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When the kids were here with the grandkids the first time, I put M&Ms on their Cheerios...

They come down to the farm and play and play...they plant seeds, they pick flowers, they weed, they play in the hose, they have picnics in the pergola, they listen to ghost stories around a fire at night in the yard, sitting on quilts...I hand-wrote books for each one, when their moms were pregnant, telling each one stories about their parents when they were kids, telling about everything that has been invented since I was born, about family members in the service, and what they did, about how pretty their moms were and how proud their dads were, when they were on the way...

We picked the Fourth of July as our biggest family holiday...this past year, each and every grandkid sang with the Lee Greenwood CD, "God bless the USA," with their hands folded in prayer, standing up, faces shining...they learned the words, even the three yo, Bethany...

We decorated a big cake to look like a flag...our flag was flying, and we pledged allegiance as a family (tears come to my eyes as I remember), we played John Phillip Sousa marches and other patriotic music as the guys set off the fireworks...the neighbors joined us in the afternoon, brought their horses (and THEIR grandkids) and gave everyone rides...they spent endless hours (literally from dawn to past dark) on the east deck playing with our 6 week old kittens (and took three home--whoopee!)

Grandpa takes them to the workshop and teaches them about squares and levels and plumb lines and how to hammer nails and use a screwdriver...

The days with the grandkids are priceless...from ME they learned about homemade cakes, and boiled cocoa, and how to tell when fudge is done...

Once when my kids were little, I made a sweet roll recipe that didn't turn out...I called them "failures" and the kids loved them, ugly as they were, used to ask me if we could make some failures again...imagine my surprise when the youngest grandson asked me if we could please make some "failures"!

Thanks for sharing this. Your grandkids are soooooooooo lucky and will always remember their childhoods at their grandparents' house and YOU!

Those memories help to shape them when they grow up. Once, one my kids, laughing w/her brothers and sisters over some of things they did in childhood, turned to me and said, "Oh, Momma, we had the MOST fun growing up!"