A Moment of Gratitude...

This afternoon Claude and I went into Georgetown. We met Papa at our favorite Mexican restaurant and I had a big dinner of shrimp quesadilla and rice. Yum!! Tomorrow is an all clear liquid diet so I truly enjoyed the splurge. Then Claude and I drove to Papa's apartment and they gave me a priesthood blessing. I do not ask for a blessing as often as I probably should. But I wanted to close my blogging tonight with an expression of gratitude for my membership in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. And for the priesthood which Claude and Papa hold and the opportunity it affords me to receive a blessing of strengthen and comfort. My husband has a great gift of the Spirit and that is the blessings he gives. I go into the next few days with a feeling of peace, knowing I am a loved daughter of my Heavenly Father, with a mission to perform while on this earth, and an assurance that my life will be preserved to accomplish what the Lord desires of me. Thank you Claude and Papa for this blessing. Thank you to my wonderful children for their love and support even from miles away. I am richly blessed and just needed to express it to my family. I love you all very much.

Pitter Fudge...

Okay, we got this recipe from Uncle Bill and Aunt Tami in Utah with the instructions this was a fun thing to do with grandmonsters. We have tried it on the mini-Marx's and found it works and makes a really good fudge. We will be trying it with the Thompson grandmonsters in a few weeks so Nissa and family, please wait until we bring it to Michigan. Arm Pit Fudge Smoosh together in a gallon Zip-lock bag: 1 lb. (4 cups) confectioner's sugar 1/3 cup baking cocoa 1 teaspoon vanilla 1 stick softened butter or margarine Put a slice of American cheese in each of 4 sandwich Zip-lock bags. Warm these cheese slices in their Zip-lock bags in your arm pit until it is soft. Then transfer each of these bags into the larger smooshed bag by snipping off the bottom corner of the bag and squeezing it out like you would a decorator icing bag. Smoosh this cheese and chocolate mixture together until it is the consistency of fudge. Spread on wax paper or into a pan. Voila!! You have Pitter Fudge!! NOTE: Next time I will figure a way to do this in 4 separate bags so that each kid is only smooshing their portion of the chocolate mixture and then the cheese added to it. It takes a lot of smooshing but it works if you keep at it. Have Fun!!

Eggs-traspecial Times...

This weekend we enjoyed the company of the mini-Marx's and Andie. Because of an upcoming surgery, I will not be able to lift and play with these adorable creatures for 2 months. So the parental units, Michael & Andie, blessed our lives with one last weekend with our youngest grandmonsters. Since I'll not be with them for Easter, we did a few Easter-ish things so I felt like I was not missing that part of my year.

They arrived Friday evening and we had lots of fun getting to the toys they play with here and watching trains and trying to get some nourishment in them before bedtime. Andie's birthday happened last week so Hayden helped me bring out the presents and we had fun opening them with mom. By 9 or 9:30pm we finally had them both in bed. This is extremely late for the mini-Marx's.

Saturday Pa fixed us pancakes for breakfast with bacon. Yum!! We invited Mimi, Papa and Tiny out in the afternoon. So the morning was spent playing trains, watching some DVD's (since Pa & Ma have power we do that more here than in LaGrange where power is still limited...gotta love it!!). I had printed some Easter pictures so we did a little coloring project. We also made 'Arm Pit Fudge'. This is a must recipe for a fun family activity. I'll share the recipe later. We tried to get them to rest at quiet time but we ended up being totally unsuccessful at that. Hayden was up before Papa got here.

