Time Flies

Oh my goodness, I can't believe how quickly the time is flying by at the moment.  The days seem to pass in a blur and at the moment I don't have much time to get on the computer - I haven't been reading blogs regularly or commenting very often at the moment.  All I can say is that I'm looking forward to when I can sit down and catch up with what everyone has been doing. 

 

 I had signed up for both Karen Russell and Katrina Kennedy's classes (which happened to be running at the same time!) but haven't really had a chance to do either.  Last week I made a point of downloading all the lessons to do at a later date - I certainly don't want to miss out either class.

 I also made a point of sitting down and watching all the Katrina's videos and now need to work out whether I can save them to watch later as well or not.

 Last Tuesday Claire had a midwife appointment and I popped round to the flat to look after Alice while she was out.  When Alice likes something at the moment she does a little wiggle and pumps her hands in the air and says WeeHee!! It's so cute and I'm so glad I caught her this time :) 
While talking about Claire and Alice, can you believe that Claire is now 30 weeks pregnant!! She'll be finishing work 3 weeks on Saturday and then the countdown will really begin. We're so excited to meet our new granddaughter - just hoping she doesn't make her appearance on Christmas Day ;)

 We've been going down to visit Dad each day, weather permitting (we've had some nasty fog for a few nights now). We had a meeting at the hospital last week and they were saying how pleased they are with Dad's progress and that he's quite determined to do as much as he can.  We will be meeting with them again a week on Thursday and they're hoping that he'll be ready to go home a week or two after that, providing he continues to make good progress.

 Iain has moved in with Mum for his last week here (he leaves to go to Australia on Sunday) and he's set up Dad's new laptop ready for when he comes home.  We took it down to the hospital on Saturday for Dad to see.  As you can see, the photo above is one I've journalled on for my Project Life album and pretty much says it all :)

 Claire and Alice came round on Sunday and Claire was telling me that it was National Apple Day.  I had actually bought Bramley apples to make an apple cake so it seemed like a good day to bake.  The cake was ready in time for me to take a slice down to the hospital for Dad to have with his coffee/tea. This cake never lasts long and was finished by the following afternoon.

And a final photo of Alice to end with.  I bought Cinderella a couple of weeks ago and she loves it!  Fortunately this is one DVD we all enjoy as we've watched it a few times over the last week ;) 
xx

Olympic Torch Relay 2012 (very photo heavy)

Today, the Olympic Torch Relay 2012 came through East Grinstead as part of its travels around the country before the Olympic Games start on 27 July.

 I was going to meet friends for a coffee before hand but by the time we got to Caffe Nero the queue was out the door and along the pavement and people were already starting to line the streets. We decided it might be a better idea to book our place on the pavement and have a coffee afterwards.

 We had a few people coming round to entertain the crowds while we waited for the torch to arrive - including this peep show box. I didn't actually see anyone go to look in it though.

 The crowds grew steadily. We got there at 9am and the torch wasn't due to get to the High Street until 10.30am.

 Doing some people watching :o)

 The Mayoress did a little walk about.

 Our little group :o)  Dad was walking past and stopped to join us in the wait.  

 Hugh and Max also walked into town and stood with us.

 The excitement was growing (and I have to say, all the children were so well behaved)

 More entertainment

 This chap on jump stilts was brilliant and bounced all over the road 

 He reminded me of Tigger in Winnie the Pooh

 Police riders came next

 followed by the torch relay bus

 more stilt walkers

 and finally, the torch!!

And, because I couldn't finish without some photos showing Alice and Claire, here are a few I took from Claire's facebook page.  She and Alice watched the relay as it came in to town (round the corner from where we were) with Claire's friend Rachele.

 Love this photo (and Alice xx)

 Look at that little smile!

 With Aunty Rachele

And as she was such a good girl, she got to eat her gold medal ;o)

This was definitely something that had to be done as we'll probably not see anything like it again in our life time.

xx 

Playing house

On Friday it was the Fischer Price house which had a lot of play time :)

 I love how all the people all lined up on the roof in this one :)

 Moving on to the other side of the roof - they then tend to slide down the side of the roof to get back to floor level ;o)

 Seeing her imaginative play develop is wonderful and she's just so much fun to be with.

