Weekly Video

We hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! We sure did! No snow Christmas morning but before the afternoon was over it was starting to snow....and didn't stop snowing until Sunday evening. I think we ended up with 8-9 inches.

I'm not sure why I bother wrapping all Grant's gifts....he was not interested in unwrapping them.....maybe next year. Grant seemed to enjoy his gifts. He was a little unsure what was going on as when he went to bed there was nothing under the tree and then when he came downstairs there were a bunch of gifts under the tree. He did open a few gifts early - one being his new sunglasses. We can't go anywhere without his sunglasses or his phone. Since we can't seem to get him to talk I think we are going to try texting him....

You can't really tell by this video but for Christmas Eve we open on package which is always new pajamas. This year I decided we would do an orange and blue theme....so Grant has his orange and blue sport pjs on and we had Florida gator gear to wear.

Weekly Video

Merry Christmas!

Video

So it has been a couple weeks since my last post (so this is your warning...it is a long video). It is amazing how little one gets done with an active two year old around. But it is pretty funny to watch him grow and develop. Lately he has been fascinated with a few things - turning the lights on and off, his sunglasses, our new train, and our old cell phones (which are now his toys). I really should say he loves "his" cell phone. He will sit and play with it for 20 minutes at a time.

A few weeks ago we participated in a local parade. You will see Grant dressed in his "tooth" outfit at the end of the video...ready to hand out toothbrushes and toothpaste.

Oh and Grant has discovered his back pockets...so if there is no back pocket to the pants he is wearing he just sticks his hand down his pants...nice!

Weekly video

Hopefully everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Home Improvements

Some of you know how talented my husband is at his day job...but what some of you may not know is how talented he is at his "side" jobs! Check out the recent home improvement project - crown moulding.

BEFORE PICTURES

Master Bedroom

Entry

Living Room

AFTER PICTURES

Master Bedroom

Living room


Entry

Check out the new door frame....I love it!

Going Upstairs

Nate did a WONDERFUL job! Thanks honey!!

Weekly post

No video this week. I realized late last week that I hadn't taken any pictures or videos....so we went to the park one evening and got some photos. Here are those pictures.

Weekly video

Lots of fun this past week. Grant got to dress up again in his halloween costume - Superman. He enjoyed running around in it. We also went to a couple different play gyms last week. He seemed to enjoy both but I can tell his favorite is the one with the trampolines. I think Santa might be bringing him a trampoline for Christmas...if he is good!

Have a great week.

Weekly video

O'k so this is really a two week video...I'm a little behind.

Grant loves to watch the washer & dryer and he also loves playing in Baxter's crate....honestly he goes in there himself!

We went to a Halloween party yesterday - so Grant got to try out his costume. He cried at first but then seemed to enjoy it.

Adventures in the basement

A week ago we had the boys over again...and here they are playing the basement.

Sorry to Caleb and Dallin's family for exposing them to Barney.

Someone has been a good boy.

Check out the "Good Boy" Sticker Chart. I actually took it down and replaced it with a new sheet a couple weeks ago. Notice how similar stickers have be lined up like a train.

Sadly the sticker chart may come to an end....as Grant has decided that the stickers don't really need to go on the chart anymore. His new favorite place to put stickers is on Baxter's tail....

Top 5

This is a face of a top 5 finalist in the cutest dog contest. Please vote for Baxter at: http://www.centralillinoisnewscenter.com/younews/63119517.html?contest=learn

Thanks

Melissa

Weekly Video

I didn't take too many pictures this past week. So the video is mainly from our trip to the farm/orchard.

Have a great week!

Big Boy Stats

Here are the stats from today's doctor appointment:

Height 35.5 inches (75%)
Weight 29 lbs 15 ounces (75%)
Head Circumference 54 cm (off the chart)

What a big guy!

Birthday Week

And the adventures continue....

Growing dirt

For about a year now I've said we have been growing dirt (and weeds) in our front flower bed as we never did anything with it. In just one day that all changed! I wish I had a "before" picture...but just imagine the photo below without anything....except dirt and dead weeds.

Happy Birthday to

Grant!

