The Longest Game of Hide & Seek. Ever.

Since the moment Grant entered this house for the first time Brodie has been trying to avoid him. Since the moment Grant first became aware of Brodie he has made it his mission to become friends. Brodie isn't as quick as he used to be. Now when he sees Grant coming toward him - running just as fast as little legs will go and yelling "AHHHHH!" with an open mouth ready to give a kiss - he sighs, gets up, and moves to another spot on the floor. And this is repeated until Brodie leaves the room (not so easy with all exits blocked by baby gates). When Brodie finally goes Grant stands there looking like he wishes he could follow him. Where does he go? On the rare occasion that Grant gets to run after him, Brodie can usually disappear before Grant can figure out where he went.

I know where he went. Brodie, who is far too big for these kind of shenanigans, hides under the bed. He always has. It's painful to watch him try to get under there and it's even worse watching him come out. The funnies thing is that he thinks he's well hidden. But Grant has found him out. I guess the two back legs, a tail, and...*ahem*...nutters hanging out from under the bed gave him away. Grant sat there laughing and pointing like he was trying to say "Look what I found!"  And then he attempted to go in after him.

I'm not going to lie. I got a little nervous. Even though Brodie had many exit routes, he's kinda persnickety and only gets out on that side. So he was a little cornered and that's not good. But he handled it. He even let Grant grab his foot a couple times before I could stop him. Brodie has never done anything that makes me think he'd hurt Grant, he's actually been super patient (and he's not a patient dog). But still, after taking a couple pictures I removed Grant from the area and let Brodie have his peace. So now he's been found out. There is no where in the house safe. Poor Brodie :)

Grant's First Trip to the NC State Fair

The trip that almost didn't happen. I work for the Dept. of Agriculture so yesterday was my first day off since before the fair started. It was a day off I didn't even know I was getting until late last week. So what was the logical thing to do? Well, go to the fair of course! You would have thought I'd have had enough - and I had, believe me - but I really wanted to take Grant. So me, Husband, Grant, my Mother-in-law, and my Brother-in-law piled into my car (it was a tight fit) and headed out the fair. My job had at least one advantage: we got in for free and got to park on the grounds (mostly because it was the last day).

 Last year during the fair, I was on maternity leave and I'm not one of these people who'll tote their newborn out to the fair (although I saw plenty of parents who seemed to find it a good idea). But this year I declared him old enough. I even bought ride tickets...which we ended up giving away because by the time we found rides with lines short enough for me to stand in, my little guy had passed out. I think we managed to have some fun - but let's face it, people watching alone was worth the trip.

I didn't get many pictures but here are a few:

Adorable bales of hay decorated by a 4H group.

Another adorable bale of hay and some cuteness.

I love looking at all the stuff people enter. Although, by the time we got there some of the cakes, cookies, and fudge were definitely looking like science experiments. The decorated cakes are always fun to look at but the line was super long so we had to stand on tip-toes and look from afar. I even like looking at the clothes people enter. There is always that one entry that makes me go "OMG!" out loud. This year was no different (I may have gasped loudly as well).

It was next to impossible to get a really good picture of it. But
isn't it gorgeous? I looove Gone with the Wind and I loooved that dress.

No trip to the fair is complete without seeing
an apron made of Caprisun empties.

And of course you go to the fair to eat. Well, that's why we go to the fair. Grant got his first taste of roasted corn on the cob. First he poked it and tried to pick the corn off. Then whenever he put his mouth on it he'd pull back and giggle. Cute :)

Grant found a place to play while we ate some more.

We visted the goats!

And poor Grant was worn out. But doesn't he look so cute in his little hoodie?

It was a good day and I'm glad we got to go. I sort of regret not taking Grant on any rides. But I was torn between not wanting to stand in the super long lines and wondering if he was still too little, although I would have been with him. I guess there is always next year :)

P.S. About an hour after we got home we realized Grant had a temperature and then he vomited all over me right before I was going to put him to bed. But that's a post for another day!

