Friday, February 21, 2025
It’s been a week filled with hugs and snuggles here in Minnesota
as we continue to hibernate!
BRRRR! It’s been cold!
YES! The air temp was 15 below zero early Tuesday morning!
Change is in the air, though!
The temps look like they might be headed into the mid 40’s by early next week…
at least for a few short days, that is!
What a reprieve that will be!
Spring is inching closer!
Today is Friday
as we share our latest edition of our WEEKLY SNAPSHOTS!
Today’s post features a few FAVES from each of our lives
as well as from our mutual love, Our Grand Lives!
We love this weekly opportunity to reflect on sweet moments
from the past days and those we’re currently reminiscing about!
Laurie’s home project continues…
She and her husband are a month into it now and everyone has learned to adapt
to the construction zone around them…
even the Littles!
Grammy Time!
The cold weather led to an extra day spent with my Littles this week!
I 🖤 my Grammy Time
and all the extra hugs that come with it!
As special as my Grammy Time is
it’s been a bit challenging trying to keep our one and three year olds happy and busy
in the midst of the mess we’ve been living in
(let alone inside during these long arctic days)!
But have no fear!
Little D and Little P found an excellent way to entertain themselves!
It’s amazing how fun
a torn up floor and a few missing countertops can be!
Little D and Little P had their very own playground to run around on
(with shoes on, of course)!
Little D even drew a “road” on the floor
for her sister, Little P, to drive on!
Meal time has been an adventure, too!
Here’s what breakfast looks like when your kitchen is getting redone!
All four of us (including the cat) thought it was pretty wonderful!
We had a great Valentine’s Day at our house
and we hope you did, too!
Laura is sharing a few favorite moments from her birthday this past week
and she is also recalling
an annual February celebration in kindergarten!
Birthday Highlights!
Thank you for the birthday greetings that were sent my way last week!
Each message, text and phone call made me feel all the feels!
My day was made extra special when our younger daughter, Daughter A,
invited me to lunch!
We shared a flight of mimosas…
The winter pear was my fave!
Undivided time with my girl was the best gift
and so was a special "Happy Birthday" serenade on FaceTime from this sweet Little!
Later Hubby and I cooked a yummy Valentine dinner at home!
The lobster we air fried turned out perfectly
and this decadent chocolate mousse cake... oh my!
🩷 My forever Valentine! 🩷
100 on the 100th Day!
February was always an incredibly busy month at school!
I'd be exhausted by the time February 28th (or 29th) rolled around!
We’d celebrate Valentine’s Day, Black History Month,
President’s Day, Dental Health Month, “I Love to Read” Month
and…
The 100th Day of School!
Some years the 100th Day and Valentine’s Day fell on the same day!
That was interesting!
Our 100th Day celebration always included a lot of fun activities,
we’d bring in collections of 100 things and count them,
we’d make a trail mix of 100 food items,
we’d count to 100 by 5’s, 10’s and 1’s,
We’d do exercises that lasted 100 seconds each
and so on!
And, of course, the highlight was dressing up as our 100 year old selves!
Do you recognize this 100-year-old Grand?
Yep, you guessed it! That would be yours truly!
This photo was taken during my last year of teaching,
when I greeted my kindergartners virtually over a computer screen!
Do you see the resemblance to my own 90 year old grandma?
The older I get, the more I see similarities!
(She’s here with our oldest, Daughter J. in the late 90’s)
This week, at Our Grand Lives we’ve been celebrating
National Bake For Family Fun Month!
Today that focus will continue!
Two New Recipes to Share!
In yesterday’s post, we shared
our GRAND tips and several simple recipes for baking with Littles!
Check it out if you want to learn more!
Little L and I love baking together and during a recent visit, she and I baked a few Valentine treats. We shared the recipe for these Puff Pastry Hearts (filled with berry jam) in a post earlier this month.
Today, we’re sharing 2 additional recipes young Littles will love!
Air Fryer Donuts!
For these treats we used our favorite refrigerator biscuits once again! Little L and I cut a small circle from the center of each biscuit. We used the top of a spice bottle since we didn’t have a biscuit or cookie cutter to do so!
To begin, I preheated the air fryer for 3-4 minutes at 350 degrees. To prevent sticking, I lightly spray the inside of the air fryer basket with coconut oil (or cooking spray) and then we both place a single layer of donuts and donut holes in the basket. These baked for 3 minutes and then I turned each over and baked them for an 3 additional minutes. You would need to repeat these steps with any additional batches.
When cooled, we frosted our donuts but I also think it would be a delicious option to roll the warm donuts in a mixture of cinnamon and sugar. Of course, Little L added her favorite sprinkles, too!
NOTE: We really loved the donut holes! The size was perfect and they were easy for Littles to eat!
Pizza Hearts!
Making pizzas with pizza dough would certainly be a fun option but we went with a much simpler version for our 3-year-old Little L! Instead of using dough for the crust, we used naan. Little L used a heart cookie cutter to create our pizza crusts! (Pita bread would work well, too!)
She spooned on pizza sauce and cheese and topped each pizza heart with a pepperoni.
We put them in a 350 degree preheated oven and baked the pizzas until the cheese melted, about 8-10 minutes. EASY PEASY and definitely a FAVE!!
Whether you are a master baker or one who is just getting started,
National Bake for Family Fun Month
is a great time to share the experience of baking with others, especially our Littles!
Be sure to visit our social media sites,
where we share new content (and recipes) regularly!
Our Final Thought for the Week!
Thanks so much for stopping by!
We wish you all a wonderful weekend ahead
as we leave you with this final thought!
Happy Baking and Happy Weekend, Everyone!
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I struggle to know whether Laurie or Laura has written the post each week and who I'm to wish the belated Happy Birthday to (Laura) and who I'm to ask how the renovations are going (Laurie) Who's 100th birthday was it? Quite an achievement. Yes, your last day of teaching photo, you did look like your Gran. Thanks for linking with #pocolo. SOrry for the delay with commenting, life has been a bit of a struggle, but I'm back on track now
I love your weekly snapshots! They always capture such special moments, and spending time with family is truly precious. Thank you for sharing these and for being a part of the Crazy Little Lovebirds link party.
Steph@CrazyLittleLovebirds
I always love your activities with the grands, they're so simple but clever at the same time. Lovely to have special time with family isn't it? Hope all goes well with the renovations!
I just found your today in one of the linkups - what a fun blog! I would love nothing more than to have sweet grandkids to love on someday!
Hi Laura, it's so exciting getting your kitchen renovated. We did that in 2018 and kinda camped in our family room in the meantime. It's all worth it in the end! Your little grandkids are so cute and I love the little valentines heart baking ideas - particularly the pastries. I have a weakness for pastries! Lovely to see a photo of you with your beautiful daughter and to see a pic of your Nan too! Thanks for linking up with #WWWhimsy and I'm looking forward to seeing your completed kitchen! xo