Grant turned 2 today. Here are some pictures from his birthday party yesterday. We celebrated with Caleb as his birthday was on Sunday. When I catch up on my videos I'll post Grant with his new slide....lots of fun!!

What a great birthday party...two birthday boys...yet there were three cakes! Check out those race car cakes!!

Happy Birthday Sweetheart!!

Bath Fun!

The other night these two had quite a time in the bathroom. I think Baxter was just trying to lick some water off the edge of the tub and knocked the towel and soap in the tub....and for some reason Grant thought it was REALLY funny.

Family Fun

Recently we had some family visit us. Here is a video of what we did during those couple of weeks. We had a wonderful time!

Top Ten

Top Ten Ways Motherhood Make You A Celebrity
(from Parenting magazine)

1. Someone's always hounding you for your autograph. Even if it's just on a permission slip for the class trip to the recycling center.

2. You travel with an entourage. Okay, so two of them are fighting over a bag of Doritos and one of them has a crusty nose, but STILL.

3. You spend your days club-hopping. How else would your kids get to Brownies?

4. You're front and center at every awards show. Because your 10-year-old would never forgive you for being absent when he wins the school carnival karaoke contest.

5. You change clothes three times a day. And it's much more fun if you pretend it's because you're being stalked by the paparazzi, not a messy toddler.

6. You're on a spa diet. Your kids only leave broccoli on their plates for you.

7. You've flashed your boobs in public. Hey, it's not easy to juggle a hungry baby in one hand and unhook a nursing bra with the other!

8. People beg to sleep with you. Well, only because there's a monster under their bed.

9. You're covered in tattoos that your kid got in a birthday-party goody bag and plastered on you when you were too pooped to resist.

10. Hassled as you feel right now, in 20 years you'll miss all the chaos.

Friends!

Here are some photos from a couple weeks ago when Grant was over at Caleb's house playing.

Thanks Carrie for the photos!

Good Boy = Stickers

For months I've been saving stickers I get in the mail for Grant. But Grant doesn't really like to have stickers on him or his clothing. So I decided to make him a "good boy sticker sheet". When he is a good boy he gets a sticker to add to his sheet on the wall. Here is a picture of his sticker sheet...this is day 2. I kind of went overboard the first day trying to get him use to the idea....now 5 days later he completely understands. When you tell him he has been a good boy he runs over to the sticker sheet and point to the shelf where the stickers are kept. I think I'll be hitting the dollar store soon for more stickers.


Here is Grant in action getting his sticker and he generally says "yea" after he put it on the paper and claps. It is very cute!

Go Away!

Don't you just want to say that to some visitors (non-human of course)? We said that last night to one of our visitors! Everyone was settled in bed last night and the dogs started barking (around 10:30pm). First Nate got up to check on them and then I followed. As I approached the laundry room I heard Nate say "No Way" and I immediately thought one of the dog had gotten sick all over the floor. As I stepped closer Nate said "Say back - there is a big snake in the house".....which then almost made me get sick all over the floor. I then thought "oh my gosh he is going to eat my Bugsy...get him out of there!" We got both dogs out and located the snake behind the washer and dryer. Where are the snake catching tools when you need them? Well after trying to figure out what to do - Nate said he would probably have to kill the snake. Oh no! Not that I was opposed to that idea....I was opposed to cleaning up that mess. Finally I thought of Animal Control. An hour later the snake was in a pillow case and out of our house.

Back to bed for everyone (lucky Grant slept through the whole thing)....but I couldn't go back to sleep for several hours just thinking about the snake and what if he had friends!

Here is a picture of our 4ft visitor:



We think with all our landscaping he came into the garage while it was open most of the day yesterday and then crawled in under the door leading to the garage. Two things on my to do list today....close garage door at all times & find a tighter fitting door seal!

Vacation - Week 3

I'm playing catch up here...

On week 3 of our vacation home we attended Braden (Nate's Brother) & Britney's wedding. We had a great time with family and Grant loved playing with his cousins. Here is the video from that week.

