Day 15 - Top Five Favorite Beverages

This one feels like a freebie because it really doesn't call for any explanations.

1. Milk (Skim, 1%, 2%, whole - I love it all. Except in cereal, only skim goes in my cereal. But grapenuts is the only cereal I eat with milk, the rest I munch on dry like a snack. Yup, I know it's weird...I never claim to be normal.)
2. Pepsi
3. Coffee
4. Icee (coke flavor preferred)
5. Water

20 Months

Holy crap, what a week. Tuesday night Grant seemed sluggish and came home from day care the next day with a fever. The doctor said it was a virus. We went back to the doctor on Saturday because he seemed to go downhill right after we had seen a slight improvement. The virus had settled in his lungs AND his ear infection from the previous week had returned. New antibiotic and some breathing treatments. But I'm happy to report that after night after night of little to no sleep for all three of us, the little guy is on the road to recovery and we're seeing much improvement. So I finally got around to snapping a few current pictures for his 20 month post. Nothing spectacular...neither of us had the energy.


Watching Daddy clean the lawn mower

So here we are at 20 months old. It seems so weird that Grant will be two soon. The time really does seem to have flown by.

He doesn't look happy but, trust me, he is.

We started introducing the potty and his reaction to it has been very good, although we seem to sit him on it at the wrong times because he still hasn't gone in it. And the past week we haven't been into it because his fever has been so high that being without pants would have sent him into chills.

Grant is still talking up a storm, learning new words and doing even better with putting words together. I think I've heard him say "I don't know" and he's still pointing at things and asking "A's at?" (What's that). But the best thing he's said recently is...*drum roll please*...I love you! He said it! Hooray! He's also repeating things, so we're having to watch what we say. What I'm finding hysterical lately is how often he's telling Brodie "no" when he has food. Especially cheese or a graham cracker. He gets right in his face and says "no!" And Grant is still using some sign language. I'm not sure how much he uses at school but at home it's only "more" and "please" (mo' and pwease).


Brodie much more patient than we thought he'd be.

We're using time-out more often now because it does seem to be effective. Although, mean parent that I am, one minute seems to short so we've gone up to two. When I tell him that he's got time-out for two minutes he knows what to do (I'm still trying to figure out if that's good or bad) and tearfully sits through his punishment. It's pretty pitiful but it's working so I can take the tears.

That's really about it for now. We're working on the potty...and still trying to get rid of the pacifier. We're so weak. I'm thinking that my goal of having him off the paci by two years old may be a bit of a pipe dream at this point. But we'll see.

I leave you with a couple pictures of my cutie sitting in front of his favorite thing in Husband's "office". Some car posters that he's had for years that Grant absolutely loves.


Really with the camera? I just got over 4 day with a 102 fever
and you're getting out  the camera?

Day 14 - Top Five Things You'd Do If You Had Magical Abilities

1. Make Grant sleep through the night. He's been sick since Tuesday evening and so I'm pretty sure that Monday night was the last time any of us got a good nights sleep. So, yeah, number one priority right there.

2. Make cars fly. I used to watch the Jetsons and I was certain that by now we'd all be driving flying cars and instead of walking to work, we'd ride conveyor belts. Flying cars, check.

3. I'd make it so I can disappear and stuff. Because it would be fun but also really freak people out. I'd probably do it in the middle of conversations or meetings.

4. I'd make my dog talk. I think he'd sound exactly like the Dug the dog from the movie Up. Loyal, lovable, cute...and sometimes a little special.

5. I'd make ice cream, cake, cookies, etc. completely healthy. Imagine sitting down to eat a huge piece of chocolate cake and then actually losing weight. That would be my contribution to society. And I think it would be a big one.

New Recipe: Orange Cream Pops

So this is a new recipe that I meant to post about two weeks ago, when I actually tried it. Oh well. I bought some popsicle molds when I ordered some stuff for Grant's Easter basket. I remember making popsicles out of kool-aid when I was a kid which got me thinking about making a yummy cool treat (maybe sometimes healthy?) for Grant. I came across this recipe on Pinterest and made it my first popsicle project. I'll post the original recipe below and the changes I made in my comments.

