Happy Birthday, Alyssa

Happy 3rd Birthday, Alyssa :)

 

xx

Dad's 83rd Birthday

My Dad turned 83 on Friday.  I'm sure he won't mind me saying that he never expected to reach this age. However, he's still active and walks into town to get the newspaper every day.  Truth be told, he's probably an awful lot fitter than I am! He's had a few hiccups over the years, health wise, but is still strong and, hopefully, will stay strong and still be here in ten years time to celebrate his 93rd birthday.

 Dad with his three youngest great grandchildren (Alice, Tyler & Alyssa)

Mum had thought they would just have a quiet day but I guess the rest of us thought otherwise. Claire, Alice and I went round in the afternoon to give him his presents, and to take a cake, and when we got there Kay (my sister) was already there and had brought a cake too. Emily came straight from school and Theresa (Kay's daughter) arrived with Tyler and Alyssa soon after.  There was plenty of cake to go round and we had to have the candles for the children Dad to blow out ;)

 Alice was taking it all in and got very excited when the candles were blown out.  Even after they'd been relit and blown out I don't know how many times!

 Dad, Alice & Tyler

 



 My first shot of Alice and her sister-to-be (Claire's bump ;) )

 

I think Alice was more than ready for a slice of cake :)

 

Iain (my brother) arrived later in the afternoon once he'd finished work but unfortunately, I didn't get any photos of him.  (Mind you, having just typed that I realise I didn't get any photos of any adults other than Dad :) ) 

 

Hope you enjoyed the rest of your birthday day, Dad. Love you lots xx

 

 

Photo a Day : 27 & 28 May 2012

 27 May 2012

A self portrait (unfortunately not in focus!) Another day where it got up to 28C and I was able to sit outside to eat my lunch.

28 May 2012

 My niece, Theresa, brought Alyssa and a little girl she looks after round to play with Alice in the morning.  Alice was so excited when I told her Alyssa was coming and apparently Alyssa felt the same about coming to see Alice :).  I can see that these two little girls could become good friends as they get older.  One of the few things I sometimes think we missed out on by growing up in South Africa was the fact that we never got to know our cousins very well.  I'm really hoping that Alice will enjoy having family around her as she grows up.

xx

Photo a Day catch up

04 May 2012

Theresa went into hospital for keyhole surgery last Friday and my sister, Kay, was looking afterTyler and Alyssa. Alyssa was missing her Mummy in the morning (Tyler was at school) so Kay phoned and asked if they could come round and Alyssa could play with Alice. Alice loved having Alyssa here and they played so well together.  There were lots of cuddles and kisses when it was time for Alyssa to leave.  Unfortunately,  Theresa was still in a lot of pain this week and on Friday was readmitted to hospital as they think she may have an infection. She's on antibiotics and we're really hoping that's all she'll need. She's due to have a scan tomorrow and they'll reassess things then and hopefully we'll get a better idea of how long she's likely to be in for.  

05 May 2012 

 Saturday morning Sainsbury's shop and a photo of my trolley at Starbucks where we go for a well needed coffee ;o)

06 May 2012

 Lazy Sunday morning.  Hugh was playing a selection of his music for us and was making us laugh with stories of his night out the night before. I don't talk much about Hugh on my blog (and that's the way he prefers it) but he really has a wonderful sense of humour and often has us in stitches.  We have been so lucky to have three wonderful children (and a super cute, adorable granddaughter :o) ) and I'm able to say I'm so proud of all of them and the young adults they have become. I couldn't ask for more!

07 May 2012

 Monday was a bank holiday in the UK and we didn't have any plans. It felt so good to finally get a chance to work my way through Kerri Bradford's first Silhouette class on JessicaSprague.com  My Silhouette Cameo is still very new to me and I haven't had much chance to play around so I really enjoyed working my way through the class. I haven't made the mini album yet, because I need to decide on the papers I want to use, but hope to make it in the next few weeks.

08 May 2012

 Things were back to normal - Emily was back at school, Jon back at work, Hugh on his Personal Trainer course and Max (my nephew who is staying with us) working an early shift.  I spent some time in the morning round at Claire's flat with her and Alice and in the afternoon made another Playlist on my iPad. It's something I've wanted to do for a while but never got round to it - I made my first playlist the night before and then the second one this afternoon.

