Aa is for Answer

I guess the "word of the day" question was just too hard. But just in case you were wondering-- it is a real word . . . I did not make it up. I may or may not be an abecedarian . . . but all you boys who occasionally read this blog are definitely abecedarians. Therefore, you all get (or may already have) the best ever fabulous prize. It will come in handy tomorrow when another Advent Alphabet Adventure starts!

Let the countdown to Christmas begin!

Love, Grandma

Aa is for Abecedarian

Our word of the day for today is

abecedarian

What is it?

1. A word Grandma just made up because she couldn't think of anything better to blog about today?

2. A person learning the alphabet or anything of or relating to the alphabet?

3. A person so obsessed with the alphabet that they sew cross stitch samplers of it . . . and make posters of it . . . collect stickers, mugs and picture books of it . . . and even make up an entire crazy blog about it? (This answer could also be correct!)

Give me your best guess or a better answer than these choices and I will just have to give you the best fabulous prize ever!

Happy abecedarian day!

Love, Grandma

Bb is for Brody

Who is the boy behind this letter B poster?

Have you seen someone hiding behind the letter B poster before?

Could it be the same boy?

Could it be the boy who has one big brother and one little brother?

Could it be a boy who celebrated his 6th birthday in October?

Could it be a boy who is learning how to read in kindergarten?

Could it be a boy who loves pajamas so much he wears them as often as possible?

Could it be a boy who has already written his Christmas wish list?

Could it be a boy who mostly just wants more pajamas for Christmas?

Could you please tell me who you think this boy is as well as your favorite thing about him?

Happy "Oh Boy" day!

Love, Grandma

Cc is for Coltin

Can you guess which cousin is hiding behind the letter C?

Which cousin loves to play with cars . . .

wear "cars" and watch "Cars"?

Which cousin doesn't have any brothers or sisters,

but does have one very nice Daddy?

Which cousin sleeps in a big blue bed his Daddy slept in when he was a boy?

Which cousin knows how to read all the letters of the alphabet

and write his name even though he doesn't start kindergarten until next year?

Which cousin turns five years old on his next birthday?

Tell me who you think this cousin might be and . . .

draw his picture or glue a photo of him in your Alpha-Book

and you could possibly win a fabulous prize!

Happy Cousin-guessing!

Love, Grandma

Nn is for Nash

N is for new baby!

My 10th grandson who is also my 11th grandchild

was born on 10-11-11 at 11:54 p.m.

He weighed 7 lb. 10 oz. and was 19" long.

He is the new little brother to Jack and Ryan.

N is for Nash!
Welcome to the family!

Love, Grandma

Dd is for Dolls

Is this what you are thinking right now?

"Dd is for dolls . . . that's dumb.

Doesn't Grandma know

mostly boys who love balls, cars, legoes and super heroes read this blog?"

I will have you know that dolls are delightful. Not only that, but one of the most popular toys at my house, that you have all been known to play with, is the dollhouse . . . the place where a doll family lives. Some of you are or have been fans of Woody and Buzz which are kind of like boy dolls! And last, but not least playing with dolls is both fun and good practice. Once upon a time there were four little girls who played with dolls and now have become:

the mother of Zach, Brody and Luke

the mother of Eddy and Lindsay Lu

the mother of Wade and Owen

and the mother of Jack, Ryan and . . .
Can you guess who is the new darling baby DeWitt?
I dare you to play with a doll today!
Love, Grandma

Ee is for Eddy

Who is hiding behind the letter "E"?

Who is possibly the wiggliest person I have ever taken a picture of?

Who is a big brother to one little sister?

Who has a Dad and a dog he loves to wrestle with?

Who has a Mom who teaches preschool with him?

Who is so smart he knows what a rhombus is?

(Does Grandma even know how to spell that word?)

Who is so helpful he can pick ripe tomatoes from the garden and fill a bowl for dinner?

Who will be turning four years old the day after Christmas?

Guess who "Ee is for . . . " and tell me your favorite thing

about this mystery person hiding behind the letter "E".

You just may win a fabulous (possibly edible) prize!

Happy "eek-a-boo"

Love, Grandma

Ff is for Feet

Feet are fabulous things to have even if they look as freaky as these feet of an unnamed person. You can use your feet to run and walk . . . skip and kick . . . jump and stand for hours on end. I'm not sure I can think of something from A to Z to do with feet but here are two possibilities: Footprint ghosts
or
Monster feet
Have fun with your feet!
Love, Grandma

Gg is for Ghosts

Today I'm going to tell you a ghost story. As everyone knows, ghosts are white, and to stay white ghosts can only eat things that are white. They can drink milk and eat vanilla ice cream, marshmallows, cauliflower and coconut. One day five little ghosts went to visit their Grandma and horror of horrors, she had no milk, no vanilla ice cream, no marshmallows, absolutely nothing white to eat. She needed to go to the store pronto. Before she left, she told her little ghost grandsons not to eat anything while she was gone or something DREADFUL might happen. Then Grandma hurried off to the nearest grocery store.