Orange Cream Pops

Ingredients

• 1 package (3 ounces) orange gelatin
• 1 cup boiling water
• 1 cup (8 ounces) vanilla yogurt
• 1/2 cup 2% milk
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 10 plastic cups or popsicle molds (3 ounces each)
• 10 popsicle sticks

Directions

• In a large bowl, dissolve gelatin in boiling water. Cool to room temperature. Stir in the yogurt, milk and vanilla. Pour 1/4 cup into each cup or mold; insert popsicle sticks. Freeze until firm.

Recipe Source: Taste of Home

Mix up the stuff

Pour it in the molds and then stick 'em in the freezer. I did mine late
at night so they didn't get eaten until the next night.



Out of the freezer! My first popsicles! The suspense is killing me!



Oops. A little harder to unmold than I
had anticipated.

Issues with the mold aside, what did the intended recipient think?

He liked it.

Notes/Suggestions:

• Obviously I didn't use the molds/cups called for in the recipe. My molds, I think, are about 5 ounces and there are 6 of them. If you're interested, these are the molds that I ordered: Tovolo Groovy Ice Pop Molds (yellow). They're good, sturdy molds.
• We don't keep 2% milk in the house. We drink skim and Grant drinks whole milk so I used a mix of the two. But I don't think it really matters which type of milk you use. Also, the recipe didn't specify, so I used low-fat vanilla yogurt.
• You could really use any flavor of Jello in this recipe as long as it would taste good with a creamy texture. Strawberry or lemon maybe?

Anybody have some other popsicle recipes to share? I plan to try lots more!

Day 13 - Top Five Dream Jobs

This is going to be semi-quick. Not too much explanation. For most of this week Husband and I have had a very sick munchkin. A very sick munchkin that hasn't slept well. At all. Which means we haven't slept well (less than him, actually). I hope I'm not prematurely saying that I think he's on the road to recovery - but I think he is (here's hoping). I planning to be asleep very soon. Either in bed...or at this computer. If this list is unfinished, well, you know what happened.

1. One of those travel review people who go all over and stay in fancy schmancy hotels and eat in fancy schmancy restaurants and check out local awesomeness and then write about it. I'm sure after a while it would get old living out of a suitcase (I'm a bit of a homebody) but it sure sounds like a dream job.

2. Restaurant critic. Sort of along the same lines as above. I love food and I love to talk about it. Perfect combo right? Plus, what better job for a chubby chick than eating for a living?

3. Archaeologist. It's probably not all as interesting digging up perfectly preserved baby woolly mammoth...but it is in my head.

See, it happened!

4. Mad Scientist. Yes, a mad one. Because I want a job where I get to shout "Eureka!" every once in a while. Plus, it might be fun to have crazy mad-scientisty hair.

5. Santa Claus. He only works one night a year, he makes everybody happy, everyone loves him, and he gets to eat cookies and drink milk all the time! Almost perfect. I'm not cool with hanging out with the reindeer all the time. They're a bit sketchy.

Day 12 - Top Five Trends/Styles You Abhor

Ok, if you've been following this spontaneous challenge then you're thinking: What? Day 12? My cousin AJ, who is my partner in this challenge, sent me a message asking if we could just skip to day 12 because "all the ones in between are lame". I'm already a day or two behind for various reason so he was not getting any argument here.

So on to Day 12.

I am not a trendy person. I'm not saying there have not been trends I like, there have been plenty. But I'm not a trendy person. I don't "get" how a lot of stuff can even be popular. But I don't have to. One celebrity sports it and it's all over the place and people are willing to pay money for something that will be at the bottom of their closet or out of style in a few months. However "abhor" is not the word I'd use when describing how I feel about them. They don't make me angry, I don't necessarily hate them. I just don't like them and do not prefer them for myself.

1. High heels with shorts. Really? I've never once looked at a pair of shorts I own or wanted to buy and thought "I need a great pair of stilettos to go with these". Nope, not for me.

And while we're talking about footwear...

2. Shoes like this:

They're just plain ugly and sort of ridiculous looking.

3. High-waist pants. Maybe it's because I'm kind of a bigger girl so stuff like that would be the very opposite of flattering on me. But I've seen them on smaller girls too...and I pretty much think it's ugly on anyone.

