August 15, 2019

Summer break ends: What changed while I was away

August 15, 2019/ Lisa Carpenter

Grandma’s Briefs is back! Yep, the summer break I announced at the start of June is officially over.

While I was away from the site, a few changes took place. Some big, some small. Here’s a (relatively) quick update:

For starters, one blog change is that Grandma’s Briefs hit the 10-year mark in July! Hard to believe but true, as you can see from my very first post, published a decade ago.

Another blog change is that you’ll see a few new faces in the Meet the Family section of the sidebar, those being of Andrea’s new …

April 01, 2019

Grand wonder

April 01, 2019/ Lisa Carpenter

Grand wonder

A trifecta of grand: grand view, grand sons, and a grand quote.

Plus…

GRAND Social No. 346 link party for grandparents

Hooray for the GRAND Social! Thank you for participating!

March 28, 2019

Springtime treat: Bird Nest No-Bake Cookies

March 28, 2019/ Lisa Carpenter

Several years ago, I shared here how to make Bird Nest Cookies. Considering spring has finally arrived, I figured it’s high time to share the scrumptious springtime treat once more.

Hence, this kinda, sorta rerun of Springtime fun: Bird Nest Cookies, which published April 30, 2013, back when Brayden and Camden were itsy bitsy boys—my only grandboys at that point—who loved to bake (or create no-bake) goodies with Gramma.

February 14, 2019

Throwback Thursday: Watching the clock

February 14, 2019/ Lisa Carpenter

Dear readers: This #TBT feature originally appeared on Grandma's Briefs February 4, 2014,—back when Brayden was known here as Bubby, Camden was called Mac, and Declan was not yet born (nor was Benjamin). Thank you for reading my rerun.

I admit it: I'm a compulsive clock-watcher.

As a freelance writer working from home, I don't watch the clock in the sense that I eye the hour hand as it makes its egregiously slow move from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. so I can exit my cubicle and enter my real world. No, though I've served my time in such positions, my current compulsive clock watching is of a less regular — albeit still compulsive — sort.

January 17, 2019

Throwback Thursday: 10 life lessons grandchildren help us remember

January 17, 2019/ Lisa Carpenter

Dear readers: As my three grandsons from the desert will be visiting PawDad and me (and the rest of our Colorado family) this weekend, I thought it only fitting to share again one of my all-time favorite photo-filled posts featuring Brayden, Camden, and Declan. I hope you enjoy this #TBT feature, which originally published here on Grandma’s Briefs February 10, 2015. Thank you for reading my rerun.

With all that we do for our grandchildren, they do for us so very much more. Things such as reminding us of important lessons we've learned yet often forget to put into practice. Things such as these.

December 27, 2018

Long-distance grandsons: The 2018 highlight reel of our times together

December 27, 2018/ Lisa Carpenter

When grandparents and grandchildren live miles apart—815 miles it is for Brayden, Camden, Declan, and myself—every moment shared is one to be treasured.

Here, the highlight reel of our times together in 2018, including more from the birthday visit to the North Pole with the Colorado clan:

December 10, 2018

Grand greetings!

December 10, 2018/ Lisa Carpenter

Grand greetings!

When my daughter Megan sends out her annual Christmas cards, she typically catches up on sharing photos of Brayden, Camden, and Declan she’s not gotten around to sending earlier in the year. Sweet stuff like these school pictures and sports shots enclosed with this year’s card:

August 10, 2018

BTS 2018: School boys and other stuff

August 10, 2018/ Lisa Carpenter

My three desert-dwelling grandsons started school on Tuesday. Declan delighted in taking part in first-day photos for the first time as he began half-day preschool the same morning his brothers headed to big-boy school. This year Camden is a first-grader, and Brayden—believe it or not …

June 27, 2018

If you give a grandma a gift

June 27, 2018/ Lisa Carpenter

Most kids know what happens if you give a mouse a cookie. Perhaps nearly as many know what happens if you give a pig a pancake. How many, though, know just what happens if you give a grandma a gift? In particular, if you give a long-distance grandma who's been oh-so lonesome for her grandsons the most heartfelt gift they've ever given?

My grandsons recently learned what happens if you give such a grandma such a gift. And trust me, it wasn't pretty.

June 20, 2018

Grandma challenge: How full can she fill forty-four hours?

June 20, 2018/ Lisa Carpenter

My desert-dwelling grandsons and their parents visited my house last week—for forty-four hours. The family had taken a road trip to Vail for a wedding, and Jim and I were fortunate they fit in a stop at our place on their way back home.

I was thrilled to host them and was determined to squish as much into the visit as possible, unsure of when I'd see Brayden, Camden, and Declan (as well as Megan and Preston, too) again.

As all three boys have birthdays in June…