Often it’s the birthdays, holidays, and anniversaries that get all the attention; what we consider life’s milestones. While I agree that those days are special and should be celebrated with friends and family, there’s no doubt in my mind that it’s the small moments of joy that make the most difference.

Things like stepping outside on the first warm day after a long, cold winter, or watching the evening sun melt into a purple and pink horizon.

Or playing with puppies.

Grant with Romeo, Juliette, and Valentino

This past Sunday we took our twins, our oldest son and granddaughter to a basketball game at the University of Kentucky.  They have an exceptionally good team this year and getting tickets wasn’t easy. If you follow college basketball at all you know that UK fans are some of the most dedicated and enthusiastic fans anywhere. Every game is packed with yelling, screaming fans.

This picture gives you some idea of how packed Rupp Arena was

At first Abby (my granddaughter) was awed by the noise and the crowd, but she quickly got over it and got down to business.

I know I saw nachos somewhere, where are they?

Yum, now this is worth coming to a game for!

It was so much fun watching Abby watch the ballgame, but she isn’t your typical UK fan.

Night, night

Only a child could sleep through thousands of screaming fans and a band playing the fight song so loud it made my head pound.

Yes, we should celebrate the big moments, but don’t overlook the small ones because when they are woven together they become a blanket of memories that you can wrap around you and draw warmth from during the coldest days of winter.

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This week, Allan and Mema are making homemade paint!

So, to recap… to make homemade paint, you need:

• 1 tablespoon of baking soda
• 1 tablespoon of vinegar (it will bubble up when you mix them)
• 1 tablespoon of cornstarch
• 1 teaspoon of liquid soap
• food coloring (your choice!)

Mix it all together, and you have PAINT!  Coming next week… painting with the homemade paint!

Happy crafting!!

Don’t forget… if you and your children/grandchildren create something from one of our Crafting posts, we’d LOVE to see photos (or videos).  Along those same lines, we are also interested in posting YOUR video or photo tutorials, so if you have crafty kiddos and want to share, please send an email to admin@nanahood.com.

About “Mema”: Cheryl Booth has been crafting for more years than she cares to remember, and has shared her love of crafts with kids in her home, in Bible classes, at summer camp, and elsewhere.  You can visit Cheryl’s craft shop online at http://www.mycraftbooth.etsy.com

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Beautifully illustrated with colorful pictures, Doggy Bag differs from all the canines I own in that he doesn’t want to get dirty so he stays off the ground. He prefers climbing trees and sitting on fences to participating in “normal” dog activities like digging holes (oh how I wish my dogs felt the same way!) Doggy Bag runs away from home to the city where he meets some alley cats and his soon to be new best friend, Zeke, who eventually convinces him that there is more to being a dog than living up in a tree!

Children will love Doggy Bag and his silly antics, I did and I can’t wait to read it to Abby!

Now a book for nanas….

I mentioned last week I was reading Firefly Lane by Kristin Hannah, well I finished it.  I immediately emailed my friends and told them it was a “must read.”  It’s the best “girl friend book” I’ve read in a long, long time. Women who were teenagers during the 70’s will identify with the hair styles, music, and current events, that help set the stage for the two main characters, Tully and Kate.

WARNING: This book should come with a warning label. I was reading it while waiting in a doctor’s office and I’m sure everyone in there thought I had just been told I had two weeks to live. At first my eyes started leaking, then they were pouring, when I felt my shoulders start to shake I took the book, went to the women’s bathroom, locked myself in and finished the book. When I came out there were three women standing there staring at me, obviously angry that I had occupied the bathroom for 30 minutes (sorry!) Then they saw my red splotched face, realized I’d been boo-hooing and left me alone.

One of the best reads I have experienced in a long time and worth making a special trip to the book store to purchase!

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• Have you subscribed to GRAND magazine yet?  if not, you should go check it out, and sign up!  (Pssst… Teresa has an article in this month’s issue).
• Just watched this really cool music video.  I didn’t listen to the words much (was too enthralled by the video), so I apologize if there was anything iffy in the lyrics.
• Compassion International has it’s latest team of bloggers in Kenya right now.  You can click on over and read about their trip (and previous trips) on the CI website, and then click on the bloggy links too.
• Speaking of the Compassion International bloggy links, don’t miss this one by MckMama.
• Just before I started to write this post, we had a little incident with my laptop.  The incident included Samuel… a glass of water… and my laptop.  I’m not sure yet what the fate will be for my laptop, but in case you ever have a similar incident, this link is helpful.
• I tried really hard to be kind during this laptop incident.  But, as it was happening, I knew I was failing to be as kind as I should have been.  Samuel didn’t mean to fry the laptop… it was an accident.  And he is far more valuable to me than a computer, although based on my reaction he may have been wondering about that.  An hour or so after I finally calmed down, I spent a little time reading this verse in James.  And then I read these.  And then I went ahead and read this whole chapter.  And then I spent some time praying about my reactions the next time we have an incident.

Here’s hoping for a brighter, calmer, less stressful Friday… and for YOU TOO!

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