Fun Recipes for Children

While cleaning out my recipes last night, I came across the following favorite recipes.

• Monster Munchies were a favorite of Rob's.  This came out of a Star Wars activity book. 
• The bird's nests are super easy and fun to make around Easter or what about after talking about birds or going bird watching with your child?  This came from a magazine called Ranger Rick. 
• The cutout cakes are so fun.  I made the space ship for an outer space birthday party for Rob right after we moved to Utah.  I think these adorable cake ideas were from Good Housekeeping Magazine.  Brittany, how about the truck or giraffe for James? 
• I added Cheesy Pizza Soup onto our family recipe sharing blog: http://candriangirls.blogspot.com/

Candrian Relatives



The little boy in the middle, behind his grandfather is Robert Lincoln Candrian.  The old man is Frederick Hauser. I just love this photo.  I can see the love in Frederick Hauser's face for his grandsons. Can you?

  This is one of the few family photos I've ever seen of both of Robert's parents and his brother, Bill. 
Robert is the taller boy in the photo.

Don't you just love the old car?  I wonder what kind it is?



Robert L. Candrian winning a high school track race.
 He held a record for his running that wasn't broken for something like 40 years!

Such a wonderful thing has happened, I've become acquainted with a lost relative.  So, for you Gabby and all the rest of my nieces that read this blog, here are a few photos of your Candrian relatives.  Sorry, they aren't cropped.  These were scanned a long time ago and I had no idea what I was doing back then.

Crafting Saturday

Saturday afternoon was family bonding - craft time. My sister Carol, niece Lorain, great-niece Aubree and sister-in-law, Priscilla joined me for some crafting at my home.  Loved the girl bonding time . We made cards, Carol sorted photos (we laughed at how young some of us looked... we may have laughed at how you looked too), Lorain worked on a cute month to month craft kit and Priscilla whips out the most adorable thank you cards I have ever seen. We diverted our attention by showing the video of Andrea's date on http://www.themormonbachelor.com/ (Please go to date #4 and "like" Andrea...if you agree with me that she's the most amazing person out there and how could you not agree with me)! We read the clever date review of Andrea on http://realitymormon.blogspot.com/  (seriously cleaver blog on these dates) had lunch ,  crafted some more and then enjoyed a little cup of frozen yogurt...oh so yummy and healthy too.  Thanks for coming and crafting with me!

Quiet Book



Brittany thought I should make a quiet book for little boy, so I thought, if I was making one, why not make four?
Doesn't everyone just love a cute quiet book to take to church? I had fun looking on-line and getting ideas.   This project has already taken me a  little over a month to create but I want our grandchildren to enjoy this special grandma & Brittany made books  for years . . .who knows, maybe for generations! 
Here are our pages:
This is the back page...it's a tic tac toe game but with various sports balls (some of the books have basket balls and footballs - love these foam pre-decorated balls) I commented to Mike that this activity is a little old for our grandsons but Mike thought our children could play it to keep themselves entertained.

This funny guy has different eyes, a set of glasses, various noses and mustaches, and varous crazy smiles, lips and whatever I could come up with. The bow tie was Brittany's idea. I like his fake fur hair.

Inside the barn are five animal finger puppets. The page zips up so the critters won't fall out.
On the right, is an aquarium where the fish can swim by sliding across the page and the seahorse swims up and down ...I used a clear sheet protector and foam fish, shells bubbles foam coral, sand paper for the bottom of the aquarium and a shinny fabric for the water effect. (My very own idea...I wish the photo had of turned out better...it's so easy to play with.

The car on the right has button-on wheels and a button-on sun. The window was made with a clear sheet protector. The house with a little car can be driven around on the road.

My robots have pipe cleaner legs and arms so that they can be taken off the page and played with.
The bodies and heads are interchangeable.
The monster page has a place for a pad of paper and pencil or pen. The noses are pom poms and the monsters have googly eyes. The little white monster is very soft...he's made from chenille yarn.  He's a mini stuffed creature that can be removed and played with.

I found silver ribbon for the blade part of the ice skate.  When I saw this idea, I loved that it was different and not a shoe...hopefully children are still learning to tie...are they?
The mitten has soft red fabric on it's cuff and soft warm fleece for the hand to slide into. I wish I had of made this a little bigger, my hand doesn't fit into it.

The snowman with pipe cleaner arms has accessories like hats and scarves in the brown bucket -type pocket. 
The grass page has varous things hiding in the grass like a dragonfly button, two little flannel kittens, a heart, a key and whatever I could find that was little. I love the embroidered felt butterfly coming out of the grass.  Brittany used all her sewing skills to attach the items that are hiding! Can you see the black feather?



Stained Glass



After thinking about adding a stained glass window to our entry for 25 years, I finally designed this window.  The window took weeks to cut out and then time to solder it together and paint the patina onto the solder. Last night I got two of the panels in place and then had to ask for help from Mike to get the other three to stay. This morning when I looked into the entry, I saw the colored glass illuminated from the natural light.  I'm glad I took the time to make this. I can see things I'd change but for now, this project is done once I add a little more silicone to the edges of the glass. (The silicone is holding the glass in place).

WARNING...If you come visit, please don't slam my front door! I'm not sure how secure the glass truely is.
Opps, I just noticed that one of my ship plates is crooked...I must fix that tonight.

Sigtuna; second oldest town in Sweden

Grandpa carried me all over the place.

In front of Saint Mary's, a really, really old church...

Grandpa found a feather for me. It tickled me.

Viking inscriptions, this little guy seems to know what they are saying, too bad he can't say the words...yet.

Stockholm Half Marathon

Mike at 22k notice the palace in the background.

Entertaining our grandson while Grandpa runs the half marathon...at a swan fountain.

Grandpa proudly holding his grandson after the race..."hum, let me taste that metal Grandpa".

The bridge packed with runners...13,560 runners participated in this race. WOW!