Teresa and I are gearing up for August 11th, when we’ll be celebrating NanaHood’s FIRST birthday!  And by celebrate, we mean GAMES, PRIZES, TRIVIA, GIVEAWAYS… you know, fun things for YOU!

Today’s links are all about BIRTHDAYS – and a couple of them may even be hints at prizes you might could win during the Birthday Bash!  I’m not telling you WHICH links are hints, so just enjoy the fun…and anticipation!  (P.S. The links today are all from etsy.com, since that’s my “home away from home”)

• Birthday Cupcake toppers
  
• Photo Birthday Stickers
• Cake bunting
• Fondant Cupcake toppers
• Happy Birthday Banner
• Lovely Party Dress
• Mini cupcake soaps
• Birthday Poms (decoration)
• Personalized Train Birthday Cookies
• Dump Truck Birthday Party Favors

Special request - if you have a blog or website, would you please consider posting about the NanaHood Birthday Bash?  We’d love to have a BIG party with LOTS of folks, so if you’ll help us get the word out, we’d appreciate it.  Feel free to snag the banner below:

More details about the Birthday Bash are coming soon!

Happy Friday, folks

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So, let’s get started with some patriotic fun:

• Definitely check out the NanaHood shop for the big sale… because what’s more American than a holiday sale?
• Jennifer of Adventures in McQuill-land wrote a fun piece over at the HomeSchool Classroom about a new family tradition – making 4th of July t-shirts. You have to check this one out!  AND here is a post she wrote  just last night about their 2010 T-shirts!
• My family is heading to San Diego for the holiday weekend (HALLELUJAH, it’s COOL there!), so I needed a few car activities for the kids. I found THIS and THIS and THIS
• And even though it’s summertime, I’m still a homeschooling mom, so I downloaded and printed off this patriotic activity book for the kids to put together and work on.
• Martha has been talking ALL week about how we are going to “Diego, but NOT the person” (because, she’s three, so the only Diego SHE knows is Diego from Nick Jr.). I really do think she still expects to SEE Diego the person…in San Diego. So, how funny is it that I found this adorable fan craft for the 4th of July? I’m sorely tempted to make it for her, and REALLY confuse my child.
• And I couldn’t help but link up to a couple more Nick Jr activities for the 4th – Wonder Pets Activity Printable and a State Map placemat.
• When the kids start complaining about how bored they are in the car, we’ll use these State Fun Facts cards to liven things up
• We will of course be going to the beach in San Diego (YAY!), and so I found a couple of fun links for THAT part of our trip. I expect we’ll find a few (hundred) sea shells to bring home, so I’m prepared with two crafts – Personalized Sea Shells and Sea Shell Critters

And it wouldn’t be the 4th of July without REALLY yummy summer foods. Here are a few recipes you might like to try:

• Grilled Corn with three Butter Flavors (YUM)
• Red White and Blue Delight
• Grilled Chicken Bruschetta
• Cherry Pie Cups
• Patriotic Pops
• Red White and Blue Pie
• Watermelon Pop Stars
• Marble Star Cut-outs
• Frosty Fireworks

And now I’m hungry… and ready for the weekend to officially start!

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If you are a first time visitor to NanaHood we hope you will stick around awhile and check out the site. There’s lot to see and do and if you are looking to create your own blog, hop on over to www.thenanablogs.com and get started!  At NanaHood we think that being a grandparent is GRAND and we strive to keep the generations connected by sharing humor, advice, recipes, book and movie reviews and a whole lot of love.

We hope you like what you see and ask that you leave a comment to let us know how we are doing! Thanks and have a great 4^th of July with your family and friends!

Teresa and Char
The NanaHood Gang

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And of course I used that week entirely to my advantage and am now totally prepared.  Or not.  We’ve had kind of a rough week around here (is that a theme or what?), and I’m still as yet, totally UNprepared.

I have a day and a half though, so I’m hopeful I can pull something together for my husband by Sunday morning.  (Did you know if you google “Last Minute Father’s Day gifts” you’ll get over a million and a half links?)

With that in mind, here are some Fun Friday Links to help me (and hopefully others of you who are just like me) honor my husband, who just happens to be an amazing dad!

• Jennifer from Adventures in McQuill-land has written a fun post over at Homeschool Classroom about Father’s Day gifts.
• Some cute ideas for Father’s Day gifts
• How about a cute hand-made card that includes tickets for a “date with dad”?  My husband would love this one!
• A few printables to help you make a creative card for Dad
• Father’s Day coloring pages
• Father’s Day crafts and cards kids can make
• Apparently, I’m not in the minority with this Last Minute Father’s Day thing. I found a bunch of blog articles on this very topic today.  Here’s a good one with some gift ideas.
• And a blog post with a few “feel-good” ideas for gifts for Dad.

Like I mentioned above, there are over 1.5 million responses if you do a search in google, so I’m going to leave you with the list above and go see what the kids and I can get done today!

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In no particular order, rhyme or reason:

• How to Teach Your Kids to Crochet – I’ve taken up crocheting recently, after not doing it for several years, and I’m slightly obsessed.  The kids are really interested in what I’m doing, and I’m thinking it would be a good “eye-hand-following directions” kind of activity to teach them.  Or it might just give us all a head-ache.  But, I think we’ll try!
• Crochet Patterns for Kids – to go along with the above link
• Homemade Orange Sherbet – Now that summer is here (i.e. 105 degree temps!), I’ve been dying for some orange sherbet.  How easy is this recipe?!
• VBS activities – we are in the process of planting a church here in our area of Las Vegas, and I’ve had Vacation Bible School on the brain lately – thinking it might be a great outreach to local families.  Anyway, I found a ton of great sites with fun activities.  This particular links has great Egyptian activities, which works perfect for OUR family, since my oldest is enamored of all things Egypt.
• Healthy Strawberry Shortcake - Laura at Heavenly Homemakers has a great new series about making yummy HEALTY food for celebrations and parties.  I’m planning to make a run for the store later to get all the fixins for this Strawberry Shortcake.
• Scheduling Quiet Time – this may not be as MUCH of an issue for Nanas and Grandmas, but for those of us with little ones still running around need all the help we can get.  This was an encouraging article with hints for getting quiet time.
• Quiet Time for Kids – as Moms aren’t the only ones who need quiet time! A few tips for helping your kids establish quiet time habits.

My kids are currently NOT being quiet… and apparently need my attention, so that’s all for this week!  Happy Friday!

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