farmer's Kites & Surreys.

The laid-back bikes provided a delightful ride along the beach, with stops here and there to watch otters at play and surfers attempting to master the waves. My daughter led the way on our one-hour wending and winding near the water's edge.

Being a photo fanatic who must document everything, I made Brianna stop to take a selfie with me on our matching pink bikes. Despite several attempts to wrangle our bee-yoo-tiful bikes into view as well as our happy faces, I was unable to capture the moment as I'd hoped.

mother daughter selfie 

A definite selfie fail. At least in terms of...

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