The first thing we did when Mimi & Papa arrived was cut Mimi's hair. It now takes 3 of us to get through this process. Andie and I had moved the stool from my bathroom to the breakfast area and set up the scissors before they arrived so we could get right to that project. After getting mom to sit on the stool, Papa held her hands and talked with her, Andie handed me clips and I cut Mimi's hair. Then, we sheared Papa's head. He is a much easier and faster cut. Claude prepared pulled BBQ chicken for sandwiches, potato salad and 3 bean salad on Friday. The BBQ sauce he used was the Dr. Pepper flavored one he got from me for Christmas. Ahhh...nectar of the gods!! We had a delightful lunch. I had placed 2 M&M's in each of 16 plastic Easter eggs and Andie hid them around the dining room, kitchen and living room portions of the house. We all enjoyed Hayden and Bailey's eager search once they were aware there was candy inside those eggs. Hayden even shared his M&M's with Papa. Then Hayden hid the eggs several times for the adults. He gets so excited that he hides them and then tells you that they are hidden and where so you can go find them. By the final hidings he was just pouring the eggs out of the basket and arranging them around it. Hayden and Bailey had a movie to finish before bed, which they had started before quiet time, so they headed to the basement and Papa headed back to Georgetown with Mimi and Tiny and some 'Pitter Fudge'.

Sunday Claude and I had Church in the morning. I wore my Easter suit. I have one special suit that I wear on Easter Sunday and so I wore it this Sunday. I left Hayden and Bailey eating their breakfast at the island in the kitchen and gave them their coloring books for Easter gifts. While we were gone they enjoyed a playtime in the whirlpool tub. It is just a big pool to them. It was quiet time when I got home. Andie was given a baking stone from Pampered Chef for her birthday. I also ordered one for Claude. During quiet time I made homemade pizza sauce and homemade pizza dough with the intent to break-in Claude new baking stone. Bailey slept but Master Hayden was allowed up earlier. He enjoys that attention on his own. Andie and Hayden used my hand mixer to make pudding parfaits. When I was a child, this is the kind of mixer I remember using. I wanted one in case we had no power and I needed to mix something. So I purchased one some time back. Hayden thought it was great fun.

We used the late afternoon to play on the hill.

Andie boiled 6 eggs and found stickers for the kids to decorate them with. One of the Christensen Family Traditions for Easter as Claude was growing up was going to the ranch and roll their Easter eggs down the hill. In order to have Bailey and Hayden learn this tradition we decorated eggs with stickers (Bailey was much more diligent at this project than Hayden. Especially when she found pink stickers!!). Then Pa showed them how to roll the eggs down the hill. Now our hill is every bit as steep as the hill at the ranch. Pa did roll his but Hayden and Bailey preferred throwing theirs. This was great fun and we totally destroyed several eggs. The tossing of the eggs took us all the way down the hill to Claude's altar and we ended the evening with a sand box play time. It is very hard to get a picture of eggs leaving a child's hand and going through the air. Many pictures were taken in the attempt to get this recorded digitally.

Now I go back in time to when we went outside to decorate the eggs. I purchased via catalogue mailing a parachute for the kids to play with. Hayden used to play with one at a gym Andie took him to in Maryland. Hayden was soooo excited to see this parachute that he really was not that interested in decorating eggs. He just wanted to play under the parachute but mostly inside the parachute. Claude, Andie and I would wave it up in the air and fill it with air and he would run around under it. But he was much happier when we let him sit on it and we pulled it around and back-and-forth so he rolled around on the inside.

When we wore out, he just rolled himself up in it and rolled down the hill wrapped inside the parachute. I'm sure there was a paper that came with the parachute warning us about not letting a child do this but we were careful and he was so very happy doing it. Hayden has borrowed Ma's parachute to use at his house. After eggs and parachutes, we went inside and Hayden and Pa made pizzas on the new baking stone. We were all really tired by the time this day was complete.

Monday morning Andie gathered her things and loaded the blue Marx-mobile. Hayden and Bailey gave us lots of loves and they headed back to LaGrange.

Thank you Marx Family for filling our weekend with family, fun, joy and memories to hang on to.

Jarvis Becomes Poe...