4. Ombre highlights. I don't understand paying money for something that looks like your roots grew out too much and you've just been too lazy to get them fixed. I think this was a lazy celebrity trend that they decided to slap a name on and try to get people to pay for it.

5. Men/boys wearing exceptionally baggy pants. It's ridiculous when a guy actually has to walk differently because their pants are really around their thighs rather than their waist. Or when they have to hold them up while they walk. They obviously have no idea how stupid they look...and no one in their life who's a good enough person to tell them. Almost as bad: men wearing skinny jeans.

Day 7 - Top Five Favorite Historical Figures

Ok,so I guess I'm just destined to be a day behind with this challenge. And this is a weird one for me. Maybe not for everybody, but it is for me. I don't have "favorites" of things like this. I asked my sister to name some people to help my list so some of these are ones she came up with that I find interesting (in no particular order).

1. George Washington - A couple years ago, I took my sister to a museum here to see an exhibit about George Washington. She was super jazzed about it. I'm not joking. Excitement was oozing from her pores. I was impressed that she was so into it. Do you know what she told me? "They have his teeth here! All I really wanna see his teeth!" I'm not kidding. Walking through the exhibit she kept asking me when we were going to see the teeth. And then she just about trampled me and the stroller I was pushing when she locked her eyes on them. It was probably one of the best days of her life.



Yum.

2. JFK - This is not for any political reasons. I recently read a book written by some former Secret Service agents that were on Kennedy's detail as well as some members of his family. It was a really interesting book and made me look at him differently. But I've always found that bit of history interesting.

3. The Titanic - perhaps not a historical "figure" really, but kind of? I've been a Titanic buff since long before Leo and Kate were drawing nudie pictures in a first class stateroom. I watched a National Geographic special about it with my Dad when I was a little kid and I've been into it ever since.



This made me laugh inappropriately loud.

4. Princess Diana...and the rest of the royal family - Yup, I'm one of those people. I watch all the specials and made for TV movies and read the news blurbs about them. I even like the conspiracy theories. I've got a bit of an obsession. I DVR'd I don't know many hours of William & Kate's wedding last year and very reluctantly deleted the post-wedding coverage when Husband said for the millionth time "Are you going to watch this crap or can we get rid of it?" I have a bit of a problem but it's ok if I admit, right?

5. Walt Disney - my sister picked this one. And I needed something for number five. Plus, I've been to Disneyworld and I liked it so I'm good with this pick. I want to go back to Disneyworld someday. But that will have to be after I have Husband brainwashed into believing that it's fun. He did not find it to be the happiest place on earth. We actually bought him a Grumpy coffee mug as a souvenir because that's what he was 92% of the time we were in the park.

Day 6 - Top Five Things That Happened To You This Past Year

1. Grant's first steps and learning to walk - we've been through so many milestones with Grant in the past year that I could have made this whole top five list about just him. But this was a big one and so exciting for all three of us. 
2. Grant's 1st birthday - my little munchkin turning 1 was a big deal. I had it all planned out for months. And then the hurricane came. No really, we had to change the party location from the spacious park shelter to our little house because a hurricane came through the day of the party. But it turned out to be a blessing in disguise. I think having it at the house was much more comfortable for Grant and it helped get rid of my anxiety over hosting something like that at our house.  
3. 5 Year Anniversary beach weekend - this past November (18th) was our 5 year anniversary. To celebrate, Husband booked us a beach front room in Wrightsville beach and arranged our first ever night away from Grant. We had a great little mini vacation and Grant did great staying with Grandma.




Husband also sent this to my office the day of our actual anniversary:




Sweet :)


4. Visits from my sister - check some out here and here. My sister has spent the last two Christmas holidays with us. She came down last May for my first Mother's Day and will be spending that week with us again this year. I look forward to her visits (yes, Shauna, I'm admitting it!) and I know she loves to see Grant. He doesn't get to see her often but it takes him about 5 seconds to warm up to her and then he's always sad to see her go :( 
5. My liver tried to kill me and we stopped getting along - so the topic doesn't specify the top five good things that happen in the past year. And I consider my liver ordeal a biggie in my yearly happenings. I'll probably do an update on the latest of my medical drama sometime soon. It's complicated. P.S. I'm posting this late because my liver decided to be moody again. Stupid liver!

