My grands are all grown—YES! It’s hard to admit. I was the grandma who had bicycles and tricycles lining my driveway, cookies baked and ready, games planned and a party always on my calendar book…then the grands grew up. I jokingly say they traded me in for a driver’s license, but it’s the truth. One by one, they got their license and they were off to live their lives—without me. And, I couldn’t be happier! Oh, I’m not happy that I don’t see them as often and I’m not happy that my house is quiet and I’m not happy that my driveway doesn’t have chalk creations all over it or my swimming pool now begs for attention instead of nearly being abused by kids jumping in and out. No, none of that makes me happy, but I am happy that all my grands are growing up to be such amazing young people with lives of their own and friends who support them and love them and they do well in school and they love God and each other. I am so thankful for all of those things that it takes the sting out of not seeing them so often. At least a little of the sting. ☺

So, what can a grandma do to gather her flock of teen-grands around her for some much-needed grandkid time? There’s always one answer that rises to the top. FOOD. At the end of summer, I realized it was nearly time for all my grands to head back to college, plus we had missed a few major milestones through the summer that we needed to celebrate. Since one of my grands had only been in town for a week and was nearly about to fly off again, I knew I had to act fast. I send a text around to see if the minority of the kids (getting all is a near-impossible feat) could come over for dinner on Monday night (I was careful to pick a night that I thought was one they were least likely to have plans. Mondays are fairly safe. But then again, in our new covid-19 world, even teens aren’t as busy.) Once I got a good response, I was ready to plan the party.

I decided a pancake party would be the theme of the night. My cooking skills have never been the reason my grands love me, but I do make good pancakes. (How could I mess up with Aunt Jamima, right?) And, I love a good party theme, so I figured the two would mix well. I made sure I had all the best, freshest ingredients. (It’s always a party when fresh fruit is involved.) Then, I got out the real dishes. (Paper plates and pancakes don’t mix well.) And I was ready to go. (I may have given you these recipes before in an earlier blog, but who remembers that anyway?? LOL)

Here’s my shopping list:

Fresh Strawberries

Fresh blueberries

Bananas

Peanut butter

Almond butter

Pecans

Tiny chocolate chips

Warm (always) syrup

Honey

Whipped Cream (again, just for fun) 

Bacon (for the meat lovers in the family)

Aunt Jamima Complete Pancake Mix—it seriously only needs water and it’s delicious!

For drinks, I made Orange Julius (yummy and easy to make) and my mom made her famous coffee punch (for this recipe google coffee and ice cream punch). 

Ingredients for the Orange Julius (I used 12 orange juice and doubled everything)

• 6 oz frozen orange juice concentrate
• 1 cup milk
• 1 cup water
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1-2 tsp vanilla
• 1 cup ice cubes

Instructions

1. Combine all ingredients in the blender.
2. Blend until smooth and serve immediately. ENJOY! 

Since all breakfast foods have to be ready at the same time, to avoid a time-crunch panic situation, I did the bacon an hour early. I do the oven method when I have to make a lot of bacon. Turn your oven to 400, then line some pans with foil, lay the bacon in strips on the foil, and let it bake at 400 for approximately 20 minutes and you will have perfect bacon. Also, I made the orange Julius about 30 minutes earlier so I could concentrate on fresh buttery pancakes. Once made, I put the Orange Julius in the freezer for just a few minutes (probably 10) and it was perfect to pour into pretty pitchers and serve on time. 

My pancake trick is not much of a trick. I do have a griddle that lets me do nine pancakes at a time, which is helpful with a crowd. But the trick is, before I take them up, I put butter on the tops of all the pancakes and then start stacking them for the kids to eat. 

The night was a huge success. I’m thankful to be able to say it would have been a good night no matter what I served, but the pancakes were a hit! The important thing is just being intentional to get your family together. One of my grands had recently had a birthday so I just decorated a few pancakes as her “birthday” cake. 

In these crazy days of covid-19 living, it’s easy to get lulled into inactivity, but let’s not let anything rob us of our joy and celebrating with our family is one of the greatest “joys”.