Monday, Claude and I drove to Chelsea, Michigan. This is where Jake lives. We checked into the Holiday Inn Express for the night. As we entered the lobby, on the front desk counter was a page in a frame stating Sandra Christensen was the "Guest of the Day". What a surprise. We got a goodie bag and headed to our upgraded room for a bit of a rest before our evening festivities. Our rest period included a call to Muskegon, Michigan to wish Miss Aubrey Anne Thompson a happy 11th birthday. Her birthday was Saturday and she was with David for the week so our phone call was postponed until Monday. She had a great birthday and we had a lovely visit with this pretty young lady. Then we chatted with Paul, Katelyn and Nissa. After our phone visits, we were off to the Performance Network Theater in Ann Arbor, Michigan. They had a Fireside Festival of New Works this week and Monday they read Jake's play entitled "Jarvis Becomes Poe". This play is about a young writer named Jarvis who has a metaphysical weekend learning experience with well-known writers who have passed away. Some of them are Edgar Allen Poe, Janis Joplin, and Lord Byron. There is a lot of darkness in the play but the humor showed up very easily and well with the actors performing their roles.

With scripts in hand and working on a tiny stage, professional actors are hired and they read through the entire play. It was actually just like watching the play performed by actors without all the stage set-up and props. The actors hired fit the characters Jake had written perfectly. With minimal rehearsal, they did a fantastic job of acting out the play. After the play, they had an open session where the audience and the actors who wished to stay could critic and tell Jake what they liked and what they thought might improve the play. Jake got a lot of positive feedback and some helpful hints, which Jake took careful notes on. Claude and I were just thrilled with the play. It moved very well and we never lost interest in it. We were just very impressed and pleased with our son and his ability to write. He has done an excellent job with this play. Can't wait to see more come out of that talented young man. After the play, we drove back to Chelsea and thru the McDonald's drive-thru for a bite to take back to our hotel room. Then we sat up until 1:30am visiting with Jake. It was a most enjoyable trip and we felt so good about getting to be there for this experience in Jake's life. Jake...Ya Done Good!!!

A Special Moment...

Andie sent me this great picture of

Bailey and I down by Eagle Creek in our back yard.

I just love being a Gramma.

Over the Kentucky River & Thru the Woods...

Sunday, March 8th, Andie and the mini-Marx's drove to Sadieville for a couple of days. I had a ward conference in Frankfort to attend so Pa greeted them and entertained until quiet time. When I got home the mini-Marx's were all laying down and so the adults followed suit. Nothing quite like a Sunday afternoon nap. Let's face it, the grown-ups were just worn out from the circus still.

When the kidlings awoke, Hayden and Pa had a snack of circus peanuts. Hayden learned that you can tell by how many lumps are on the outside of the shell how many peanuts will be inside the shell. Bailey would wander over for a munch or two. I found a HUGE Diego coloring book I purchased long ago and tucked away and forgot so coloring was another activity for the afternoon. We made train tracks and baked cookies and watched shows. Later in the evening, I was getting Bailey and Hayden bags to play with. I have a holder for paper bags and found 2 small ones with handles. Turns out they were just the right size for Hayden's feet and he enjoyed bending over, holding the handles and walking around the house.

Monday was a great day after the clouds went away. We spent a great deal of time playing in the dirt outside. The bourbon barrels that we use for planters on the lower deck were great for the digging in. Then Hayden took me for a walk down the hill to the altar where the winter had eroded some of Pa's handy work on his steps. Hayden spent a great deal of time moving that gravely mixture around to shore up the steps. He really did a good job and I was very impressed. Bailey eventually left her bourbon barrel dirt project and joined us on the hill. She wanted a walk to the creek and off we went. Eventually Hayden and Andie joined us and we had a nice walk down along the creek. After all this exercise we hit the kitchen and made smoothies out of fruit, yogurt, orange juice and ice cream. We got the chance to use the Bubba Gump glasses that have flashing lights in the bottom for the first time. Great fun. Hayden tried riding the tricycle I bought last summer at the consignment shop for him. His legs were long enough to get to the peddles and he could make them work himself. He was so excited and said, "Look at me. I'm riding a big boy bike all by myself!!" So we took bikes out to the driveway from the deck and rode for a while. Miss Bailey took her nap and Hayden stayed up and played with the adults. He is very entertaining. We fixed him a big bubble bath and he played for a long time. This was great for all that dirt he had accumulated in his fixing the step project. After Bailey's nap the Marx's headed home to La Grange with the brass "a"rmadillo for Hayden to use for his "A" object in pre-school this week.