Blogger Award!

I actually got this award on Thursday (October 13th) but I was working at the NC State Fair. Then I had a wedding cake to do. Then I spent all weekend and Monday working at the State Fair again. I have had no time (or desire) to be near a computer. Thankfully my last day working at the fair will be this Saturday and after that my schedule will return to "normal".

So anyway, thanks to Jilean at Ten Little Fingers Ten Perfect Toes for the blogger award!

The "rules" of accepting this award are:

1. Thank the blogger who sent me the award and link back to him/her.
2. Share 7 things about myself.
3. Pass the award along to 15 newly discovered blogs.

7 Things About Me

1. I have a cookbook addiction. I am constantly collecting them. I love to cook and I love to bake and I love trying new recipes.
2. I am the mother of a wonderful and oh so fun one-year-old...and I'm tired of being asked when we'll have number two. Because the answer is: I don't know if I want number two. I probably do, but I'm not definitely not ready. I want to enjoy Grant right now before considering another addition...what the devil is the rush, people??
3. Even though I make lots of yummy stuff in my kitchen, grilled cheese is still my favorite food.
4. I grew up hating my Mom's minivan. "I will never have one of those things!" I said. For the past few months I have been absolutely bugging the mess out of Husband with all the reasons a minivan would be so convenient.
5. I love to read. Murder/mysteries are my favorite.
6. I absolutely can not stand Jello. Just looking at it makes me gag.
7. I'm a hockey fan.

I'm passing this award along to (none of the blogs I follow are "newly discovered" for me so I'm passing on to some that I really enjoy reading):

Elizabeth at i seek with all my heart

Randi at Adventures in Randiland

Mary at Chasing Some Blue Sky

Alecia at A Supermom's Diary

Dana at Hancock Heir

Hollie at Life as a Lofthouse

Sheelah at McMissis

Kim at Recipes to Run On

Melissa at The Lucky Mama

I know that's not 15 other blogs...I don't always follow the rules. But those are some good ones to check out if you haven't already. Thanks again to Jilean for the award!

Lego Kidsfest!

Yesterday we took Grant to Lego Kidsfest at the Convention Center in downtown Raleigh. Well...to be fair I should say that Husband took me and Grant. Because I am a giant child and I was pretty excited about going. We hadn't planned to go - actually I didn't even know about it. Until Thursday when a friend of Nate's texted me and said not to make plans for Sunday because he had gotten us free tickets. FUN!

The place was packed and it was hard to get good pictures of all the amazing Lego statues. So please disregard any random people in the pictures.



Look at that handsome man!



Sooo cool!





One of my favorites! Amazing!



They even had Harry Potter!



Me, Grant, and Indian Jones...I heart Indiana Jones Movies!

 

"Pardon me, sir, but do you have the time?"

 

They had little statues like this around that you could
get inside of for pictures. This one made noise too!

 We were so excited when we found the section put out for the toddlers. Honestly, I didn't expect them to have a place for the really little kids to play but they did! They had a huge carpet laid out with a GIANT pile of Legos in the middle. And then little tables of varying heights around the edge of the carpet for the kids to build things.



HUGE pile of Legos!



 Grant had a blast playing with the Legos. We found a table that was the perfect size for him and he must have played for close to 30 minutes. We played too of course and had so much fun watching him play. He got so excited about playing. It seemed like we were constantly saying to each other "Oh look at his face!"

We were only there a couple hours but we had so much fun. Husband's inner-child isn't as, well, childish as mine (my inner-child's name is Lewis and he's overweight). But we even managed to get him in on the Lego action. It was a great day and a great weekend :)

P.S. Can you guess what Grant is getting for Christmas?

Mush, Mama! Mush!

