Circle of Friends

We had a great weekend this past weekend with some of our best friends. We rented a house on Lake Norman and had a kids-free weekend. The house was the perfect size for all of us and was right on the lake. It had a great fireplace, which was perfect since it was so cold and rainy on Saturday. Sunday was beautiful and we did get to sit out by the lake some on Sunday. It was so great to hang out and see everyone! Unfortunately, Lila was sick and Drew and Jodi didn't get to spend the weekend with us...we really missed them and I am so glad that Lila is finally feeling better. Grant spent the weekend with Brandon's parents and had so much fun. This was only the 3rd time that I have ever been away from Grant for 2 nights in a row.

We all had lots of time to catch up which was great! The girls went to the movies and did a little shopping, while the boys hung out.  Surprisingly, the boys were pretty tame this weekend...they have a tendency to act like they are 20 again when they all get together, but I think their age is finally catching up with them:)

We watched the Heels beat the Pack and then went out to dinner on Saturday. Go Heels! They also surprised Brandon and I with baby gifts and cupcakes and Zach even brought lottery scratch offs for party favors:)

It really was a relaxing and fun weekend. We are so fortunate to have such a great group of friends!

The girls:)

The boys hanging out at the lake

These guys truly are BFFs:)

Remembering PawPaw

Grant and Hannah loved riding on the Gator with PawPaw and he loved taking them on rides around the farm. We want to make sure that they both always remember all of the fun times they had with PawPaw. Brandon had a great idea to get both of them a toy Gator along with framing a picture of each of them with PawPaw on the Gator as a way of remembering him. MiMi gave them their Gator and picture today. Grant was so excited and has been playing with it all afternoon. I'm not sure that they completely understand the significance, but I know they will one day. Grant still calls my mom's house, MiMi and PawPaw's. He will sometimes ask about PawPaw and where he is and I remind him that he is in heaven. I'm not sure that he completely understands. It's just so hard to know with his age.

After playing outside in the snow today, we watched videos of Grant and Hannah with PawPaw and they were both really excited to see themselves on TV with PawPaw. It is always a lot of fun to watch those videos, but also really difficult because it is such a reminder of how much things have changed. Regardless, we always want Grant and Hannah to have those memories and never ever forget how much PawPaw loved them. We all miss him so much.

More Fun in the Snow!

We went to MiMi's this morning for a little more fun in the snow before it all melted away. Grant and Hannah had the best time sledding! It was Grant's first time and he really loved it!  Uncle Heath and Daddy had fun too:)

A Snowy Afternoon

So we were so surprised to get some snow this afternoon.  It snowed about 2 inches and this was the first time that Grant really got to play out in the snow.  Usually when it snows and is bad weather, Brandon has to work so it was also fun that he got to stay home today.  He and Grant both had lots of fun playing outside in the snow!

Making a baby snowman. Grant said that it was for his baby brother:)

Having a snowball fight...Grant's favorite part of playing outside in the snow!

Throwing a snowball at Mommy:)

Big boy room update

We finally got up some of the pictures and artwork in Grant's room so I wanted to post some updated pics of the finished product...at least for now anyway. We are so happy that he has done so well with the transition to his new room.  I can't believe that shortly we will have 2 boys across the hall from us!

I ordered the canvases above his bed from etsy and am really happy with the way they turned out

Grant loves this lamp! I found it at Target. The bottom is a baseball bat and the on/off switch is a whistle:)

Yes, we still have the monitors...I just can't give up the video monitor yet!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Grant turned 2 years and 9 months old on Valentine's Day.  It's hard to believe that he will be 3 years old in 3 short months and that he will have a new baby brother (who still doesn't have a name)  in 3 short months!  Grant is so excited to be a big brother and tells us he will be getting a baby brother for his birthday:)

He is so independent now and wants to do everything himself...he's actually getting pretty good at dressing himself and really just needs help with his shirt. He knows all of his basic colors and can recognize many of his letters. He can spell his name and loves drawing different shapes particularly circles and lines. He has starting drawing faces and this morning was drawing other random objects like a banana and a snowman on his chalkboard.  For the longest time, we thought he was going to be left handed, but he has been drawing and coloring more and more with his right hand now. He loves singing and dancing and music class on Fridays is one of his most favorite things at school.  He really loves all of his friends and teachers at school and has been learning so much since he has been in the 2 year old class. He literally amazes us each day with how smart he is and the things he says and picks up...of course I'm not biased at all:)

Grant had a fun Valentine's Day on Thursday. He had a Valentine's Party at school and took all of his friends Lightening McQueen valentine's cards with a sucker. He also got lots of fun treats from his friends and teachers and treats from my family and Brandon's family earlier this week!  We have way too much candy in this house!! We got him some new books, a new Buzz and Woody shirt, goldfish and of course some candy for Valentine's Day.  Grant and Daddy were really sweet and got me some nice cards and candy. It was a low key, but nice Valentine's Day.

Glad to see that simple things like colored goldfish still makes him so excited:)

New books

"Flying" like Buzz Lightyear

My sweet boy

Some of Grant's February art projects from school...check out those big feet!

Potty Trained!

So I am super excited to report that Grant is finally potty trained!!! He has been doing better and better over the past few weeks, but had still been wearing pull ups to school because he wasn't consistent with pooping in the potty at school. A couple of weeks ago, he started getting more consistent so we talked to his teachers last week and we all agreed that we were going to try big boy underwear at school. We took Grant to Target for him to pick out some new underwear to celebrate. He chose Toy Story and Cars:) He has been wearing underwear pretty consistently at home for a few months. So on Monday, Grant wore big boy underwear to school (Buzz and Woody underwear to be exact)!  He has done great all week with no accidents at school or at home!! He hasn't even had any accidents during nap time at school this week! We are so very proud of him! He can almost get his pants and underwear up and down by himself. He just needs a little help with straightening them out completely. He does still need to wear something at night and nap, but otherwise we are done with diapers and pull ups! When I picked him up from school on Thursday, Ms. Becca (his teacher) told me, "I think we can say he is officially potty trained."  I was so excited to hear those words from her!

So needless to say, we have had a lot of positive changes this week...a new big boy bed and big boy underwear! My little man is really growing up!!

So proud of his new underwear!

His special note and treat from Ms. Becca for doing so good on Monday! He still gets a sucker when he poops in the potty as his treat:)

My Big Boy Room!

We have been working really hard on turning our guest bedroom/office into Grant's new big boy room. We had a lot of cleaning out to do and furniture shopping. Last Friday was finally the big day that Grant moved to his new room! We have a sports theme and we were excited and nervous to see how he would do in his new big boy bed. We had turned his crib into a toddler bed and that is where he has been sleeping since he turned 2. Last Friday night was his first night in his new bed and he did great! It took him a little while to fall asleep, but he slept in there all night.  He has done great this week and I think sleeps a lot better and is more comfortable in his new bed. I can't believe how quickly he is growing up and he looks like such a big boy in his new room/bed!  He has only fallen out of it once:)

These are pictures from that first night before we got up everything on the walls

We also got Grant a new easel that has a chalkboard on one side and a dry erase board on the other for his new room...he loves it!

It was pajama day at school last Friday...that is why he has on pjs in all of these pictures:)

Grant wore his new batman pjs to bed for the first night in his new room:)