We've now added a Fischer Price plane to our collection too - I'm sure it will be played with just as much as the other toys.

xx

Wheels on the Bus

Claire's internet wasn't working yesterday and she needed to do her online grocery shop, so she and Alice came round here to use my computer.

One of things Alice enjoys at the moment is children's songs - with Wheels on the Bus being one of her favourites.  

 I bought this Fischer Price bus for her a little while ago and she loves playing with it.  I have to say that Fischer Price are certainly the best toys and get played with over and over again. Alice loves being able to take the little people out and uses them in her imaginative play.

 We have the bus and the house (seen behind her with the lilac roof) at our house and  she plays with them all the time. We gave Alice the farm for her birthday and Claire has that at the flat, as well as the little Fischer Price garage.  Honestly, hours of fun! Can't recommend them enough.

 I just wish we could get more of the little people and some of their other toys here in the UK.

 I'll just have to keep looking :)
xx

Yesterday

This post was supposed to be called "Today" but blogger wouldn't let me write a post last night so it's "Yesterday" ;o)  

So, Yesterday ...

 ... Emily got her National Insurance Number from HM Revenue and Customs.  I have to admit this one knocked me a bit. Emily is my "baby" (as you all know) and will be turning 16 in September but I hadn't got round to thinking of her getting her NI number so this came out of the blue a bit - how did my "baby" get to be old enough to work already!!

Yesterday ...

 ... Alice and I made Chocolate Brownies.  Alice has been a little bit wary of my big Kenwood mixer the last couple of time we've baked so yesterday I made a point of picking her up so we could watch the mixer going round and mixing everything.  She loves "mixing" with a bowl and spoon and she likes watching things going round (eg. the washing machine) so letting her watch it start slowly and build up in speed certainly seemed to help and she was quite happy.  Needless to say, the best part is being able to lick the paddle and spatula afterwards :o)

 Look at that little face <3 

And by the time she'd finished licking them she needed a good wash and a change of clothes (oops, next time Grandma had better remember to put a bib on or buy a little apron for her to wear!)

The end results were quite delicious and have nearly all disappeared already!

Unfortunately the day ended on a not so good note when a tooth (which I've recently had a temporary filling put in) broke.  I will be phoning the dentists as soon as they open this morning to try and get an urgent appointment before the inside of my cheek is shredded!

xx

Exciting news :)

14 June 2012

I don't know if you realise how difficult it has been to keep this quiet ;o) but today I am finally able to let you know that I'm going to be a Grandma again!!!


Today Claire went for her 12 week scan. Everything seems to be going well and baby was extremely active - he/she was kicking, waving, possibly sucking their thumb and doing little somersaults! Alice was with us and was quite fascinated that the little blob on the screen was a baby. She kept looking at it and saying "Baby!" over and over.  Now Alice loves her baby dolls - I just hope she loves this little one as much :).

Baby's due date is 29 December 2012 (his/her Aunty Michelle's birthday!).

I've a feeling you may hear a bit more about this in future posts ;o)

xx

Photo : 12 - 13 June 2012

12 June 2012

I've been having some sensitivity with my teeth for a few weeks so I decided I needed to get a dental appointment to see what was going on. Going to the dentist is not something I particularly enjoy (after a not so pleasant experience a few years ago) so it was a relief to find out my teeth are healthy. I've been advised to rub a particular toothpaste on to the sensitive are for a few weeks to see if it'll help. If it gets any worse I'll have to go back again for x-rays to see what's going on. Fingers crossed that won't be necessary!

13 June 2012

 I actually forgot to take a photo, so I ended up taking one of my evening cup of Rooibos tea :)

xx

Photo a Day 11 June 2012

11 June 2012

Alice is very independent now and wants to feed herself all the time.  I must admit I did wonder how things would go when she had fromage frais yesterday, but she did so well! She finished the whole thing without spilling  any =)

xx