Under the Big Top...

Last Saturday was Circus Day!! What a beautiful day it was both in weather and in family fun. Claude and I met the Marx Family in Cincinnati at the US Bank Arena. Then we entered the arena and took the prerequisite potty breaks. The Sheriff's Department had a booth where they placed arm bands on little children with their seat number for easy return in case they got lost. We told Hayden and Bailey these were special circus bracelets. We thought this was a great move on the part of the Sheriff's Department. Our seats were row C or 3 rows back from the arena floor. We were right on top of all the action and there was LOTS of action. When we entered there was a clown entertaining with a piano in the center of the arena. So from moment one we were into the show. The grand parade at the beginning showed off all the cast of characters and a lot of the animals. There were 3 huge screens where they displayed pictures that coordinated with the action going on in the arena. The mini-Marx's were fascinated with those big screens. (Probably harks back to not having as much electricity at the Marx home for TV.) Hayden started out curled up on my lap. What joy for a Gramma to snuggle with her little grandmonster as they try to absorb all that light and action. Michael took lots of pictures, thank you Michael.

Claude and I spent more time watching the kids reaction than watching the circus. At one point Bailey was standing making sign language for "more".

One of the highlights was the huge steel ball with a door on the side. They fit 4 motorcycles & cyclists in there and then they drove at high speeds around the inside center of the wall of this steel ball. Then they added another and then 2 more for a total of 7 motorcylist driving at high speeds in this ball. With our motorcycle background, we were very impressed and awed at this sight. Hayden loves elephants and totally enjoyed the elephants parading around the arena in the beginning and then doing their portion of the show later on. I found myself empathizing with the elephants trying to get up and down and lay on their side and then have to kick a leg to stand. Way to go elephants!

The tigers were another hit. They were beautiful animals. The motorcycle driving on the high wire with a trapezee underneath went right up and down our side of the arena.

During the intermission we bought popcorn, cotton candy in a clown hat, 2 snowcones in clown cups, and wise Mommy Andie balanced it with hot dogs. Silly Ma & Pa Christensen didn't think of solid nutrition, just circus junk food. Miss Bailey was soooo happy to get that hot dog, she grabbed it and ate the whole thing with wide eyes watching tigers and aerial acts and more. When it was all over, we hurried to the toy booth to find a toy. We promised Hayden one toy but not until the circus was over. He was patient and immediately picked out a twirling lighted stick thing. Bailey picked out an elephant. When they got in the car to head to lunch, they both traded toys. We had spotted a Chipotle's for lunch so Claude and Michael headed there in our Jeep and Andie and I with grandmonsters headed there in the Marx Mobile. On the way we asked Master Hayden, "What was your favorite thing?" He put his little hand out and made the appropriate circle with it and said, "Zero!" Now, if you understand Haydeneze you know that just means he liked it all. We all enjoyed our Chipotle lunch. Hayden wanted to sit at the bar stools and look out the window. So Pa took him and Michael got the cutest picture of those two sitting there. Bailey and Ma sat at the table and played touching nose to nose across the table and laughing. Then we went out to the parking lot and did races on the grassy area until time to put the mini-Marx's and their parents in the Marx Mobile so they could head home. Claude and I put our weary bones in the yellow Jeep and headed home to Sadieville. It was a great day and such fun. I remember how much fun it was to take Katelyn and Paul years ago. It was great to experience that again.

Just a historical note about Chipotle. About 5 years ago (when we were still living in Maryland and so were Andie and Michael) we got a call from Andie and Michael saying they were at Chipotle's eating and it was soooooo noisy they wondered if they could bring their food to our home and eat there. We assured them that was fine. They came and finished their lunch. Then Michael said, "We brought some ice cream bars. Who wants one?" We all did so he headed to the freezer and brought back ice cream bars. He tossed one to Claude and said, "One for Claude." Then he tossed one to me and said, "One for Sandi." Then he tossed 2 to Andie and said, "And two for Andie since she is now eating for two!!" That is how we learned she was just pregnant with our little Hayden.

