Friday's Fave Five - 14/4/23

Friday's Fave Five is hosted by Susanne here.

Susanne reminds us each Friday to look back on the week and think about the good things that have happened.

Well it's been a busy but good week here.

1)  We hosted my son's in-laws from Vermont here from Wednesday of last week until today.  They stay with us as my son's flat isn't big enough for them to stay there so we've seen a lot of our son, his wife and Rory and Vinny over the last week or so - even having them staying overnight several times.  I'm thankful that we have a big enough house to be able to do this.

2)  Good weather over the Easter weekend.  

3)  A nice evening out on Wednesday - our guests insisted on taking us out for a meal as a thank you for hosting them.  We just went to one of our local pubs but the food was really good and we had a nice evening.

4)  Ella seems to be getting over another virus of some sort.  She was quite unwell at the weekend but she didn't get wheezy as she has done before and although she's still coughing a bit she's definitely getting better.  

5)  Hubby has got his new hearing aids which are stronger than his old ones so he's hearing better.  Less shouting for me to do lol.

My son's in-laws are lovely and really easy to host but of course you don't really relax when you're hosting visitors so I've been glad of a quiet day today - our guests left early this morning and although my son worked here until lunchtime and my daughter was working here all day I've been able to just relax all day.

I hope to get around to catching up on blogs and responding to comments over the weekend.

A - Z Challenge 2023 - L is for Love

Please check out the April Blogging from A to Z Challenge
#AtoZChallenge
a-to-zchallenge.com

This year I'm writing about things connected with Being a Grandparent.  For an introduction to my grandchildren check out my theme reveal here.

Our capacity to love is a wonderful thing.

Having gone from 1 grandchild in 2017 to having 3 by mid 2018 and then 6 by the end of 2020 I am amazed at my ability to love them all.

Of course there are times when they frustrate me, same as my own kids did.  There are also times when they make me angry but always the love is there.  And it's unconditional.  

I've been asked if I feel the same love for Ella as there is no biological link with her (my daughter carried Nathan, her wife carried Ella) and my response was of course I do - she's my granddaughter! Why would I not love her?  Or love her any less?  I liken that to would I love their children if they were adopted?  Of course I would.

There are no limits on our ability to love.

A - Z Challenge 2023 - K is for Knitting

Please check out the April Blogging from A to Z Challenge
#AtoZChallenge
a-to-zchallenge.com

This year I'm writing about things connected with Being a Grandparent.  For an introduction to my grandchildren check out my theme reveal here.

I haven't done a lot of knitting for my Grandchildren but they have all had a blanket made for them.

This tradition started when I knew my daughter was expecting Nathan.  I decided to knit a blanket for the baby.  Of course I didn't choose an easy granny square crochet blanket I chose a complicated knitted blanket.  

The centre square was fairly straightforward

But the panels around the edge were very hard.  I was glad to discover the use of a lifeline row in knitting because there were lots of mistakes made and I had to keep going back over the work.

And then of course Nathan decided to make an early appearance so the blanket wasn't even finished when he was born but I finished it fairly soon after.

Having made a blanket for Nathan it started the tradition but of course next time around I had two blankets to make.  Matt and Amy announced they were expecting and then Michael and Elizabeth announced they were expecting too and the babies were due within a few weeks of each other.  As it turned out there is only 2 weeks between Noah and Rory.

I opted for a slightly easier blanket but it still took a while to get them done especially when I realised that the edging was going to take almost as long as the main part of the blanket to knit!

By the time I was on my third round of blankets and needing 3 blankets as there are only 2 months between Vinny, Miles and Ella I'd opted for a much simpler design and they're not as big!

This is Miles with his blanket.  I couldn't find pictures of the ones I did for Vinny and Ella but hers was in different shades of pink - we knew she was going to be a girl.

My latest project, a knitted pig for Ella, is almost finished and I do have another blanket on the go.  Not sure who will get that one but with our extended family there are bound to be more babies coming along at some point.

A - Z Challenge 2023 - J is for Joy

Please check out the April Blogging from A to Z Challenge
#AtoZChallenge
a-to-zchallenge.com

This year I'm writing about things connected with Being a Grandparent.  For an introduction to my grandchildren check out my theme reveal here.

My Grandchildren certainly bring me Joy!  But it's also lovely to see the joy they bring to other people sometimes.  I prepared my previous A-Z posts back in March but this post was only put together a couple of days ago.

We're currently hosting our younger son's In-Laws from America with us.  They only get to see Rory and Vinny a couple of times a year and of course with the pandemic those visits were even more restricted. But anyway they're here at the moment and watching the joy on their faces when they're with the boys and also the joy on the Grandson's faces when they get to see them is such a pleasure.

Especially as they move through the various phases of growing up.  Those first few weeks as newborns and then the first of all their milestones - the first smile, the first tooth, the first steps, the first word and so on.  All such joyous moments although of course some of those can fade quite quickly - the first tooth is such an event but it usually comes with a few sleepless nights.  The first step may be long anticipated and wanted but then you realise they don't stay put any longer and will probably be up the stairs before you can blink or they have worked out how to get down again.  Talking can become incessant but of course we wouldn't change anything as Grandparents.  It's fascinating watching them develop into their own little personalities too.  And of course getting photos of them enjoying theirselves.

Noah, Nathan & Rory on a pantomime trip

Vinny with some favourite things

Ella enjoying the snow

Miles enjoying his scooter

I hope you're feeling the joy.