Busy Busy Busy

Long time - no new post from us. Sorry about that. Grant and I went out to visit family for 2 1/2 weeks (Nate joined us during the last week) and then a few days after we returned we had family come visit us. So it has been almost a month of visiting with familly - which has been a ton of fun! So I'm behind on my blogging. Maybe next week I'll try to catch up. But until then here are a couple of photos of Grant. We went home to visit family and attend Braden's wedding (Nate's brother). Here is Grant in his tux.

Vacation - Week 2

Week two of our vacation was spent mostly in the pool. Grant loves water and loves playing in the pool. We also spent a bunch of time at different parks and playgrounds.

Vacation - Week 1

Here is a video of our vacation - week one. We did many thing. We went to the Children's museum, a water playground, the park, and a bounce house.

In the blink of an eye....

...things can change!

As Grant and I traveled out West to visit family we had an interested flight. Our first plane was suppose to leave at 6:20 am (makes for a very early morning for everyone) but it was delayed 30 minutes due to a mechanical problem....which always makes you feel real safe. Grant stayed awake the entire flight which was good because it was the shorter flight. As we made our connection for a 2 1/2 hour flight things started off GREAT. Normally the flight is packed but this was our lucky day as there was an empty seat in our row. So Grant just played with his toys in the empty seat and I could sit back and relax. I remember thinking "this couldn't get any better". Just about then Grant decided he needed a drink and flipped the opening on his straw sippy cup....which it had not been opened since we took off and the pressure caused it to become a water fountain. I was soaked, Grant was wet and the seat was wet. Then Grant stood up on the empty seat and threw his matchbox car at the girl behind us (hitting her in the head). As I was correcting Grant (the best you can in a plane) he threw a BIG tantrum - complete with screaming, kicking, hitting, and pinching for about 5 minutes. Then he fell asleep for the rest of the flight. I was so happy when we landed!

Weekly Video

Early this time...how about that!

Lots of fun this past week - here is a recap of what we did:

Went to a farm to pet some animals
Went to the pool (2 times)
Played in our little pool
Ran in the sprinklers
Cleaned the house

Now off for vacation!

Have a great week!

Weekly Video

Not too much happening this week...but here is the video. Next week you will see "Buzz"....as Grant just got a haircut.

Have a great week!

Oh I almost forgot...I ran my second 5k yesterday. I can't believe I did it again and the same thoughts were going through my mind..."why did I sign up for this?". As we were getting ready to start I was at the starting line with everyone else and I heard this guy say "I got 3 place at this race last year"...that is when I knew I was too close to the front of the line so I quickly moved back. This course was quite different than the first race - there were two monster hills and about 1/3 of the race was on grass (slightly more difficult than pavement). All that running at the gym must have paid off as my time was over 2 minutes faster than before (28 minutes 45 seconds). Maybe next time I can get under 28 minutes....did I just say "next time". I'm definitely going through a mid-life crisis. Someone get me some help!

From 3 to 6

Until yesterday we could only seat 3 people in our living room....we have now doubled that with our new furniture! We are so excited to have it! Grant loves all the new things he can climb on! Mainly the coffee table...so there have been many time-out session due to climbing on the coffee table. We still have a few things to add (pictures, ect.)...but for now we are just happy to have a full size couch! It has been 4 years since we have had a full size couch.

Pool Adventures

Today for playgroup we had a pool party at Carrie's house. There were a bunch of kids there but I didn't get my camera out until towards the end. I think the kids had fun playing in the pools and sprinklers. After almost everyone left Grant and Caleb continued the fun...well it was probably more fun for Caleb than Grant as you will see. Grant did get Caleb back a few times...but I had to help him spray Caleb so I didn't catch it on camera. The only thing I caught was at the end...where Grant finally let Caleb know he had enough.

Look who came over for dinner

I made Nate move her nest to the dog house...poor little thing she must have spent hours making that nest. I think she is very cute as long as she is outside...once she enters our house....that is another story. Nate might get to do what he originally planned to do with her....

