Our New Favorite Hobby

First two pictures are before we even got it outside - I knew he was going to love it!

HERE WE GO!!

May be hard to believe but the picture below is the fit he threw when it was time to get out.

Anyone coming for a visit - be ready for a bike ride...we go every night. Even tonight, with a big rain storm on the horrizon - we still took a stroll in the bike and pulled into the garage just in time to beat the downpoor.

Random Pictures, Funny Things

No, Grant doesn't need glasses - they were Gria's (my grandma)....he was very fascinated with them when she was here. Don't worry, his eyes aren't going to cross after wearing them, they're just magnifying. :)

So, with no boppy grant has had a harder time falling asleep - we have to keep telling him to close his eyes. He can't quite figure it out so he'll put his hands over his eyes....it's too cute!!!

Every time we turn around Grant is doing something else to show us how much of a big boy he is...dressing himself is one of his new tricks.....

Anybody know where these boys came from? Pretty much every t-shirt we owns says Newton on it somewhere....and of course everyone asks where that is. I thought these matching boys were just too cute to pass up! :)

24 hours....and Counting

25 Hours, 38 minutes, and 24 seconds

That is how long we've been without a boppy, passy, pasifier, or whatever else you want to call it.

Jon and I have been discussing that we need to loose it for a long time now. There has always been a reason we've waited: moving, going back to Illinois (on a plane!), going back to Florida, church, people coming, peace, quiet, etc...but finally we did it!

It's weird while we had three different passy's for some reason Grant was very attached to one and would only use the blue one. Jon and I truely did lose it and had to convince Grant the white one would work. This to us was a sign we needed to ditch the whole item all together. So, the white one "broke"! Or as Jon asks Grant - "did you bite it while in bed" - great Jon, make him feel guilty! :) First nite seemed to go pretty well, however, he did just look at me like "how am i to sleep without it", but he did great - didn't even wake up through the night.

We did end up finding the Blue one and hid it in case our plane just wasn't going to work, but only a few times did he ask for it today. Anytime he asked for it we just reminded him of how it broke and he didn't need it anymore. There were a few times he did ask, "can I just hold it"...nearly broke my heart - but so would a 12 year old with a passy so I told him no, we threw it away. Which he did - once...then pulled it back out of the trash - i just don't think he could do it. So anyway, we're back to bed again tonight with no passy - i think we may have done it!

YIPPEE!

Spoiled?? You Decide!

I think this progression of pictures will definitely lead you to an answer of spoiled. This is what life was like for him at Mom-Mom & Pop-Pop's when we were up in IL....my dad says Grant knows he can get away with more from me...I think we really know where he can get away with the most! Thanks for letting us stay for the whole 10 days - I guess we found out if you really missed us that much or not. Don't worry, we're not coming back for another TWO weeks! :)

Ready, Set, Race

So, I'm trying to catch up on some old pictures that need to be loaded. This is a continuation of Illinois Fun. RACE is a very fun game that Grant LOVES to play. It is not specifically related to Illinois - he can race anywhere - but these race pictures are from when we were in Illinois a couple of weeks ago! Really - don't over think it - Race is just running in a circle. Amy decides to switch it up a bit and make it exciting by yelling switch directions every now and then...oh what fun.

Of course, when you ask "who won" - his response - "ME!"

Fun Time in Illinois

So I'm finally getting around to posting about our recent trip back to Illinois. It stopped raining a little while for us to go outside. During that time we went over to the Zerrusen Farm (just Amy & Dave's).

I know it may surprise all of you (that know Amy and I) that we DID NOT grow up on a farm. We are both such naturals with animals that you would have assumed we were in 4-H (or any other animal raising club). I'm just sure that's where Amy got her fondness of Ducks and Rabbits. She and Dave are raising 2 ducks and 2 rabbits....oh, wait 6 rabbits...one rabbit had 4 babies over the weekend. She's so in tune with her animals that she didn't even know the rabbit was expecting....anyway, on with the show...

Grant checking out the animals.

For some reason he didn't care for the rabbits -

was much more a fan of the ducks.

Grant very much wanted to pick up the ducks....

Grant realized he was missing the "duck gloves".

Yes, Amy has special gloves she uses to pick up any of the pets.

Isn't that how all natural animal lovers do it??

See, told you I was a pro....

Jon - the City Kid only willing to pet the duck with one finger....

Oh, what shall our next trip home bring?

We're coming home June 9th - ???

Let us know if you have something fun for us to experience

for posting on the Blog after our return.

I WON!

A radio contest you ask?

No, better than that!

The Lottery you ask?

No, Better than that!

One of those Random drawings that aren't so random?

No, even better!!

I won the Battle of what was for supper! (with Grant)

Now to some of you this may seem very trival, one of those pick your battle type of situations...well, this was the battle I picked for tonight. I made spaghetti (which Grant loves) and after 2 or 3 bites grant decided he was done and wanted to play. Now, good mothers would not let their children go and play then come back and eat several times - but that is the battle I choose not to fight yet and let him...but tonight he just played. I asked him to come and eat but he refused. We moved on to Ice cream, which he asked for, but I said No, had to have spaghetti first. Didn't seem to phase him much.

Went on playing...asked for Milk - my response...after Spaghetti. (don't feel to sorry for the kid - the reason he wasn't eating spaghetti was because he had already had a cup of milk and juice between coming home and dinner.) I just felt I couldn't give into this one or he wouldn't eat anything we fixed. He went on to ask for everything under the sun - pop tarts, ice cream, cookies, etc. Finally around 8 pm I gave him the choice of a banana or spaghetti. At this point, I was now thinking of me...knowing a full tummy sleeps better than an empty tummy. He ate it in about 2 minutes. He then wanted more....my response....SPAGHETTI!...his response, OKAY!!!

He ate over half the bowl!!!! Very minor, but in my little world of battles with him - I feel I just won the gold medal!

What shall my battle for tomorrow be.........

We Made It

Yes, we made it back home after a 10 day trip to Illinois. Not just Grant and I returned to the "not so sunshine state", but my 90 year old grandma "gria" came to stay the week as well. Jon's off to Phoenix - interesting timing if you ask me!? We did great through the airport, the plane ride was awesome - Grant fell asleep even before we took off. Been settled in for a day now and I think all is still going well. I will try to post some of the pictures from our FUN in Illinois over the next couple of nights.

I'm headed to Orlando for a presentation tomorrow so not a late night of posting for me!

If you're lucky, maybe I'll even take some pictures of our FL fun this week with Gria!

oh, the comment about not so sunshine state....nothing but rain all week. I haven't seen so much rain and gloom since.....well, since I left Illinois a couple of days ago! :)

Before....and After

So these pictures are long over due - but wanted to give you some glimps of what you'll see when you come and visit...I'll show some before's - meaning saturday night when we unloaded the truck compared to after's - after my parents had unpacked everything! (thanks again Mom-mom and Pop-pop!)

Before

Master Bedroom

After
Master Bedroom

Before

Living Room

After

Living Room

Before - Kitchen

After - Kitchen

Just use your imagination on this one...

Picture all of the boxes gone, dishes done, clutter put away

(I promise this will look better when you're here)

Before

Family Room

After

Family Room

Before

Dining Room

After

Dining Room

Before

Clothes

After

Clothes

Grant's Room

Guest Room...excuse me - Your Room

Working on getting a calendar up on blog so you can see

when it's available for you to come down.

Lanai

Pool!

Yes, It's warm and ready for you to swim in!

Well folks, hope you enjoyed a tour of our new home!

We're settled in and looking for visitors!

Let me know when you want to come and I can make sure your room is available!!