Grandma Days

We have started "Grandma Days" again, this time with my three year old granddaughter.  Grandma days are days you spend with grandma. There is no particular agenda, you just follow grandma around, doing or helping grandma do what grandma does.

This routine started with my oldest granddaughter years ago. Fridays was our day. Her mom would drop her off early in the morning, we would do a little housekeeping...she loved to dust, (I think it was more about the furniture spray than anything else) then she and I would do our errands. We would go to the thrift store, grocery shopping then lunch with Pop Pop, after all that running around we would go home take a nap...yes me too! The rest of the afternoon might be spent baking or gardening or playing. Sometimes it was just watching her run around the deck with her super hero cape flapping in the wind.

        This photo is of my oldest granddaughter helping make Christmas cookies when she was three

This granddaughter is now eleven and remembers those days, in fact it was her talking about it with her siblings that prompted the restarting of Grandma Days with the three year old.

I remember times spent with my own grandmother when I was small. I remember her flower gardens, the sweet rolls she tried to teach me how to make....I never did master them.  The mulberry tree she had in her yard, we picked the mulberries and she would make a pie. I used to look forward to our visits. I was eight when we moved away, visits were then limited to holidays after that...but we kept in touch  with letters and phone calls.

My own sons were able to see their grandparents more but, because my husband was military we were never able to live closer that four hours away, but we made the best of it, we were able to do vacations together, and made road trips for family events and traveled to see them on holidays. This is a photo of my mom and sons, from years ago, mom had come down for a special event my son had.

Technology can help the distance problem these days. There are things like Skype and Face Time where you can "see" your grandchildren everyday if you want. I have a friend who reads to her grandchildren most nights via Skype. I know it's not perfect, but I am thankful for the technology...helps me keep in touch with my out of town family.

Now we found out "Grandma Days" are a little more complicated now that there are four children. Hard to single one out for a "special" day and not include the others, so we came up with a solution. Little Miss spends the day, then we go back and pick up the two oldest after they get off from school and all three get to spend the night and the next day...Little Red still a little young, so she stays with mom.

We tried it this weekend....success. This photo taken at the local Gardens, we decided on a spur of the moment to go on a picnic because the day was so nice. Making the most of every opportunity.