Tuesday Treasures

Hey everybody! Hope you're having a great day! Crackers and I have been playing games with grandpa all day. He gets on a kick every once in a while where he just wants to play games, and sometimes he plays by himself and sometimes we play with him. Today we played Farkle. If you don't know how to play Farkle, you should try it out. It's a game played with 6 dice and you have to build up points according to what you roll on the dice. It's a lot of fun, and it's good math practice for kids, too.

I told you Crackers had found a special Tuesday Treasure for you, and she really did. We were going through some boxes, looking for something ( Ican't remember what) and she saw a little bit of red paper peeking out from under an old calendar. Well, Crackers loves bright colors, so she pounced on that right away! And guess what it was? It was a valentine that my little grandson, Cyric, made last year in kindergarten for a little girl he really liked. Her name was Lily and she was really cute. The only problem was, he was either too shy to give it to her, or he forgot to take it. Anyway, I wound up with it and thought I would put it on a scrapbook page.

It says, "To Lily, You are My best friend in the world". The i in Lily has a little heart for the dot and there is a whole row of smiley faces at the bottom. It is so cute. Crackers chose this for her treasure today because she, like me, knows that children are only little once, and we should pay special attention to the things they make and do and say, before they get too old to share them with us voluntarily. Crackers may be just a baby, but she's a smart baby, isn't she? She is 3 (weeks) going on 30!

I like Crackers choice of treasure for today because I love my grandchildren with all my heart, and even though I don't get to see most of them very often, I try to let them know they are loved. It is so important for them to know that, especially when they get older and think that the whole world is against them. Then it's good for them to know they have someone on their side.

We have a few more ideas for you, to help you to keep that connection between grandparents and grandchildren. How many of you still watch cartoons? Probably not many of you, but your younger grands do. If you can find a cartoon that they like that you can stand to watch, you can enjoy time with them doing something they like. My two grands that live here are 10 and 11 and they love Phineas and Ferb. Well, grandpa and I started watching one day and we got hooked! It is the cutest show and there is always a lesson to be learned, or some knowledge to be gained, and it is extremely funny into the bargain!

Another thing you can do is arts and crafts. You probably already know this, but kids love to DO stuff and MAKE stuff. Just about anything you do can be taught to a child, even if you have to tone it down a little for them. And variety is always welcome, too. Don't just do watercolors, or knitting or scrapbooking. Change it up and do them all! (At different times, of course.)

Do you like to sing? Or dance? Even kids who say they don't like to sing or dance will enjoy doing it with you. I used to dance with my children when they were young, and we'd get going doing the jitterbug, or the twist, or whatever we had a notion for that day, and pretty soon the whole bunch would be dancing! The same with singing. We lived 60 miles from Las Vegas, which was where we shopped, and it could be a pretty boring ride. I would put the oldies on the radio in the car and sing along at the top of my voice. Pretty soon, one child would join in and then another and another. (I had 5 kids.) I chose the oldies because those were the ones I knew the words to, but you could choose any type of music you like. Later, I found a Wee Sing tape of campfire songs, and because all my children were scouts, that was very popular, too. Now I sing those same songs with the grandkids. And you know what, they don't care if you even know how to sing or dance, they just get a kick out of seeing you do it and having you do it with them!

That's all for today. Crackers is getting tired and needs a nap and I have to fix dinner, so we'll see you next time. "Til then, remember, family is what matters in life. Goodbye and love to all,