Brought to you by the letter P

Play-doh

Popcorn

Polar Express

Pillars

Perfect.

Grandpa's buddy...

Guess who's staying at grandpa and grandma's house this week?

THIS 3 yr old!

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Our little grandson loves the movie the Polar Express and, therefore, loves trains.

I made him some train cookies since I knew he was coming for a few days.

I didn't even get to the fancy part of the decorations, but he didn't mind at all!

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As far as he was concerned, these cookies looked just like the Polar Express!


Another thing he loved playing with today was the cash register that his dad had also enjoyed as a little boy.
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You can see some of the other toys of interest; we had ..

cars and trucks and things that go..

Naptime (and bedtime too) included his new favorite thing to "cuddle" - a ball that had a picture of the train on it.

This child is definitely used to smiling for pictures; I was trying to simply get a candid shot of him eating the icing of the top of the piece of cake. I didn't even want him to know I had my camera.... however, he turned to me with this classic smile the minute he realized there was a camera!

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Stay tuned for tomorrow's adventures.

An 8 year old grandchild today!

Today our eldest grandchild turned 8 years old!

We love her so much!

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She got to choose the restaurant for dinner after church.

We went to a chinese buffet and had a nice area all to ourselves.

Here she is with her proud mom and dad.

She was pretty happy when she opened up a pair of cowboy boots!
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And she liked the tie-dyed looking pillowcase I made for her.
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It is so much fun to have a granddaughter.

(Here she is reading her new horse book from Aunt Marlane. She loved it too, by the way.)

Tie-dye cookies

I have a grand-daughter who is having a birthday party with tie-dye as her theme. I'm not exactly sure what that means, but I decided I would make her some cookies for the party with a tie-dye look. I think they came out pretty cute!

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I swirled the icing colors on top of the wet base coat.
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Then I dragged a toothpick through the colors.

This was my first attempt; as I progressed I made them with 3 or 4 colors.

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I remember when we tie dyed shirts we would bunch them up with all those rubber-bands and get colors all over here and there. This one reminded me of that.

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I thought I'd try some polka dots too.

Really easy.

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I can't wait to start on Valentine cookies!

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I seriously

I seriously love winter.

Determination

A guy has to eat, right....

It's that time of year...

It's that time of year when it is prudent to plug in the truck!

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I don't remember doing this in New Jersey....

So, for all you southerner's and east coaster's who are experiencing some real snowy winter weather, take heart! You could be having to do this!

(f.y.i. This is something called a "block heater" that is plugged in to provide a little warmth for the engine so that it will start on these bitterly cold days...)

I thought this was an interesting view of icicles on a church in our town.

A little bit of Minnesota irony perhaps?

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This just struck me funny the other day so I had to take a picture...

Sunday recap

We were back to normal on Sunday, enjoying a morning of worship in church and a good time of fellowship and learning in our adult Sunday school class.

In the evening, we looked forward to hosting our weekly Sunday night Bible study.

I love routine.

In the afternoon, as often as possible on Sundays, we enjoy our youngest son and his family,

who come over to watch football and hang out.

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Our grand-daughter is only a week away from her 8th birthday and I decided it would be a good day to pull out an early birthday present.

Do you remember having one of these looms when you were a child?

I sure do and I loved it.

Happily, so did she!
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Of course, food is a big part of hanging out at grandma and grandpa's house.
Today this treat was a big hit.
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and the PIZZA was a big hit too!
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Even though football was on television, little people were on laps..
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which, of course, is more important
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Someone found an old indian headress, and it even had the feathers!

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I just had to post this.

I don't know if Ican bring myself to erase it.

Surely you can read it.. right?

Mississippi Roast

I got this wonderful crock pot roast recipe from a blogger named Laurie.

(Laurie's life: http://lseo.blogspot.com/) She got it from her husband's Aunt and lots of her blog followers are now sold on this roast.

So am I .

So is hubby.

That's the important test in this house... the hubby test...

1. Buy a chuck roast.

2. Put it in the crock pot.


3. Sprinkle Hidden Valley ranch dressing on top.


4. Sprinkle McCormick Au Jus mix on top.

Put a stick of butter on top.

Put about 5 pepperoncini peppers on top.

(You buy them in a jar.)

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Do NOT add water.

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Cook in crock pot on low for about 8 hours.

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Oh, those southern gals really know how to cook! Thank you, Laurie!!!

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p.s. hint for Sunday dinner: I have put this in the crock pot before I go to bed Saturday night using a not-quite-thawed roast, and set the crock pot on a timer to start at 4 a.m. Thus, I have a delicious roast done by noon for dinner after church!
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Sorry, I don't have any pictures of the roast when it's done!
We ate it before I remembered!
Next time...