Have you had a chance to check out the 2010 Ultimate Blog Party at 5 Minutes for Mom? It's wonderful! As of Saturday morning at 10 a.m., there were over 1400 sites on the list and that didn't even count all the Facebook and Twitter links!  And it's not to late to join up and have fun visiting! Too busy dealing with the Sandwich Generation issues of caring for elderly parents and grandchildren to get to them? That's OK. SandwichINK is here to help!

I'm visiting as many Ultimate Blog Party 2010 sites as I can and looking extra hard for fellow grandparents including those of twins, Sandwich Generation senior home care givers, members of the Baby Boomers Generation, and other sites with words of encouragement specially suited to all of us at SandwichINK and will be writing about the ones I find today and later this week. So keep your web "dial" set on SandwichINK and we'll have a fun Sandwich Generation / Baby Boomers Generation time together.

I discovered some good friends while out site-seeing, including:

Twin Happy Jen. All of us who are are grandparents of twins can really appreciate Jen's Twin Happy site, along with her Twitter #TwinTuesday fun and the upcoming Twinstock '10 in August.  

Penny Raine is a great resource for all of us granny nannies with plenty of ebooks of ideas for activities for grandparents and their grandchildren - cooking recipes, homeschool ideas, coloring books with Bible verses and more. She is currently offering some great giveways in honor of the Ultimate Blog Party 2010. She also stays busy sharing plenty of encouraging and inspirational Bible verses and it's thanks to her that I discovered Word-Filled Wednesday at…

…The 160 Acre Woods, written by Amydeanne, who is also out and about for the 2010 Ultimate Blog Party. Her site is loaded with great graphics, book reviews, and inspirational Scriptures to encourage all of us in the Sandwich Generation. She is currently giving away a great book for us to share with our grandchildren, This Little Prayer of Mine. Very fun!

Donna Webb is in the throes of the Sandwich Generation issues as a senior home care giver to her mother who has Alzheimer's Disease, while also enjoying her grandchildren. She and I "met" through the Caregiving Christmas Progressive Party. She has such lovely graphics at her site!  

I've also found some interesting new friends:

I had so much fun visiting with and tweeting with Christine from Live Laugh Love and Bloggings, where she is giving away a $25 gift certificate to Amazon at her site! (Bet Amazon LOVES the Ultimate Blog Party 2010!  :)  :) )  A soon-to-be-grandma with lots of experience dealing with many of the aspects of the Sandwich Generation (check out her comment – #27 ) , we also share a love for a lot of the same TV shows, including NCIS and Numb3rs!

Speaking of Numb3rs – here's a quick request – PLEASE DON'T CANCEL NUMB3RS CBS!!! While I may not agree with everything on that show, it's an enjoyable mystery as well as showing a multi-generational family in a positive light! My whole family loves it – from the 20-somethings up to this happy member of the Baby Boomers Generation!

Grammy Janets Place is written by a grandmother with a fun site where you can find reviews, contests, and freebies. While I was looking at her list of Freebies, I discovered some very cute ebooks written by a big sister and illustrated by a little sister, who have since grown up. Since reading is one of the best activities for grandparents and their grandchildren, this is a great page to check out.  

Simple Acts of Love is written by a delightful team – mom and daughter. To quote them, "Pat Whitaker raised four girls as a stay-at-home mom. She is now very involved with her grandchildren and has a servant's heart…Cindy Golden has over 27 years experience serving children with Special Needs as a teacher, a psychologist and now as a supervisor of Special Education….Cindy has been involved in Missions for years and loves to be God's hand extended to orphans, widows, homeless, and those with special needs." What an awesome ministry – I'll definitely be following them. They are currently giving away an upside down tomato plant – what a fun project to add to my senior mom's gardening plans.

Nana's House is written by a fellow grandmother who also loves one of my favorite Bible study ideas, using the Beth Moore Bible studies and workbooks. When I visited her site, I discovered such an encouraging article about waiting on God for prolonged periods. That is definitely one of the many Sandwich Generation issues we often deal with!

Dolores writes at Moving Forward with Alzheimer's about  dealing with her husband and his Alzheimer's Disease and I found such wonderful words of encouragement there, such as "We do not always understand Why things happen as they do, But I am very sure of one thing. My Lord will see me through." 