Trying the Potty

It seems like we've been saying for months that we wanted to try to get Grant on the potty. I can't say we're totally potty training yet, we just want to get him used to it and if he goes - good. If not - try again. So we finally quit being lazy yesterday and bought a potty. We did the little potty vs. little seat on the regular toilet debate and the little potty won. It makes more sense, he's just too little for anything else. We ended up with the Fisher Price Froggy Potty.

It might be the cutest poop collector ever.

We picked this one because, according to my Amazon app, it had a ton of really good reviews. But it was also one of the only ones that Target had that didn't play music and light up. I've heard negative things about those kinds of potties being distracting and what-not so we steered clear of those.

As soon as we got the stuff home Grant immediately took his new potty, put it on the floor, and parked himself there to play with his legos. Seriously, he loved it. I think he was a bit crushed when it was taken into the bathroom. We decided to wait until right before bath time to put him on the potty for real. He'll sometimes pee in the tub, so we thought he might go before bath time. But he pooped in his diaper right before that. Oh well. We figured since he was half naked we'd just try, see how he felt about it.

Taken with my phone (Husband said no to the
regular camera - not sure why!)

He seemed to be ok with it. I'd even venture to say he liked it. He sat right down and even giggled a little. Keeping him there was a bit of an issue, that's why he has the book. And we had to keep him from scooting it across the floor like a ride-on toy. Obviously, he didn't go since he had just gone right before. But since he didn't hate it, I consider it a good start.

Day 5 - Top Five Places You'd Like to Live

1. Anywhere in The 1000 Islands. Since I was kid this has long been one of my favorite places. It's the best combination of the mountains and beach without having to choose one or the other. I absolutely love it there.

2. The mountains. We have visited the mountains here in NC a few times and stayed in a cabin while we were there and I didn't want to leave. It was so peaceful there, at least where we were. We're actually planning to take a trip to the mountains in the fall with Grant and I can't wait!

3. A giant old plantation home. I watch the travel channel and read enough Southern Living to know that if we had the money to buy and renovate (if necessary) a home like that, I could be oh so comfy living in one. They're so pretty with their long driveways, big green lawns, and huge porches. Very wishful thinking!

4. Another country. I'm not sure which one. I'm not sure I'd like to move to one forever, but I'd like to try it out just for a little bit.

5. Somewhere with a kitchen like this:

Yup.

Or like this:

Oh I guess I could be happy cooking there.

Day 4 - Top Five Favorite Things About the Internet

1. Photo sharing/Blogging/Facebook. 99% of my family live somewhere else so it's amazing being able to share pictures of Grant and write my little blurbs so everyone can see what he's doing without having to wait months for me to get around to mailing pictures or a card. It really takes me forever. Although, since I can tell Shutterfly to ship directly to other people, I'm less bad at it than I used to be.
2. E-books! While I'm semi-upset about the lack of lending ability with e-books, I love love love that if I need a new book to read and it's 10:00 at night or smack in the middle of Grant's nap time (and my second cup of coffee) I can pick one out, pay for it, and start reading it in - literally - a minute. As long as I already know what I want.

3. Information and what-not. There seems to be nothing you can't find on the internet. And I don't think anyone really appreciates it like we should (myself included). There seems to be a lot of complaint about it. Remember in school when we had to go to the library for everything? I don't care how slow something is running - you can do a book report in your underwear without even leaving your couch! Plus, I've found tons of great DIY projects lately thanks to Pinterest and people so willing to share their ideas. Great stuff!
4. Online Shopping. I've gotten super lazy about shopping in my old age. I used to love it...now it's like homework. There have been times that if it weren't for Amazon, Grant may not have had Christmas, Birthday, or Easter gifts. I'm not sure if it's the actual act of shopping that I'm starting to despise or if it's the people (who seem to have left their manners at home). It may be both. But either way, I love being able to shop from home!
5. E-mail. I love e-mail. We shoot e-mails around the office all day when we can't talk about something or just to make eachother laugh. Plus, if I'm going to be honest, my friend Elizabeth and I kind of use it like its instant messager. I'd be kinda bored if I didn't have, like, a bajillion e-mails from her to look forward to Monday-Friday. The downside to e-mails is that it makes me actually pick up the phone and call people less.

