Tag Archives: grandson pics

Family Time

Last weekend Brian (our oldest son), Lauren (his wife), and Liam (their son) came up to celebrate Michael and my niece’s birthdays. Michael wanted carrot cake, so of course, I obliged! :)

Brian frosted it for me and then added a bit of decoration to it, sprucing it up a bit.

It was pretty good. It was a THM S (healthy fats) dessert. I don’t remember where I got the recipe but it was online somewhere.


My niece likes the Shopkins real minis. She got two packages (like small mystery packs or grab bags). In one she got Boom Chicka Pop and Pringles sour cream and onion.

The other package had chocolate pudding pack and whipped cream can. I didn’t get a picture of the pudding but the whipped cream was adorable.

They are adorable! Thankfully, both packs were different and both included ones she really wanted. :)


Liam enjoyed being outside. Sean and Tiffany took him outside while we were at our house.

Tiffany and my niece took him out while at my parents.

It was a fun day. I was surprised how loud we were when we all arrived. I nearly had to shout to be heard. :D

My parents close on their old home next week so we’ll be going over and helping get the remaining things from there this weekend. It shouldn’t take terribly long and then it will be done and they can just enjoy settling into their new home just a few minutes from us. :)


I’ve finally gotten some reading done. I read the second in the Charlotte and Thomas Pitt series by Anne Perry and am sad to say I didn’t enjoy it very much. I’m hoping the next one will be better.

I started Dark Matter by Blake Crouch and am really enjoying it sans the curse words. There isn’t so much that it is intolerable for me yet and I’m already halfway through it but it is definitely something to be aware of before you pick it up. I’m sure we’ll be talking about it on Joyous Jabbers soon since Tiffany plans to read it too.

I have to admit that it feels really good to be reading again and to be excited about it. I read the Thomas and Charlotte Pitt book on my Kindle Paperwhite and I am really enjoying reading on that device. It isn’t hard on the eyes like tablets and other devices can be. It’s a lot easier than reading on my phone. I read one of the books in the Stormlight Archive on my phone and that was not something I’d like to do again. ;)

Well, I’m going to go for now. I’m not sure what the day holds for me, probably some tangling since I’m a week behind on Inktober. :D

Until next time,

Michele ºÜº

Summer Birthday Weekend Continued

On birthday celebrations here, the birthday person gets to pick what we do for the evening. Since we were celebrating  Brian’s birthday he got to pick what we did. He chose board games . . . well, card games . . . well . . . Carcassonne and Citadels. These games are suited for large groups as well. I played along with the kids. (It was hot and my hair was in a hair band . . . not very flattering. ;) )

That one is Citadels. Tiffany got Sean the definitive anniversary edition, which means it has several different character sets you can play with. Brian is really good at this kind of strategy game. I think he won both games we played. ;) We don’t play it often enough for me to get used to it and figure it out, so I’m always fumbling through the game with barely any points. :D But it is fun together time.

Sunday morning Grandpa got the morning Liam cuddles. :)

Don’t know what Michael is looking at so seriously, but maybe it is just his morning face . . . he and Liam have a very similar look here. :D

We had breakfast and played another game of Citadel. We only played one game of Carcassonne. It’s kind of like playing dominoes, only with land and tiles instead of numbers.

We had a Dory toy that he found end was playing with. He was having a good time. :)

Sunday afternoon we went to my parents’ home with my little sister and her family to celebrate some more.

He was so excited! He kept saying “OH” and “WOW”. :) It’s so fun to see little ones and their expressions. He is  bundle of energy!!!

After the opening of gifts, he loved playing with them! He went and kissed my dad’s knee and hugged my mom, thanking them for his gift–PJ Masks something or other. ;)

The bigger kids were playing some pac man like game that Sean had on the Switch and Tiffany let Liam try for a bit.

Nana helped him get his Toy Story Duplos out of the box.

It was a good weekend! Very glad to have spent it with family!

I hope you have a great weekend. It’s Labor Day weekend and I have no idea what we are going to do. :D (Don’t forget to check out our Youtube video tomorrow.)

Until next time,

Michele ºÜº

Summer Birthday Celebration Weekend Fun

I got my grandson the Duplos, that Lauren put on his birthday list, when I ran errands a couple of weeks ago. Unfortunately, they were $7 more than what the price was on his list from the Walmart website. Ugh! But I got them anyway. When I talked to Lauren, I mentioned it and she said that it was a different price on site than in store, which made no sense to me. On the way home (Tiff was driving) I looked and it was even $2 less than that. So I ordered it from the site, had it delivered to the store, determined to return it the next week.

I have to tell you, my experience was NOT good. ;) Tiffany went on to begin gathering the items on our grocery list while I checked in and awaited the package the next week on errand day. I waited about 15 minutes or more and still hadn’t seen anyone.

Finally, I’d had it and asked the next employee walking by how long it should take and she started to look into it when another associate came over and said that they’ve been trying to get them on the phone, that something was wrong with it that day. Well, of course it was, because it was me! :D I’m the challenge wherever I go. :)

Within about a minute a heavyset guy came up to the area, went inside the door nearby and brought out my package. Well, unfortunately my tale does not stop there! I got home and a couple days later opened the box. Inside I found a box with a big crush on one side, completely crimped. I took pictures because I couldn’t believe that I’d returned a perfectly good box and got this one in return. Ugh!

 

 

 

 

Since I didn’t want another trip into town, I just went with it anyway. I never kept boxes so I don’t  think they will either, opting to put them in a bin for storage.

