Those Flynn Boys

As I sat down and started looking at photos to write this post I was overwhelmed with a wave of emotion! I accept that my children are all grown into responsible, competent adults but now my grandchildren are going and doing the same darned thing (which is exactly what they are supposed to do... but... but)

GRAMMIE'S BOYS

CADEN - TADHG - BROCK

JUNE 6, 2017

It sent my mind back to these little boys that made me a Grammie. Prior to Tadhg's birth I'd planned on being Nana, but when I held that darling little red-head I said *Your Grammie loves you!* And I knew that is who I REALLY was!

And it seems like just yesterday that these little monkey-boys were these darling, mischievous little people!

BROCK -  CADEN - TADHG

FALL 2003

Now when I call for the Flynn boys after church for our obligatory photo op these are the big men that tower over their little Grammie!

BEKAH - TADHG - GRAMMIE - CADEN - BROCK - CURTIS

And here is the happiest part of this photo... when I called for the *Flynn boys* to step outside for a photo Curtis stepped right in. I'm so grateful that he knows he is also one of my boys!! (And Bekah and I didn't even coordinate our wardrobe choices!)

We had a wonderful, eventful, yet very busy, 6 days together. Wednesday was Caden's graduation from high school. The weather was delightfully cool for a change.

Thursday we went down to Fresno to the temple and to shop. Tadhg is the selfie-king!!

Friday we were busy. Saturday they got the house ready for Tadhg's open house and we shopped. Sunday, after Tadhg's missionary report in Sacrament meeting, they had friends over for a tasty lunch. I loved when I took a break in the kitchen and found this puppy pile of boys on the couch!

Now I'm trying to come to grips with the fact that likely the next time I visit there will only be one Flynn boy left at home.

Happy Bakers

It's been several months since I've gotten to have the Bitties at my house for Grammie day, I usually go to their house. There is something wonderful about welcoming them into MY domain. As I was walking this morning I thought, "What should we do today?" Mama was bringing the trolley (double stroller), but it looked like rain. I decided that baking bread was always a good idea and we haven't done that for over a year.

They arrived just before lunch so I had frozen bing cherries waiting for them on the counter (which needed to be warmed up, too cold!) Fiona was delighted with the purple cherry juice left in the bottom of her bowl (and Grammie was delighted with Liam's remaining cherries!) But as soon a sausage appeared on the counter it was all about the sausage for Liam!

 

Now I have to tell you about the sweet little apron that Fiona has on in this pix! A couple of weeks ago I got a surprise package from my sister, Sue.

As soon as I saw my old ducky apron I started to cry! I wore this so many times when I was my Mama's A#1 expert helper! So many sweet memories flooded back. I was so pleased that Sue still had it these 60+ years later! (I likely gave it to Cindy when she was a little girl, that is where all of my favorite things went!)

We had a little play time outside... until it started to rain (Yay for rain!), but no trolley walk today!

When I suggested bread making Fiona was still too wrapped up in playing so my first assistant was this very able-bodied boy. Both of these children are so smart and capable! He unwrapped the butter all by himself (Hiam do it! Yes, Hiam, he can't say Ls yet!)

When Fiona joined us a few minutes later she wanted her usual pink apron, "it's so beautiful!" And these obliging Bitties share back and forth so nicely!

They took turns putting in all of the ingredients (Yes, they used that word!) to make the dough! Every once in a while one or both of them would put their hands on their hips and say, "Hmmm!" Makes me laugh!! They did it all, even the egg cracking!

Grammie is always very liberal with tastes along the journey... isn't that what it's all about? Fiona did all of this spreading by herself! Such a confident big girl!

I gave them both a little knife to cut off tastes. Liam was so pleased to spread his own little sample.

 All told we made three loaves: one for eating now, one to go home with the Bitties and one for Grammie and Grampy to enjoy at their leisure! There was only about 3" left of that first loaf by the time we'd all, including Mommy, had our fill.

I revel in these marvelous times that I get to spend with my darling grandchildren! In the last two weeks I've had this treat with big (Ashton) and small (Fiona, Liam and Emmy). There is such a sweetness in being with these marvelous people.

I am such a blessed Grammie!

Bring On The Beach...

... to Grammie's backyard!

Fiona, like her Mama, is very tactile and loves to play in the *soft sand* or dirt. Since Grammie just spread 2 yards (read- 2 Fernando loads) of rich, black compost on ALL of her flowerbeds she [I] needed to provide a less dirty play area for the Bitties!

