Bambi and Thumper

I received this in an e-mail from a friend and thought the photo was so cute. The lady who took the picture is Tanja Askani and she lives in Canada. I think she is an amazing photographer. Have any of you tried your hand at taking pictures? It is harder than you think but can be so much fun.


Good photographers watch and wait for the perfect shot. Another way some do it is to take lots of pictures right in a row and hope for a good one. It is important to compose your photo by asking yourself~is what I see in the view finder something that would look good in a printed or digital picture? If so, click quick!

If someone is taking your picture it is good to cooperate and smile nicely. That photo is important to remember the way you were at a certain age. You will appreciate having it one day. It is OK to be silly in a few photos but remember someday your children will want to see how you looked when you were their age. If you are making a silly face, or sticking out your tongue or covering your face or making bunny ears all the time...well, it won't be as good as a nice photo of the real you!

Sometimes it seems like the adults in your life are always taking your picture. I know this can get annoying but it is only because they love you and think you are so cute and want to preserve some great memories for you of your early life. It is a little nutty to you but it means a lot to them. Be patient with them, OK? Just something to think about. Love you all very much...

Gramma and Grampa

Turkey Day in the USA!

Turkey Time

Nigel, a friend from Scotland
attending his first Thanksgiving!

Christopher and Melissa

Hazie and Piper

Lowell, Nigel, Jen and Hazie

Jen and Hazie

Uncle Chris and Hazie

Aynlsee and Julia

All five Granddaughters in one place!

Pure heaven!

The dinner was phenomenal, thanks Jen and Lowell.
Lowell made the dressing, roasted the turkey, made the pies and
a cheese cake! Jen did all the rest! What a team!

Aunt Missy, Hazie, and Zach

Zack Attack!

Owen

Zach and Chloe Jane

Piper and Connor

Chloe, Owen and Zach

Our niece, Erin, getting her PhD
in Math at the U of U.
So glad she could join us!

We tried the traditional passing of the food but
it really didn't work with 8 kids and 8 adults!

Check out the jello dessert disguised as a "salad"

Erin and Jen

Miss Julia

Hazie in Daddy Indiana Jones Hat.

Jen and Chris wishing their Daddy a Happy Birthday!
Happy Birthday Honey!

It was a fantastically wonderful family day.

We missed you Laura, Robert, Spencer and Rossie!

Halloween~All Year Long!

Who could this little beauty be....
all decked out in her authentic Venetian Mask
and Monkey Jammies?
And to think some kids just get a t-shirt!

Fruit Pizza

Cooking with Your Kids - Fruit Pizza

from Blissfully Domestic by A Cowboy's Wife

"Finding fun and yummy recipes for my children are what keeps them loving me and Fruit Pizza is no exception! This recipe is delicious for any age but is especially fun if you want a little helping hand. When my kiddos help me cook something up, they just can't wait to taste it!

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 roll frozen sugar cookie dough (buy it or from scratch)
• 8 oz. cream cheese, softened
• 1 c. sugar
• 4 Tbsp. juice
• Fresh fruit of your choice (can be canned but drained) You could also use the juice from this for your 4Tbsp. of juice.
• Nuts, coconut, or marshmallows (optional)

DIRECTIONS:

Soften and spread dough to fit 9×13 cake pan or pizza pan. Combine cream cheese, sugar, and juice. Spread over cooled cookie dough. Sprinkle with fruit of your choice. (Optional: Add nuts, coconut, or marshmallows on the top) Refrigerate and serve cold!"

Laura, I thought this might be a fun dessert for Spencer to enjoy. Besides, it's pizza and you are in Italy! Darn it, come home soon!

Bidet Spa?

If you have a bidet
and want to find an alternative use for it
...try this......

Scrub it so well you nearly rub a hole in the porcelain....
then make a special habitat for your Neapolitan Turtle.
This is the best loved pet of our grandboys,
Spencer and Ross and it works for them!

They have their own cage and seem to love it!
So far they have not managed to jump out either!

This is Oscar, the luckiest ever, Neapolitan turtle!
He is contend to stay put in his bidet spa too!
Since then 2 more turtles have joined the Bidet Spa!

Aunt Jen Goes First Class!

This morning when we awakened, Aunt Jen, had already completed her flight across the Atlantic Ocean to see Uncle Robert, Aunt Laura, Spencer and Ross! She got to fly First Class which means she was treated exceptionally well, had lots of room to stretch out and sleep and a nice comfy seat, ate great food...the list goes on and on. I have never flown first class but I know it would be wonderful. Grampa and I are so happy she has been blessed with this wonderful opportunity. This is the first picture she send us from Italy.

This is a traffic jam in Italy!

That is Auntie Lou Lou in the car!

We hope our two girls have a wonderful time together. Can you even imagine not seeing your brother or sister for three whole years? Thanks to everyone that made this possible!

Halloween In The Olden Days

In the olden days Halloween was different than it is today. Although I am not a big fan of the scary parts of Halloween, both the imagined and the real, there are things I do like about it. For one, it seems that most kids are pretty crazy about the costumes and the trick or treating. Because kids love it, they tend to remember it when they grow up. I think that any holiday that book marks childhood memories can be a good thing.