For all of us in the Sandwich Generation dealing with the issues of blended families, Forgetful One is written by a 40-something mom of twins. I enjoyed her Ultimate Blog Party post and just laughed and laughed at her post, I am NOT Forgetful! (Well…), as I could SOOOOO relate. Definitely reminded me of my article, Memory Activities and Tips for Baby Boomers, Grandparents, and Grandchildren! How about you?  

imPOWERage is an online magazine dedicated to celebrating and inspiring Seniors. I loved their mission statement, "Why age gracefully, when you can age powerfully?" Doesn't that go so well for all of us in the never-going-to-admit-we-are-aging Baby Boomers Generation?  We actually "met" while I was working on the upcoming Boomers and Seniors: News You Can Use blog carnival which will be at SandwichINK this Tuesday, April 13, 2010 (be sure to come and visit ). As a result, they found out about the Ultimate Blog Party 2010 and came back to visit me through that. Don't you LOVE the internet – so much fun running into people you "know" everywhere!  

The Grammie Diaries was written by a work at home grandmother with a ton of geek and photography skills that can bless all of us in the Sandwich Generation working online. She has the coolest graphic at her site – pictures of her family shaped into letters! I asked her how she did it and she graciously and speedily replied, "I did the photo collage with ShapeCollage ~ you'll just have to choose a bunch of pictures and you can choose shapes or letters or words. I'm sure you'll have fun with it" And the best part – it's FREE. And for those of you who are less Facebook-challenged than me, you can even use it there!  

For all of us grandparents of twins – have you reached a point where THEY CAN DRIVE! Yikes! I hadn't even thought of double drivers til I visited Scraps of Life, whose twins are going to be starting soon! I'll have to take lots of notes from her in case I get drafted to help with that. I do have a while for them, but my grand-tween is only about 3 years away. AAAAAHHHHHH  :)  :) She is also doing a fun giveaway at her site for the 2010 Ultimate Blog Party. Be sure to check it out. 

Are you looking for fun activities for grandparents and grandchildren? Check out @JoeAndBridge at their site The Groschen Goblins. They are giving away a KNEX building set. Perfect for our grandkids!  

You can also find more members of the Baby Boomers Generation and Sandwich Generation + at SandwichINK Welcomes You To the 2010 Ultimate Blog Party.

Well, that's all for today. But I am sure there are plenty more grandparents as well as members of the Baby Boomers Generation AND the Sandwich Generation out enjoying the 2010 Ultimate Blog Party and when I find them, I'll let you know. Keep checking back at SandwichINK for more updates, both in posts and in the Twitter updates in the right column. And if YOU hear of any Sandwich Generation compadres, do let us know in the comments.     Until tomorrow, have a fun time at the Ultimate Blog Party and a blessed weekend!

Kaye

A big SandwichINK welcome to all of you dealing with the Sandwich Generation issues of caring for elderly parents and helping with your grandchildren. 

Welcome, also, to all of you visiting from the very fun 2010 Ultimate Blog Party at 5 Minutes for Mom! This is the second year SandwichINK has participated and it's definitely one of the highlights of my blogging year! 

To celebrate this party, we get a chance to discover new sites, meet new friends, learn valuable information useful to moms, dads, and grandparents of all ages, including grandparents of twins, and maybe even win a terrific prize or two! 

SandwichINK is excited to announce we are giving away TWO $20 gift certificates for Amazon this year! You can use it to buy a book full of resources to help you while you are caring for elderly parents, including those with dementia symptoms. Or perhaps you'd rather get fun and new ideas for trips and activities for grandparents and their grandchildren. You could even use them to download your favorite praise and worship songs to encourage you and your Sandwich Generation family!

To enter:

Leave a comment below with your email (which won't show to anyone but SandwichINK ). That will enter you for the Amazon gift card giveaway here at SandwichINK. (For extra entries, you can tweet about this, add it to Facebook, sign up for the SandwichINK free email, and/or blog about it at your own blog. Just leave a comment letting me know each thing you've done. And if you already subscribe to the email, let me know that as well. ) Contest ends at 11:59 p.m. on 4/15/10.

Visit 5 Minutes for Mom's 2010 Ultimate Blog Party, along with other sites participating in this blog party, leave a comment there with your email, following THEIR directions. Be sure to list SandwichINK's gift card THERE as one of your choices for prizes. You should then be entered in the drawing for all their prizes including the SandwichINK giveaway there.

While you're visiting the various sites participating in the Ultimate Blog Party, keep your eyes open for other fun giveaways at the individual sites. And if you spot other blogs of special interest to us grandparents in the never-aging Baby Boomers Generation and the Sandwich Generation, caring for elderly parents and helping with our grandchildren, including grandparents of twins and other multiples, we'd love to hear about them.