Weekly review

More playing with Baxter this week. We also went to an orchard for some afternoon fun - trains, mini-golf, goats.... Grant loved the play area - mainly driving the train. Grant also had his first ear of corn. Well it was actually my ear of corn (really good corn I might add)...and about 1/2 way through the ear Grant decided he wanted it. Grant also had a bad diaper rash early in the weeks...so he spent a bunch of time running around with just a shirt on....and you can imagine what happened on the floor every now and then.

Bye Bye Rocking Chair

So my rocking chair finally had to go. Grant seemed to think it was a great place to take his afternoon nap. I can't tell you how many of these photos I have:



So all that is left in Grant's room is his bed, many toys and his little rocking chair my mom got him. Well...this afternoon I went to check on Grant and here is what I found:

I guess one chair is as good as another when it comes to sleeping. I'm beginning to think he gets his sleeping habits from my dad....he gets up very early (generally between 5:15 - 5:45 am) and likes to sleep in chairs....not to mention the snoring they seem to have in common.

Weekly update

This past week we went to many fun places again. On Monday night we went with the Wood family to a mini-golf/go-cart place. At first we were the only ones on the golf course so things were good...but then as more people started coming it was hard to keep Grant away from their balls. He didn't understand why he could pick up our golf balls but not stranger's golf balls. He did really good until about the 10th hole...after that everyone got a chance to hear how strong Grant's lungs are. The video from the golf/cart outing is below. Too bad I didn't get any pictures of Carrie or myself (or Audrey).

Then on Wednesday we went to another discovery museum. Grant had tons of fun again. That same afternoon Grant decided he didn't need a nap so we made a last minute trip to the city pool for an hour. Sorry no pictures from the pool.

Grant is into trains now. He plays with his train set all the time. He has even started lining up other toys to look like a train.

Oh and one other thing happened this week...as some of you know I said I was going to run a 5K....well that was on Saturday. I picked up a entry form for this 5k about 3 weeks ago and thought "I should do this". So I started "training" at the gym on the treadmill - working my way up to running 3.1 miles. For those who know me you know I'm not a big fan of jogging.....but I continued. Saturday morning I woke up trying to figure out a way to get out of this commitment but no luck. So off to the race I went. As I lined up with the runners I could tell there were some "real" runners and then there was the rest of us. The sponsor of the race was nice enough to mark each 1/4 mile so you knew where you were during the race. As I pasted the first 1/4 mile sign I remember thinking to myself "what the heck were you thinking signing up for this?" But I still had more than 2 miles to go...so I continued. At the 1/2 mile mark I saw this older lady in front of me and for motivation I said "I'm going to pass that old lady"....well just about then I hit the first hill....and there were no hills on my training course....so I just watched the old lady drift out of view....and I then thought to myself "run Grandma run". As I was running the last 1/2 mile I was disappointed as I though I wouldn't make my goal - which was to run the 5k in under 32 minutes. But I guess running downhill helps your time as I finished the race in 30 minutes 55 seconds. Crazy as it may sound I just might do this again in a couple weeks. I must be going through a mid-life crisis.

Mini Golf, Buggies...oh my!

Weekly Videos - What A Week!

This past week was filled with lots of fun thing! We went to the fair, to a brick and rock company, to the children's museum, to play in mud puddles (sorry no pictures of that). We also had a couple days of swimming in the backyard.

Grant loved the fair. We spent most of our time in the petting zoo. He wasn't afraid of the animals. I think some of them were probably afraid of him. He was too little to ride on any of the carnival rides...but maybe next year. We did spend some time on the big bounce toys.

The other big event of the week was going to the museum on Saturday. It is about an hour from our house and we met some friends there that we hadn't seen in 4 years. It was fun! Grant loved it. He ran all over the place. I think his favorite thing was the water toy...which wouldn't you know was on the first floor. So Grant played all day in a wet t-shirt as he kept trying to crawl into the water toy. He had so much fun he was fast asleep in the car right after we pulled out of the parking lot.

Oh the Fair

Fun at the museum

Toys Toys and More Toys

Every night before I can go to bed I have to check on Grant. When he was sleeping in a crib I would have to move all the toys to the sides so he wouldn't roll over on them. Now that he is in a toddler bed I have to remove all the toys he puts on his bed before he falls asleep. Normally I have to remove just a couple of toys and maybe a book. Nothing much. So you can imagine my surprise last night as I went to check on him......

