December 18, 2017

No-cookies cookie swap!

December 18, 2017/ Lisa Carpenter

No-cookies cookie swap!

The holidays were happening at my house yesterday as a chunk of extended family gathered for a no-cookies cookie swap.

No cookies in a cookie swap? Well, our annual family cookie swap — a family tradition with my mom and my siblings for nearly 30 years — has become quite large as more and more kids of the siblings became adults and joined the swapping. Which meant the number of cookies...

December 16, 2017

Saturday movie briefs: A holiday movie montage for every holiday mood

December 16, 2017/ Lisa Carpenter

The ultimate holiday movie montage collection

The holiday season can stir up a goofy gamut of feelings. From sentimental to sad, giving to Grinchy, delighted to dour, lonely to I. Just. Want. To. Be. Alone! Sometimes all in one day.

Whether your mood has you feeling magical, mad, blessed or blue there's a Christmas movie montage perfect for you.

December 13, 2017

The difference one hundred ninety-nine days makes

December 13, 2017/ Lisa Carpenter

Up until this past weekend, my husband and I last saw our three desert-dwelling grandsons one hundred and ninety-nine days ago. At that time, we flew to their house to celebrate their birthdays — all of which are in June — a few weeks early. At that time, they looked like this:

Last weekend Jim and I flew to their house to celebrate Christmas with them — a few weeks early. In the one hundred and ninety-nine days since our visit in May, Brayden, Camden, and Declan have grown by leaps and bounds — in stature, maturity, conversational prowess, game-playing ability, and more.

December 08, 2017

Cooking with grandchildren: Make the kitchen a classroom

December 08, 2017/ Lisa Carpenter

Each year, families spend a lot of time in the kitchen together during the holidays. These moments not only make happy memories, but can be teachable moments as well, where grandchildren can learn valuable knowledge about the world around them.

Cooking and baking can be enjoyable pastimes for grandkids and grandparents who incorporate science in fun, interactive ways, ranging from the basics of measurements to thermodynamics and beyond.

December 04, 2017

Tree trinkets

December 04, 2017/ Lisa Carpenter

My halls are decked, my tree is up, my gift-shopping is nearly done. I'm a tad early on all my Christmas tasks this year as Jim and I will be out of town next weekend — sharing Christmas joy with our grandsons! (Woot!)

November 27, 2017

Turkey Day hits

November 27, 2017/ Lisa Carpenter

Welcome back from the long holiday weekend! I hope your Thanksgiving featured super-sized servings of good food and great times with family.

Our Turkey Day table featured a couple hits sure to make the menu as traditional favorites in Thanksgivings to come.

November 18, 2017

Saturday movie briefs: 5 (possibly forgotten) family faves for Thanksgiving gatherings

November 18, 2017/ Lisa Carpenter

My favorite Thanksgiving film is the 1995 treat HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS. It's funny and sad and sweet and sorta romantic, and it's the one and only film I must see around the Thanksgiving holiday.

I set out to share with you today not only my Thanksgiving film fave but a few other family friendly movies with a Thanksgiving theme because if your family is anything like mine, watching a film or two together during extended family gatherings is a given.

Turns out the selection of quintessential Thanksgiving movies is slim to none. Those I did find are available primarily only on DVD, not streaming, which means families must decide in advance what to watch together — and how likely is that to happen?

There are still grand options for Thanksgiving weekend...

November 15, 2017

Personalized puzzles for pre-turkey patience

November 15, 2017/ Lisa Carpenter

Savvy restaurant servers know the first task when waiting on customers with kids is to provide puzzles or coloring pages for entertaining the little ones while they wait for their food.

Savvy grandmothers and others can follow the same tack this Thanksgiving by providing personalized puzzles to pint-sized guests gathered at the table, awaiting their turkey.

The personalized part makes pre-turkey puzzles more fun — and it's so easily done.

November 11, 2017

Saturday movie briefs: 6 movies for Veterans Day Weekend

November 11, 2017/ Lisa Carpenter

I live in a city that survives and thrives in large part due to the numerous military installations located here, those being the United States Air Force Academy, Fort Carson, Peterson Field, Schriever Air Force Base and NORAD.

Despite the strong and unmistakable military presence of my everyday — the patriotic sound of morning Reveille and evening Taps often emanating from Peterson plus eardrum-rattling USAF Thunderbird flyovers directly above my house during football and graduation season, for starters — I unfortunately too often take for granted what veterans of every single military branch have done and continue to do for our country as well as other countries around the world.

Today, Veterans Day, I want to humbly and wholeheartedly...

November 08, 2017

Thanksgiving theatrics: Family fun galore courtesy What Happens at Grandma's

November 08, 2017/ Lisa Carpenter

My friend Grandma Joyce from What Happens at Grandma's has done it again: crafted a creative and clever holiday activity for kids! This time it's for Thanksgiving, and this time it's unique among Thanksgiving arts and crafts found online because it's performance art — a three-act play for grandkids to perform for friends and family on Turkey Day. Thank you for sharing, Joyce!

The kids don't know it yet, but they're going to superstar in a post-dinner Thanksgiving play at grandma's this year. Considering their love of theatrics, I'm confident they'll gobble up this opportunity right along with savory sweet potatoes served on the rapidly approaching family day of thankful...