Dylan update – Easter Egg Hunt on Easter Sunday 2014

I thought you might like to enjoy my grandson’s Easter Egg Hunt yesterday…

Dylan update – a trip to the park.

Last Friday, before it got really hot, we took Dylan to the park to play football and to see all the exciting things there are for our amusement.  As well as the beautiful areas of grass and trees, there is a Discovery Centre where the children can learn about bees and flowers.

Here he is, walking with his granddad, past the cactus house.

We explored the gardens where there are lots of vegetables and herbs. The smells in there are incredible!

It wasn’t long before we got thirsty and then Dylan saw a sign…

Glad of a sit down, we bought coffee and ice cream and then had a rest before finishing our explorations.

Then one last go on the slide before it was time to leave…

Dylan update – 18th April 2013

Here is my little grandson Dylan, on the couch with his two cousins. Trouble brewing for the future, don’t you think? They look like three mischievous amigos, don’t they! Dylan is the one in the middle. Archie is on the left and Alfie on the right.

Playing with friends and family is so important when you’re young, right? I am an only child so like Dylan, I played a lot with my cousins.  Only thing was, my cousins were nearly all in Holland. I had to wait for the school holidays before I could see them. I had one cousin in England. His name is John. I didn’t see him all that often, but when I did, I remember my little Nanna giving us both treacle sandwiches. John loved those.

Dylan is a good organiser. He likes to boss me around, when I let him! He is particularly fond of Peppa Pig fromage frais (it’s a sort of yoghurt in case you didn’t know). The other day when he came here for lunch, I had run out of those. The cupboard was bare. He looked at me, frowned and said ‘Oma, you go to Sainsbury’s and buy some more.’ I think he was expecting me to go straight away.

I replied: ‘I’ve got a better idea; you go on your car and get some yourself!’ He liked that idea and got on his car straight away. I gave him an old receipt to use as a parking ticket and off he went, trundling round the downstairs of the cottage as fast as he could go.

We have such fun together.

Here he is doing what most men do on Sundays – cleaning his car.

And after all that work – a nice hot bath with lots of bubbles… oooh

Easter Treats

Yesterday was a wonderful day, here in the cottage.  On Saturday night we put the clocks forward. Yes I know what you’re thinking, but we’re always a little later here in England. The lady vicar at church was very accommodating and put the service forward an hour so it started at 10 a.m. instead of 9 a.m. I was grateful for that.  The Easter Service was wonderful, with a full church and hardly any spaces. This was achieved by combining the early morning service with the late morning service so we got to meet lots of people we didn’t usually get to see on a weekly basis.

The Easter Treats above are called ‘Crispy Crackles’. I’ll be posting the recipe soon.

How did you spend your Easter Day?  Was it joyful?

I’d like to leave you today with an invitation. Click on this link and come on an Easter Egg Hunt with my little grandson, Dylan and his Grandad.

Happy Easter! from Oma

Dylan update = cooking with Oma.

This is my grandson Dylan last Friday. We did cooking. Here he is waiting for me to fill his bowl with flour. He added the egg himself and did most of the mixing. He made some lovely fairy cakes.  Unfortunately I can’t show them to you because they got eaten too quickly.

Dylan is a very sociable little boy.  He likes to be doing something all the time, sometimes two things at once! and he talks non-stop all day long.

Please notice my nice new floor. This is its first viewing after being replaced.  Do you remember I told you that it became 80% saturated after a series of leaks under the sink? Thank the Lord we were insured so the work was done for us and they even managed to find the same cushion-flooring that we had down before.  I was glad about that because it took me ages to choose it and I didn’t feel like going through all that again.

News! I have news about my American cat Millie.  Millie will be coming to live with me here in England on April 10th! Her flight is booked and she will be travelling alone so I will go down to Heathrow to meet her there. I’m sure she will appreciate a friendly voice after her long flight. I haven’t told my English cat Patch yet!

Even better news is that my dh L will be coming over himself in the Autumn to see if he can become accustomed to living here with our grey skies and rain showers. He is currently in the process of sorting out all his stuff.  Of course it is a massive undertaking and all will depend on when and if he gets a settlement visa but I’m looking on the positive side and keeping my fingers crossed.

So this will be a very busy year for me.

I’m on daffodil watch at the moment. So far there are no daffodils blooming in my garden. It’s just been too cold but this week the weather is set to change so I am hopeful. Today was a lovely, warm(ish) Spring day and everybody felt much better for it.

How is the weather in your neck of the woods?

Oma

Getting through the day – remembering.

This is a picture of my grandson Dylan and me in the park recently. It looks simple, doesn’t it, but really it’s anything but!

As I get older, I find I have to think more about those simple tasks that get me through the day. I don’t just do them anymore, I think them through so that I don’t have to make too many journeys up and down the stairs or in and out of the fridge etc. For example:

When I get up in the morning, at 6.30 a.m (I’m an early riser, even though I don’t have to be!), it starts off a chain of events, which I need to do in the right order. I get out of bed, visit the bathroom and empty my hot water bottle. Since I sleep alone here, I need that every night during the winter and my cat Patch appreciates it too! Return to the bedroom, put on slippers and dressing gown and get tablets out of the cupboard ready to take with my first cup of tea. Then I go downstairs, taking care not to trip over the cat on the way down. The cottage is still cold at this point. Outside it is dark outside. First thing I do is turn up the heating.

