We've just said good bye to my mum and dad, Vera's grandparents or "momma" and "moffa" as she calls them. They were her for a week and it was so lovely to have them! They arrived on Friday 29th from Stockholm and got the train from Manchester.
We had a relaxing evening catching up before Vera's 4th birthday on the Saturday. As Vera likes her sleep, we actually woke her up in the morning singing Happy Birthday and with a birthday tray, as is customary in our family. She opened a few presents and then went downstairs to find her big birthday present, a new bike!
She spent the morning cycling round and round our drive. Unfortunately, our road is too steep to cycle on, but later on in the week, momma and moffa took Vera to the park for some more practice.
Moffa spent the day baking, buns and Vera's birthday cake for Vera's birthday party. Jacquie popped in with a present and for some catch up and later on in the afternoon we had such a lovely surprise when Ana, Mark, Ariane and Nathaniel came to see us for some cake and catch up! Great to see them as always and to hear all the stories from Cambridge.
Vera got so many presents from generous family and friends - she really is a very lucky girl.
On the Sunday, it was time for Vera's party. Only two hours, but lots of planning in the background by yours truly. I know in Swedish terms this all seems insane, especially for a bunch of four-year olds, but seems to me more or less the norm here.
We've been to so many parties during this last year, for friend's from Vera's nursery and so on, that it feels only right to invite everyone back. This resulted in 17 (yes seventeen) kids on the invitee list.
I rented a function room in a local church, with lots of space for the children to run around and I also splashed out on an entertainer doing music for all the children, the wonderful Anne from Rattle and Roll.
It was two intense hours, where moffa's baking was very well received by the mums and dads (who stay for the whole event) and finished off by Olaf coming to say hello to all the children.
After all this, we deserved an Indian take away and had a relaxed evening.
On the Monday night, when the weather was a rainy and blustery 9 degrees, mum and I headed off to Sheffield Motorpoint Arena to see Take That. My treat to her. The arena was full of 13,000 middle aged women, and us ;-)
I'm not a huge fan or anything, but just from listening to the radio, I knew about 80% of the songs. Regardless, it was a fantastic stage show, with acrobats, fire, bikes you name it and a very slick band. All in all an enjoyable night though and a memory for me and mum!
Dad always wants to eat fish and chips when he's here, so we went to a lovely pub called Cricket Inn, in Totley, right on the edge of the Peak District where we had a lovely meal.
As Mark and I had to work most of the week, momma, moffa and Vera played, went to the park and went for a bus trip to Chatsworth. On Wednesday night, Mark and I got a rare night out and went for a meal in the newly opened Brocco on the Park, followed by a few drinks in the Lescar pub.
On Thursday, our last day together, I had a half day and in the afternoon we all went off to Kelham Island Museum. I wanted to show this part of Sheffield, and the museum in particular, to mum and dad, as it focuses on Sheffield's Industrial past, steel and cutlery making and hard, hard lives.
We also got to see one of the largest remaining steam engines run, which was a particular favourite of dad's.
As the weather got gradually better during the week, we were lucky enough to be able to have a Pimms and a BBQ and a great time together!
As always, a week goes too fast, but Vera greatly enjoyed spending so much quality time with momma and moffa, and if course them being here for her birthday!
