Grandma's all-around good sport

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child on park play structureI have a handful of skills that I enjoy sharing with my grandsons, activities I consider myself good at and that I'm happy to encourage them to become good at, too. For them at this age, that's mostly reading, crafting, cooking, playing games plus a few other rather sedate things.

And then there are the skills this not-so-agile grandma...

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Winter wonderland: The Breckenridge Ice Castle

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Though many folks across the country may be tired of cold and snow, the following is a recap of my recent encounter with cold and snow — ice, actually — as you've likely never seen it.

Breckenridge Ice Castle

On Saturday, Brianna, Andrea, Jim and I took advantage of free tickets I received to review the Ice Castle at Breck, one of only three such icy palaces in the country. (If you're in Colorado, be sure to see the giveaway below...

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40 Things to do when visiting your grandchild's house

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40 Things to do when visiting your grandchild's house
Jim and I chatted with our grandsons via FaceTime the other night, and one thing I mentioned to Bubby and Mac was that they should come up with some ideas for fun things to do when PawDad and I visit them next month.

 40 things to do when visiting grandchildren


As I don’t want to leave the boys fully in charge of the agenda for our visit, I set out to make a list of options myself. I first considered perusing...
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Quick, clever, crunchy gifts to make with grandchildren

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This past weekend was a party-filled one for this grandma. Sunday was my family's annual cookie swap and Saturday was the Chex Party Mix Party.

The Chex what? you ask.

The Chex Party Mix Party was a special blogging event I was invited to in which several bloggers from the Denver area were filled in on how to make and gift — yes, gift! — Chex mix goodies in a variety of flavors. And, of course, we got to taste the crunchy stuff, too.

Chex Party Mix booth

I honestly had never thought of doing such a thing, but after...

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Making mints and making memories

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Making mints and making memories

At Thanksgiving when my daughters were young, they enjoyed making cream cheese after-dinner mints as their contribution to the holiday meal. The recipe for the mints was super simple, super yummy, and a super tradition that makes me smile just thinking about it.

cream cheese dinner mints

A few years ago, when my eldest grandson, Bubby, was two years old — and my youngest grandson, Mac, was just an announcement emblazoned across his big brother’s T-shirt — Bubby and I made the cream cheese mints together.

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Spooky science experiments plus GRAND Social link party No. 76

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With only a few days left until Halloween, it's time to squeeze in a bit more holiday fun with the kids before the creepy occasion has come and gone.

I received some Halloween treats from Kiddie Academy and with their permission, I'm sharing one with you today. It's a booklet of Spooky Science experiments using items you likely have around the house. Click on the following graphic to access the .pdf file (you'll need the free Adobe reader), then print it — or save to your computer — and try one or more  of the Halloween-themed experiments with the kids at your place.

Because my grandsons are far away, I've not tried these experiments with them, so please do share your success stories with me once you sample the spooky science fun with your kiddos. Enjoy!

Time now for GRAND Social No. 76. Thank you for participating!

link party

How it works:

  • All grandparent bloggers are invited to add a link. You don't have to blog specifically about grandparenting, just be a grandparent who blogs.
  • To link up a post, copy the direct URL to the specific post — new or old — that you want to share, not the link to your blog's home page. Then click the blue button marked with "Add your link" below and follow the directions.
  • You can add up to three posts, but no duplicates, contests, giveaways, or Etsy sites, please.
  • Adding a mention such as This post linked to the GRAND Social to your linked posts is appreciated. Or, you can post the GRAND Social button anywhere on your page using the following code:

Grandma’sBriefs.com

<a rel="nofollow" href="/" target="blank"><img src="http://grandmasbriefs.squarespace.com/storage/GRANDsocialbutton.jpg " alt="Grandma’sBriefs.com" width="125" height="125" /></a>

 

  • The GRAND Social linky is open for new posts through Wednesday evening, so please come back to see those added after your first visit.

  • If you're not a blogger, you have the pleasure of being a reader. Bloggers who link up would be honored to have one and all — other bloggers as well as readers — visit, read and, if so moved, comment, even if just a "Hey, stopping by from the GRAND Social."