Our house is over-run with toys. Tons and tons of toys. So many that some get hidden by other toys and then I see them again and think "Holy crap! I forgot we had this." I set it aside and Grant has fun with it for a while. Then the toy ADD kicks in and he moves on to several others. I think it was last weekend - or possibly the week leading up to it - that after putting away a load of laundry I stuck Grant in the laundry basket and pushed him through the living room. But when I saw that huge smile on face, I kept pushing him. All through the house. Until I hurt my arthritisy hip. But now...riding in the laundry basket is pretty much his favorite thing. Ever.


"Hey! I know we all just got up and it's only 6:30 a.m. but
can I have a ride in the laundry basket? Please?"

 So after several attempts to find something to pull the laundry basket with that would keep me from bending over so far...I settled on one of the dog's leashes and spare collars. It worked perfect!



See! Genius!



Could you resist if all it took was a ride in
the laundry basket to get that smile?


 It has now become somewhat of a nightly ritual for us. We don't have a lot of room for this sort of thing...but Grant doesn't really seem to mind. And I like it because it's at least a small amount of exercise for me.

If the laundry basket is on the floor then Grant feels like he is due for a ride. So he climbs in and sits there clapping his hands just waiting waiting for me to hop up and hook up the leash. Which I usually do because I can't let him down when he's clearly that excited. Then I stuff a pillow behind him so he won't hit his head on the back of the basket. Although this serves another purpose because he'll usually recline so he can relax while he rides. You know, because he has such a tough day at school.

"Ummm...why aren't you pulling yet?"

"That's right. Mush Mama! Mush!"

"Um...are we done? You're sure? I'll get out if
 we're done....if you're sure."

He ownes me.

Oh Happy Day!

It's here! It's here! And it feels like we've been waiting for it forever! It's the first day of hockey season :) Well, technically yesterday was. But today is the first day of the Hurricanes season...and that's what matters to us.

Tonight at 7:00 we will be parked in front of the TV all kinds of excited. Ok, maybe not. We may be running all over the house like lunatics chasing after a very mobile 1 year old. BUT that game will be on. And we'll still be all kinds of excited. I will stay excited. Husband will lose faith the second the other team scores and will declare "Well, there it is. They're going to lose. We probably won't make the playoffs." That's what he does.

Last Friday night, Husband and I got a date night. We went to a Hurricanes pre-season game. I was so excited to be there that I couldn't even feel annoyed when the lady mid-life crisis next to me started making up nicknames for the players (she insisted on calling Tim Gleason T-bone which I found very weird). Husband and I were kind of having quite a time making fun of her and then she had to go and make me feel guilty because she told me my shoes were really cute. But she was just being honest, they're super cute shoes.

We had great seats for the game:

And any night when I get to have this for dinner is a good night:

Pork BBQ nachos. You should be jealous.
They're a-m-a-z-i-n-g.

And what date night is complete without a fight or two?

It was a great date night! Well, at this point any night out is nice but we were due for a hockey fix.

P.S. They lost...so it's almost like last season never ended (hahaha - we're used to that).

The New Look of Pitiful

I think the very first parent-trick Grant learned was his pitiful face. Since the first time I played peek-a-boo with him and substituted the "peek-a-boo" for a "roar!" and got the poked-out bottom lip, Grant has known how to work the pitiful face. He can poke out that bottom lip like no one I have ever seen and he knows what he can get with it. Or, at least what he used to get from it. We're on to that game...and it's not going to fly anymore.

No sir. I am not falling for it.

It seems that little Grant has noticed our stone faces when confronted with The Lip and has implemented a new plan of attack. Over the weekend while he was out of prison on good behavior, he decided to start removing various items from the entertainment center. Husband told him "Grant, no" firmly and with a note of warning in his voice. Grant looked in his Daddy's general direction and I swear I saw a flash of "I"ll show him" on his face. Then he went back to the entertainment center. "Grant, NO!" He turned his little self from the entertainment center, took three or four small shuffling steps...and then hung his head in shame. So SO pitiful...and then he quick cut his eyes at Husband to see whether he had his sympathy  or not. Seriously. We're in trouble with this one.