Playdough, Crayons, and Grandma

By the time I finish writing this, I'll surely need to change the title to 'Grandma, Playdough, and Crayons'...but for now

Let me start by updating you with the latest wacky-nature phenomenon Cypress found (that's her thumb below).  Remember the lovely orange Ladybird eggs from previous blog?  Well, the orange eggs are now empty white shells, and there are numerous aphids doing what appears to be 'devouring' the eggs.  NOT what we expected, nor have we had time to research. That's because we quickly rushed off to spend the day at Grandma's house.....though she goes by 'Gran'

My children LOVE their Gran, who is my husbands mum, aka: my 'mum in law'.  We moved from America to England simply to be near the children's last remaining Grandparents.

It's that simple.

I'm often asked ''why did you move here?'' (that's because my very thick country-bumpkin accent of someone who was raised in the Honey Island Swamps of Louisiana, USA sort of gives it away that I'm not from England)

And whilst I will often respond with ''I moved here for the lovely English sweeties!''......we really moved here to be near the elders.

My own parents had died way before I met my husband and had children. So this decision to move to England from America was a natural next step.

At the time we moved, both my children's Gran and Grandad were still alive and full of hugs.  Since being here, we've sadly lost their Grandad, but their Gran still lives near-enough by and LOVES her Grandchildren.  And her Grandchildren (and us!) love her in return.

I won't deny that it's been difficult at times, because, quite honestly, my mum-in-law is very aged and has LOTS of ''conflicting'' comments about home-educating.  I've learned over the years to just let the comments simply bounce off of my 'Home Education ROCKS!' shield, and to get on with it.  Sometimes I become defiant. Sometimes I bounce back a few facts and figures that prove Home Education is NORMAL, and school is Weird....but, in the big scheme of things....it's not important.

Today, as a family, we piled in to the car and drove to Gran's house
Their Gran opened the door of her large home, (that must feel extra-large to someone who lives there by themselves like she does)......and had the biggest hugs for my children....her grandchildren.  She always has big hugs for her grandchildren.  She also always has lots of sweeties, and lots of stories about the 'old days' and also lots of 'advice' from someone who lived through 'the war'.  She also has a small set of toys that are always there. The same toys, in the same spot.  My children gravitate towards these lovely toys they associate with 'Grans' house, and, unlike at their own home, they always put these toys away properly before leaving. They have a lot of respect for their elder Gran.

When they become teenagers, they likely will have little patience for ''going to Grans house'', but that's a long way off.  At least for my youngest.  My 18 year old is going through the stage of ''I LOVE my Gran, but visiting her is BORING''.

In case you're wondering how the heck Playdough and Crayons fit in to all this.

My mum-in-law gave us the usual ''goodie bag'' of odd things she is sorting through but was going to throw away. She always gives me this bag of 'oddities', because she knows I'll find a way to turn 'trash to treasure'.  In today's goodie-bag, there were two packs of 24-count crayons she had found in a drawer, and an unusual toy of things (feet, hands, ears, nose, hat) that you stick in to Playdough to create 'Playdough Things'

When we got home, my girls took straight away to colouring, whilst my son took straight away to pestering me to 'Make Playdough'.  SO, I mixed flour/salt/tartar/oil/water in to some dough......added some food colouring and 'essential oil', and Voila! instant playdough.







I'm convinced that my mum-in-law is going to outlive all of us.........at least I hope so.  She's a right pain-in-the-arse sometimes, but she's the elder.  The Gran! the last remaining.  And, quite simply, we love her.

I'll end my sappy-moment with a picture of a lovely gift my children gave their Gran last year.  They took some of their drawings of Happy-Things (they have LOTS!), and rolled them in to paper-beads.  Then strung the paper-beads on to a necklace with other beads they decided were  'perfect' - turning it in to a 'Necklace for Gran'.  I know Mothers Day and Mothering Sunday have passed, but am posting here in case an elder's birthday or other special day is coming up and you look for inspiration.