Hey kids... have fun

My Dad and his sisters often reminisce about a time they had stayed up a little too late {as adults, mind you} playing games while the family was camping. Growing up watching them play cards into the wee hours of the morning, I can imagine how "quiet" they probably were in the heat of the competition. Well, I guess my Grandpa had had enough of the noise and yelled at them, "Hey you kids!..." Then stopped suddenly, followed by a "uh" in pain. And another shout of "Have fun!"

My Grandma had elbowed him right in the ribs to let him know to keep quiet and let the "kids" have fun.

Well, every once in awhile I get the elbow jabbed in my side reminding me to just let the kids have a little fun.

The only problem is, those times often involve me getting tricked by two little pipsqueaks to open the curtain, followed by getting soaked by two little spray bottles and two giggling kids.

{The best part about this particular bath time, was Pearl giggling at me, "Oh Mom! Have some fun!"}

I hate Sundays

When Jeff and I were newlyweds, we always tried to sit behind the same family at church. They had two little boys and a baby girl. Every week they did something hilarious in sacrament meeting. Like the week they rolled a bottle of Coke under the pews all the way to the front of the room. Or the time we could smell something and turned around to see the boys open a bag of Funyuns (with a Coke of course). Or my personal favorite, the time they brought a 3ft battery operated T-rex who growled and lite up! 

Well... almost 12 years later and we are THAT family!!! 

At least Jeff didn't break out his Funyuns too {which he symbolically did sneak in my church bag}. My apologies to anyone in the vicinity of WWIII or who might be allergic to PBJ sandwiches {one for each kid and the biggest kid of all, oh yes, eaten in the middle of sacrament meeting}.

I sure hope God understands that sometimes desperate times call for desperate measures. 

I hate Sundays.

Fern bite

Hmmm... it looks like I have a little Fern bite in my peanut butter {no jam} sandwich.

 

Rice Krispie Teddy Bears

I've written before about the teddy bear mold.

It holds special childhood memories of Christmas with my Grandma. She always had baskets full of teddy bear rice krispie treats. And now that it's my turn to continue with the tradition, I want to ask her how many batches of these things she made! Goodness! Either my childhood memories are grossly exaggerated or she bought every single pack of marshmallows and box of Rice Krispie cereal in the store! Oh, and she must have stockpiled on the heart-shaped Red Hots because I drove all over town looking for them! Apparently they are a Valentine Day only treat. And... one more "and" I promise... if anyone knows where I can find those teeny, tiny Reese's balls for the eyes and nose, let me know. Round cinnamon drops and mini M&Ms will have to do I guess.

Jeff was super sweet to help me make all of these for my family {despite his funny face in the picture}. I think he liked decorating them more than he lets on... that or he wanted first dibs on eating them. Well, on second thought, he was probably worried I'd put too much cereal in and they wouldn't be ooey-gooey, fall apart in your hands soft.

I only remember my Grandma using the teddy bear mold, but she also had a Christmas tree mold and some Easter molds. So we decided to decorate a few Christmas trees too.

Oh it makes my heart happy to see all of these sweet treats in that basket. 

 

And even more happy to see the smile it brought on my Dad's face.

2nd Christmas

A few days after Christmas, we had "2nd Christmas" at my parent's house. My siblings and I always fight over who will get these handmade ornaments that ME and my grandma made when I was a kid. I will admit that Jesse was there, however; he was not the most enthusiastic, happy child despite what false memories he has of himself so I will split them with him.

Glad we cleared that up.

The kids had fun opening presents again. For the 4th time (Christmas Eve with Jeff's family, Christmas morning, with David and Vickie, and now "2nd Christmas").

My brothers tease me about a shirt I have that says "I'm a Zero" from the Zero Fatalities program. It's a shirt to remind me and others that I will drive safely. I thought I was pretty clever when I was able to get two of these shirts for "my favorite brother." He he. They both wanted me to confess who the favorite was.

It takes a lot to truly surprise Jeff and get a smile like this. My brother got him a hat signed by Bobby Wagner, former Aggie football great and {spoiler alert} soon to be 2014 Super Bowl Champion.

And in true me form, I came up with an idea for my mom and Jeff's mom about a week and a half before Christmas. A really awesome idea. Hand stamped jewelry from A Vintage Pearl. Their amazing creations are so adorable! But the problem was, I was a few days too late ordering them a necklace with vintage spoons stamped with the initial of their grandkids. I was so bummed. But Jeff told me to order it anyway and just tell them Santa was slow delivering their gifts. To my surprise though, they showed up on Christmas Eve day! I was so excited! I think they really loved the gift, even if Jeff added a lizard to the box.

I got a really cute terrarium from my sister, a new cookbook and Lincoln logs from my sister in law, and a bucket of soda with some money from my parents.

We had the traditional Christmas morning breakfast casserole, fruit, and yummy breads. Trying to win some brownie points with my niece, Anberlin, who screams every time I touch her, I plopped her down on the counter and let her eat the bread by herself. She still preferred Aunt Kimmy.

My grandparents live down the street from my mom and dad so they came down for lunch. I was so excited to give them their present! I always feel bad because I come up with something at the very last second for them and then throw it together. But my brilliant (ha ha) mind just works better in overdrive when I'm totally stressed out and exhausted I guess. Several months ago for Young Women's we made family pedigree charts but with a twist. We wanted something cute enough that the girls would actually keep it and put it somewhere they could see it. So we designed a tree with leaves that they could write their ancestors names on. I loved mine so much that I decided to make one for my grandparents. It was fun looking up all of my ancestors' names... I wondered who they were. I was so excited to watch my grandparents' reaction!

I actually liked theirs better than mine. I was able to put a full five generations on there, which is a lot of leaves! My mom was hoping I'd hidden one somewhere under the tree for her once she saw it.

My grandparents loved it. I've said before that my grandma has struggled the last several years with mental health problems. I was so grateful today was a good day. And once she opened her present it became an even better day! She started telling me stories about people and about her life. Like the time she was working for the federal government and went to Chicago for meetings. While there, Yogi Berra (a very famous MLB player for the Yankees) was staying at their hotel. My grandma and her friends wrote him a letter asking if they could get tickets to the baseball game. Well he did better than that and not only gave them tickets to the game, but told them to meet him afterwards! Grandma said he was a very nice man. How cool is that!

She was tickled with the gift.... the best compliment she has ever given to me was when she told me that she looks forward to my Christmas presents every year to see what I've come up with for them because I'm so clever and thoughtful. She said this family tree was the most thoughtful gift anyone had ever given her. It made my heart happy. 

We had so much fun! The kids cried and cried and cried when we told them it was time to go home. I remember those days myself.....