When I think back to my growing up years a lot of it is just a fog. The repetition of daily life seems to all blend into a happy feeling inside of me but not a lot of real specific things are there unless I search the archives of my memory with real intent. Things like Halloween seem to stand out pretty well.

It seems that the costumes were mostly homemade and I can remember a lot of ghosts and hobos. There were also a lot of gypsies and little girls in lots of mom's make-up and fancy fake jewelry and boys with blackened faces done by lighting a match to a cork and then rubbing it on your face. Lots of kids just wore their own clothes and a mask of some kind. I don't remember adults in costumes unless they were going to a grown-up party or wanted to really scare kids at their doors.


The tricks that I remember were soaping windows. It was something the bigger kids did that really made people mad as it was hard to get off the cars and houses. Heaven knows we never did it, mom and dad would never allow anything like that thankfully. In my Dad's day it was turning over outhouses and he was known to have participated in a few of those events! One time he and a bunch of kids put a guys's buckboard up on his barn roof. They got in some major trouble from their parents for that. We on the other hand, were perfect little angels. Sure we were!

We had some fun school activities with costumes and bobbing for apples and old-fashioned things like that. I remember "going fishing" for prizes, eating popcorn balls and frosted cookies. These events were the precursor to the school carnivals of today I think.

Halloween was always a bench mark for the beginning of the colder and rainier weather and staying warm outside under your costume was essential. It seems that it would be dark so early and was usually the first week of daylight savings time. And no one was interested in eating dinner, that's for sure! We just wanted to go, go go! The thing about candy in those days was it was a rare treat which made the pay dirt all the sweeter. (Is there a lesson for another day here?)

Jen's pumpkin art

We would always pray for no rain in Sacramento where I grew up. Rain always put such a damper on the blocks and blocks of door to door trick or treating. We lived in a housing tract and going out was so much fun.

You didn't have to be afraid of weirdos that liked to poison kids and things like that. Kids were out in mass and parents just didn't have to worry about the safety of their kids like we did in our kids' day and especially now that we have grandkids. Fortunately, most people now just take their kids to homes of people they know and still every year you read of unfortunate events involving little kids. Not so in our care free days of growing up.

We all used large paper bags to collect our loot. One of our parents would always go with us until we were about 10. Then we could go alone if we took our little brother with us. One time I remember that I was 10, Steve was 8 and our baby brother, Gary, was 5. Out we went with Gary in tow and we hit every house for about five blocks. We had a ton of candy and were pretty excited. The few rich people even gave out 5 cent candy bars!! When we arrived home exhausted and happy we ran to our rooms to empty our bags on to the floor and count and sort the stuff. Steve and I ran into the bedroom and then we heard our little brother crying in the kitchen.

The next thing I knew my Dad was standing over Steve and me saying that we needed to share our candy with Gary! " What? Are you kidding us?" I guess we weren't doing the best job of watching him as he ran to keep up with us that night. It seems little Gar, was not quite tall enough and he was dragging his paper bag in the wet grass. He arrived home with nothing but a big bag with a big hole in the bottom. Poor little guy! He was heart broken and we begrudgingly shared our candy. To this day I call him and remind him not to drag his bag in the wet grass every Halloween!

Trick or Treat~Italian Style!

The definitive and very last word on Halloween
from Uncle Lowell's winning pumpkin!

This morning I am sharing Laura's post hot off the press regarding Halloween in Italy. I know, I know, I did a wrap the other day on the whole Halloween scene, but how could I leave these precious grandsons out of the mix? We had the curtain call, well, this is the encore...the last one for 2009! I promise!

Laura said....

"The boys went trick or treating again this year- they had a blast! Two days before Halloween however, the plan was to stay home, make caramel corn and watch a movie. This was their idea not mine, but I didn't mind and had planned accordingly. So when we went to a Halloween party on Friday night and all their friends were dressed up and dazzled about trick or treating- they got the itch to go too. I wanted to say no because I just didn't think I could pull it off cool costumes and safe candy in such a short amount of time. In the end... I gave in! Good thing it is dark outside on Halloween night and my boys don't mind costumes made of old bedding! Anyway, it was a fun day- have a look!

Ross as Anakin Skywalker

Spencer as OB1

Jedi Knights

A little Halloween Drama

A little more Halloween Drama
(because the first time wasn't enough to make me
wonder why I ever let them watch Star Wars in the first place!
Mamma Mia!)

Trick or Treating Fun!

(This is one of the homes in the
gated community where they live.)

I find it funny that three of our five grandsons were Star Wars characters so popular 28 years ago. I can still remember the insanity of diving into big cardboard boxes at Toys R Us grappling for various Star Wars figures along with other nutty moms back in 1982 for Uncle Chris!! That is some pretty good staying power! The sun has officially gone down on Halloween 2009! It appears all you grandies had a ball.

Happy Halloween 2009!

Zach A Star Wars Jedi

Harry Potter AKA Connor

Slugger~Owie~

The Tigress~Aynslee

Piper the Zombie!

Julia the Batty Bat and Chloe the Dragon!

Hazie has been spooked!
Jen and Traci's kids enjoying the festivities.
Hazie is just not havin' it though.

I haven't gotten any photos from Italy
yet but I know both Spencer and Ross
were Star Wars guys this year.
Good job, Mommies!

Miss Jen Cattin' Around!

And that's a wrap for another year on Halloween!