Some sites I've already discovered:

• A good friend and fellow grandmother and blogger, Cindi Matthews and her site, Moomette's Magnificants, who is giving away the cookbook, How to Roast a Lamb; New Greek Classic Cooking 
• A new friend and also a fellow grandmother blogger, Patty Coleman at Living In Amazing Grace who is giving away a 9-piece makeup kit at her site.
• For all of us grandma and grandpa of twins, my twitter friend, @TwinHappyJen is also going to be part of this Ultimate Blog Party and is giving away a copy of her cute book, Two Snowflakes. CONGRATULATIONS Jen for winning the co-prize for Best Children's Books for Twins and Multiples.
• Shelby of Double Up Books, who owns a bookstore for Twins, Triplets, and More is another great resource for grandparents of twins. She is giving away a book and a baby outfit from their Gaga for Mama line.  
• New to me – NanaHood – The Second Half of the Motherhood Journey. They are giving away Mozart for a Mother's Soul, a beautiful gift book that includes a Mozart CD. Sounds delightful!  

 Speaking of prizes –  I'm hoping to win:

• 17 – CmomGo – $200 Apple Gift certificate – I need to update my iPhone and this would be perfect!
• The Grand Prize – from 5 Minutes for Mom, the gracious hosts of this fun Ultimate Blog Party - Toshiba Satellite L505D-ES5025** Perfect for a Sandwich Generation blogger!
• 39 – Be My Guest Certificate from the Hilton Garden Inn – Perfect for visiting my Sandwich Generation family.
• 1 – Win a $150 shopping spree at Pedal Cars and Retro Collectibles. Wouldn't the grandchildren love these! 
• 15 – Win a $25 e-gift certificate to the Disney Store from Couponing to Disney. This never-aging member of the Baby Boomers Generation LOVES their T-Shirts.
• 19 – Prize package of preschool toys! from Hasbro Toys – Favorites of my grandchildren!
• 36 – From A Virtual Hobby Store and Coffee Shop – The winner will receive 2 year-long magazine subscriptions…one to Taste of Home and one to Simple & Delicious. Perfect for my senior mom. 
• USC 6 – One complete baby outfit from Double-Up's Gaga for Mama line – includes a bodysuit, pants, bib, and summer hat. Perfect for my upcoming new grandbaby.
• USC 28 – How to Roast a Lamb: New Greek Classic Cooking from Moomette’s Magnificents. Another one for my senior mom. 
• USC 20 – Mozart For A Mother’s Soul from NanaHood is a beautiful gift book that includes a Mozart CD. Great after a busy Sandwich Generation day of caring for a senior mom and fun activities for grandparents and grandchildren. 
• USC 59 The very first print of “Enchanted Forest“ from The Creators Palette. It is absolutely gorgeous.
• Anything else that is available  

Well, once again, a GIANT welcome to all of you, in and out of the Baby Boomers Generation and the Sandwich Generation! Have a delightful time site-seeing at 5 Minutes for Mom and the 2010 Ultimate Blog Party! Also, be sure to check out Saturday Blog Party Site-Seeing for the Sandwich Generation. But first, I hope you enjoy this encouraging Praise and Worship music. It's one of my favorite songs from the new WOW 2010 CD, In The Hands Of God by the Newsboys using one of my favorite resources, Smllebox! (I love that you can )

A HUGE THANK YOU to all of the great people behind the 2010 Ultimate Blog Party at 5 Minutes for Mom and the hard work that's gone into making it so great!  

Don't forget – for regular info and resources to inform and encourage the Sandwich Generation dealing with the issues of caring for elderly parents and helping with their grandchildren…

WOW! Can you believe it’s already September! And Autumn is right around the corner! Hooray! Got some twitterific tips from Twitter for y’all…

Senior Home Care Givers:

Those of us providing senior home care for aging parents – near or far – have a new resource available that looks good! OurParents.com provides a free search site for senior parent care facilities from adult daycare centers to hospice and everything in between.    For more info, you can also check out their blog article, OurParents Launches The Internet’s Largest Independent Directory Of Senior Care Providers.

With so many in the Baby Boomer Generation also becoming part of the Sandwich Generation, this company has a great program, Caring Workplace!

Public Shredders Please! Medical Record Dumping On the Rise! This article discusses the importance of shredding sensitive documents, including medical documents, to protect yourself and your aging parents AND grandkids from ID theft!  Per @vpmedical

A good resource site for hospice! The site explains so much including how to find a hospice near you. It’s easy to navigate and a good resource for senior home care givers who live close or at a distance. Thank you to @ElderCareRN & @joeskillin for the link.

