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!

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's crop of Santa photos: Enjoy!

Thunder (7), Snow (2), Blizzard (1), Santa, Skye (7), Summer (9), Storm (4)

🎄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! 

December Eighth - Christmas Programs

Tis the Season for school Christmas Programs. This year we attended performances by Sunny, Thunder, and Storm. This was Storm's first year to participate in a show and he was awesome!

As I may have mentioned before, he is totally into Christmas this year, so everything about it is thrilling to him.

Jessica invited us over for dinner before the performance so, of course, Grammy had to take some pictures!

During the show, Storm did a great job of singing the songs (in between bouts of looking up at the video screen where he could see himself!) and didn't exhibit any sign of stage fright.

Snow was rocking out to the jazz ensemble during intermission

Blurry, I know, but hopefully you can see the excitement on his face!

Then the next night we attended Sunny and Thunder's Christmas concert. I could not get a single decent photo of them performing. They both did an excellent job and it was worth it to sit through two separate performances on the same night. Although the chairs were so uncomfortable, my back is killing me today...

We appreciate the generosity of their parents for including Dan and I in activities. These years will fly by and we're enjoying them!

We're proud of you, Storm, Sunny, and Thunder!

December Sixth - Santa

I was so excited about the grandkids' visit to Santa this year. I literally spent weeks anticipating it. You see in October it occurred to me that since JD, Janel, and Blizzard would be here for Thanksgiving it would be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to have all six grandkids in a photo with Santa! Yippee! I plotted and planned... Katie bought matching "Cousin Crew" pj's for them all to wear. I made a reservation to see Santa so we wouldn't have to wait in line.

The big day finally arrived. We drove to the mall in anticipation of the awesome Santa photos we would be getting.

Alas, it was not to be. For some reason as we approached the first photo station, Thunder decided that he did NOT want his photo with Santa. He started throwing a fit like a toddler (most unattractive in a six year old). We managed to get a shot of him in the first photo, but when we reached Santa he completed revolted.

I am bummed. But, on the bright side, I got a photo of five of the grandkids with Santa. I am focusing on the bright side. Really, I am. Yep, one of these days I'll be able to focus on the bright side.

So, here are the Santa photos, the much anticipated Santa photos...

Skye (6), Snow (1), Grammy, Blizzard (10 mos), 

Sunny (8), Storm (3), Gramps, Thunder (6)

Hmmm, wonder if I could insert a photo of Thunder in here?!

Storm is very into Christmas this year and was thrilled 

beyond words to see Santa!

Skye asked for an Appaloosa, but Santa explained that he 

doesn't bring live animals...

Blizzard's first meeting with Santa went very well!

The last time I had a photo of Sunny alone with Santa was in 2010, 

before Thunder was born

After we left the mall, Katie called me and said that Thunder had a change of heart and went back in to take a picture with Santa and Sunny. {{sigh}}

December Third - Fun With Grandkids

Of course, I found this idea on Pinterest. It is a sled made out of candy! The grandkids were thrilled and wanted to make them for their parents.

The day before Thanksgiving we gathered our supplies and set to work. They did a great job! I used glue dots instead of the hot glue gun that is called for in most of the instructions I found (how can you use hot glue with chocolate?!) They were able to handle the dots by themselves. I found the chocolate Santa at IKEA and he looked very cute "driving" the sled.

This was a fun activity that I will definitely keep in mind for future holidays.

Thunder 

Skye

Sunny 

(My son, JD is making pies in the background)