09 May 2012

 My day to have Alice here and the first day we'd had together since the previous Friday. At lunch time I dropped down the height of her booster seat and took off her tray so she could actually be pushed in to the table to eat.  I then sat opposite her to have my lunch.  Another sign of how much she's growing up but I just love seeing her develop and learn new things. She's a real little chatter box now and is such a pleasure to have around.  I love the days she's here and realise how lucky I am to get to spend so much one on one time with her.  I'm afraid I am a totally besotted Grandma!

10 May 2012

A busy day - dropped Tyler and Alyssa at school/playschool, a quick coffee with friends, took Max to the Dr, picked Alyssa up from playschool and took her home, home for a quick lunch before going back up to school to pick up Tyler and take him home. Once home again it was time to start making cottage pie for dinner. I also finished sewing up this little cardigan for Alice.

11 May 2012

 Alice and I had a fun filled day and I got to take a number of photos. We spent the day at home and as the weather improved in the afternoon, were able to spend time outside too. She started the day wearing this little t shirt and a denim pinafore dress with cream tights. The shoes and tights came off soon after we got to the house. Once outside it wasn't long before the dress had to come off because she'd poured the water from her watering can over herself so she was down to a t-shirt, vest and wellie boots. By the end of the afternoon I had to take the t-shirt off as well as it had got wet and then she'd been playing in the sand and the sand was sticking to it.  She ended up going home in her vest and the little cardigan I'd just finished :o). I have lots more photos from this day which I'll be able to put in as an extra page in my Project Life album. For those who are friends with me on Facebook, I'll also be posting them there.

Hope you've all had a good week
xx

47, 48 & 49:365(+1)

It's been half term this past week and because I ended up not having Alice, I've been out and about a bit and haven't been on my computer as much. So now it's time for a quick catch up for 365(+1).

 On Thursday morning Jon and I had someone come round to write our Wills.  It's something we've been saying we need to do for years but had never got round to.  I feel so much better knowing that this has now been taken care of.

 Friday was my sister Kay's birthday and we were all invited round for afternoon tea at Theresa's (Kay's younger daughter). Alyssa had been asleep when we arrived but when she woke up she was in a lovely mood and wanted to have a cuddle with Nan/Kay.  We had a lovely afternoon just chatting and eating (too much ;o) ) Thanks Theresa and Kay for a delicious spread.

Claire and Alice are finally on the mend (after Alice's virus, Claire came down with a horrible head cold) and this afternoon they came round to spend some time with us.  I love this shot of my 3 girls - daughters Claire and Emily and granddaughter, Alice :o).  Might just end up in a frame somewhere!

So, that's me caught up for now.  I'd also like to say thank you for all the lovely comments about my log cabin quilt (post below).  I've so enjoyed making this quilt and can't wait to have it completed.  Deb (Paper Turtle), I'll send you an email shortly :)

Enjoy the rest of your weekend.
xx

Tyler's birthday

 Tyler turned FIVE on Saturday and we were all invited for a family birthday tea. 

 He was so sweet - super excited but also wanting to show that he is a Big Boy now :o). He waited until everyone was there before opening his presents and sat in the middle so we could all watch.

 However, for us, the thing that stood out most was that suddenly Alice wasn't the baby any more. She was up there with the other two, joining in and following them around.

 I love this photo where you can see the two girls playing in the background while Tyler opens presents. 

The girls played with their babies and followed each other around, sometimes having little cuddles :o) which was so cute!

 Alice enjoyed the party food and would keep coming back to help herself to a little bit more.

But the thing I learnt? Is that it's okay for photos of children not to be in focus because as you can see from this last photo, they certainly don't stay still for long!!
xx

Photo a Day : Day 1

I'd been toying with the idea of doing Photo a Day again this year and seeing if I can actually make it the whole way through the year.  Perhaps if I look to post them on the blog I'll be better at keeping up? I haven't quite decided what I'm going to do with the photos or how they'll be recorded or if they'll just be on my blog. I guess I've still got time to work that one out :)

For now, here's the first photo:

My Mum playing with Alyssa yesterday afternoon. We had a farewell tea for my brother, who is on his way to Australia as I type, and I had been going to use a photo of him for this post but somehow never actually took one of him. So, Mum playing with her second youngest great grandchild was my next choice. (Mum and Dad have six great grandchildren :) )

xx

Alyssa's Two :)

As I mentioned earlier, this afternoon we went to Theresa's house to celebrate Alyssa's 2nd birthday. The birthday girl was in her party dress which was obviously a huge hit as she came to show me the pretty flowers on it a number of times during the afternoon :)  She was also excited to open her presents

 The pink kettle she had been wanting which Great Grandma and Great Grandpa gave her.

