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

 

 

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

21:365(+1)

Tyler's 5th Birthday :o)

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

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

Happy Birthday Mum!

Today was Mum's birthday and we went to Prezzo for lunch (one of our favourite restaurants) If you look carefully in this photo, you may just see me taking the photo! Proves I was there too!

We always have a bit of a laugh when we go out (can't take us anywhere lol!)

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This afternoon, after Emily got home from school, the girls and I went round to Mum and Dad's for birthday tea and cake. Kay, Theresa, Tyler and Alyssa were also there and Tyler was in top form ;o)

He helped (Great) Grandma open her presents and handed the torn off wrapping paper to (Great) Grandpa who was standing close by for just that purpose.

Here he was telling Grandma all about how her mug had come from his breaking workshop - ie. a shop with breakables (I think). He had lots to say about this and how careful you had to be in that workshop. It was really sweet!

His next task was to help Grandma blow out her birthday candles (a few times ;o) ). When we finished singing happy birthday to her and were doing the Hip Hip Hooray part, he took over saying Hip Hip and everyone else had to say Hooray! It makes me realise he's growing up, he's not our baby anymore.

Mum had found some puzzles that my children had when they were little and had brought them out for Tyler. He lay on the floor placing the right shapes on the pictures and really seemed to enjoy it.

Another picture to put the shapes on.

Alyssa, on the other hand, slept in her carseat, through virtually the whole thing.

I had said she would wake just as we had to leave and sure enough, she did! I stayed a few minutes longer to get some photos of her in her cute little outfit.

She really is so sweet and is giving such lovely little smiles at the moment.

And, although this one is blurred, I had to add it because the look on Alyssa's face is priceless!!

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I hope you enjoyed your birthday Mum, I certainly did ;o). Now we'll have to look forward to next years!

xx