My new favorite blog.

When my children were little, I loved teaching them things. I taught them to pee in the potty, how to sit quietly in church, and how to calculate the volume of a triangular solid using pieces of cake. I loved teaching them. It was my full-time job. So when it came to an end a little more than a year ago, I thought I might miss it. I was surprised to find out that not only do I not miss it, but now that I'm out of teaching mode, I'm learning more than ever from them. They have become the teachers!

Whenever I have a technology-related question, I call Mike. When I need help with photography or decorating or anything artsy, Abbey is my go-to girl. If I'm having trouble with a workout, I ask Man-squared. And Leah helps me understand politics while she's doctoring me with herbs.

But when I want advice about cooking? Deb is the guru. She knows so much more than I do, and she's so much braver about trying things than I am. When she got married, she knew she wanted to feed her family "real food" rather than processed junk, and she has made a career of it.

A few months ago, she began building a website called Wholesome Homemaker where she shares recipes and helpful advice about cooking and eating real food. Real food that real people will cook. I just found it today. She's been trying to lay a strong foundation for her website, so she didn't tell many people about it, but after spending an hour reading recipes and advice, I told her she needed to share it.

So I'm doing my part by directing you there, but be prepared to drool. Her writing and pictures and recipes make me want to run to the kitchen and get started.

This will be tomorrow's breakfast.

This and this will be made one night next week.

And this sounds pretty amazing.

So go look around. You'll surely find something that makes you want to cook. And you'll get to see a few pictures of my grandbabies, and what could be better?

Be thankful ~

A few random tidbits for a Saturday morning.

If you've been here for just a little while, you know I love birds. So this summer I asked Ben to hang a hummingbird feeder where it wouldn't drip on the deck (it attracts ants). But then we (the boys) started demolishing and rebuilding the deck and the feeder kept getting moved. The last time it wound up in bright sun, which isn't good for sugar-water, so we took it down for a while. Then Abbey and I noticed the hummers were flying around the deck every day looking for their food, so we took matters into our own hands and shoved the pole down in a big pot of flowers at the edge of the deck where no railing has been put up yet.

(Isn't it amazing that I can make a story about a hummingbird feeder this long? It's a gift.)

So in my haste to get the food out there, I made up the mixture and boiled it, then poured it into a glass measuring cup and put it in the freezer to cool it quickly.

Then promptly forgot about it.

The next morning, Man-squared opened the freezer looking for waffles and stopped in his tracks. He said, "What the . . . " and I immediately answered, "Dang. It's the hummingbird food."
 
 

I took the measuring cup out of the freezer and Man-squared said, "Well, they can chip it out . . . "

Lucky for the hummers, we have a microwave, and they are now happily sipping out of their feeder.

Also, this morning I got this picture of Button from Deb

with the caption: someone is a SERIOUS morning person. She says he wakes up this happy every morning.

I can tell you where he did NOT get this from.

And finally, YAY, PAUL RYAN!

Be thankful ~

The rest of the visit.

For the last few days of our stay with the grandbabies, we hung around the house baking and eating (pumpkin scones recipe is coming) and playing. One night Abbie sat on the couch reading Bean a bedtime story. Unfortunately, he was more interested in taking a picture of himself with her phone. She tried to get him to turn it around, but he just wouldn't believe that was going to work. He got lots of pictures of the staircase.

Then another afternoon, I was sitting on the couch with Button and Abbie grabbed the camera and started taking pictures.

You know a baby is teething when he chews on the hard plastic side of the pacifier.

Playing makes us sleepy.

Every time I look at those photos, I yawn too. Did you?

Be thankful ~

More from the grandbaby visit.

I was just sitting here going through all my pictures from the trip and realized I'll never get them all in one post. It's so much cuteness the Internet would explode.

As usual, our trip began with a few hours of driving through the mountains of western Virginia, complete with snow blowing in sideways. I'm betting the weather's even like that in July. It was still snowing and blowing when we drove home seven days later.