I then went online and found where to send feedback to the company. Of course I couldn’t tell the whole story because they limit you to a certain number of characters. :p Well, Monday morning I got a call from my store’s manager. 8) He wanted to make it right but couldn’t because I’d already given the gift.

He did tell me though that if the situation ever arises again where the price is cheaper on their site (from them, not a third party) that they will comp ad it at the register but of course, they’ll have to get a manager to approve it. So that is nice to know because it happens more often than you’d think.

While I was on the phone I decided to voice my frustration with the lack of cart return thingy on the end parking aisle and was told that although they’ve ordered two new ones to replace the two that got taken out by a storm a few months ago, they won’t be receiving them until the remodel next April. So! Our Walmart will be getting remodeled next spring. Huh. Interesting. :)

Well, on to the cute part of the weekend. :) Liam was here!!!

He was opening presents from Michael, Tiffany, Sean, and I. Such a cutie! And has a bundle of energy!!!!!

To say he liked his gifts is an understatement. Although I’m sure some of them will be appreciated a bit more at a later time–sorry glow in the dark insect stickers. :) He used to love stickers and I thought this was a cute twist on it.

PJMasks and Toy Story are his big favorites right now. He got two or 3 PJ Masks toys and they are already well loved. I didn’t get pictures of him playing with them but he did, right out of the box. :)


We got a small wading pool for him because it was crazy hot and our air conditioners struggle a bit in the near 100º heat. He loves the outside and water, so this was a huge hit.

We were going to do a water balloon toss but struggled with getting them filled and with patience. As soon as a balloon was filled, it got thrown. Funny thing was that they wouldn’t burst when they hit people but did when hitting the ground. :D

It wasn’t too bad when you got wet. I think we’ll get some water guns for next summer. ;) And maybe a bigger pool.

It was a fun weekend. I’ll share more next Friday. :)

Until next time,

Michele ºÜº

 

Shopping Scavenger Hunt ;)

Thanksgiving and Big Stuff ~ Lifeofjoy.me For the rest of this month, in honor of Christmas in July, Tiffany is putting her book on sale! If you’d like to read a fun cozy murder mystery (that reads like a romantic comedy at Christmas time), go check out my daughter’s first book, Murder Mystery and the Gingerbread Cookies available on Amazon (and a few other places I can’t recall right now ;) ). She started writing it when she was 12 years old. We published a few years ago in ebook and finally jumped through all the hoops to get it into paperback this past February. If you like ebooks, grab that as it is a better deal for both you and her. ;)


Last Friday I dropped Tiffany off at Gardner’s used books store with a box of books my parents were getting rid of and headed out on my shopping scavenger hunt. :) I talked about the things I was shopping for last week.

Hobby Lobby was my first stop and I scored the lead I was looking for. Very affordable AND I used a 40% off coupon on one. :)

I rushed on out, not getting lured in by all the wonderfulness that is Hobby Lobby or I’d have been there the whole time Tiffany was visiting with a friend at the book store and would have had to go out another day. For a hermit, that is not an appealing thought. So I pushed myself right on out of there and headed over to Shoe Carnival a couple miles up the road.

I went in and found about two rows of Sketchers shoes but most of them have that crazy memory foam insole of which I am not a fan. There were about a half dozen or so of the ones with the go-ga mat insole. Trouble was that the one I really wanted was out of my size and the one I could have settled on was ten dollars cheaper on Amazon than the sale price there. Unfortunately the one I really want is fifteen dollars more than the sale price on Amazon. :( I left there empty handed. (Below is the runner up–not a fan of the pink shoe laces as I would wear them a lot and it just would be too flashy.)

I headed over to Dollar Tree and bonded with another lady in the card section. Four rows of cards and we were both looking for the same occasion card. We chatted about the joys of being a grandparent and shared pictures . . . yep, we’re that grandma. ;)

I almost bought some other things but wasn’t sure Tiffany would like my choices and since they were items for her, I opted to wait until we can go together. Sure hope it’s there next week because she didn’t feel up to going this week.

I then headed to Burlington Coat Factory. By the time I arrived there I had to use the facilities, which was perfect because I needed to check the brand and size of the shorts I was wearing. :) I wasn’t sure if I’d purchased them here or at Ross but I figured if I found the brand I’d be good.

Turns out, I found the exact brand that I have and love! I was glad to be in the right place. I found several pairs of short to try on and ended up with a different brand that feels the same and are a little bit longer, which is nice. The sad part though is that this pair doesn’t have any real pockets whereas the other pair that was so similar to the ones I was wearing actually had working pockets. I was so tempted to get them.

I decided to browse through the tops to see if I could find a nice sleeveless top to go with them. I don’t generally wear sleeveless tops but it’s just so crazy hot that I decided to add that to my scavenger hunt.

I was stunned to find a really nice shirt that matched the shorts so well. And it looked decent on me! That is amazing. Oh! And it is a size smaller than I have been getting!!! Whoo hoo!

Yeah, don’t worry. I’m not delusional. I realize it is just cut bigger but it sure did make me feel better. :) While I was trying on the clothes Tiffany texted that she was ready. Her friend brought her to the store and they arrived by the time I came out of the fitting room. Tiff helped me pick the shorts and was impressed with the top. :) They really go well together. I’m very pleased with my purchases.

By the time we got home, we were both tired and very glad I’d thought ahead and planned an easy dinner. Oh! Turns out for our thirty-five books, we got around $40 of in-store credit. Not too shabby considering I salvaged them from the trash. :)

Well, that’s enough of my blathering today. I did work on my bullet journal this week and am pleased with some of the pages. Maybe I’ll share them sometime soon.

Until next time,

Michele ºÜº