July 21st

 

Today I'm revisiting one of my favorite Christmases, 2019. This is the year that I made the snowmen as giftwrap for our presents. I started the project in the summer by collecting sticks when we visited JD and Janel in Kansas. The snowmen came in three parts: gifts in the bottom, stocking stuffers in the middle and ornaments in the head. I had fun making them and every year since the grandkids have asked me if I'd make them again! I guess they were a hit. Katie gave everyone a beanie or hat for Christmas which we placed on each snowman. It was super fun and holds great memories for all of us.

My family disguised as snowmen!

You can see how thrilled I was with how they turned out

Me and Dan

This is the year I gave in and we all wore pj's for Christmas

Adam (with Snow)

Jessica (our oldest daughter)

Storm

Snow

JD (our oldest son), Janel, Winter, Blizzard

Katie (our 2nd daughter), Gabe, Thunder, Sunny

Zach (our youngest... and tallest!)

Skye

I love it when all the Grands are together!

July 14th

 

Today I'm looking back at 2009. Our first year as grandparents. What a special Christmas that was. The entire family gathered for the first time in a few years. And of course, Sunny was the center of attention!

Mom & Dad

Me and Dan

JD & Janel

Jess & Adam

Katie, Gabe, Sunny

Zach & Sunny

The star of the show!

Christmas in July Day Fifteen

We just added the tradition of a cookie exchange a few years ago. It was so much fun the first time we did it that we just keep going!

The first few years that we did this, we actually got together and baked our goodies together. It was fun, but pretty chaotic with five of us trying to use the oven all at once. Last year we modified it to baking at home and then bringing everything to the exchange. We added a potluck lunch and included all of the granddaughters. They got to join in the "baking" fun by making snowmen out of mini powdered sugar donuts.

The most important thing about traditions (to me) is the ability to change the tradition as needed. This allows us to keep the overall tradition while updating it for our family's needs and abilities and enjoyment.

Here's some pictures from our various exchanges.

Sunny and Skye 2016

Me, Jessica, Shelby, Kelly, Katie 2018

2019

Skye 2019

Sunny 2019

Snow 2019

Summer 2019

I'm eager to see what this year will bring!

Christmas in July: Day 21

I decided to have the grandkids make the gifts for their parents during Grammy's Summer Camp Christmas in July. Last week we worked on one gift. We still need to create the gift bags and make a gift for the other parent. Plus I have three other Grands in town that need to make gifts. At least we're off to a good start!

Thunder and Sunny working on Christmas gifts

🎄A Few of My Favorite Things🎄

 This year I decided to be more casual with my December Christmas posts. Instead of posting every day with a clever theme for the entire month, I'm focusing on "a few of my favorite things".

We were fortunate this year in having all of our family together in November. We headed out to see Santa at the Mall the day before Thanksgiving and got this great photo of all six grands with Dan and I. Sunny is nine, Skye and Thunder are seven, Storm is four, Snow is two, and Blizzard is one.

Grandkids are such a joy! If you have some, you know what I mean. If you don't, well, it's impossible for me to explain. But you'll find out if you have them someday...

December Twenty-third - Best Gift

Photos of the best gifts I've ever received!

Gramps, Blizzard, Grammy, Snow

Storm, Thunder, Skye, Summer

Me with my boys

Gabe, Zach, JD, Adam

Dan with the girls

Jessica, Katie, Janel

Jessica, Adam, Snow, Storm

JD, Janel, Blizzard

Gabe, Katie, Sunny, Thunder

Zach, Skye

Dan and me

December Twenty-first - Crafts

OK, so we thought we were buying wood Nativity sets for the grandkids to make with Gramps. But when we opened them we found they were just laminated cardboard. Bummer! They were actually harder to make than the wood would have been because, of course, cardboard and paper breaks easily.

But they persevered and ended up with a cute little Nativity for each of them to take home.

Next time we'll be more observant about what we're purchasing...

December Sixteenth - Santa, Part 2

Remember my story about our visit to Santa? Here is the photo of Santa with Sunny and Thunder (once Thunder calmed down enough to see him).

December Ninth - Christmas Light Scavenger Hunt

Last night we loaded up three of the grandkids and headed out for a Christmas Light Scavenger Hunt. Using a list I found on Pinterest (check it out, there are several options on there), we began our search.

 

We started the evening with dinner at Culver's. This was a big treat for them.

We drove three neighborhoods and managed to find all but two of the items on our list. We never found carolers or Mrs. Claus.

We then returned to our neighborhood where we found the best decorated house of the night - ours!