weekly snapshots from our GRAND lives! April 11, 2025
- Our Grand Lives
- 2 days ago
- 8 min read
Friday, April 11, 2025
Now, if that doesn’t bring a smile to your face,
we’re not sure what will!
Laura's Little P always lights up her day!
HAPPY FRIDAY, EVERYONE!
Welcome back to OUR GRAND LIVES
and today’s edition of our WEEKLY SNAPSHOTS!
to share a few brief glimpses into our week.
With Easter and Holy Week just around the corner,
our OGL faves focus on just that!
We’re revisiting a few Easter traditions that are near and dear to our hearts
and then two favorite ways that we share the Easter story with our Littles!
This week the two of us had the opportunity to meet up for breakfast!
We got together with a long-time church friend!
All three of us were active on the Children’s Ministry team at church
when our own children were Littles.
In fact, Laurie and Brenda were Laura’s daughter’s Sunday School teachers
for 7 years, from kindergarten through sixth grade!
You heard right!!!
These two played a big role in nurturing Laura’s Daughter J and their own sons
on their faith journeys!
We try to get together every few months
and it’s always a GRAND time when we do!
This week, we spent a lot of time reminiscing and catching up
and then we picked Brenda’s brain a bit about Our Grand Lives!
She’s a faithful reader of our site and she is oh so creative!
We’ve always valued her insights and suggestions,
especially now as fellow Grands!
THANK YOU, Brenda!
Keep on reading to see what else we’ve each been up to!
Laurie will be hosting a big crowd on Easter
and she’s keeping her fingers crossed
that most of the work on her kitchen will be completed in time!
So, in addition to putting the finishing touches on her Easter menu,
Egg Drop and Easter Egg Hunt,
she’s unpacking boxes and filling her cupboards!
Oh… and she’s had a few other things going on, too!
A Teddy Bear Parade!
What a special tradition this has been throughout my teaching career! Our annual Teddy Bear Parade first began about 35 years ago at the first school I taught at. Kindergarten students would bring a decorated box with a stuffie inside and then we’d all parade through the school.
We’d make cute teddy bear hats to wear and the entire school lined the halls and cheered the kindergartners on as they paraded through the school. It’s a favorite tradition from year to year - one the K’s (and I) always look forward to and it's definitely one that we all remember with love!
Here I am, 12 years ago,
leading the Teddy Bear Parade!
The tradition still continues to this day but now the kids make “the floats” in school. I got to help the kindergartners when I volunteered this past Wednesday during my regularly scheduled time! We spread pom poms, paper, ribbons, cut outs, pipe cleaners, stickers and more all over the floor and the kids got to work as they created their beautiful floats. I was in charge of the hot glue gun when regular glue would not do!
This year's Teddy Bear Parade will take place at a later date but our kindergartners, their teddy bears AND their floats are ready!
Let’s Go Shopping!
Last weekend, my husband and I went shopping for living room furniture.
Fun BUT stressful! Can you relate?
We enlisted Daughter A’s help.
She has an eye for these kinds of things and I rely on her a lot,
especially when it comes to home decor!
Little D joined us, too!
She was such a BIG help and gave us her expert opinion, as well!
💜 🩵 💜
Meanwhile, Laura and her hubby and younger daughter (Daughter A)
will be quietly celebrating Easter.
In the weeks that follow, multiple family celebrations will take place
so it just felt wise to keep things simple.
Strange, but simple!
Easter will look a bit different than in past years, especially the meal…
More on this to come below!
Welcome to God’s Family!
Last Sunday morning, we traveled about 90 minutes to western Wisconsin.
Our nephew’s son was being baptized in their home church.
It was a blessed day in every way!
And Jesus said, “Let the children come to me!”
Welcome to God’s family, sweet little one!
365 Days & Counting!
It’s been a year since my husband began following a new eating plan! One day I’ll write a post devoted to his/our journey, why we started on it and what we’ve learned. It was 365 days ago tomorrow (Saturday) that Hubby began the reintroduction phase of the Autoimmune Protocol Diet and since then he no longer eats any grains (including no gluten), no rice, no corn, no dairy, no processed sugar and no seed oils. WHEW!
While I don’t adhere to this diet completely, I do prepare meals for the two of us most evenings that follow this protocol. Our dinners primarily consist of a protein (grass fed or free range), a potato (baked, roasted or air fried) and a vegetable. It’s been a journey indeed and while I miss cooking the way I used to, I’ve also learned to get creative with the ingredients that work best for Hubby. Traveling and holiday meals are especially challenging, as I try to include our faves but also in a way that meets Hubby's needs. We'll see what I come up with, since it will just be us and Daughter A for Easter this year. Thankfully, over the past year, Hubby has seen so many positive changes that have made a BIG impact health-wise so it's been completely worth it. And, for that, we are truly grateful
Today, I’m sharing one of our favorite meals with you.! I made it earlier this week. We both agree that it’s a keeper - easy, quick and delicious!
Italian Sheet Pan Chicken Supper!
Cut 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, 1/2 onion, 1 cup fresh mushrooms and 1 bunch asparagus into bite size pieces. Place in a plastic bag. Add 1 cup Kalamata olives, pitted and sliced (OKAY - you can omit this step, if you don't like olives!) Add 2 T. avocado oil, 2 tsp Italian seasoning, 1 tsp dried basil and 1 tsp sea salt.