Day 3 - Top Five Names You Wish Were Yours

Ok, so I find this topic weird because I don't have a list of names I wish were mine. Who does? BUT for a while I was not a fan of my name and it has taken me a long time to actually like it. And since I did look through boy and girl names when I was pregnant and picked out some girl names before we found out we were having a boy this is going to be a list of girl names I like, not that I wish were mine.

1. Sophie - if we (hopefully) have another baby in the future and that baby happens to be a girl, this would be my first choice. For now anyway (because I think it's becoming too popular).
2. Hannah - pretty and not over used
3. Grace or Gracie - pretty but semi over used
4.  Chloe
5. Madeline

Remember to check out my cousin AJ's version of this challenge at Random musings of a wierdo!

Day 2 - Top Five Favorite Books

1. Anything in the Inspector Lynley series by Elizabeth George. I've read them all and I love love love all the characters. She just came out with a new one not long ago and I'm holding off on reading it because then it won't seem like so long until the next one comes out. 

   

   A few of the Elizabeth George books. Stolen from
   last year's 30 day challenge.

   
2. Phantom by Susan Kay. I've read this several times. Its is a different take on the original Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux (which I also loved).

3. Dancehall by Bernard F. Conners. I'm actually re-reading this one right now. I bought it on a day trip to Lake Placid a few years ago. Part of the book is set in Lake Placid and it's based on a true story. I think it would make a good movie too.

4. The Harry Potter series. Who that has read the HP books didn't love them? I was very reluctant to read them because of how popular they were. But I found myself in need of reading material and decided "What the hell, I'll give Harry Potter a try" and I loved them. And I know I'll read them again sometime.

5. The Help by Kathryn Stockett. I was a little later than most reading this one too. I kept seeing it everywhere but never paid much attention to it until I saw the commercials for the movie. I'm so so glad I read it because it was a really great book. And the movie was shockingly good - and accurate - too.

It was tough to pick just five. I loooove to read and wish I had more time to do it. But less time to read makes me appreciate the times that I do get peace and quiet to sit down with some coffee or tea and a good book.

Day 1 - Top Five Favorite Excuses (Blog Challenge)

So, surprise! I'm starting another blog challenge. You might remember AJ from a post from my 30 challenge last year (this post too). AJ started a blog recently yesterday and wanted to do a blog challenge right off the bat. And I spontaneously suggested we do one together. He didn't want to wait. We picked a 30 day challenge of top fives. Since today is our start day...here goes.

Top Five Favorite Excuses

1. "I'm running late" or "I woke up late". This seems to be my excuse Monday - Friday. Can it be considered an excuse if it's the truth? I guess so. My life is running late. It is possible for me to be on time for something, but is rarely possible for me to be early.
2. "I don't feel like it." Usually this applies to cooking dinner. And, oddly enough, on a night when I already have the stuff at the house. I don't even need to stop at the store. It's just that I really don't feel like it...and I usually get away with it.
3. "I'm hungry." This is generally my excuse for being kinda mean when I need to eat. It's usually at work but it happens at home too. Husband periodically calls me out on it.
4. "THIS is what's wrong with the health care system! THIS is why people die instead of going to doctors!" That's what I usually say when I'm frustrated with one of my doctor's offices. Either it's because you call and it goes straight to an automated service or you get a nurses voicemail and she says she'll call you back in 24 hours. Whatever. It's only my excuse...I really just don't want to go. I like to think that whatever is wrong will clear up without having to set foot in an exam room (FYI: not the case when you wake up yellow).
5. "I had a bad day." Generally how I justify a big bowl of ice cream. Or an oreo treat from my favorite little deli place downtown. I know it's not a great excuse but you know what...sad as it is, they do make me feel better :)

So there you have it. I know they're not the most creative excuses you've ever heard but they are my most common ones.

If you want to check out AJ's version of the 30 day challenge, you can check out his blog Random musings of a wierdo.

The Living Room Fort

Oh the indoor fort. Anyone who didn't make a fort out of kitchen chairs and sheets, or couch cushions, or anything else around the house was flat out deprived as a child. A few weeks ago, Grant became the proud owner of new little table/art station courtesy of his Grandma.

