Showing posts with label Grandma. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Grandma. Show all posts

Sunday, May 11, 2014

What we love about Grandma... for Mothers Day

For mothers day, we wanted to express our appreciation for Grandma Sharon. So here goes.

From Sylvia

I love grandma Sharon so much because you are the best grandma ever.
Grandma Sharon is lovely because she bakes cookies.
I remember playing with grandma Sharon when I was a baby
Grandma Sharon is the best grandma in my life
I love her so much and she has a nice hairstyle
I like talking to grandma Sharon on the iPad.

From Angela
As a very young child I lived with my mum Sharon, dad Gordon and my sister Deborah. My mother Sharon did a lot for me. She walked me to nursery, to speech therapy and church on Sundays. Sometimes on the way he we would stop at a bakery and get egg custards. Mum read to us all the time from ladybird books. She taught my sister and I to read. She did family home evenings and taught us basic gospel principles. At times my sister Deborah and I tried to surprise my mum. On one occasion we cut up red paper and put it all over the floor, we then hid behind the sofa and shouted, the lounge is on fire, when mum came in the room I shouted surprise, we are trying to trick you. We did the same with white paper pretending it was snow. I never realised that to my mum we were just making a huge mess. Deborah and I were excited when it was my mums birthday. We got some cocoa powder and margarine and put in into mums plastic bowl. We turned on the cooker and placed the bowl on the ring. Thinking mum would be excited  as we were making a cake, we ended up getting shouted at and sent to bed. The bowl and it's contents had melted all over the cooker. I felt so sad for upsetting mum and making her cry. Now as a grown up I can only imagine how I would have felt if my child Sylvia tried to cook a cake on her own. Not only would I have been upset about the mess, I would have been concerned about my child getting burnt. My mum used to take us to the park. We went on trips up the hill to fly kites and walks to the cemetery to look at family gravestones.

My mum sacrificed for me her whole life. She always looked after us and out meals on the table, she fought for me at school when I was bullied and stood up for me when children on the street for mean to me. My mother us always been an example of someone who loves the Saviour and has always taught us to keep the commandments and choose the right. As a teenager I wasn't always good and sometimes made my mum cry. I remember and regret this. She only ever cared and wanted what was best for me. My mum has always stayed active in the church and been a good example to me. She has set the example and taught me how to be a good mother. Mum was with me when I went through the temple for the first time. She helped to look after my daughter Sylvia when I became a mother and has always down everything she can to help me.

My mum is more than a mother to me, she is my one of my bests friends. I can talk to her about anything, my good times, my bad times, my happy times and my sad times. We do live far away form one another but with modern technology we can still communicate every few weeks and the best thing is that I know I am sealed to my mum. This means I can be with my mum and the rest of my family in the eternities and what more could I want than to be with my best friends (my family members forever).

THANKYOU mum for being you. I love you and happy Mother's Day.
Love your daughter Angela Key-Milnes

From Lily... 
Well she had nothing to say, but every time Grandma skypes her she has a big smile. She will love seeing Grandma later this month.

From Ella-Rose
What I love about Grandma
Her cuddles
I love her reading stories to me.
When she does puzzles with me.
I love playing with her.
Dancing with Grandma.

From Annamaria
I like Grandma because plays game with me. I liked baking a cake with her for aunty Ruth's birthday.

From Joseph
What I like about Grandma is that she takes me to the movies and we go to the park together. She comes and visits me in New Zealand.

From Joshua
I liked going to the Maritime museum with Grandma. I like playing skip-bo and going to the park with Grandma.


From Deborah
I love my mum. She is the person who has had the greatest influence on my life. From the moment she first held me in her loving arms I have felt her warm influence over me. I have very fond memories of growing up in our small house at Pinder Oaks Cottages. I remember she would have little classes in the evenings where she would teach us how to cook and how to sew. One time when it was her birthday and she was upset becase she did not have a birthday cake, Angela and I decided to make one for her. We placed a plastic bowl on the stove-top and turned the ring on, we added flour and sugar, and to make it chocolatey we added Nutella. Needless to say, the cake and bowl began to melt on the stove-top. I remember you were upset about what we did, but I remember you lovingly sat us down and explained that we needed to follow a recipe and measure out our ingredients.

When Angela and I would quarrel and get sent to bed we would sometimes write letters of apology and then sneak downstairs and try and post them under the lounge-room door. I remember how my mum would always take the time to talk to us, if we had been naughty or disobedient to explain why we should not behave in that way She would also spend a lot of time with us at bedtime. It was funny that even though we had all afternoon to spend with her, we would usually mostly want to talk with her at bedtime and tell her all about our day. I think sometimes we just wanted to stay with you that little bit longer son we would think of all the extra things we could talk about.

My mum was very patient. She was a great example to me for doing family history. I printed out a 7 generation pedigree chart last week and found that every person was present on both my mum and dad's side and I know a lot of that work is thanks to the diligent efforts of my mum. She is an inspiration to me and because of her ongoing interest in family history as well as the recent talk in general conference by Elder Quinten L. Cook, we have decided to make our home a 'Family History Centre' every Sunday afternoon.

