Grandchildren are a gift of joy.
Tinker Bell Room
When our oldest grandchildren were small we made a room in our home for them called the Tinkerbell Room.
It was their bedroom. We put in bunk beds for them.
We had their own toy closet with toys that just stayed at Grandma and Grandpa’s home. When we bought them toys, those toys stayed with us. That way when they came to our home, there were new fresh things to play with.
We had clothes for them at our home. When we bought them clothes they stayed in our home so there were new clothes to wear. They had pajamas and shoes, etc. How many times are the grandchildren dropped off with the wrong kind of shoes for the activity you have planned. This way we were ready.
We had their grooming supplies. Hairbrushes, ribbons and barrettes, toothbrushes and toothpaste.
This was a special place for them to be.
When we went to their home we took a theme for the night.
One night we had the theme of circus. We read circus books, we bought an elephant shaped grinder where we put the raw peanuts in his hat and peanut butter came out a pouch. We made popcorn, and did acrobatics and tumbling. It was a grand night.
We took them to fun places but they will be the first to tell you that they liked staying at their home with us or our home with them and the memories they made.
Pictures in a Book
One day we met their parents somewhere and took the children for a couple hours. We had a picnic and took pictures of them in many different poses. I had written a children’s book about grandchildren spending the day with grandma and searching for Joy. They children thought they were looking for a child named Joy, but grandma knew of a different type of Joy they would find in playing together.
The original book was made with pictures of the children cut out and hugging an appliqued tree or sitting by an appliqued pond and climbing an appliqued mountain.
Santa, (Jim) presented it to the children on Christmas Eve. Later my niece who is an artist illustrated the book and it is now available on Amazon and is called Find Joy.
Build our homestead with our grandchildren in mind.
Build a fairy forest in the food forest
Build an animal area filled with fun gates and fences and houses that look whimsical.
Board games that are big enough for the children to be the pieces.
Make a room to call their own.
Build a tree house or club house where they can hide out.
Teach them to grow.
Teach them to preserve food.
Teach them to care for animals.
The list is limitless and our imagination is running wild with the ideas we can do with our grandchildren on our new homestead.