A Valentine for M'Lady

My daughter came for Christmas and introduced me to Downton Abbey. I was quickly on board to watch all of season one before time for season two. I came across this site today for valentines based on the series. Happy Valentine's Day! And enjoy!

Valentine's Day and Love

I hope that you will be enjoying a lovely Valentine's Day. I "love" this plant stake almost as much as I love the luscious geranium in the pot. Glen brought the geraniums home in 4 inch pots from Berridge Nursery last fall and over the past month they have come into their own. Such a lovely color and the leaf foliage is also beautiful.

This year I was not going to be in Arizona for the traditional sugar cookie decorating so I prepared "cookie kits" and delivered them to the grand kids before I left. The kits included sugar cookies made from this recipe, butter cream frosting, and red sugar sprinkles.

On the lid, I taped this love note explaining why they were getting a kit. I love the computer and word processing. It was so easy to select a template with the gingham red and white, insert my own pictures, and change the text.

This morning Glen and I went to Shirley's Bakery here in Provo. There was a table stacked with Valentine cookie kits, but they didn't have a cute cover letter. There were also mounds of decorated cookies as well as undecorated cookies. As we paid for our bread, the lady behind the counter said that they had baked thousands and thousands of cookies.

I just baked 150, one batch in Arizona and another in Utah. It took several hours, but it was a great way to spread the love.

The grand boys have a turn

The grand boys also had a sleepover, the first of 2012. They got to go with grandma and grandpa to pick up the new to us used car.

I'm excited about my new wheels. It has lots of extras which make the hubby happy. He was even happier to find an almost new car with low miles plus all the extras for a good price.

Guess who drove it all weekend?

Of course, we had to feed them lots of pizza on Friday night. Saturday morning found us at Chick-fil-A for breakfast. I love that they serve my favorite orange juice.

It turned out that this sign was false advertising. It states, "Give us one pound of chocolate cookie pieces, and we'll give you and your friends 384 large Cookies & Cream Hand-Spun Milkshakes." The help claimed the 384 was just our table number.

Grandpa Glen is responsible for this out of focus picture. He wanted to document Toby's current tooth situation.


After breakfast, we were at the theater for the first movie of the day. We went to Tempe Market Place to see "Hugo" in 3D. "Hugo" is based on this book that won the Caldecott Award in 2008. We all enjoyed the movie and I loved the way the 3D effects were so well used in the story.

I took the above picture to point out one very disturbing event. TJ has almost caught up to his grandpa in height. What!!?

Now for a bit of a repeat. Once again we stopped at the new Dunkin Donuts for another dozen.

As you can see, this made Toby very happy.

The over two hour movie made TJ tired, so he decided to take a nap (probably because he is growing so fast!), Toby got his favorite toy bins out of the closet, grandpa mowed the lawn, and grandma planted some more flowers before returning the boys to their home. As we used the key pad to get through the gate, a male voice welcomed us. We quickly decided that that grandma's "car girl" should meet "gate guy." They both have such nice voices!

1st grand girls sleepover of 2012

We drove the big circle and picked up the oldest three grand girls for a sleepover at grandpa's and grandma's house. There were bags for big girls as well as bags for their dolls.

After Friday night fun with each other, their dolls, and ebelskivers (per Sadie's request) they were finally all asleep. Saturday morning found everyone up early and on our way to Phoenix. First stop was breakfast at IHOP.

Next stop was grandpa's favorite nursery, Berridge Nursery on Camelback. Each girl picked out a plant and a pack of seeds after looking over everything and going everywhere including the greenhouse.

They last went with us to Berridge Nursery in 2009. See here. They have not only gotten older but taller in three years.

It was then time for a new stop, Papago Park and Hole in the Rock.

They loved it and climbed everywhere while under our watchful eyes.

They found holes.

And niches.

And grandpa's knee.

Their bravery grew and they climbed higher. . .

and higher.

So I zoomed in

and in.

One last pose in the hole looking east and then time to go.

Glen climbing out and looking west.

Final stop, the new Dunkin Donuts at Brown and Gilbert. They had fun picking out a dozen.

They spent the afternoon in the backyard creating a special spot including this shelf of goodies from grandma's garden.

There was also a cleaning station.

This visit there surprise was new skirts for their dolls. I used the skirt pattern from Josephina's Doll Dress Patterns by Pleasant Company for American Girl. The pattern had the smaller contrasting band as a skirt yoke, by I decided that I liked it better as a border on the bottom. I really like how well these old patterns fit the dolls. I took a quick picture of the dolls modeling their skirts before driving the big circle in reverse and taking the girls home. It was a very fun Saturday.

This little one always gives me a sad look as I pick up and then return her sister, so I made sure that she had a special day just she and grandma later in the week. We took walks, looked at flowers, and collected rocks. Her special surprise was a new quilt for her dollies. I love being a grandma.

Norvelt Newbery

There are some things that don't change with retirement. As a retired elementary school librarian, I still get anxious in January waiting to hear about the book award winners in children and young adult literature for the year. Then I quickly add the winners, especially the Newbery, to my TBR list. Dead End to Norvelt by Jack Gantos was this year's Newbery and the boys out there are going to love it.

Gantos book is largely autobiographical, the main character is even named Jack Gantos, and the setting is a real one. The town of Norvelt, located in western Pennsylvania, was built in the 1930's and named after Eleanor Roosevelt (nor + velt) in 1935. There is lots of blood (bloody nose kind of blood), WWII souvenirs, rodents, mysterious deaths, and even a few Hells Angels riding through town. What's not for a boy to like? There are also interesting multi-age characters, tidbits of history, and great examples of service being performed for others.

Did I like it? Yes, I did and I immediately found myself typing Norvelt on Google. I enjoyed the writing style and the easy interweaving of history throughout the narrative. I immediately thought of my oldest grandson. I'm almost certain he would love this book.

Border is on!

I finally finished sewing on the border of my Civil War quilt. Next step, the hand quilting.

My final solution for the border was to find another fabric that coordinated for a stop border. I then took all the left over fat quarters and cut out 2 1/2 inch squares which were sewn together randomly for the 4 inch outer border. I really like how it all came together.

Because there were left over squares and border strips, Julianna has a new doll quilt. I love my Julianna!

Singing Mothers (and aunts and grandmas)

Last evening's program, "The Spirit of Relief Society," which included a tribute to the "Singing Mothers" reminded me of this picture from the past. These are the "Singing Mothers" of Sugar City, Idaho. It's not dated, but the hair styles appear to be from the late 1930's or early 1940's. My childhood memory recognizes many of the faces, all sisters or sister-in-laws of my grandma Georgianna Ricks Ostler. For your information:

Back row: Mary Ricks Thomas, first on the left; Georgianna Ricks Ostler, fourth from left; Fontella Ricks Davis, second from the right.

Front row: Marjorie Ricks Romrell, fourth from the left; Rachel Jenkins Ricks, third from the left.

Last night, the generations of Relief Society were honored. I thank my great-aunts and my grandmother for their service and good example. They all influenced and enriched my young life.