If you think you have a hard time as you caring for elderly parents, read this interesting article: When The Patient Is The President. From @matthewbjohnson

Grandparents:

One of my most important goals as a grandparent is to leave a spiritual heritage and example for my grandkids of knowing and loving God with all our heart, soul, strength, and mind, and loving others as we love ourselves. Sounds like that was one of several great goals of this gentleman and that he did it exceedingly well in the article, Goodbye, Dad.   Per @mike_gamble

Toys 'R' Us launches a Cash4Clunkers, baby-style program, modeled after the government's car swap program for cribs, car seats, and other grandkid items that can have safety issues when bought used. Very cool!   Per @Executivemom133

While participating in and visiting an interesting blog carnival for homeschooling programs this past week, I also found an intriguing "flubber" recipe which would make really fun activities for grandparents and their grandchildren to enjoy.  

Refdesk is an excellent resource for homeschooling programs, school homework, businesses, etc. I’ve appreciated their site for years as well as enjoying reading their Site of the Day emails. This week’s included the Earth Calendar which lists holidays and celebrations all around the world. A very handy holiday calendar for planning fun activities and projects for grandparents and their grandchildren.

By the way, have you been wondering, “ When is GRANDPARENTS DAY?” The Earth Calendar is there to remind us that it is coming up on September 13. Yummily, the day is also International Chocolate Day and Librarian Day. As the personal librarian for my family and a big believer in grandparents helping to keep their grandkids well supplied with books, I think that is the frosting on the chocolate cake of grandparenting love! 

Speaking of Grandparents Day, two terrific sites have fun contests to help us celebrate:

• Bcelebrated has a grandparents and grandkids contest that runs from August 25-September 25, 2009. Grandparents and/or grandkids write what is great about your grandkid/grandparent in 60 words or less and attach a photo. The prizes are two free Bcelebrated memberships and a $50.00 Barnes and Noble gift card. Prize value is $250.00! For those, like me, who are uber protective of your grandkids when it comes to pictures, it is ok for them not to show identifying traits. For example, they loved my adorable grand-twins and their foot photo.
• Another fun Grandparents Day contest is at Presto, home of the Presto Email Printer and Service! This one is a video contest and the prize is Presto for Life! WOW! I have not been brave enough to try video yet. It’s on my list of To Do’s but I probably won’t get to it for another year or so. But if you have a video camera, you could really have fun with this.

If you enter either or both contest, let us know so we can root for you.

The Sandwich Generation & The Baby Boomers Generation:

If any of you are taking a vacation from caregiving duties or have to travel for business, are traveling to another country, and are thinking of taking your cell phone, you MUST research carefully first! Particularly if you have a new cell phone, as this cautionary tale reminds us! 

Frugal Upstate has a YUMMY sounding Green Chile Chicken Lasagna recipe that looks to be an easy fix, making it perfect for busy caregivers and grandparents! I gave the recipe to my senior mom who also thought it looked DELICIOUS!

Did you exercise this morning? Here's some inspiration from Seniors for Living!  I have to admit, I especially loved the picture! I bought one of those balls to use at my desk. I had so much fun with it when my grandkids came over, I now have two. I keep forgetting to swap it for my chair but boy, is it great fun with the grandkids.

Here’s a good article on the Sandwich Generation issues from CBN.

@copykatrecipes found us a great article about healthy food preparation such as keeping your cooking oils fresh, mayonnaise safety tips, and a mouthwatering salad that is safer to take to potlucks and family gatherings than the traditional potato salad. This is also good information to share with our aging parents!

With all the ups and downs and roller coaster effects often found in the life of a caregiver, this encouraging and inspirational Bible verse is especially comforting!   God set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand. Ps. 40:2b

Did you know that Coke is the most familiar name-brand food in the US and Campbell's soup is the 2nd? @Foodimentary always has such interesting foodie facts!

That’s it for this week’s Twitter Tuesday. Have a Twitterific Day!

TwinStock is the fun creation of @TwinHappyJen, a Twitter friend of mine. The mother of twins, she has created a fun blog party and invited all of us to participate.  In the spirit of Twinstock, I have decided to give some advice (thereby answering  Twinstock questions 6 AND 7 ) to other grandparents who may have just heard the news that filled me with thrills at the same time it sent ice down my spine.

"Mom, guess what! We're pregnant with TWINS!"