Claude just came in with a picture sent to him by his mom. Marie Roche from his home ward in Thatcher, Utah gave her a picture that she thought Claude might enjoy. It is of his Church basketball team when they were the Junior Champions of the South Bear River Stake. Claude is on the back row and to his right on the end of the row is Stacy Little, Claude's best friend. Claude would have been about 15 years old (if he remembers right) when this was taken. The guy on the back row peeking his head around from #8's head is Monte Andreason. Monte lived across the road from Claude and his mom is Mim. She gave us a white dress when Nissa was born and we used it to bless Nissa in. Monte passed away in a motorcycle crash. Stacy still lives in Utah. Claude remembers Barry Roche as being a great coach for the boys. He was really good with them. He was a brick layer by profession and was extremely strong. Claude said people loved to hire him to load hay because he could toss a bale of hay really high to the next layer. Those bails can weigh about 100 lbs at times. Claude particularly remembers getting a bad charlie horse in his leg during one practice. Barry, his coach, had him sit on the edge of the stage and show him exactly where the charlie horse was in his leg. Then Claude remembers him getting those big hands around it in a vice like grip and squeezing it so that it hurt more than the charlie horse. The question I wanted to know was...is this where he got the name "Tank"? He thinks it was. When we were first married he had tank written on the side of a pair of sneakers (if I remember it right). He was nicknamed "Tank" because of how he moved up and down a basketball court. There wasn't a lot of grace in the movement but he got the job done. He always told me he was "built for comfort, not for speed". I always thought he was built pretty good. But, I digress. So there you have it...my hubby, the basketball player. Note: he has no beard or mustache. He does remember that they went to the All Church Tournament the year before this picture was taken.

From the Stage to the Big Top...

Sunday right after Church we headed to La Grange. Andie had tickets to take Hayden and herself to a play titled "Peter Rabbit" Monday morning. Claude and I were to have Bailey duty. Andie and Hayden needed to be at the play by 9:30am so it seemed easier to go over Sunday and spend the night so we could wake up and play instead of that o'dark thirty AM drive. The kids were very excited to get up from quiet time sunday afternoon and find Ma and Pa in the house. Michael was supposed to have flown to Maryland Monday morning but his flight was cancelled due to the snow dumped on the DC area Sunday during the night. Monday morning Andie and Hayden headed off to see Peter Rabbit. They had a wonderful time. Then they scored a bonus by being able to go into Louisville and have lunch with Michael. Or as Hayden says, "We went to Hyatt Work!" He was one happy little boy. Bailey entertained Claude and I completely for the morning. She played Play-Doh with Claude while I took care of Medicaid affairs for Papa. Then she played coloring with us and read books. She wanted a bubble bath so I carried my Sudoku book up to the bathroom and filled the tub with bubbles. She played for 1/2 hour until she demanded a change with loud voice and sign language. I got her out of the tub to find a "floater", if you get my drift, in the tub. No wonder she was soooo vehement. I don't blame her at all. So Monday was a great success and Claude and I returned to Sadieville after getting grandmonsters down for quiet time. Tuesday morning I awoke at death's door. I was sure I was having my gall bladder attack again but since I had that removed 2 years ago I can safely state it was not that. Maybe somethings I ate. I spent Tuesday in bed under lots of cover with chills and fever (I never run fevers) and a hubby bringing me Tylenol and trying to help where ever possible.

Wednesday was supposed to begin with a session at the Louisville Temple, but I needed to sleep in a little after Tuesday's event. We managed to get to La Grange in time to jump in Andie's mom-mobile which she had on the street, Bailey locked in seat, and car running. We were off to get Hayden from St. John's Pre-school. He didn't know we were coming. Bailey and I entered the room and he was under the table hiding. She found him immediately (I think they have done that routine on previous pick-ups). I bent down to look under the table and saw the best surprised face any gramma could hope to find. He yelled, "Ma!!" and was out from under there like a shot. We met Ms. Joy, his teacher. Renewed our acquaintance with another classmates mom's. Checked out his picture on the wall. Reviewed the pyramid they made of sugar cubes. And then headed off for Pa (Claude) to buy lunch at McDonald's. Other than leaving Hayden's coat at McDonald's, we did fine at lunch. Claude and I stayed with the grandmonsters while Andie went to retrieve the coat and run some errands without children (that is a treasured bit of time when you have kids, even if it is running errands).

