Grandmother Wren

This morning we set it all aside -

all of the “should do” tasks of a Monday morning – the tidying, the vacuuming, the bathroom cleaning-
set aside too, the confusion and turmoil and upset that has been troubling our family recently -
set it all aside -

We Baked Doughnuts.

Maya put on her new apron

Click the image to get a full size. Maya is so proud of her apron ( her “chef suit” ). Grampy ordered it for her from fellow blogger and friend Vixen at Apron Frenzy.

You can read her post about it and get a really good look at the apron by following this link. It’s gorgeous!

Properly attired, we got on with the baking.

There was a bit of a science lesson combined with old fashioned make-do kitchen wisdom when we discovered that the recipe called for buttermilk. We don’t have any buttermilk.

We added a tablespoon of vinegar to a cup of milk and let it set while we mixed the dry ingredients. A workable buttermilk substitute. Plain yogurt would also work and might have been a better choice since the doughnut batter was a little thin.

Grampy helped mix.

Claudia added the right amount of dog germs to make this a truly kid focused family project. ( If no dog or child meets Grammy’s eyes – even if she’s clearly standing right there with a camera – if no one looks at Grammy, than somehow – magically – everyone remains invisible and there won’t be any scolding for feeding the dog from the table and then returning to the baking )

The work is done, the apron proudly hung

Chocolate frosted doughnuts after lunch!

If you’d like to bake some doughnuts, you’ll find a page of recipes to try at Allrecipes.com – here

But this isn’t just about making doughnuts. Although doughnuts can surely make a home sing

This morning, this doughnut making, is about filling our home with songs of faith.
It is about living our lives, going about our day, in a way that shows that we believe, we trust, we know that our faith can be relied upon. That God can be trusted.
It is about creating the sort of bedrock memories that Susan Strasberg spoke of when she remembered being at her grandparent’s house.

I loved their home. Everything smelled older, worn but safe; the food aroma had baked itself into the furniture.

I hope, today, that your home sings with faith too.
I hope that you remember that you are safe.

Enjoy More of Making Your Home Sing Monday – Visit Nan at Mom’s The Word

Since my Dad’s birthday is this week, I’ll share a photo from 1957 – my father and I feeding the ducks at Forest Park.

Twenty years later, I fed the ducks at Forest Park with my daughter.

And fifty years gone by… I feed the ducks at Forest Park with my granddaughter.

Life (and Forest Park) goes on.

Enjoy more of Friday Photo Flashback – visit Alicia at More Than Words

TIPS TO START AN OUTDOOR HOLIDAY TRADITION

Fresh air and sunshine — put them both on your wish list this year! No matter what the temperature is, get the family outside this month and you will ease stress, burn off extra calories, and HAVE FUN! Be Out There’s got the tools you need:

1. Get Inspired With A Holiday Video

2. Download The Winter Activity Guide

Inside you’ll find:

8 ways to start a outdoor holiday tradition
5 tips to stay warm during a winter adventure
Fun craft how-to: Make An Elf House

Download Now!

3. Find More Activities For Winter Fun:

Join The Christmas Bird Count

Get 10 Ideas For Outdoor Gifts For Kids (from one of NWF’s favorite mom bloggers)

Build A Yule Log

Get Recipes for Hot Chocolate and Roasted Chestnuts

Fact: Humans don’t need to hibernate in the winter. Trust us — leave that to the squirrels and the chipmunks. Be Out There!

Visit Outdoor Wednesday at A Southern Daydreamer for more “Out There” Holiday Ideas

Two weeks ago we moved to our new home.
Two weeks ago three good-natured strong young men brought everything we own – furniture and plants and boxes of books; dishes and pots and pans and small kitchen appliances; clothing and linens and towels and rugs; toys and musical instruments and craft supplies and dollhouses and totes full of yarn; boxes and luggage and crates – the young men brought it all inside our new home and left it here.
Stacked neatly against walls, in closets, edging out into the rooms, a maze of home goods – and we wander about, finding our things then finding a place to put them.

Now it is almost Christmas.
Maya and I took the day to make it Christmas at our new home.
We found the boxes of decorations, unpacked them and set up the tree.
This is Our Home and we are blessed.

“It comes every year and will go on forever. And along with Christmas belong the keepsakes and the customs. Those humble, everyday things a mother clings to, and ponders, like Mary in the secret spaces of her heart.” Marjorie Holmes

It’s Fall – the weather is getting colder, it’s getting dark outside earlier and earlier – this is a good time of year to pull out the family’s favorite board games or…
why not try making some new games of your own?

(These instructions are from a book Grandmother Wren had as a child – some of the materials will have to be adapted to those more readily available now – some forty years later!)

Four Good Toss Games To Make

Number Ring

This game can easily be made on a cardboard box top about 12 inches square. Cut 10 holes about 1/2 inch in width through box top at places shown in drawing. Write the numbers 1 through 10 in the places shown. Insert a wooden clothespin into each hole. Now get a few rubber jar rings, and you’re ready to play the game.

You should kneel about 5 feet from the game and try to toss a ring over the clothespin with the highest number. Play with several friends and keep score, seeing who gets the highest total after 10 throws each.

Baseball Button

You can use a box top for this game, too. It should be about 10 x 14 inches. Mark out your baseball diamond in pencil on box top, following the one in the drawing. Each base should be about 2 inches in diameter. Cut out holes for bases with a knife or scissors. Cut base lines from colored paper and paste in place, as shown. Label each base as in the picture; also label the left, center, and right fields.

To play the game, use large buttons and toss them from a distance of 5 or 6 feet into the various holes. Play with several friends and take turns being “up at bat.” When your button lands in the hole marked “out” three times in one inning, it’s time for your friend to be “up.” Keep score exactly as you would in real baseball. If you have a man on first or second base, try to score by getting more men on base or a home run.

Egg Box Marble

Using an ordinary egg box (holding a dozen eggs), carefully open the cover so that it forms a gentle slope from table top to inside of box, as shown. Hold cover in place by attaching it to table with a piece of cellophane tape or masking tape. Mark each square of box with a different number. Play with several friends, taking turns rolling marbles up the sloping cover into box. You should roll from a distance of about 5 feet.

Another way to play would be to cut out pictures of wild animals and paste them in the spaces instead of numbers. As you play, see who can bag the most animals. Let the elephant and lion count highest and the smaller animals be worth fewer points.

Spelling

This is played on a piece of plywood or very heavy cardboard about 18 x 24 inches. With a ruler, mark off a 1-inch margin all around the board. Then divide the board into
three equal sections across and six equal sections up and down within the margin. Draw lines where you have made the marks. Where each line crosses another, screw in a cup
hook.
Paint a letter of the alphabet underneath each hook. Since there are 28 hooks, there will be no letters for two of them. Leave these blank, and they can be penalty hooks that everyone should avoid.
Make the rings out of sections of clothesline about 8 inches long. Form a ring and
fasten ends together with twisted wire or masking tape.

The object of the game is to see who is the first one to spell out all the letters of a
short word which you have chosen ahead of time.

Would you like ideas for more games that you can make and play with your family and friends? Check out this link from Cornell

Click here to enter your link in the blog hop and view the entire list of entered links…