Our DGD's live in Illinois, 1 1/2 & 4 1/2...we live in Alaska. Needless to say we don't see them enough..BUT -- When we visit the 4 1/2 yo and I have made chocolate chip cookies and M&M cookies for the last 2 years. It has been great. She remembers us making the cookies and we can talk about it on the phone or Skype and remember how much fun we had. A great way to keep in touch. The first time she cracked an egg it ended up on the floor..oh, well:)

Would love to be around them more so we can quilt together :)

That is such a sweet thing to say about your mom. My mom died 4 years ago. One of my favorite memories of her is that every year all three of us girls had new dresses waiting Easter morning. She would sew all night long to get them done. That stopped when she remarried because there were so many of us then. BUT...

When mom remarried we moved to a different school (just 15 miles apart). It was a different world. When I was in the seventh grade another girl recognized the pattern of the dress I wore and asked if my mom made it. I said that she had not but admitted finally that I had and begged her not to tell anyone. This girl couldn't understand why I wouldn't want others to know. I had learned that lesson well already. I sew for my pleasure and because what I make fits me better but I still get nervous if someone asks if I made it.

Everyone's stories about baking reminds me my DIL went home with a college roommate. No one in her family had ever had home made cookies. They always got them from a bakery. At the wedding reception the room mate's mom said to me, "Jane says you made all the dresses and cooked the rehearsal dinner. Where did you learn to do that? I can't even sew on a button or boil water." How do these people live????

Take out, for one. And most of the clothes you buy these days aren't worth the time it would take to repair them. Not a day goes by that I am not grateful that my mother and grandmother took the time to encourage my interest in and help me learn to sew and cook.

Just read this whole thread. Thank you everyone for sharing your stories. You did a great thing for those kids. Don't be sad, just continue to pass you knowledge and skill on.

I know who was 18 years old and had never had homemade mashed potatoes. Her mother always bought the boxed mixes. How sad and what a waste of money. A bag of potatoes goes alot further than a box.