A Visit From Lucky

I made these little bunny crackers for the kids the other day.  I've seen them in various places in blogland, and just did my own version.  I sent these home with Cooper and Jackson.  They have a long car ride home and a little snack helps.

I found these on a great website, here, and they were perfect for the kids.  I just used bags from Micheals and rainbow licorice.  I had some chocolate gold coins for the treasure.

The kids were coming over for dinner on St. Patrick's Day and at the last minute instead of using these as favors at the table I hid them in a little box with the rest of the gold coins.  I made up a few clues and put them on shamrocks.

The hunt for clues is on.

Luckily, Elizabeth is  a good reader.

The clues led them to the living room and then they were stumped.  

The clue said something about Rainbow Brite protecting the treasure and you can see her sitting on the table.  My grandchildren are terrible at hunting for things!!  They looked all around the living room...

...at all the little doodads on the table...

but not one of them looked under the table skirt until Grandpa gave them a huge hint.  {And I always hide Easter baskets under this table so you would think they would remember.  Guess we'll see how they do in a few weeks!}

We had a fun evening followed by a movie and sleepover.  Laura and Jessica and I played a new to us game, Qwirkle.  It's fun and would be fun for school age kids too.

We are getting ready to have our floors done on our first floor.  Refinish the existing hardwood and then take up the tile and add wood to the kitchen, family room, and master bedroom.  It will be nice, but I am dreading the mess.  I'll try and remember to take a picture or two.

Happy Spring!

Life is Grand!

 I haven't fallen off the earth, just had an action packed February and stepped back from the computer a bit.  We had a lot of company, which was so fun and a few fun activities with the grands.


Elizabeth played on her very first basketball team.  I think basketball is my favorite sport and these first graders know how to play!  Stressful for Grandma to watch!  Her cousin, Josh, {left} is on her team.  {he is in kindergarten}

Unfortunately, a trip on cousin Josh's motorized scooter ended her basketball season prematurely.  She gets the cast off today and she is very excited.

Cooper's class led the chapel service at his preschool, so I attended that one day.  They did a great job, and sang a few songs us.  

This cutie sat with Grandma.

This is the only picture I took of the Valentine goodies.  I always get these suckers and love the photo op.  I don't know where Ben and Elizabeth were.  

We attended the lovely first grade Valentine Program at Elizabeth's school.  She is in the back row, 4th from left with her broken arm.

That's a lot of first graders!

And, to finish off the month we went to Ben's last basketball game.  So cute, and he really started to follow the ball so that was fun to see.

This month promises to be action packed too.  Cooper is in soccer and I believe Ben starts soccer too.  We don't have any company until the end of the month, but I have got to start looking for fabric for my family room.  I want to change up the colors in there, but I really don't want to go looking.  I want to be like Samantha on Bewitched and just twitch my nose and have it done. 

Warmer temps have come to Texas and my carolina jasmine is blooming and leaves are popping.  

I love Spring! 

A Little House Work

We have been having some beautiful weather ~ like nearly 80 on the last day of January!

So, I decided to do a little housework.  On the "little" house.  And because, frankly, I just wanted to be outside, and I didn't really want to work on the "big" house.  I don't know where to start in there!

This is just the right size. 

I put up a few Valentine's decorations.  Love that heart window.  I also left on the Christmas lights.  They are red and white so they will be perfect now, and they will be great for all of the patriotic holidays too.  So I don't think they will be coming down until they don't work anymore.

I have given up on real flowers in the window boxes.  I did it the first few seasons but I just don't go out and water them every day and they always looked so terrible.

Inside I whipped up a new tablecloth with my trusty glue gun.

I swept out all of the leaves that got tracked in and washed the floor and cupboard.

I tidied up the pantry and put all of the food back in the cupboard.  I have a lot of wooden food ~ lots of little pieces ~ and it is a favorite activity to dump it all in a bowl and leave it for Grandma to sort and put back in the containers.  {because I am a little OCD :-) }

Whew, that's a big job done.  If only the rest of my house was that easy!

Joining Sherry for her Open House Party.