Enter beach sand! I've seen DIY recipes for play sand on Pinterest so this morning I did a quick search on what ingredients I'd need- other than two eager Bitties! We made a couple of stops to get beach toys and sand.

The table from last night's 3rd Sunday Grammie dinner was still on the deck so I used it to corral the Liam so he didn't topple of the edge.

We mixed the 50 lbs of play sand with 1 lb of cornstarch stirred into 6 cups of water. It made for wonderful beach sand. I plopped Liam right down in the large, somewhat portable (man, is it ever heavy!) repurposed plastic gift wrap container. (Yeah, the gift wrap is hangin' in the dungeon on the floor!)

Miss Bitty unpacked the toys and tried each of them out!

We enjoyed almost 2 hours playing in the sand. Liam finally got tired so I stripped him down to shake out the sand and he was ready for a bottle and a nap.

As Grampy finished the nap routine of putting Liam down Grammie and Fiona cleaned up. I stripped and dusted her off too but then the call of the sand was just too much...

She climbed right in and laid down to have a true beach experience.

Good thing Grammie knows how to strip and dust babies!

Liam's 1st Cake Smash

This little happy-boy is 1-year old! I can hardly believe it that this year has passed so quickly. So grateful for this wonderful, happy little soul.

Back in September, when Fiona had her 2nd birthday, Camille & Kevin's oven was on the fritz so I offered to make her cake. So I asked, ever so nicely, even though their oven is fixed, if I could make Liam's cake too.

I used little 3" cake pans to make this tiny layer cake for the birthday boy. Camille and I had talked extensively about color options (has to be chocolate frosting to show up well in the photos) so when I found this Fun-Fetti chocolate frosting I knew it would be the pip!!

I wanted that big-#1 candle to show up so how do I keep the frosting off the center of the cake? Erm... I looked around the kitchen and found that the lid to my big BeauMonte seasoning jar would just do the trick. I put it in the middle, put on the sprinkles, then removed the lid. Voile!

Daddy lit the candle, with help from Miss Bitty, and we sang that cake right into the front room to the birthday boy!

He was anxious to get at his cake.

His first taste was very tentative and timid.

But it didn't take long for him to get right into it. "This tastes pretty good!"

He made good use of the disposable drop-cloth Mama had the foresight to provide by doing some interpretive finger painting...

But not for long... this was way too yummy!

He got two fists-full of cake but would only eat off his right hand.

He even ended up with on his darling little toesies!

By the time Grammie took him away for his wash-off bath (with much protestations) this was all that was left of Grammie's masterpiece. And I couldn't be more pleased!

Lots of family came to witness this happy right of passage including Miss Emmy June (caught mid circus trick)

And Aunt Jessie, who loves all things baby! (I love this wonderful woman!)

I think Kevin summed it up best in this Facebook post-

My amazing son Liam turns one today and I'm feeling so incredibly honoured to be his dad! He makes me smile daily and I can't remember a world without him it because he makes life so much better!! Love you son!!

Ack! Gak!

I'm probably the biggest kid you know! I love to make things! I love big machines! I want to know how things work!! So perhaps that is part of why I enjoy my grandkids so much... I get to be a kid with them.

On Monday, Grammie-day, Fiona and I tried our hand at making Gak. I'd read about it on Pinterest and it sounded pretty straight-forward and easy. The ingredients were easy to get at my neighborhood Ream's on my way to pick up the kiddies.

But the reality of our first experiment...  should be classed as a Pinterest-Fail. The recipe I found made it sound like all you had to do was add all the stuff together and you got great gobs of gooey gak. Not so! We got something much firmer and more flubber-like! The only way I could get it to slime and stretch was by heating it in the microwave. But, not to worry, Miss Bitty and I (plus Auntie Ann who had stopped by for a quick visit) managed to have some fun with it anyway. We could roll it out and cut it. But it would break apart and wouldn't squish back together again.

So today, after some more research online about WHY borax and white glue make gak/slime, I determined that I would give it another try. I'd also pinned a recipe for bouncy balls made in a similar way.

Erm... it was fun for about NO MINUTES! It congealed too quickly to be a cohesive ball when I rolled it in my hands. AND when I tried my microwave trick it really killed it! All I got for my efforts was a photo-bombing dog and pink hands. Bah!