It's a really fun little folding table set. It has four sections: two with clips to hold your paper in place while you draw, one section is a chalkboard, and the other is a dry-erase board. There's space to put your art supplies (crayons, chalk, markers) and it comes with two little chairs. Also a great place to have a snack.

One night last week, Grant kept crawling under the table to sit and then he'd just giggle while he was under there. So I grabbed a blanket and threw it over the table. He got so excited you would have thought a monster truck drove straight into our living room.
 

Hello!

Here I come!

He loved to pull the blanket off the table and stomp on it and giggle. Then he'd bring me the blanket saying "On? On?" so I'd put it back on the table and he'd crawl under and we'd begin the game again.

My favorite was when he rolled into the blanket and got tangled...then just crawled away under the blanket with no clue where he was headed.

We've "played fort" pretty much every day/night since then. I decided to stick my head in once and now he loves when one of us (or at least part of one of us) is under there with him. And if we're in on the fort action, he likes to peek his head out and say "Hi!" then goes back in the fort and yells "Bye bye!"

So the table is, for now, a permanent fixture in our living room...along with the tie-dyed blanket (but I do hide that when company comes). But on Sunday my Mother-in-Law brought over an indoor tent and I can't imagine what kind of excitement will happen when I decide to break that out. For now though, we're sticking with table fort.

Ok, I'm a liar. The tent is inflatable and I need a pump to blow it up. Husband caught me trying to blow it up with nothing but the power of my lungs on Sunday night. He told me not to even try to do that by myself, we'll get a pump...but he had that "I married a total idiot" tone of voice so I decided to not be hard-headed (for once) and just put the tent away.

Monday Funday

 

 So true, isn't it? This seriously made me laugh. This is sort of our life lately. And I am certain that on at least one occasion I have had a toddler appendage in my face.

When I was pregnant I always said "No babies in bed!" just because it was a habit I didn't want to start, not because of any safety issues. But I quickly learned that it was the easiest way for me to "sleep in" just a little. And even though Grant sleeps quite well in his crib (and actually likes his crib), he's been having some issues lately and Husband is giving in. Big time. I'm very "let him cry it out, he'll stop eventually" (although after 3 hours of continuous crying one night I began to seriously doubt he'd ever stop) and Husband is very "I'd rather get crappy sleep than none at all". It can get a little tense in our house around 2:00 a.m. And it can get a little crowded in our bed with two adults, a toddler that can't get comfy...and then a dog that decides to join the party too.

P.S. Husband snores. Bad. It sounds like a freight train is coming straight through our bedroom. Usually after an hour or so of being elbowed I can get him to stop long enough for me to fall asleep. One night the snoring woke me up in the middle of the night (that's unusual) so I started elbowing him. As it turns out, Grant had been crying and Husband brought him to bed. It was Grant that was snoring...and it was Grant that I was elbowing. Oops. 

Monster Jam!

Grant loves some trucks. All trucks. But his real favorite are monster trucks - "big trucks". He even gets a little aggressive tone when he says it. Of course, being only a year and a half old, it comes out "big fruuuucks!". It was about a month ago when we saw commercials for Monster Jam coming to Raleigh. I knew Grant had to go. Husband borrowed some big earmuffs from a friend at work so Grant wouldn't be deaf for the rest of his life and we made plans to go. We were going to go to the show but also go to the Pit Party before the show so Grant could see the trucks up close.

Flash forward to the day of. We had been trying to pump Grant up all week. "We're going to go see big trucks this weekend!" and then that morning when we were getting ready it was "Today is a big day, Grant! You're going to be so excited!" You know, because he totally understands us.

So we finally get to the arena and what happens when they open my diaper bag? "No detachable lens cameras inside the arena. Monster Jam rules. You'll have to take this back to the car, ma'am." Ok, I was P.O.'d enough that I couldn't take my camera in there but then he called me MA'AM! I wish I could say that I was very mature about the situation. I could have been worse. I didn't get mouthy with the guy or anything but Husband had to listen to me complain on the way back to the car and then all the way back to the arena. I was still pretty angry when were walking into the Pit Party - knowing that I only had my phone to take pictures with - but I totally forgot my anger as soon as Grant saw the trucks parked in the arena and yelled "BIG FRUUUUUUCKS!"



Amazed by the big trucks.