Now begins the kitchen ritual. I get two cups off the dresser, add teabag and milk, fill kettle, switch on, then trot around all the rooms opening curtains. By the time I’ve done that, the kettle has boiled.

I fill mugs and leave to stand and brew. Next I cut a large slice of toast bread and put under the grill. While that is cooking, I fetch butter and marmalade out of the cupboard and put on the side ready. By now the cat is weaving in and out of my legs miaowing. I get her bowl and the tin of cat meat out of the fridge. Fill bowl, watch toast, put bowl down, pick up water (I do this to save too many stoopings down). Change water and put yesterday’s food dish in sink to soak. It’s just like an assembly line.

When the toast is done, remove from grill, turn off grill, put toast on plate and butter. Take teabags out of mugs and discard. Put mugs on tray. Return to toast and add marmalade. Get biscuit out of tin for J.

So now I’m winning! The tea is made, toast and biscuit done, heating on, cat fed. Hooray!

I return upstairs with tray complete with goodies being very careful to negotiate the children’s stair-gate, cat and dressing gown dangling down by my ankles.

If I get to the top unscathed, I give J his tea and biscuit, open his curtains and say ‘good morning’. Then I return to my own cosy nest to drink my tea, eat my toast, take my tablets and read my book for half an hour. I’m not being lazy – I am waiting for the house to warm up. It takes half an hour, then I can go and get washed and dressed.

And all of that before 7.30 a.m.

Getting back to my grandson, I looked at that photo and realised what we had to do to get to that point of enjoyment. It was a similar sequence of events. It took time and thought and planning. I have to take an emergency bag in case of accidents (you can’t see that in the picture). I have to remember his gloves, hat, boots and hanky.

And so it goes on all through the day and as I get older, it gets harder, harder to remember, harder to do. I don’t really know why, it just does!

I suppose it will get even harder as I get older. I might reach for the tablets and find I’ve run out or find the stairs are hurting my knees. Those are the sorts of things I worry about now. I am not really a worrier but every now and then I stop and think.

Does all this sound familiar to you?

Dylan in the snow!

As you might know it snowed over here bigtime yesterday! The Welsh people got it worst, followed by the poor people in the South West and then us in the South East.

However, not everybody disliked it! You can tell from the look on my grandson Dylan’s face, that he had a great time. He is eating a gingerbread man whilst learning how to throw snowballs. This picture was taken on the field near his home, by his daddy and has captured the moment perfectly, don’t you think!

His joy was unbounded however because his mum bought him a sledge too. Here he is on it:

…still holding the gingerbread man!

All this after an exciteable day at my house. He was so excited by the snow he could hardly contain himself, asking me ‘when was the snowman coming’ because he’s been watching Raymond Briggs ‘Snowman’ over the Christmas Holiday.

If you haven’t seen it, here’s a short clip:

So today we still have lots of snow and more to come tomorrow. Dylan will be having more fun I think!

Don’t you just wish you were two year’s old again? I know I do…..

Have a great Sunday whatever you do people.

Dylan update

This is my grandson Dylan’s favourite ‘sniff’. He’s called Lamby and he’s a sheep, in case you were wondering.  Every now and then he needs a wash! and an iron! He looks a bit worried, doesn’t he?

Dylan has a sleep-over at the cottage ever now and then. Here we are testing the water for his bath.

The weather has turned colder in the last few days and it’s set to turn even colder tomorrow. We might even get down to minus 10 deg.s C., which is too cold. I am down to going out only when I have to. The rest of the time I prefer to stay in the cottage where it’s nice and warm and cosy.

Best of all I like to curl up on the sofa, under a blanket and watch a nice film. Like this:

How are you spending your winter days?

Time to send Christmas cards and decorate the tree.

Yesterday, being Friday, was a good day for Dylan to help me with the decorating of our Christmas tree. Although he didn’t really feel very well, he was very helpful, unpacking all the baubles for me and putting them on the tree, very carefully. When it was finished, it looked very nice. He has already decorated his own tree at home so you could call him experienced!

 

With help, Dylan was able to put the star on the top too!

…and after all that work, he got to choose a special biscuit.

The cards are quickly filling up the window ledges…

and the dresser …

and I am looking forward to the festivities to come and to sharing them with you too.

I’d love to know how your preparations are going?

Oma

Dylan Update – November 2012

Last week my friend and I took my grandson Dylan to the local park. He likes it there! He especially likes the train.  He’s a good poser isn’t he!

Next he strode off to investigate the climbing apparatus.  There is a special floor in the playground, designed to be a little bouncy – just in case they fall off – God forbid!!! Managed to get his gloves on – finally!

He climbed up the steps quickly, but when he got to the top he didn’t fancy the rope bridge!

Next we went into the museum. I’ve been going in there all of my life.  By coincidence we happened upon toddlers’ hour so Dylan was allowed to do some drawing in one of the exhibition rooms.

He really wanted to find a dinosaur and although we looked and looked, we didn’t find one that day. Maybe next time. Please excuse the photo quality. They were taken on a mobile phone.

We had such a lovely time in the park and in the museum that on the way home in the car ‘we’ fell asleep!

Back at the cottage we had fish fingers and chips for dinner and then watched Ben and Holly’s Magic Kingdom.