As grandparents, lets’s hop aboard the technology “play” train with OHANARAMA… When I was a child in the 50′s, I played with pull toys and chime pull toys (very technologically advanced!), toy soldiers and cowboys (I have 2 brothers) and dolls. When I was 6 or 7, I got a Chatty Cathy doll for my birthday.  I still remember pulling [...]

If you could reach out and capture a Grandson’s Birthday Wish as it melted into the candles, wrapped itself in the blanket of smoke and floated into the universe… would you? 9-year old Andrew is deep in thought and concentration, making perhaps the most important wish of all. … then the most perfect wish of all appears, because of Birthday [...]

Baby Gear & Grandparents – What to buy? When my daughter Audrey was born 33 1/2 years ago, a stroller was a stroller was a stroller… Back then, we all bought basically the same thing and called “it” a Baby Carriage.  (You know the song… “First comes love, etc. etc. etc. and then comes baby in a Baby Carriage!”) I [...]

At a local family restaurant, there’s this Loser Machine that Audrey’s 4 boys are in love with. Well, it’s sort of a love-hate relationship with the enticingly shiny, mirrored quarter-gobbling machine filled with colorful stuffed animals that you catch with a slippery claw one time in a zillion. That’s why Barry and I started calling the beast a Loser Machine [...]

Little miracles happen every day, to all kinds of people, all over the place, all of the time. They are in what we see, what we hear, what we say, what we do and what we feel. I felt one yesterday.  I felt one in this Grandma heart of mine that legends and poems and stories are made of. I [...]

Does it amaze you that kids find the most joy and happiness in both the B-I-G things and the little things? Take this past Sunday, for instance. Audrey and Matt’s 4 boys were registered to run in the Kids’ Races of the CVS/Caremark Downtown Providence 5K.  Barry and I showed up very early to watch the boys get ready to [...]

Barry and I love Halloween. We LOVE costumes. We love Halloween SO MUCH that my first 5K ever was a Spooky 5K where I dressed as a pirate’s wench… a conservative pirate’s wench.  After all, it was only 3 years ago and we had 9 grandchildren by then. This year, for Barry’s first 5K, it’s also a Halloween 5K.  Good [...]

I was born in Michigan on a cold day in October 1952. My Mom remembers the snowy night my grandfather drove her to the hospital to wait for me. She and my older brother (well, older as in 16 months old) were staying with my Dad’s parents on their farm. My Dad was in the Navy and out-to-sea… far, far [...]

I can still tell you every detail of my First Leaps of Summer from when I was a kid… first leaps off a diving board into a pool or off a float in a lake or into a wave in the ocean. I loved summer as a kid. I loved summer when my kids were kids. And I love summer [...]

Jake came into this wonderful world 7 years ago today… just about one month earlier than expected. I think Jake arrived early because he just couldn’t wait to get started on life! Jake brings delight to every moment of every day.  He brings enthusiasm beyond words.  He brings big, happy love from his heart into the hearts of others… Jake [...]