Grandkid Stuff

Last Thursday and Friday the schools in our area were closed for Parent/Teacher conferences.  That meant that I had David Riley all day both days, as well as Eva.

Since there was a bake sale scheduled for Sunday morning to help raise funds for the Junior Bible Quiz team, and DR is on it, Thursday was made our baking day.  We decided on mini muffins.  We packaged 5 doz. mini muffins in four different flavors:  chocolate chip, lemon-poppy seed, mixed berry, and banana nut.  We, also, decided to have some real fun, and made homemade dog treats.  We packaged 6 doz. of those, and they were sold before most of the people food!  Not to mention, I had several requests for the recipe.  I might have been able to sell recipe cards, but never thought about that!

On Friday, DR, Eva, Daniel, Carolyn, Abby, Jonathan, and Hunter joined me in a trip to COSI.  We had a marvelous time! There is so much to see and do there, and it is designed for children to get their hands on stuff and learn.  DR had so much fun showing the cousins all of his favorite stuff, like the organ that only plays body sounds.  (Yes, ALL kinds of them!)  He had me absolutely cracking up as he played the songs he's learning on his bell set for band on that organ.  "We Will Rock You" is hysterically funny when it is played with gastric noises.  Eva was amazed that she was allowed to get wet in the oceans exhibit and didn't get in trouble.  She had a great time chasing the water spouts.  Jonathan was disappointed that he was just about 2" too short to ride the high rope unicycle.  I promised him that by next summer, it shouldn't be a problem, and I would make sure that he got to come again.  The favorite exhibit for all of the kids was the Dora and Diego Exploring.  DR and Abby are both 10, and thought that it would be too childish for them, but they were the last ones to come find us and say they were ready to go.

One of the other things, I've been dealing with lately is Eva in my sewing room.  She wants to help.  She "wikes" to sew.  So, Nana decided that Eva needed her own "kit" to use so that I could get my sewing accomplished.  The first purchase was a set of shoe strings to put buttons on.  That didn't satisfy her for long.  The next purchase was a set of plastic beads and strings that she could play with.  That was a little better.  My next purchase was the best--I found an old used caboodle at a thrift store, and it is her sewing box.  Here's a couple of pictures to show you the fun:

She had so much fun sorting her "buttons" and making designs.  Every string had to have the exact same beads in the exact same order or she wasn't happy.  She was telling me her colors pretty well.  She's working on counting.  Before she left to go home, her "sewing kit" had to be put away in my sewing room.  It wasn't allowed to be put in the toys!

Now, I'm on the look-out for the old-style lacing cards.  If I don't find some soon, I may get creative and make some.  I think some of the craft foam might work.