1/30- We Went To The Beach-In Wisconsin

Sunday~

January 30th~

Lake Michigan~

Wisconsin~

looks like

THIS...

google image of Lake MI

And Little Lulu plays in the sand... Oh wait..

What do you mean

this doesn't look like

Wisconsin in the winter?

Well...

There's a reason for that..

Land sakes alive..

Don't get all cranky on

me here..

I lied..

Okay?

I lied!

That was JULY 31st...

Below is the

truth..

the raw and

unrelenting truth...

and

nothing but the truth...
THIS is

January 31st in

Milwaukee, WI..

Right on the

shores of

Lake MichiganMy son-in-law,

TheIslandScout,

snapped these

pictures from his

IPhone..

cuz he was driving

and my daughter,

BabyE

and I

were crammed

into the back seat..

Can you move over a

half-inch

was a common

request yesterday..

A resounding

NO

was the answer..

Anyway..

after we ate

HEREWe needed an extra

foot in the back seat

(rather than the

original inch requested)

cuz the food was

good, folks..

Seriously

GOOD.

Which brings me to

another question to ponder..

Why is it that

when two couples go

out for a drive..

the men always

sit in front and the

women always

sit in the back...

with the babies..

crammed in like

sardines in a can?

I.CAN'T.BREATHE.

So, for a little

diversion.

after we had

stuffed our faces..

and then stopped

at

Dunkin'Donuts..

cuz we don't HAVE

a Dunking'Donuts..

we rode along

Lake Michigan..

down to the

Summerfest area.

My daughter,

Mimi, is

The Beverage Manager

for Summerfest.

We are talking

18 to 19 hour days...

supervising

700 employees..

spread out

in 7 tents..

when

THE FEST is going on.

It is hopping down

at Lake Michigan then..

but now..

it looks like

THIS...And THIS...And baby boys

named

Ethan,

that go outside

on days like this..

look like

THIS

Can my daughter take a picture,

or what?

Can you see his breath?

He can.

Can you see him looking at his breath?

Can you see his eyelashes?

Doesn't that make you want to

weep for all the girls

with sparse eyelashes..

cuz boys never really care

about eyelashes.

However,

he is much happier

in his warm house

showing Nana

how his firetruck works...

and pretty soon..

he will ask

MOOOVIEEEE?

MOOOVIEEEE?

And we will plug in

Baby Einstein

and watch

our own

Baby Einstein

take it all in.

And me?

Well, I am headed home

to crawl into

my

BIG.WARM.BED.
Cuz I am

beyond tired.

Amen~

Tutorial On Crafting With Kids (Grand-and not-so-grand)

First you must hang a

banner

INSIDE..

So that the

GRANDKIDS

will know

which Holiday

they are

celebrating.

Just a word of caution..

If you hang one

that looks like

the one below..

SOMEONE

(who shall remain nameless)

will be sure to ask..

Is him's

NAKED?

Your reply should be

Absolutely..

That is why he is

carrying an envelope.

This is sure to produce

a giggle from at

least 2 or the 3 grandkids..

The third one doesn't

giggle.

She doesn't giggle

because she doesn't

"get it".

She is

trying to figure out where

HIMS

got that BHIG of an envelope. Secondly..

You must lay out supplies.

These will cost somewhere

in the neighborhood

of $500.00...

and..

after you buy

ALL THAT STUFF,

you will realize that you have

forgotten at least one or

two crucial supplies..

Like...

Elmer's WASHABLE glue.

Lord help you

if you buy the

REGULAR ELMER'S GLUE

because it will

NOT

be pretty.

Now that you have

your supplies home

and have signed

the bank loan

to cover the expense..

you must lay out the goodies...

Lay them out nice and neatly.. Sigh over the paper-Oh So SweetlyNext---

Hang a flag outside

your door..

A cute little cherub flag

to greet them with a smile

is perfect.

Love Mary Englebriet's flags.Then they arrive...

bringing presents.

Bringing PRESENT?

PRESENTS

For ME?

Yep-these are for Nana..

and they made them

all by themselves..Inside are beautiful little

hearts made with love..

One from Ria.

Two from Lulu...

and one from SweetCheeks.Of course I must put them all on..

I pick up SweetCheeks...

What does this say, SweetCheeks?

Dass jus' sumbuddy ehlse's name

on there...Doan't pay eny

attenshun to the name...

jus' putt it on..Whereupon I am informed

by Lulu that

"I told SweetCheeks

NOT to give you that one".

Whereupon SweetCheeks says

NOAH.YOAH.DIDN'T.LULU

an' I doan't kare cuz I is gifving

it to hers enyway. Hmmmf.

Great.. We are off

to a nice, calm start...

NowWhere were we?
Okay..girls..

Let's get started...

Who wants to make a

Valentine?

Everyone's hand shoots into the air.

In short order everything

looks like this.....

and this....and this...
Little Lulu is busy..
Making this.....

And Dear Little Ria is busy making her own..

She loved the self-stick hearts...

And SweetCheeks has now changed into her third

Princess Outfit...and has busied herself..And Oh, Dear Lord In Heaven...

Pray tell WHO left HER alone

with the glitter there?

There is glitter glitter everywhere..

On the floor and on the chair..

I could go on and on with the

rhyming thingy but I'm afraid

the Dr. Suess police would get me.An especially nice touch was the globs of

glue that had dropped here and there

that were now shining brightly up

from the chair...and the table...

and the floor...and the countertop...

Did I say floor? Ah..yes...

Nothing like glitter on the floor

that can be tracked from

room to room..

Leave NO ROOM untouched

seems to have been the motto

of the day.

