Celebrations!

Isn't this Elmo face cute? I made Elmo, from the Children's TV show Sesame Street, out of berries, for my granddaughter's second birthday party this past weekend. He is one of her favorite characters from the show, and I knew she and my grandsons would enjoy eating the berries along with "J's" ice cream cake. I used a small orange for his nose, two large marshmallows with chocolate kisses in them as the eyes, blackberries as the mouth, and raspberries as the face.  I would imagine you could substitute other red and blue fruits such as cut strawberries and blueberries if you'd like.  It was easy to assemble!

Our little "J" had a very happy 2nd birthday party! She wanted another favorite character, Minnie Mouse, to be her party decorations, and wore a pink Minnie bow hairband instead of a party hat. Our son also celebrated his birthday this weekend, as he and "J" share the same birthday!  His two sons enjoyed the ice cream cake and berry Elmo with gusto!

Can you see my granddaughter playing with her party balloons? 

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It was such a beautiful day here in the Denver area--in the low 70's--that my daughter was able to keep her front door open!

Another fun grandchildren event that we watched recently was a "Bike-a-Thon" fundraiser that our younger grandson's preschool sponsored as a fundraiser.  The children rode with tricycles or bicycles around a local high school gym while music played in the background.  It was a fun way to have the children participate in raising funds, as family and friends donated to the school on their behalf, and purchase refreshments, that were also donated by the parents. Our older grandson joined in on a borrowed tricycle when he saw how much fun the event was!

I know our life in our community nestled along the foothills of the Front Range of Colorado is very different from our prior lives in New York City, but I am so happy to have all these opportunities to spend time with our children and grandchildren.

We are also enjoying the very nice winter we are having here so far!  It may snow and be below 30 for a few days, but then the temperatures slowly rise up to the high 50's '60s and even '70s, and all the snow quickly melts. It is nice to be able to spend time outdoors because of this mild winter climate.

I've been the lucky winner of a few blogs giveaways the past few months!. 

I won the charming book "A Scrapbook of Christmas Firsts: Stories to Warm Your Heart from the blog Terra Garden.  Terra is one of the authors of this book full of wonderful Christmas memories, recipes, holiday organization tips, and scriptures.  I enjoyed reading it very much when I was ill with the flu this past Christmas and I know I will be sharing it with my family for many Christmases ahead!

The hand-sewn dream cloud shaped pillow was made by the blogger Miss Red Fox,  The pillow is backed with terrycloth It has a removal liner filled with spelled grain that can be heated in the microwave so that it can be placed back inside the pillow and used as a heating pad. My granddaughter likes to use the pillow at nap time in her crib.

The beautifully illustrated book Dream of Venice was a give away from Diane Hales from the blog La Bella Lingua--Becoming Italian Word by Word  Diane wrote a fabulous book with the same title of her blog.  I enjoyed  Dianne's book very much, and her book, blog, and e-mail newsletter helps me to learn more about the Italian language and Italian culture.
Venice is one of the favorites places I visited in Italy, and I was thrilled to win this beautiful book! The book Dream of Venice, edited by Joann Loctov of Bella Figura Publications, brings back memories of what I loved about this unique city. It has a forward written by Francis Mayes, is full of evocative photography by Charles Christopher, and has essays and anecdotes by contemporary writers on what the city of Venice means to them.  A portion of the sale of each book will be donated to Save Venice Inc, to support vital art and architecture restoration in Venice.

The Newlywed Cookbook by Roxanne Wyss and Kathy Moore, was a recent win from the blog Cookbooks 365, by bloggers Shelly Peppel and Fran Brennan. The profile recipes from many different genres of cookbooks, on their blog, and I'm always learning something new from them!  The recipe in a blog post for Winter Chicken Cassoulet, which is in the Newlywed Cookbook, caught my eye.  I wanted to see more recipes from this book and entered their give away.  Even though I've been married 40 plus years, I feel like a newlywed again,  as my husband and I are now retired and I am cooking for two and not a family any longer.  I am enjoying the over 70 smaller portion recipes and the recipes incorporating modern conveniences and equipment in this cookbook.

I want to thank again all the blogs that gave away such wonderful prizes.  I feel very lucky to have won and also to know you through your blogs. and I hope I've encouraged a few of my Dear Readers into visit these wonderful blogs and to learn more about the books and products I won