Grandma & Me: Celebrating My Grandchildren’s Birthdays

Waaaaay back in March my children and grandchildren came to live with my husband and I during the lockdown.  They arrived the day before the first lockdown started and stayed for three months.  The main reason they did this was because they live in a small apartment in the Chicago area and both parents had to teach from home once quarantine began.  They did not have any Internet service to teach on-line, and even if they did, trying to teach in a bedroom with two loud small children crying or screaming nearby was not practical.  So, they came to my house which not only had lots of room to teach on-line without being disturbed, but also fast 5G Internet.  There were other motivations to quarantining with us too:  a large home with a large backyard is far more tolerable than a small apartment if you're not allowed to leave your home for months.  Having Grandpa and Grandma around is also less lonely than being alone for three months as well.  

We made so many memories while they were here.  It was fun to have them so long, but it was also difficult at times with so many more mouths to feed and the constant mess toddler's bring to a home.  Between spending 6 to 8 hours a day in the garden, then coming in to the house to do dishes and cook supper for six, I was starting to grow tired, so once Ashley & Jason's on-line teaching commitments ended they returned home.  They left last Saturday for their home in Illinois, but they won't be there long because Jason got a new job!  He was hired to be the principal of a Christian school in Indiana!  They have three weeks to pack up in Illinois before they move to Indiana.  We were so happy Jason got a great new job and a wage increase.  We were also happy they could finally leave the state of Illinois.  Now they are hoping that they can finally stop renting and afford a home of their own next year.  

They are moving to a suburb of the Indianapolis area.  It will only add about another two hours to our drive to see them now, so that's ok.  We don't think the longer distance will change the time we usually spend together at all. However, because we just spent three long months with them in our home, we decided we would not drive to Illinois to celebrate their birthdays and we had a small private birthday party for them before they left.

We purchased the most delicious chocolate cupcakes and I put  1 candle in Atticus' cupcake for his first birthday, and 3 candles in Alethea's cupcake for her 3rd birthday.

For each grandchild I made a handmade card.

Alethea's card was made from an old digital image I had already sitting on my desk.  I did the card in all different shades of pink because that's her favorite color!

Atticus' card was made using a vintage retired stamp set from Crafty Secrets called "Birthday Kids".

I stamped confetti on the card base then repeated the confetti design by cutting out some confetti pieces using my Cuttlebug Machine and a die.  The balloon is stamped twice, cut out, then popped up on dimensionally.  I also stamped the number "1" and the ice cream cone onto separate card stock, then cut them out and glued them to the card.

The children loved their handmade cards.  Of course Atticus wanted to peel everything off right away.

I love the smile on Alethea's face as she "reads" her card.

One of the activities Alethea and I did together while she stayed with me during lockdown was to watch the Barbie show on Netflix.  The new show has come a long way since the Barbie of my generation.  It is more diverse and less focused on material things and appearance and more focus is on good values.  For her birthday, I bought Alethea her very first Barbie doll so she would always remember all the special times we had watching the show together.

Alethea was so excited to get her doll.  She recognized Barbie immediately!

For Atticus' birthday Ashley ordered a wooden push toy from Amazon.  He absolutely loved it!

Of course Jackson had to come and see what all the excitement was about too!

Finally I will leave you with this adorable video of my grandson eating sweets for the first time.  He was so excited.  He kept jumping to try to move his chair to get to the cupcake.  He is so cute!

Have A Great Day!  Amy

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