Now here is the funny part... all of this was inspired because my niece posted on Facebook that she's made play-doh. So when I had my second fail I pulled out a box of Jell-O because I just knew that's what she'd said her recipe was. Fortunately, after some sleuthing, I found that her recipe was made with Kool-Aid (well, it's kind of the same!) But I didn't have Kool-Aid on hand so I needed to make a trip to the store.

While I was browsing the glue aisle at Walmart I saw the Elmer's clear glue... HA! I'd give that gak one last (well, maybe not... maybe I'll keep doing it!) try using the knowledge I'd gathered in my research. I found some odd dude who talked about adding the borax solution A LITTLE AT A TIME until you reach the level of sliminess you want.

I'm still not totally happy with the results. I think I got impatient and added a little too much borax solution so this is a bit firmer than I'd like. But, BUT I did play with a ball of it for, erm, a long time!

So here are some pointers for anyone who'd like to learn from my experiments.

• Use Steve Spangler's instructions but use clear glue if you want a transparent Gak. Although you can get a bottle of white glue for 44 cents at Walmart if you don't mind opaque!
• Unless you want a whole boat load of slime/gak only make half a recipe. A 4 oz bottle of clear Elmer's made over a cup of Gak.
• Add the borax solution s-l-o-w-l-y, a little at a time- don't use more than half to begin with.
• Manipulate the slime with your hands for several minutes before deciding if you want your slime to turn into flubber! I added a little more and it got too stiff REAL FAST. T t still breaks instead of stretching if I try to stretch it too fast, but it will squish back together right away.
• Next time I will also use less food coloring. Yikes... at least I stayed in the same color family with the pink and purple.

Makin' Bread

First off, I just want to say how grateful I am that Camille and Kevin let me have these Grammie-days! Usually I have Miss Bitty and Chunka-Monka every other Monday... We both look forward to these days.

Keeping my Mama, the original Grammy, in mind I try to think of the wonderful things we used to do when I was a little! My Mama was 39 when I was born; I was her 3rd family: after raising first, her brothers and then my sisters 8-10 when I was born. I truly was her little shadow and if we were going to cook something? Well, she couldn't possible do it without me!

After Chunka-Monka, the King-of-Snuggles, was down for his afternoon nap Miss Bitty and I had a job to do! Grammie's been NEEDING some cinnamon swirl bread!

I remembered that recently I'd discovered that my 3-step step-stool made a perfect perch for Bitty-helpers (It also doubles as a highchair!) so I brought it up from the furnace room.

After Miss Bitty was safely on her perch with her apron on, tied in front (Grammie, too), I got out the Bosch and recipe box. I found the recipe and handed it to her while absentmindedly saying, "First we need to read the recipe!" What a smart little girl!

Of course she had to accompany me on a trip to the dungeon to get the canned milk and pour it into the measuring cup to heat up. When it came time for the flour measuring we had a couple of spills, which is to be expected. Then she would pick up a little flour off the counter and then dust her hands onto the floor and just chortle! What a magical sound!

And every successful baker HAS to have a rolling pin! When Spencer's family was here at Christmas I devised these 1" PVC pipe rolling pins for all of the squishy play (read- Play-Doh).

YOU NOTICE HARLEY, HER EVERY FAITHFUL COMPANION, IS RIGHT THERE TO OBSERVE!

After we'd mixed the cinnamon, sugar and butter for the swirly part I asked Miss Bitty if she'd like to taste it. Ahhh, a taste-explosion in her little-girl mouth! AND another implement for dough manipulation!

Then she needed to spread on the yumminess! Notice that this is not the first trip from bowl to dough!

I asked her if she wanted to eat her dough. She quickly assented and popped the whole gaggy-blob in her mouth. Needless to say, it didn't stay there very long before she realized it was not going to go down. We took it out (read- Grammie caught it!) and cut it into smaller pieces just right for tasting.

Have you ever seen such a darling little taster??

When it was time for her and brother to return home we took one of our unbaked-loaves (on the heated seat!) to bake at her very-own house.

I'm so grateful that I have such a wonderful role-model as my dear Mama! I absolutely love this life of mine!

Sewing Lessons

One of my favorite things is sewing! I started when I was 8 years old and have never stopped! I realize not everyone likes/wants to sew... but I love it.

It is a great pleasure for me to teach this skill to my daughters, granddaughters, and, yes, even a son or two!!