My mum always took us to church. We used to walk through the graveyard to get to church and walking to church was a nice way for us to bond together as a family.

As I grew older she  supported me to play the flute and come to my concerts. You always helped me with my homework, ideas for my projects, and writing. But most importantly she taught me the gospel. She taught me how to pray and read scripture stories to us when we were little and helped us learn to read so that we could eventually read the scriptures for ourselves. She was an example of diligent service in the church, and was always active in callings in the primary, young womens or relief society as I was growing up. She always took us to church, no matter what, and the gospel just became a part of us. She taught us the gospel standards. She was a living example of her testimony of Jesus Christ. Always patient, kind and firm in the faith. These are the virtues that best describe my mum and that I try to cultivate so I can be more like her.

Although we were not rich in material things growing up, we were always richly encompassed by love, fun, and the gospel. I love you mum. You are an inspiration to me to be a good mum. Thank you for being equal to the task of being a great mother in Zion. xxxxxxxxxx


From Tane
Sharon has the kindest heart I have ever met. She is always thinking of others especially her children and now her grandchildren.
Thank you for being the best mother, grandma and mother-in-law. :) xxxxxx

Monday, February 11, 2013

L&P in Paeroa

Yesterday we went to Paeroa. Tane had to be dropped off with the army as he was going on an annual field exercise (which interpreted means 7 days of survival in the bush with not much to eat, no showers and sleeping under a tarpaulin which is  apparently called a hutchie, and then having to carry a 40kg pack and gun and ammo everywhere they trek, oh and dig their own toilets). Better him than me.

When we got to Paeroa I told the kids we had to buy some L&P. They were a little bewildered as they didn't know what this was and when we explained it stood for lemon and Paeroa, they wanted to know if it had actual dirt from Paeroa in it. Hopefully not! They all liked it and Josh stated "it is the only lemon soft drink that actually tastes like lemons".




Paeroa is where Tane's father Monty is from. I had never been before and it is such a magical little town, it would have been such a nice place to grow up. The kids had heaps of fun investigating all the antique shops... I have never seen so many antique shops along one little shopping strip... the kids loved looking at all the old-fashioned stuff - a mangle, a spindle, old fashioned sewing machines, record players, money, postcards, and best of all, old fashioned army relics like WWI metal helmets  and WWII German army berets, and a sword also caught their fancy.

We had lunch by the river, a beautiful spot. The kids collected drink cans for their scrap metal collection.
 If you are wondering what is wrong with Anna-Maria, she is enjoying being a tiger at the moment.


As we were sitting by the river having lunch, Ella-Rose says "stinky hot, stinky hot", her way of saying stinkin' hot. Her other funny thing she says is when she gets a prickle in her foot she complains, lifts her foot up saying 'spicy, spicy.'

We went to the cemetery to try and find Tane's grandparents grave. There is something sacred about walking through a cemetery  As I read the names of those who had passed on, it always makes me emotional to think of the pain on the passing of these loved ones. After searching for about half an hour we found the grave of Tane's grandparents Herbert Brunt and Lucy Brunt (nee Pakinga). We realised it was a week before the anniversary of his Grandfather's passing, and that he had passed away when Tane was 12 days old. What a sweet day it will be in the Resurrection when they will get to meet each other again.



We dropped Tane off to be taken down to Waiouru for another grueling week and drove back home. Joshua really made my day in the evening. We got home late, at twenty to eight. I fixed them dinner while the boys read, and the girls had their bath. We started eating dinner and Joshua was about to ask me something, then he said 'oh no you're feeding Lily". So I asked him what he wanted... a fork. I showed him I had already brought them to the table. Then he hugged me and said "oh mum you're a brick". It was so sweet.

If you're wondering why he would call me a brick... well after reading a number of classics with the kids... in particular 'The Railway Children' and 'Narnia', they have heard the word a few times, and now it seems it has worked it's way into his own vocabulary. The amazing thing to me is that they can remember the precise point in the story where and by whom this is said. I can't... must be showing my age.

A few other things that must be said. Thanks Mum and Dad (Grandma and Grandpa Key) for the trampoline. It is just the best present. I can't keep the kids off it.



Today I asked Josh to put the clean washing away... kids catch on quick..."I can't, it's Sunday'. Oh well will wait till Monday... its just 1 sleep away.

Sunday, June 12, 2011

Grandma's visit

It was really nice to have grandma come and visit us this week. She was only here for 2 whole days, but we made the most of it. We went to the park so the children could show grandma their tricks on their bikes.
The kids were pretty sad to see her go. She went on the ferry on Friday morning after taking the kids to school. When I picked Josh up from school he was upset still and missing her already.


I'm still a few kilos heavier than the 3 kids combined. Maybe when Ella-Rose is old enough to sit on here we will balance.