Lest you wonder about the icy chills, let me assure you I was quite excited, albeit concerned for my daughter who had difficulties with her first two pregnancies and whose youngest was less than a year old! But still, even then, there was an excitement that swept through all of us, even as we prayed for the safety of mom and babies. They did, indeed, need those prayers and still do, but God was wonderful, brought them all through it safely, though with health issues that continue, and we have such adorable darlings who bless us constantly! Oh my, I'm grandma gushing! Guess it's time to move on to the advice. But first, let me grab my wallet with my 1000 photos – oh wait, they’re all in my computer! Here’s one now! Two of my favorite sets of adorable footsies in my favorite season of Autumn! 1. TELLING THEM APART – Not all identical twins look exactly alike, while fraternal twin boys (like my grand-twins) can look a lot alike. Either way, it can make it very hard to tell them apart, especially when they are young. Since you don’t usually spend as much time with them as their parents, it may take you longer to tell them apart. Take a half hour and look for at least one thing different between the two and focus on that. With a friend’s identical twins, I found a dimple on one that the other did not have. I am one of her few friends who has never mixed them up. Well, I did once but that doesn’t count. I walked into the room. Gooed at the one she was holding, gaaaaed at the one the friend next to her was holding. Then froze. I could NOT tell them apart. They kept a straight face for about 1 minute then started giggling. It was two other babies from our homeschooling programs Christmas party!  I was so focused on who I thought they were, I never noticed it wasn’t them at all. In my defense, they were only about five months old. For my own grand-twins, they spent several weeks in the NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit) and I only got to see them a couple of times then. For the first week after they came home, I truly couldn’t tell them apart, but that probably had more to do with the fact that I was always running as I helped take care of big brother and big sister, so I really didn’t get a lot of cuddle time. I just always relied on their parents putting color coordinated clothes on them to tell them apart.  Finally, when someone made a comment about my not knowing my own grand-twins, my grandma competitive juices kicked in. I hid off in a room with both of them, cuddling them and eyeing them excessively closely. I was able to hone in on a couple of definite but hard-to-spot little differences and haven’t missed since – at least not from the front. 

2. DIVIDE AND CONQUER – “Divide and conquer” is routinely used regarding battle stories. However, I’m betting a grandma of twins first came up with the phrase. Twins are adorable, sweet, and lots of fun together. But they can also keep a grandma running faster, hopping higher, and working harder. When that gets to be too much for a tuckered out grandma, divide and conquer can be a grandma’s good friend! Whether it’s taking one twin at a time to have some up close and personal, one-on-one, aloneness time they will also appreciate; having the beloved grandpa of the twins take one twin for wrestling time while you have a quiet reading time and then switch; or relying on the TV (with a good educational show, of course ) to help you play with one, while the other watches the show, and then swap – you will all three appreciate having that special time alone as much as you appreciate those times of being all together! Aloneness time with grandkids is always something special and precious. It can be harder to come by with the twins, but it’s well worth achieving AND it makes things a bit more peaceful for a tired granny nanny as well.

3. TWIN TOYS ARE GREAT TOO! - If they have a very special toy, it can be a big help to have a “twin” of said toy that is always kept at grandma’s. This is a good idea even if you just have one grandchild. It’s a doubly good idea with twins, as there are now twice as many chances of one or both toys getting lost between houses. Some children might figure out it’s a duplicate and not like it, but all of my grandkids have been thrilled to find twins of their favorite toys at grandma’s house!

4. BABY STROLLER? MAKE IT A DOUBLE BABY STROLLER + – We went through several strollers over a four year period. My daughters are experts at researching, buying, testing, and selling! After checking through a wide variety of twin stroller reviews, they made their selections. Over the years, our favorites included a Peg Perego stroller and the Valco Tri Mode Sit n Stand double stroller with the extra seat in front for big-bro, who was little-bro at the time.

For awhile, I could even get big sis on the back when everyone got tuckered out on a walk! My daughter ordered these online, since she couldn’t find them locally and had a great experience doing that! Later she was able to sell it online as well! Talk about great ways to save money on baby strollers! I, personally, also liked having two umbrella strollers as they were cheap, easy, small, and lightweight. I kept them in the car in case of unexpected "grandmother of twins" opportunities. They fit well, even when I had to add my dad’s walker or wheelchair.

5. DOUBLE WORK, DOUBLE JOY – Having twin grandkids does mean some extra work and can seem to be a bit overwhelming when you first get the news. Rest assured, it also means double hugs, double kisses, double love, and exponential joy for decades to come! You should see the huge smile on my face as I type this, while listening to my grand-twins’ sweet voices as they are busy having fun with great-grandma in the other room!

There are LOTS of parents and grandparents of twins online with plenty more great ideas, helps, hints and fun stories. To find them, be sure you start at TwinHappy and their fun TwinStock blog party. In addition to great tips and articles, they also have fun PRIZES! See you there! And while you’re busy bloghopping, hop on over to Homemaker Barbi’s Family Friday as well. Another of my favorite places for great info and advice for all our sweet grandkids!