I decide I need a bathroom break

to dispose of the 3 gallons of coffee

that I have downed in an effort

to keep up with this

CRAFT DAY WITH THE KIDS.

Lo and behold,

in the small reading nook

(where the old steps used to be)

I see

THIS...How did all these books get off

the shelf and on the floor?

I ask ever-so-sweetly

between slighthly gritted teeth.

Uh-oh---Here it comes...

Welllll...says SweetCheeks..

Ria taked a few books off

the shellff and then I hulped her

and taked the rest offf..and

we jus' put 'em here for now.

Yeah? Where do you think

your gonna put them later?

Wellll...I sayed it was Ria's idea.

I dunno how they gonna

go bahck on there.

Hmmmm...I dunno where YOU'RE

gonna go either if you guys don't put

these books back.

(Let's just say that big sister, Lulu,

helped the process along).


Soon, the day is winding down.

My dear daughter-in-law,

TheSecretAgent, is going home

and taking her tags with her.

The photos do not do these justice

for coloration..

And, I just want to say...that if you ever

get a daughter-in-law...I hope you get

one just like her...cuz trust me..

you don't want a bad one...

And we made a few coffee filter roses..

and dyed a few of the white coffee filters

pink for some pink roses, too.

At the end of the day

CRAFTING WITH KIDS

we had this....and this....

and a few cute tags....The button on this one was

from my Mother's sewing box...

And the bling on this one was from

the girl's great-grandmother's shoe..

I love that she saved everything and

had it neatly organized and labeled.

And, after the glue and glitter were

cleaned up...the three girls put

their new dresses on so we

could take their picture...

and remember the day..

at Nana's...

where even if you were

a little bad...

you had a pretty good day..

We took a

STAND UP PICTURE...

And then I told them we'd take

a SIT DOWN PICTURE..

(Only MY family...would sit like this)

Well, the story isn't quite over yet...

My oldest daughter, TPot,

took a picture of her sister, Mimi,

all dressed as a ballerina at age 4

and made it into a tag that is

glitzed and glammed up

with another shoe decoration.

Mimi couldn't be here this year

for our

CRAFTING WITH KIDS day..

But we have decided to make

it an Annual Valentine's Day

tradition...

Maybe next year she will

be able to join us..

Just to finish up

the weekend...

MyHero and I drove down

to Milwaukee today

and delivered her tag to her...And because this little guy

missed out on all the fun

with his cousins...I made a special

Valentine just for

BabyE....Cuz he is just

THAT kid!Now I will tell you

that this tutorial

is NOT for the

Faint-Of-Heart..

and please do

not attempt this

at your own home..

or...if you do...

proceed with caution!

A Quick Little Teaser...Can You Figure It Out?

You know I'm a

TEASE..

and

TEASERS

like to

TEASE

others and

keep them

in

suspense.

Yes.They.Do.

So...

What do you think this flag

all about?

And why

is it

flying outside

my front door?

Hmmmm...And what is this

banner all about?And why are these

three little

girls..

dressed in

matching

pink

SPIN dresses..

(ya gotta have spin

dresses at Nana's house)

WHY

are they dressed up?

AND

Why are they smiling?And how does a

pile of this...Turn into something

as sweet

as

this?Well, I guess you'll

just have to stop

by tomorrow

to see for

yourself!

Have a

wonderful

Saturday

night!

Winner...Winner...Fabric For The Sinner...

Ha Ha Ha!

This is NOT the

picture of

The Sinner...

NOR is this

the picture of

The Winner!

That sweet face belongs

to my friend, Elyse.

She tinkers up the

cutest little

treasures you ever saw.

You can find her here~

A while ago~

She had a

GIVE AWAY!

Don't you just

LOVE

Give Aways?

I do!

I love

Give Aways..

Especially when

I WIN!!!
Ding...Ding...Ding..

I won!

I won some fabric.

Please lean away from

your keyboard.

This is a preventative measure.

It will prevent you

from drooling into

your keyboard...

which can cause problems..

Like serious problems..

Like...like...like..

You know...if you had a cold

or something..

You might give your

computer a

VIRUS.

You've all heard about them,

right?

Well, believe it or not..

that's how you get them.

I learned that somewhere.

Guess what?

If I told that to my

grandkids?

Yeah?

They'd believe me..

cuz I am that good!

Anyway..

The picture that Elyse

showed on the

give away looks like this....

And...to win...you had to

tell them what you would

do with it if you won...

Hmmm..

I saw this picture..

and I thought..

yeah, man..

pillows..

gonna make me some pillows.


I arrived home from

work today to find this

propped up by my front door.

The Postman Never Rings Twice..

(old movie-remember it?)

Nope...The mail carriers today..

They ring once..

drop the package by your door

and run away.

Anyway..

Here is what I found..

The inside packaging

was almost too sweet to

RIP OPEN..

but I did..

and

INSIDE

was this...The pictures do NOT

do it justice.

And let me tell you..

it is has the silkiest hand to it..

OH MY!

I want to roll myself up in it..

and smile..

and smile..

and smile..Well...I KNOW I said

I was gonna make

pillows...

so I started looking...

This one is pretty cool...

Simple and sweet...
And then there is this pillow

with the nice little edge

around it..

At this moment..

I can hardly bear to think of cutting

into it..

And I know I promised a pillow..

Well...It was NOT

a PINKY SWEAR..

I just said I would

PROBABLY make a

PILLOW..

But then...

I got thinking about it..

and I kinda like

THIS!

So...

THE SINNER

that lied about what she

was going to make..

may just redeem herself

after all.

With careful cutting and

measuring..

I think I can still get a pillow

out of it..

or..

Maybe Not!:>)