Grandma's heroes: Where the boys are

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Grandma's heroes: Where the boys are

Kids across the country—and their parents and teachers, too—are celebrating the end of the most challenging school year ever. From pre-K to college age, students have survived a school experience not a single adult alive has ever had to muddle their way through, thanks to Covid.

Sure, parents and teachers had it rough (often beyond rough) making the schooling work somehow, some way. Yet no one over the age of 30 can fully comprehend how it felt and what it meant—and continues to mean—being a kid of any age enduring the wacked out way the 2020-2021 school year went.

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Chameleon cool

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Chameleon cool

My bonus grandson James, who will be 13 in April, lives pretty much half of the time with his mom and half of the time with his dad, Brianna, Benjamin, and Robert. The specifics of the shared custody changed recently, and the new configuration resulted in it making more sense for James’ pet chameleon, George, to reside full-time at Dad’s house.

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James reviews the ChordBuddy Guitar Learning System

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James reviews the ChordBuddy Guitar Learning System

When I receive a product for review, I don’t typically run out and purchase a duplicate of the product before I’ve even written the review. In fact, I’ve never done that with an item I’m reviewing. Until ChordBuddy.

See, I was immediately impressed by the ChordBuddy Guitar Learning System and was compelled to purchase a second one to share with a faraway family member. Before I had even shared my thoughts here with my readers.

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Summer break ends: What changed while I was away

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Summer break ends: What changed while I was away

Grandma’s Briefs is back! Yep, the summer break I announced at the start of June is officially over.

While I was away from the site, a few changes took place. Some big, some small. Here’s a (relatively) quick update:

For starters, one blog change is that Grandma’s Briefs hit the 10-year mark in July! Hard to believe but true, as you can see from my very first post, published a decade ago.

Another blog change is that you’ll see a few new faces in the Meet the Family section of the sidebar, those being of Andrea’s new …

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Be yourself!

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Be yourself!

Be yourself!

This week’s extra special message, best expressed by James.

Plus…

GRAND Social No. 347 link party for grandparents

IMPORTANT NOTE: InLinkz, the app I use for link parties, has changed their format, unbeknownst to me until I created this post/party. It seems folks who add links now must sign up with InLinkz when adding links to a link party (simple enough using your email address or your Facebook profile—and InLinkz cannot post on your Facebook page). If you have trouble linking to the GRAND Social, please let me know and I’ll do my best to help you out.

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How Benjamin rolls!

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How Benjamin rolls!

How Benjamin rolls!

Saturday was Jim’s birthday, and Brianna and Patrick arranged a family gathering at a new burger spot in town in recognition of burgers being Jim’s forever favorite food.

It was great to have all our local immediate family in attendance.

Kudos to Tyler for managing to get a shot that included everyone at the table!

While we were all gathered together to celebrate Jim, we soon were raucously regaling Benjamin for a milestone move made right before our eyes.

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Big bro bonding

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Big bro bonding

Big bro bonding!

James has for 10 years lived in the “little brother” position, having two older half brothers who are eight and eleven years his senior. It’s taken him no time at all, though, to settle in as Benjamin’s big brother, tenderly balancing his adored baby bro on the Bobby like a pro.

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Peak preggers pic

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Peak preggers pic

Peak preggers pic!

James had his last regular season football game on Saturday and when Brianna came over before we all headed to the game—one determining whether James and his teammates make the league playoffs—I asked Brianna to pose for a final pre-baby pic.

With induction scheduled for Thursday, this is surely the peak of pregnancy for my girl, the final photo before baby arrives.

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Grand spinners from Krokotak!

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Grand spinners from Krokotak!

Grand spinners from Krokotak!

I'm always on the lookout for cool and creative crafts for kids. My grandkids in particular. Because the majority of my grandkiddos live more than 800 miles away, I rarely execute said crafts with my grandsons, but I do love to collect ideas for "one day." (Much like I collect cookbooks and recipes... yet make the same standards again and again.)

Anyway, if you like Grandma's Briefs on Facebook, you may already know one of my favorite sources for clever activities for kids is Krokotak. I'm not sure what the name means or who's behind the magic, but I…

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Grandma challenge: How full can she fill forty-four hours?

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Grandma challenge: How full can she fill forty-four hours?

My desert-dwelling grandsons and their parents visited my house last week—for forty-four hours. The family had taken a road trip to Vail for a wedding, and Jim and I were fortunate they fit in a stop at our place on their way back home.

I was thrilled to host them and was determined to squish as much into the visit as possible, unsure of when I'd see Brayden, Camden, and Declan (as well as Megan and Preston, too) again.

As all three boys have birthdays in June…

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