Miss Roxie just turned 9 this month so prior to her birthday I asked her if she would like to do sewing lessons with Grammie! I received a very enthusiastic *YES* from this little sunshine girl. That made choosing a birthday gift a no-brainer!

I took my plethora of JoAnn coupons to Juanita's (you know! JoAnn's in Spanish! Bwahahaha) and put together a little sewing box for her complete with: 2 pairs of scissors, hem gauge, seam ripper (aka un-sewer), tape measure, pins, and then...

I made her a cute flower pincushion to match the happy gerbara daisy sewing box.

I started by telling her how I took 4-H lessons at Mary Greiner's house (where she always had something smelly cooking on the stove!). I'm so glad for all of the advances in sewing paraphernalia in the past 55 years. Instead of  *pulling a thread* to get a cut on the straight of the grain I whipped out my cutting mat and rotary cutter and showed her how to cheat that time-consuming process! Mary's first project was always an apron!

We talked about measurements and how addition and FRACTIONS are so important to the process. She very adeptly added the hem and seam allowance to the finished length, cut (with a learning curve) her apron body and sash with the rotary cutter.

This little cutie shows great aptitude for sewing. It took very little instruction to teach her how to use the sewing machine to run a double row of gathering threads, then pull the threads to make the fabric gather and distribute them evenly.

Today's lesson took us to having the waistband sewn onto the apron and then Mommy arrived. Roxie really wanted to finish her apron TODAY! (I so get that... it took me years to be able to enjoy the process and not just the finished garment!)

We folded the fabric neatly and returned it to her box, along with the extra fabric and some needles in case she feels the need to create before next week's lesson.

THIS! THIS!! is one of the very great pleasures of being a Grammie... Roxie's Grammie,

Lucky Grammie!

Grammie's Helper

This fall I have the blessing of having Fiona and Liam come to my house every other Monday. I can't even begin to describe how much I enjoy this time with these sweet babies. There is just something magical about have being with grandchildren one on one... but to have them at my house is even sweeter.

I bought a flat of strawberries at Ream's on Saturday evening and put the directly into the fridge. This morning I noticed that a couple of the boxes had a *hairy* strawberry in it and needed my attention. After putting Liam down for his morning nap Miss Bitty and I tackle the job of strawberry washing.

Call me silly, but I don't just rinse my strawberries. I like to  put them into a sink of water and swish them around. *Nona* helped me put them into the cold water... some got the dump and others got to go in one at a time. Of course there was a liberal amount of tasting.

This little girl (who JUST turned two) speaks in complete sentences, just like a big person. It always blows me away that we have conversations!

When we'd fished all of the washed strawberries out of the left sink and into the waiting colander I pointed out to Miss Nona how dirty the water was and that is why we wash them.

Without missing a beat she said, "Looks like they pooped in the water!" Bwahahaha!

Since all I planned on doing with this flat of berries was to freeze them for *Grammie's Shake-its* our job was soon completed. Such a happy day.

Baby Emmy June

Early this morning, 4:46 AM to be exact, little Emmy June made her debut! She is 19.5 inches long and weighed in at 7 lbs 2 oz. Emmy June is Stuart and Stephanie's first child. We are so pleased to have her here safe and sound. Mama and bebe are doing fine! Stephanie had an easy time (if labor can ever be called EASY!)

We could hardly wait to meet this tiny little girl!

This Grammie is just in Grammie-heaven when I get to interact with these precious little souls. I look forward to more bonding time over the coming months.

Miss Emmy-June has the sweetest little profile. She has perfect little ears, a straight little nose and the longest eyelashes I've ever seen on a newborn!

She is a very fortunate baby-girl and has avoided the *curse of the Flintstone feet* from her Grammie.

And Mama is thrilled that all of her heart-burn paid off with this tiny head of hair!

Daddy-Stu is over the moon for his new little daughter... who wouldn't be? Mama-Steph requested that we wait on the first family photo, and I'm always happy to oblige.

And speaking of our Stephanie... she introduced a new tradition to our family. When Camille was pregnant with Fiona Stephanie wanted to have a competition on who could guess Fiona's stats most accurately. Very fittingly, Uncle Stu, Camille's twin, won that competition. I find it more than just a little ironic that this time Camille won the prize (wait, what prize?)

*And just for the record... Camille guessed Liam's stats almost exactly!