But as you know, little ghosts can't go five minutes at Grandma's house without getting hungry. Eddy ghost was starving and when he saw a kiwi on the counter he gobbled it up and guess what happened? He turned green! The other ghosts looked at him and laughed. Eddy ghost felt terrible so he hid under Grandma's green couch. By this time Brody was hungry and quite upset Grandma didn't have any donette gems, so he decided to eat just one little purple grape. And what do you suppose happened? He turned purple! He was so embarrassed he ran upstairs and hid in the bathtub.

By now Ryan ghost (or was it Wade?) was thirsty. He looked in Grandma's refrigerator and saw some orange juice. He drank just one tiny sip, but guess what happened? He turned orange! . . . and he ran and hid in the toybox. Jack ghost's tummy was rumbling, too so he thought he would just take the teeniest, tiniest bite out of a strawberry. But you can probably guess what happened? He turned red! He ran out into the garage and hid in the red wagon.

Zach ghost is always hungry and he figured he was much smarter than the other ghosts. He looked in the freezer to see if there just might be a little bit of vanilla ice cream left. And there was some ice cream and it was almost vanilla. It was white with little brown pieces of chocolate in it. Zach didn't think that could hurt him so he ate one spoonful and became a chocolate chip ghost. And he hid in the only hiding place left--the cleaning closet.

When Grandma came home with two big sacks full of vanilla ice cream, jugs of milk, donette gems, marshmallows and coconut, she wondered why her house was so quiet. There were no ghost grandsons running and playing and shouting BOO. She knew something must be wrong and searched all over until she found this:

Gg is for Ghosts (Part 2)

After Grandma found all of the colorful ghosts, she wondered what on earth should she do to help them turn white before Halloween. So she called Grandpa. He suggested they eat lots and lots of caulifower. UGH! But Grandma and the little ghosts knew Grandpa can get pretty grouchy if ghostly grandsons aren't clean and white at his house. So guess what? Eddy, Brody, Ryan (or Wade), Jack and Zach ate big bowlfuls of cauliflower and this is what Grandpa saw when he came home from work!

The moral of this story is "don't sneak food without asking at Grandma's house" . . . or is the moral of this story "don't make Grandpa grouchy or he might make you eat a bowl of cauliflower!"

Have a great day my little ghostly grandsons!

Love, Grandma

Hh is for Hands

Hands come in handy for hundreds of things . . .

here are a few from A to Z:

holding an Apple while you take a bite . . .

Buttoning buttons or Bouncing balls . . .

Clapping and Counting . . .

Digging in dirt (or sand)

Eating finger Food (or fingers!?)

Gripping the game controller

Hanging on

Holding Hands . . . signing "I love you" . . .

Juggling? . . . blowing Kisses . . .

Linking Legoes . . . Making Messes . . .

Opening the door . . . Petting your Puppy . . .
Playing Peek-a-boo or the Piano . . .

Quietly keeping them in your lap . . .

Raising it in class . . .

Splish splashing in the tub . . .

Tossing leaves

Unwrapping presents . . . Waving goodbye . . .

fiXing and miXing things . . . covering a Yawn . . .

Zipping up a Zipper . . . I could go on and on!

However, I'm sure you have one hundred and one

better things to do with your hands today.

So here's hoping you have a handy dandy day!

Hip Hip Hooray for Hands!

Love, Grandma

Kk is not for kleenex

Okay, kids . . . you call Kleenex tissues and I call tissues Kleenex. It's quite a conundrum (which also does not begin with the letter "Kk") . . . so let's forget all that and say:

Kk is for kindergarten!

I have never been a kindergarten student, but as the mother of five former kindergarten students and the grandmother of two current kindergarten students, I know that kids get pretty excited about going to kindergarten. Once upon a time I knew a girl who was so excited to go to kindergarten that she started asking about it when she was only two or three years old. I tried to tell her that she had to wait until she was five years old, but that seemed too far away. So I decided to make her a little backpack and give her a toy lunchbox for her 4th birthday. Unfortunately since her birthday was right around the first day of a new school year she thought that meant she could go to school that year. Afterall, she knew the way she told me. I was so afraid that she might try "running away" to school with her two big sisters that I told her that she got to stay home and have kindergarten with me!

Thus, I became a "kindergarten" teacher and every morning for one school year my student and I read books, sang songs, and created craft projects around themes like animals, colors,counting, the alphabet, etc. . . Apparently I was such a good kindergarten teacher that my little student grew up to become a real kindergarten teacher! Can you guess which one of your aunts/mommies my student was? While you're thinking about it, here are a couple kindergarten books you might like to check out: "The Twelve Days of Kindergarten"

by Deborah Lee Rose

a counting story sort of like the song "The Twelve Days of Christmas"

"Miss Bindergarten Gets Ready for Kindergarten"

by Joseph Slate

about a kindergarten teacher who has 26 students . . . one for each letter of the alphabet!

Happy Kindergarten Days!

Love, Grandma