Letters from Grandma

Of all my kids, Michael enjoys this family tradition most of all - pen pal with grandma. Grandma Adams started this tradition just after our first Family Reunion in 2007. She created beautiful boxes to remind each of the grandkids of our amazing time together and then provided them with cards, envelopes and stamps to write to her. She promised to always write back. She has always kept her promise.

Michael knows whenever he writes grandma a letter he can expect one back in just a couple days. So when he especially misses her, he starts to writing. Thank you grandma! We love this tradition.

Goldilocks and the Three Bears . . and the Fairy

Grandma has been teaching art classes in her home this summer. She taught a special private session for Huntie, Michael and Elle during our visit this week. The topic: puppets. Grandma taught them to carefully sculpt each puppet's head with clay, paint the head, then choose an appropriate color for the body. They had to sew the felt bodies by hand and glue them to their puppet's head.

The kids presented the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears. Elle was not impressed with the traditional characters from the story and chose to create her own - a fairy. She was quite an impressive fairy with large blue eyes and purple wings fastened directly to the back of her head. lol. Huntie made a very beautiful Goldilocks, complete with home curled golden yarn for hair, and the beloved Baby Bear. Michael made an awesome Papa Bear with bold green eyes. I made Momma Bear - it just seemed right. Dear grandma was their narrator.


Just before the performance, Little Sister decided to try her paw at puppeteering. We caught her sleeping behind the puppet stage with Goldilocks on her paw. How did that get there? Silly dog.


Elle displaying her fairy masterpiece.


And now, on with the show!

BRAVO!!

Run, Run as Fast as You Can . . .

For Family Home Evening treat we decorated gingerbread people. The funnest part was eating all the decor, of course. Grandma was on icing duty, daddy and grandpa were decorating assistants. I was the photographer. YUM!











The best gingerbread cookie recipe ever, from Southern Living:

Gingerbread Men
1 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups firmly packed dark brown sugar
2 large eggs
2/3 cup molasses
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
6 1/2 to 7 cups all-purpose flour
2 Tablespoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 cup raisins
1/4 cup red hot candies
White frosting

- Beat butter at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy; gradually add brown sugar, beating well. Add eggs, molasses, and lemon juice; beat well.
- Combine 2 cups flour, baking powder, and next 6 ingredients; stir well. Add to butter mixture, beating at low speed until blended. Gradually add enough remaining flour to make stiff dough, mixing well. Shape dough into 2 balls. Cover and chill at least 1 hour.
- Roll 1 portion of dough to 1/4-inch thickness on a large greased cookie sheet. (place damp towel under cookie sheet, if necessary, to prevent cookie sheet from moving.) Cut gingerbread men with a 5 1/2-inch cookie cutter. Remove excess dough, using the tip of a knife. Add excess dough to remaining half of dough; wrap in wax paper, and chill until needed.
- Press raisins and cinnamon candies in each gingerbread man for eyes, nose, mouth, and buttons.
- Bake at 350 degrees F for 10 to 14 minutes or until golden. Cool 1 minute on cookie sheet. Remove to wire racks and cool completely. Repeat procedure with remaining dough. Decorate gingerbread men with White Frosting.

White Frosting
1 (16-oz) package of powdered sugar, sifted
1/2 cup shortening
1/3 cup half-and-half
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

- Mix all ingredients together

The Dora Trike

Grandpa helped Ellie assemble her Dora tricycle. They did such a great job together. In fact, we all helped a little. Grandma stuck the stickers, mommy collected all the tools and grandpa and Ellie put it all together.






Success!

In Texas, Gustav and Ike were just Names

Not only did we get to see Kevin kick his time goal's butt during his triathlon in Austin, we also did a little cousin and grandparent bonding.

In fact, the day Ike was passing over Austin, Uncle John and grandpa took the cousins to the park for sweet kite-flyin. Take THAT hurricane Ike.





This picture PROVES that Enoch is the coolest kids EVER! I saw him do this each time we went to the park. He plants his head firmly in the gravel and bulldozes paths through the rocks. What a fantastic idea!! He must love the feel of gravel through his scalp or just the sheer joy of knowing he's dirtying his hair all the way to his brain in a matter of moments. Whatever it is - complete genius.



Notice my little, sweet, princess Elle catching the vision. Ahhh, I sense greatness.



Little Sister was so patient with Elle, who insisted on decking her out in Mardi Gras beads and leading her around the house - more than once.



Grandpa secretly wrote grandma this profound sentiment with left behind sidewalk chalk. I think Elle appropriately celebrates its great worth with her rejoicing twirls ON TOP of the symbol.

To quote RobertA, and Gnarles Barkley, "I love Mary" too.




Grandma was a sewing MACHINE! OK, not literally. She sweetly sewed Ellie an "Ellie Doll" as a gift for her birthday complete with wink and wearing a PINK Dora dress (all Very Elle characteristics as her 2nd birthday approaches).



Grandma also graciously sewed all the crazy matching pajama pants I so wisely thought we needed to make. Arien and I cut them out and mom sewed them ALL up. In one afternoon. SEVEN sets. Amazing.

Kevin at the Triathlon

Kevin ran the Austin Triathlon WHILE hurricane Gustav made a direct hit on Houma, LA. He must have directed all his frustration and angst towards the race because he blew his time goal out of the water by about 30 minutes. That race, at that time, was quite an amazing place to be. I'm so inspired when I watch Kevin's races.



The night before the race, my mom, my dad, Arien, John and I stayed up late making KMV shirts to surprise Kevin at his race. My mom and John designed a logo using Kevin's initials and styling the M like the Ironman logo. My mom bought enough shirts for 6 adults and 7 kids to wear during Kev's race. We worked into the late hours stenciling away. Kevin was so touched - first that so many of his family were there to cheer him on, and secondly that we were wearing the coolest shirts ever that praised his name. We got tons of compliments on the shirts and lots of people asked us which race we ran to earn them. Too bad for them they are limited edition for our exclusive fan club.

Grandma's 60th Birthday

Emily and the kids drove to surprise grandma for her surprise 60th birthday party in Austin. It was so amazing! She was completely surprised. Arien and John did such a great job planning the party. John even made a video for mom with all her kids and grandkids from across the country wishing her happy birthday. It felt like everyone was there. Here is the video:

Hunty and Sage modeling their twinner shirts at grandma's house.

Elle had a little accident in the parking lot. She tripped off the curb and face planted into the asphalt. Poor kid. Unfortunately, this type of injury was indicitive of Elle's learning-to-walk stage. She usually landed on her check producing a lovely bruise. This time - shredded nose.