Massage the ingredients together to mix and let the flavors marinate for 15-30 minutes. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Empty the contents of the plastic bag and spread on a sheet pan.
Bake for 30 minutes or until the chicken is done.
OOPS!
We were so hungry, I forgot to take a photo of the finished dish!
Trust me though, it is a FAVE!
ENJOY!
💜 🩵 💜
Easter is a week away and we’ve got lots of ideas for you all!
In yesterday’s post we shared our recipe for Bunny Bait
as well as a craft project Littles could make ahead of time,
enough so each guest has a cup to hold their treat!
We also shared our idea for setting out REAL Bunny Bait
for the Easter Bunny on Easter Eve!
Fun Easter Traditions!
Last month, we highlighted Laurie’s favorite Easter tradition
If you haven’t read that post and you're looking for a fun family activity this Easter season,, may we suggest you do! It’s a fun tradition, indeed!
Speaking of fun traditions,
Check out more ideas from Laurie!
Last year she shared this post!
Each year, her Middles (her grown children) and her Littles
go on an Easter Egg Hunt and she’s got a creative way to make it extra special!
Then she shares a tasting activity everyone participates in, too…
Jelly beans? Peeps? Who knew there were so many flavors?!?!
Easter at Laurie's house is always a fave!
Preparing Our Hearts for Holy Week!
As much as we love the Easter Bunny, Easter baskets and Easter egg hunts,
we know, as Christians, that the real reason for Easter
is to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus!
Alleluia! He is Risen!
Whenever possible,
we’ve always loved weaving teachable moments into Easter activities,
first with our own children as they grew up
and now with our Littles, our precious grandchildren!
In preparation of Holy Week,
we’re each sharing a favorite way we share the Easter story with our Littles!
LAURIE’S PICK - RESURRECTION EGGS!
We’ve got a special way to use a set of plastic eggs… create your own set of Resurrection Eggs! Your Littles will open each egg to reveal an object that tells part of the Easter story! Find the complete directions for making your own set of our toddler version of these special eggs here!
LAURA’S PICK - RESURRECTION ROLLS!
When our own daughters were young, we would enjoy this Easter tradition when we returned from the day’s worship service! These breakfast treats were fun to make and it was a great way to retell the Easter story together. A few years ago, Little L and I made these Resurrection Rolls when we were together on Easter morning.
Making these together brought back memories for us all! And… we’d all agree that they were just as delicious as we remembered!
Of course, the best part is eating the Resurrection Rolls...
another reminder of the sweet gift Jesus is to us all!
💜 🩵 💜
We’d love to hear your thoughts and suggestions!
Feel free to comment at the end of this post or email us directly at
NEXT WEEK WE WILL BE TAKING A BREAK FROM Our Grand Lives!
Please stop by though if you are looking for ideas to celebrate the holiday!
Simply search “Easter” or “Holy Week” to find all of our related content
OR
visit our Pinterest site where you can find past posts highlighted
OR
We’ve always got something new to share!
We’ll be back on Thursday, April 24, with a new post.
We hope you’ll join us then!
Please consider subscribing to our site.
That way, you'll never miss out when we publish a new post!
Our Final Thought for the Week!
For our Littles, especially our littlest ones,
it can be tough to grasp the meaning of Holy Week and Easter…
It is huge and complicated and even a bit scary!
However, as adults, we can start to plant the seeds
of this miraculous journey in their minds -
beginning with the simple fact that
Jesus Loves Us!
The days between Palm Sunday and Easter are known as Holy Week..
For Christians around the world,
these days are reminders of the final week of Jesus’s life,
leading up to the crucifixion and then, three days later,
the miracle of His resurrection!
Alleluia! He is Risen!
As we walk through the coming week,
and as we remember His actions and ponder His message to the world,
may we once again proclaim Him as our Lord and Savior!
He is Risen Indeed! Alleluia!
💗 We are delighted to join the following link up parties and blog hops! 💗
MONTHLY
SUNDAY
MONDAY
TUESDAY
WEDNESDAY
THURSDAY
FRIDAY
SATURDAY
Always fun to see your photos. I used the Resurrection eggs with my own girls growing up, and have passed them on to the grands now. We will have my daughter and her family of course (still living with us for a couple more weeks) plus her in-laws, and her sister-in-law and brother-in-law too. Everyone is in charge of something so it will be shared cooking. Easter has felt so far away all spring, and now suddenly I'm realizing I need to get organized! Happy Easter to you and your families!
I enjoyed seeing all the tidbits from your lives! Happy Easter!
Aww! Little P is just a sweetheart! It sure did bring a smile to my face.
What a lovely get together you had for breakfast.
It sounds like Laurie is going to have a busy time of it over Easter, what fun though!
It sounds like your husbands diet is going well. I am glad there has been positive changes.
Thanks so much for stopping by!! Yes, I too believe that our loved ones are watching over us and never really leave us as long as we remember them...Glad that you both were able to meet up and enjoy lunch!! I hope you both have a wonderful weekend!!
Hugs,
Deb
Debbie-Dabble Blog
What a treat to spend time with you guys this week, and reminisce about our children’s ministry days. You both truly have a passion for educating children, and this is such a great avenue for you to share your great ideas with others. And now, I have a new recipe to try—thank you!