Bb is for Babies

You may wonder if doing the alphabet backwards this year has confused me . . . but don't worry. I haven't gone bonkers throwing this "Bb" in out of nowhere. The day after the birth of a brand new baby boy--Owen Brady Pickett--seemed like a perfectly lovely day to talk about babies.

Besides that, it's also a big day because now I have ten grandchildren. That's every single finger and thumb on two hands if you're counting! It also seems like a good day for another guessing game.

Look at all the baby photos above and below and guess which one might be you . . . which one might be your mom . . . and who are the rest of the cutest babies in the world? Correct guesses are worth big bucks (I mean tickets) to the X-box Shop grand-opening in only one more week!

Happy Birthday baby Owen!
Love, Grandma

Ss is for Shamrocks

Soon it will be St. Patrick's Day--a holiday that came from Ireland. Ireland is a country far away full of hillsides covered in green clover called shamrocks. I guess that's why everyone likes to pretend they're Irish and wear green on that holiday. You can have some fun with shamrocks today (or on St. Patrick's Day) in several ways:

1. Eat a shamrock cinnamon roll!

2. Play shamrock hide-and-seek!

One person hides a shamrock shape and another person finds it--sort of like regular hide-and-seek. To make it more challenging, you can make a rule that the shamrock can only be hidden by something green. Or to make it more fun, you can make several shamrock shapes and have a "green" treasure hunt!

3. Make shamrock cookies!

Whatever you do, have a swell shamrock celebration!
Love, your sorta Irish Grandma

Tt is for Train

Once upon a time two of your mommies were quite worried about riding the train at Lagoon. Once upon another time one of your other mommies serenaded us with every single primary tune she knew on a long and boring Heber Creeper train ride. But I think our most favorite train ride is Big Thunder Mountain Railroad at Disneyland . . . or is it the "train" your mommies and Uncle Tom made with our bar stools whenever I moved them into the livingroom so I could mop the kitchen floor.

Are you all aboard for some train adventures of your own?

Here are some great train titles:

Freight Train by Donald Crews

The Little Engine That Could by Watty Piper

My Big Train Book by Roger Priddy

The Polar Express by Christ Van Allsburg

Thomas the Tank Engine by Rev W. Awdry

Some of these books are also TV shows and/or movies. You could also try making your own train out of chairs, stools, or even boxes . . . Find four or five shoe boxes and cover each one with a different color of paper. Then hook the boxes (train cars) together with string or large paperclips to create a color train. Set out at a pile of small toys with at least three toys per color of train car. Place the colored toys in the corresponding train car. Or you could make it a number train by putting a number on the front of each box, then filling each train car with the correct number of objects or toys. And last, but not least, you can always come to my house to build a train out of legoes or puzzles pieces!

Tell me about what "train" you read, ride or build . . .

or how many train cars you counted

at the last railroad crossing you stopped at . . .

and I will be happy to give you more tickets!

Toodle-loo!

Love, Grandma