He had moved almost all his toys/books from the floor to the bed. I guess he just wanted to sleep with them. So carefully I removed all of them and covered Grant up for the night. Then this morning Grant woke up right at 6 am (he is like an alarm clock...6 am every day) and started playing so quietly. After about 10 minute I went in his room to see what he was doing...and he had again moved all the toys from the floor to his bed. Maybe I should just move the toy bin to his bed....

Point of view

Grant loves the camera. Not so much having his picture taken but holding and playing with the camera. So the other day I let him make a video. Here is Grant's point of view on things.

Where is our dinner?

We recently had two extra boys at our house for babysitting night. They had fun playing downstairs but then it was time for dinner. Here are the three boys waiting for their dinner to come out of the oven.

Dallin, Caleb & Grant checking on their dinner

Finally dinner is ready.

Oh how the boys love suckers!

Weekly Video

Another fun filled week. It seems like every time I turned around Baxter and Grant were playing. It is funny to watch. Grant seems to like playing with Baxter (as long as he can take the dog toys and try to hid them). Baxter has started to figure out this game and runs from Grant when he really wants to keep his toy. Grant seems to have a "love/hate" relationship with Bugsy. Sometimes he is really nice to Bugsy but other times he just wants to hit him.

Grant also likes to go outside and look at our toad.

Finally caught on tape...Grant asking for my help. You can hear him say "mom mom mom". So cute!

The Adventures Continue

So how old does your child have to be to start attending sport camps? Well apparently only 21 months old....I'm sure Caleb has been attending wrestling camp this summer. As you will see in the video. I had to keep a "take-down" counter going.

The boys sure had fun playing today!

Weekly Video

A friend of mine gave Grant a train set that her son had stopped playing with. Grant loves it! He had so much fun playing with it. Too bad we can't leave it out all the time....but unfortunately Baxter also loves to play with it too...and he leaves teeth marks.

Grant loves to be on the deck with the dogs. This past week it was really nice outside so Grant spent some time playing with the dogs outside on the deck. Hopefully soon we will have a fenced yard and they can play in the grass.

Weekly Video

For Father's Day we had ice cream cake...which is now Grant's favorite thing to eat. He loved it. If anyone had a piece he would sit so quietly next to you waiting for a bite.

Also, Grant has become quite a helper around the house. If you give him a plastic bowl from the dishwasher or a cutting board he will put them away for you. Quite a help!

I couldn't find any music to go with this video that I liked so I thought I would share some of the music that is played in the car and around the house during the day. One of Grant's favorites.

#1 reason

The number 1 reason we have minivan.

Just open the door and he climbs right in.

Weekly Video

This is actually a video from the past two weeks. We had some family in town last week and I didn't post a video.

The Adventures Continue

We recently had Caleb to play with Grant. They both enjoyed playing with some of the new toys Grant got....but Caleb seem to enjoy them more on this day. Grant was too busy watching the dogs. Who were sleeping in the laundry room - not sure why that was so interesting but hey it kept him busy for quite awhile.

No music to this video so you can hear all the sounds two boys make.

What happened here?

So you might think Nate was washing the window right? Nope...this is the work of Baxter.





The other night Nate was playing with Baxter and saw a big weed in the front lawn. Nate decided to go outside and pull it. Baxter ran to the front door with Nate but Nate didn't let him outside. So Baxter ran right back in the bedroom and LEAPED out the open bedroom window. He was so happy to be outside with Nate. We were so happy that #1 the window was open and #2 the screen was not latched in place (thanks to small fingers around our house).

I will NEVER....

I will never drive a minivan. I must have said this statement over and over again....and yet here is what is now parked in our garage.

Our brand new minivan. We have had it for about 3 days and I must say I really do like it. It is nice to open the side door and say "Grant go get in the car"...and he does. He loves it in the car - but mainly because there are a ton of buttons to push. So as he gets in he goes right up to the front and starts messing with the AC, radio, etc.

Lesson learned: Never say never