As soon as we got there, I started snapping pictures, hoping to get a few that were blog-worthy. Few is the key word there. Here's Button with his big eyes and adorable heart-shaped face.

Sticky Bean wants to rough-house all. the. time. But we did get him to sit still twice while we were there for pictures.

Abbie worked on figuring out how to use Deb's camera so we would get more photos of the boys.

And we drank coffee. Organic coffee. With fresh-from-the-cow cream. There are advantages to living among the Amish.

Button is the opposite of Bean. This baby is snuggly and mostly happy. And did I mention the huge eyes and precious heart-shaped face?

I can feel the Internet getting close to terminal cuteness threshhold.

Sorry. One night Abbie and I got out the Play-Doh with Bean. I made a taco. Bean made a spoonful of sour cream to put on it. Abbie sculpted Hitler.

Show-off.

Bean loves food, so Play-Doh creations are always edible things, even though they're not.

Putting sour cream on a hot dog.

Making peas.

Deb and David recently rescued a litter of kittens that someone left by the side of the road. They found homes for all but two, who are now members of the family. They had not yet named the kitties, so Abbie did. This is Beyoncé. Jay-Z is playing in the woods.

And that's about halfway through the week. More to come tomorrow.

Be thankful ~

Home again.

We got home today from visiting the grandbabies after an 11-hour drive, the last 4 hours of which were through snow blowing in sideways. And that sentence sounded like my brain feels right now. Please forgive me. This will be short so I can catch up on the sleep I lost somewhere between here and my daughter's house.

Every night, Deb and David read the Proverb of the day to Sticky Bean after Button goes to bed. For the last few nights, it was my privilege to do the reading. Then last night we got out a few story books after our Bible reading time. Bean's favorite was Richard Scarry's Best Storybook Ever, which I remember my mother reading to my kids when they were little.

(Raise your hand if you remember Lowly Worm, Bananas Gorilla, and Able Baker Charlie Mouse.)

Anyway, we read and laughed and Bean loved the stories. Then this morning on our ride home, I got this photo from Deb:

I'm thrilled to be the Grammy who's known for reading stories.

Be thankful ~

The grandbabies.

Two weeks ago (Yes, I'm behind.) Abbie and her friend Cesia went to Deb's for their fall break. It was somewhat of a culture shock to Cesia, who is from LA and has no experience with country living. Having to watch out for snakes has never been part of her thinking. But they had fun with my grandbabies and sent me a few photos.

Button loves Cesia.

Friday night is homemade pizza night, and Bean loves to help. Deb gets all the toppings out, and Bean eats the olives while she's making the pizza. What two-year-old eats olives? And with such gusto?

Honestly, do they get any cuter than this?

Aunt Abbie reading Button a story. Or maybe trying to coax him into taking a nap.

If I've learned one thing being a grandmother, it's this: the rate at which babies grow is directly proportional to the distance between Grammy's house and theirs.

Be thankful ~

Bean and his cookie discovery.

While I was searching through photos yesterday, I also came across these from last December when Bean & Button brought their parents to our house. Of course we had the requisite cookie-baking marathon, which included rugelach, these little Jewish pastry things filled with crushed walnuts that are so good we only make them once a year lest we all wind up the size of a Mac truck. We made tray after tray after tray of them.

Look at that flaky, powdered-sugar-crusted goodness all wrapped around the warm, oozing walnut-and-honey-and-cinnamon filling. Mmmmmmmm . . .

Sorry. Where was I? Oh yes, at the time of these pictures, Bean had never had a cookie. Yes, you read that right.

But now we're at Grammy's house, and special things happen there. Mama lets us have cookies!

 And you know what happens when Mama gives us a bite of warm-out-of-the-oven rugelach? That's right . . . we want more.

Oh, the pleading. The begging. The puppy-dog eyes.

It's a good thing Grammy's not in charge here. He would have gotten the whole tray.

Be thankful ~