After his initial outburst, Grant pretty much went into silent-amazement-mode. Just staring at everything with his mouth open. We did have another "big fruck" outburst when he saw the souvenir booth with the big stuffed monster trucks. It wasn't too long after that Grant was carrying around his own stuffed monster truck. How could we not get it for him?!


Iron Man truck

Checking out Iron Man

  

OMG it's Iron Man!

Grave Digger

 



Monster Mutt. Grant kept pointing to it saying "Oof! Oof!"

Showing off his Monster Jam tattoo (applied at home)

And his "big truck" tattoo

 We had just over an hour between the Pit Party and the actual show. So we parked ourselves in a little spot in the arena and had some lunch (and were very surprised to see Grant eat a good lunch - he's been on a bit of a hunger strike lately). Then we found our seats with about 15 minutes until showtime. I'll admit to a fair amount of excitement on my part. I don't know that I've ever been to a monster truck event and you have to admit they're kind of impressive. Of course, I also couldn't wait to see what Grant's reaction would be too!

So excited!

 

Waiting patiently.

Here come the trucks, time for the earmuffs! (We had to strap
towels to the head piece to make them stay up.)

Big Fruuucks!

It was at the moment of the first truck revving his engine that I practically jumped out of my skin and screamed "Oh my God!". They were much, much louder than I thought they'd be. Thankfully, Husband brought earplugs for us and I'm so glad he did. I don't think I could have stayed if he didn't.

I put away my phone/camera when the started doing stunts. As excited as he was, Grant was also a little scared. He never cried but he did hug his stuffed Grave Digger as hard as he could whenever the trucks really got going. But it was about halfway through the show - I think - that we noticed Grant was dozing off between stunts. And then he would jerk back awake when they started again. It was then that we decided to leave, he hadn't had much of a nap that day. We were barely out of the parking lot when he passed out.

Sleeping with Grave Digger. And, yes, I'm very
aware of how odd that sounds.

Even though he won't remember it, we know Grant had a good time. And we had such a great time watching him! Also, we've been trying for months to get Grant to say "I love you" and it's just not happening. He starts but then nothing. But spending a few hours at Monster Jam he now says Grave Digger. It sounds like "Ga'digger" but still. And if you ask him where Grave Digger is, he will run and get his stuffed toy from where ever he left it. I guess we know where we stand.

Side Note: When leaving the pits, we had to exit through the tunnel where the trucks came in and take some stairs back up to the main level. The hallway that we had to use is the same hallway that the Hurricanes use during games. It was kinda cool :)

Easter 2012

This year Easter kind of snuck up on me. I totally forgot about it. I know...bad Mama! But, I still managed to put together a little basket for Grant that he was very excited about. I didn't want to go overboard with his basket. Last year I just gave his basket to him, but this year I hid it! Of course, I helped him find it too. We walked all over the house trying to find it. (Husband apparently didn't see me hide it the night before and kept asking me who hid the basket. I was very tempted to say that it was the Easter Bunny!). We finally found it behind the rocking chair in Grant's room and he immediately shouted "Ball! Ball!" because he had a new football tucked in there among his new books, bubbles, and play foam (also some lollipops).



Showing Mama his bubbles.



Checking out a new book.



He immediately loved his new Poke-a-Dot book. It's
a counting book that you poke as you count.

 

See Daddy?

 

Of course Brodie got a little basket too.



We went to my Mother-in-law's house for Easter lunch. Before we ate, Grant got to open his giant basket from Grandma and Grandpa Earl. Which was - much to Grant's delight - fill with cars and trucks.


Can't you go any faster Grandpa?

After lunch they brought out a big basket of Easter eggs for Grant to play with. But I wanted to play with my new camera! So we went outside to see if we could get some cute Easter pictures and to let Grant burn off some energy.



Playing with Grandpa



Playing on the trampolene!



It's empty!

Grandma, Uncle Scotty, Daddy, and Grant



And we did actually manage to get a decent family picture before...

 Grant decided he was done.

 This is probably my favorite "serious" picture of the day:


There's nuffin in it?

  Sorry for the picture overload. Honestly, I have a ton more I could have posted. I'm loving my new camera! But anyway, as you can see we had a great Easter and I hope you guys did too!

Coming soon: Monster Jam! Stay tuned :)