My word!

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My word!

My word!

Welcome back! I hope your holiday season was fabulous and 2020 is treating you right so far and always.

I’m unsure how it got started, but apparently declaring a word for an upcoming new year is a thing. A word to define one’s hopes and goals for the months to come.

My word, I’ve decided, shall be …

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Winner Wonderland!

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Winner Wonderland!

Winner Wonderland

Long, long ago — back in 1992, to be precise — Jim and I and our three daughters recorded on a behomoth camcorder a Christmas program for Jim’s dad and stepmom, the girls’ long-distance grandparents. The special show recorded in our living room featured several songs, most of them lip-synced, by Brianna, Megan, and Andrea individually as well as as a group, plus a finale in which Jim and I appeared.

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Awesome app

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Awesome app

Awesome app!

You may have noticed I’m a sucker for quotes, evidence being here and here and other spots on my site. So it should come as no surprise I’m a sucker for this awesome (free) app I found not long ago called Bible Lens.

Bible Lens automagically chooses appropriate Bible verses to match up with photos in your camera roll and creates inspirational graphics for you to share with others … or to …

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Grandma success!

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Grandma success!

As a grandma, you know you’re onto something when after engaging in an activity with a grandkiddo, he or she says, “We should do this every time!”

Well, I believe I’m onto something as Declan, my five-year-old long-distance grandson, declared exactly that during a recent FaceTime visit he and I had.

My success revolved around …

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Message from Mom

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Message from Mom

Message from Mom

Despite my penchant for getting rid of things when Jim and I moved to a smaller home last summer, I must admit to a semi-hoarder habit of holding on to things when it comes to my iPhone. Though I delete email from my phone regularly since it all comes through on my computer too, I do have on my phone old text messages and voicemails. Many from a year ago and more.

Today I’m especially appreciative of my semi-hoarder status when it comes to such things.

Today marks one year since my …

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Sharing scary stories!

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Sharing scary stories!

Sharing scary stories!

I’ve been blogging for more than 10 years now and have seen a lot of changes in what works and what doesn’t for the medium. One thing I’ve noticed lately, perhaps you have too, is that it seems like more content is being shared beyond blogs than on the actual blogs. Meaning, social media channels have become the primary place for posting, blogs secondary. Which is the opposite of the earlier days of blogging…

Plus…

GRAND Social No. 364 link party for grandparents

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Grand fun: A Bearizona visit with Arizona boys

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Grand fun: A Bearizona visit with Arizona boys

Hard to believe it’s been nearly a month since Jim and I visited our grandsons (and daughter and son-in-law) in Arizona.

Hard to believe, too, that I’ve not shared the stories of all we did (other than make bracelets) during that visit. But with Benjamin’s milestones to mark soon after our return — such as his first haircut and his first birthday — details on our desert visit to see Brayden, Camden, and Declan were put on the back burner.

With temps hovering just below freezing and a snowy scene outside my windows as I write this, today seems an especially ideal day to recap one particularly grand fun-in-the-sun outing we had our grandsons at the outset of autumn. That being the day we spent at Bearizona Drive-Thru Wildlife Park, located about an hour south of the Grand Canyon.

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Review: Fat Brain Toys trio for tots to pre-teens (and beyond)

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Review: Fat Brain Toys trio for tots to pre-teens (and beyond)

The holiday gift-giving season will soon be upon us, and Fat Brain Toys is among the tops spots for grandmothers and others seeking screen-free fun to give the grands.

Fat Brain Toys sent me a special trio of toys to try out with my favorite boys — two ideal for my tiniest grandson plus one that’s fun for the bigger kids (and grownups, too).

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Shortest season ever!

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Shortest season ever!

Shortest season ever!

Remember those photos of fall I shared right here only eleven days ago? Well, the very day that post published, winter moved in just as I feared and my pretty leaves turned crunchy brown.

In the ten days since, winds picked up, crunchy brown leaves hit the ground.

Plus…

GRAND Social No. 363 link party …

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Birthday celebration!

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Birthday celebration!

Birthday celebration!

Guess who had a first birthday celebration on Sunday! Well, if you guessed Benjamin, you would be 100 percent correct.

Plus…

GRAND Social No. 362 link party for grandparents

Today we celebrate grandparent bloggers … by sharing and reading links in yet another GRAND Social link party! Yay, you! Thank you for participating!

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