WOO HOO. The 4th of July is coming up and that can mean fun times for grandparents and grandkids at family get-togethers. For that matter, it can mean fun times for the days preceding the 4th, whether you will get together on the 4th or not.

For instance:

• DLTK has fun posters, games and yummy recipes that you and your grandkids will enjoy
• Activity Village has fun mazes, word searches, kids coloring pages, printables, cards, crafts, and more recipes
  
• Kaboose has some cute treat holders for licorice and popcorn (a tasty patriotic decoration, no less)
• Enchanted Learning has great projects, activities, coloring pages to print, and educational info which is great for your grandkids’ summer homeschooling programs.
  

With all these fun ideas, you could spend the whole week making tons of goodies, such as patriotic pinwheels, star wreaths, and colorful planter pots. What do you do with them, though? Decorate your house and their house, of course.

Then, how about looking around for any elderly neighbors who don’t have family living nearby. What a great encouragement it would be to them, and what a great character building exercise for your grandkids, to take some of those goodies over to the neighbor on or around the 4th. In fact, Grandma Gifts of Love has a great article about that.

If you start today, you could even make some cute goodies and patriotic decorations to send to cousins or aging parents who don’t live close by. How fun to open up a package the day or so before the 4th and find all sorts of colorful, patriotic decor and know that your family has similar sets. It can make the distance seem not so far away.

I hope this gives you plenty of fun ideas. And I hope and pray you and your family all have a peaceful, blessed 4th of July!

Don’t forget to check HomemakerBarbi for more Family Friday Fun Ideas to share with your grandkids!

Happy Father’s Day to all those special Dads and Grandpas. What a great day to celebrate the gift God has given us in them.

It’s also a great day to celebrate our Heavenly Father and His love for us. For those of us whose dads have gone ahead of us, it’s such a comfort to know that God is the God of the fatherless!

I hope and pray each of you will have a blessed day today! And for those of you who have been so busy with caregiving that you haven’t yet managed to get a Father’s Day card or present, I have a couple of last minute suggestions.

One of my favorite last minute gifts for anything, including surprising recipients who are extra good at figuring out their gift if I send it any other way , is an Amazon gift card via email. There’s no extra charge, no stamps, and it arrives whenever you want it to.

Of course, for those dads and grandpas who don’t have computers, that won’t work so well. In that case, if they live far away, a nice long phone chat is a great gift as well! And if they live close, SandwichINK has a special Father’s Day Smilebox card just for your dad. You can print it out as is. Then again maybe you would rather make your own original design.  It’s so much fun to Either way, you can print it out or take your laptop over with you so they can enjoy it in gorgeous color and sound.  And again, Happy Father’s Day!!!!

Make a Smilebox greeting

My sweet mom had to go in for skin cancer treatments last month. She lay on the chair apprehensively, knowing a shot was coming. (She was much braver about it than I would probably be. I HATE SHOTS!) Our doctor, who is wonderful, handed her one of those cute little squishy stress balls and told her to squeeze it as the needle went in while taking deep breaths.  It still hurt but she commented later that holding those little stress balls really does help. She appreciated the way it helped take her mind off the pain a bit.

I thought they were a terrific idea and asked the doctor where she got them. “I bought that one, but the Sales Rep for our pharmaceutical supplies has also given us some.” (Hint to any of you who might be a Doctor or Dentist’s Sales Rep – what a GREAT idea for a promo! Personalized squishy stress balls. They will definitely get used and all of us patients will really appreciate them and you!)

I have decided to buy a couple of these stress balls to keep tucked in my  backpack, along with my travel size version of Gobblet. That way, when I’m at the doctor’s office with my mom or grandkids, I can just pop a stress ball out and let them focus on squishing it instead of worrying about what the doctor is up to! Of course, I’ll have to keep an eye on those adorable grandkids to be sure they squish rather than throw. 

What do y’all do to help make trips to the doctor’s easier when you are caring for elderly parents or young grandkids? We’d love extra helps, hints, and tips!