Wednesday evening, Claude and I headed to the Kentucky Center in Louisville. We saw Cirque Dreams Jungle Fantasy. This was our 2nd time to see a Cirque production in person. The first was in Las Vegas and was a water show. This one was just delightful. It was our first venture into Louisville's Kentucky Center. We both wished they would put center aisles in these huge theaters. We were in the Grand Balcony Tier in the very center of the 3rd row. We had to walk over all the people to get to them. Now this was after we had been steered to the floor level, row C and walked all the way across the people in that row only to find people in our seat number. Then we realized we should be in the balcony and so we headed up stairs and walked all over those feet. The seats were excellent and the view was grand. A few of the highlights...They had a "Blackbird Hairialist". She is from Bulgaria where twirling from a rope by the hair on your head is an art form. There are only a few people in the world who actually do this art form any more. The rest are bald!!! No, just kidding, but it did look painful to me. Another thing that was really amazing was "Jungle-ibrium". There are two guys, one from the Ukraine and one from Moldova, who stand on a table about 4 feet high with legs that are decorated like orange and green florescent giraffe legs. Their costumes are also orange and green florescent giraffe print. They have a board on top of the table on which they place a metal cylinder. On top of the metal cylinder they place a board on which they both stand and do balancing tricks, trying to keep the board on which they are standing from rolling off the cylinder thereby placing them on the floor on their backsides. They did several tricks with this one can and climbing on each other's shoulders and balancing. Then they added 3 tables the same size as the board on which they were standing and each table had legs about 12 inches tall on it. These were stacked one on top of the other as they slowly managed to climb on top of each table as it was added. Way cool. Then they brought out 5 metal cylinders. They put one on the board directly on top of the giraffe legged table so that the open end was facing the audience. Then they placed cylinder #2 one top of cylinder #1 so that the open end was facing the sides of the stage. Then they placed cylinder #3 on top of cylinder #2 so the open end was facing the audience, and so on until 5 cylinders were resting on top of each other. THEN they put the board the stand on, on top of the 5 cylinders. This was just amazing to watch, they stood up there and did not fall and the cylinders all wiggled against each other but nothing collapsed. Katelyn would have enjoyed the "Soultree Violinist". He is from the USA and began his classical training at age 3. He was playing a 6 string electric violin "Viper" created by Mark Wood Music with special strings that are super sensitive and created especially for Cirque Dreams. This violin had the neck but it split at the base and fit around his neck and the top of his body. Very interesting looking musical instrument and he was great at playing it. There were contorting lizards, aerialists, jugglers of metal geometric frames, 3 very strong men who did lifts and balancing/counter-balancing acts, lots of animal costumes that were over-the-top. The show was done around a 'jungle-boy' (who is from the USA and began his gymnastic training at age 3). He goes on a journey through the jungle and encounters all these fantastic things. Accompanying him and guiding him through the jungle is Mother Nature (a girl from the USA who sang aboard the QEII and Holland America cruise lines). There was a juggler who bounced the balls on a drum set to play the drums. Ellen Henry, a Louisville native and winner of the "Run Away with Cirque Dreams" contest performed the role of the "dancing bird" which was a crowd pleaser. The whole evening was just great fun, full of ooohs & aaahs. We would recommend this show to anyone, even kids.

Saturday we are taking Hayden & Bailey and their parental units to the Ringling Bros. Barnum and Bailey circus in Cincinnati. It should be great fun. It was right at this time of year that we took Katelyn and Paul many years ago when they were about this age to the circus in Maryland. It will be great fun to be under the Big Top at US Bank Arena in Cincinnati.