Disney Trip

I'm going to post a "few" more pictures from our Disney trip ~ be thankful I didn't take very many pictures this year at all:-)


As I mentioned before, we spent Saturday and Sunday at Magic Kingdom and headed to Hollywood Studios on Monday morning.  We were hoping to get there when it opened to race to the Toy Story ride for fast passes, but we had a little later start and didn't get there at opening.


Still we raced to Toy Story and it was broken and fast passes were already for evening hours.  We were so disappointed.  The ride did open later in the day and the wait was 90 minutes.  No thank you.  We ended up coming back on our last day, Wednesday, to be with Buzz and Woody.  The grands like the Buzz ride at MK better, but the adults all prefer this one.  


Since we couldn't ride we looked for some characters and the kids were excited to meet Jake.  He's a new guy since our last visit.

We had time to watch the parade and had a great spot to sit and watch.  It was not crowded at all, nothing like watching a parade at MK.

This is a horrible picture of the kids, but a cute one of their shirts:-) and shows us waiting for the monorail.  An every day occurrence.

This was Tuesday morning and we were on our way to breakfast with Chef Mickey.

LOVE this picture of Jackson with his very favorite person.  I think he sleeps with at least 4 Mickeys in his crib.

We spent our last full day back at Magic Kingdom riding all of our favorites and catching the fireworks that evening.

Jackson and Jessica were behind Cooper and me on the race track.  It would have been a great picture to see Grandma getting out of that car at the end of the race.  HA

Our third and final character dining. 

As we were waiting to leave on our last day I snapped this picture of Elizabeth by Mary Poppins.  She loved that the umbrella and bag were real.

This is our last day back at HS on the Toy Story ride.  It has the cutest queue ever.  You are inside Andy's toy box and it is darling.  {especially when it is not filled with people so you can really see everything}

The soldier is trying to get Jackson to salute.

Hmmm ~ didn't quite get it:-)

Here are tired, but very happy Grandma and Grandpa with 4 tired, but happy grands.  We had a great trip and can't wait to do it again!!

2013 anyone?

And We Are Off!

We left bright and early on a Saturday morning for our adventure to Disney World.  Elizabeth and Ben hadn't flown in awhile so they were excited for the ride.  Just for the record and so we don't forget ~ we all got up around 3:00 for our 6:00 flight.  Note to self ~ don't start a trip with small children with a lack of sleep!  They all did really well, but I know well rested would have been better.

Aren't they so cute in their ears?

Jackson is all set too.

And we are there!  I really didn't take many pictures this trip.  I was busy pushing a stroller and just enjoying the kids.  But this was our first ride, and Jackson's first teacup ride.  You can see Laura and the kids behind us in the "fast" teacup.

And here they are at the end of the boys favorite ride.  Buzz Lightyear.  I should have kept track of how many times we rode this ride.  Bob was always running to get us fast passes.

That first evening after dinner, Bob and Jessica took the boys back to the room for bed and Elizabeth, mom and grandma headed to her special appointment in the castle.  

Getting her princess sash.  And can you believe I didn't get a picture of the finished product?  Hopefully Laura will post one.  It was crazy busy in the salon!

This is the next day ~ we had breakfast in the castle ~ didn't take one picture!  {that's why she's wearing her dress.  The boys were adorable in their knight capes ~ hope the girls have some pics!}

Meeting their hero.  Love Jackson's face.

Here we are in line at Buzz ~ as I've said ~ we spend a lot of time here!  The kids other favorite ride ~ Thunder Mountain ~ was closed.  That was disappointing.  And we could only peek at the addition to Fantasy Land.  It looks like it's going to be great.  We will have to come back!

I love this picture.

This is how they ate breakfast almost every morning.  This little area was right outside our room and they are all staring intently at the TV.  They were in heaven.

We spent Saturday and Sunday in Magic Kingdom with the crowds, and headed to Hollywood Studio on Monday.  We really wanted to go on the Toy Story ride and rushed right over ~ but it was broken and all of the fast passes were gone. 

I'll post a few pictures from there next time.