 Luckily Nanny (my sister, Kay) was on hand to help with getting things out of the packaging.

 Claire has this week off work so she and Alice were there to join in with the fun

 A happy birthday girl with her new pink kettle and her baby doll car seat (which I had been told she had been wanting for ages ;-) )

 Big brother, Tyler, who was looking very cool with his hair gelled for the occasion.

 Great Grandma (my Mum) and Alyssa

 Time for birthday cake!

 Alyssa and Mummy/Theresa

At one stage the older children had asked Theresa to put on Justin's House (I'm sure Mums of young children in the UK will know this programme). Alice loves Mr Tumble and Justin and plonked herself down with the other children to watch too :)

xx

Thank you

Thank you for the comments on yesterday's post :) 

 I have to admit this is one of my favourite quilts so far, I love that the colours are bright but still very girly and look forward to seeing Lily playing on it.

Fortunately, Michelle likes it too :) :)  She said she had wondered if she would get a quilt for Lily but didn't want to ask because she knows I've been quite busy. No need to worry, I couldn't have not made one :)

Emily and I made it home this morning but I had one eye on my dashboard virtually the whole way home as the engine warning light came on just before we got to Eastleigh yesterday and has stayed on ever since :(   The car had a major service last week and I had really hoped that the couple of issues I had had with it had been sorted but unfortunately the jerking it had been doing was still there and now the new engine warning!  I've been in touch with the garage and it's going back in again tomorrow so let's hope it will come back a happy car after that!

For today though, we're looking forward to going round to Theresa's for Alyssa's second birthday tea. Normally I say I can't believe ***** is ** years old but in this case I think, is she really only turning two!! Looking forward to a fun afternoon and I'm sure I'll have more photos to share soon.

xx

Kittens

This afternoon Emily and I popped round to (my niece) Theresa's house to see the new kittens. Minnie, the Mum, was really relaxed about us being there and let Emily put her hand in to stroke her and then one of the kittens. They're not a week old yet and their little eyes are still closed.  I wasn't sure how much detail I'd get because they were lying at the back of the box but you can make them out :)

Minnie with the kittens

While they were asleep Minnie was happy to come out of the box and have a break

 Love this one with the feet up in the air!

 I think all three have little white tummies and feet. At this stage two of the kittens appear slightly grey-er than the third one. We'll have to see what happens.

Too cute!

 Alyssa was happy to sit with us while we watched the kittens (nearly as big time wasters as babies ;o)  )

 And Tyler managed to add sprinkles to his yoghurt while we weren't looking  (sorry about the shadows in these photos, I had my camera on Auto to try and get clearer pictures of the kittens and didn't switch back to manual)

Claire had got home with Alice just before we got back. Alice was very happy and had been smiling away - until I put a big camera in front of my face.  I have also got some video on my camera from a little later but I'm going to have to work out how to a) edit it and b) put it on the blog. Eventually it may go up here :o)

Have a good weekend.
xx

Alyssa's first steps

Video courtesy of Emily =)

Look who turned 1!!

Alyssa turned ONE today!!

I can't believe how quickly this last year has gone, it doesn't seem that long ago that we were driving down to the hospital to meet the latest addition to the family. And now, it won't be long before we're going to the hospital again but this time we'll go going to meet our grandchild :)  So excited!! Back to Alyssa's big day though!

 She was interested in her presents and even tried to help open them (with a little bit of help from Mummy)

 (And a bit more help from big brother, Tyler!)

 For a while she took herself off for some time out, to survey the scene and take in how many people were there.

 Great Grandma's present was a hit as she's starting to enjoy putting shapes into holes.

 Her little friend, Peter, was on hand to help with the birthday celebrations.

 And she was more than happy to go to Daddy when he got home.

Though Mummy is always a favourite :)

What made the day even more special is that she started to walk. Theresa said she had taken a couple of steps on her own before but wouldn't just go. Today she started walking between her Daddy and me and then a bit later between her Mummy and me. Now that she's started I'm sure it won't be long before she's walking all over the place! 

Emily (who also started walking on her 1st birthday) managed to capture some of her first steps on her little video camera. Once she's edited it I'll put it up on the blog because it's too cute!!

xx