Look, Mommy, No Feet!

A few weeks ago we got a sandbox and Joel got sand for it this weekend. So today was the first time Grant and Kate have played in sand other than at the park, which has only been a few times. They loved it! They had been playing in the water before playing in the sandbox, in case you're wondering why they look so wet! Joel buried their feet and they thought that was pretty funny.

Fun at the Zoo!

On Saturday we went to the Dallas Zoo and despite the heat, we had a blast. Joel said this was our best zoo trip yet. We only saw four animals: Chestire, the parrot at the entrance, the penguins, gorilla, and flamingos. It seems funny to me to go to the zoo and only see 4 animals but we all had a great time of being together and enjoying the day. That's what counts, right? After seeing the animals we went to the children's area and played in the water area. The kids loved it! We probably played for 45 minutes before calling it quits.

The penquins were the first animals we saw and the kids loved them. They kept pointing to them. But then when the penquin got really close, Kate became scared. It was kind of funny, actually. The penquins were quite friendly and came close to the wall several times. Last zoo trip you could hardly see them.

Kate is becomming such a big girl and loves to walk instead of ride in the stroller. It is so nice that she stays close by....still working on that with Grant!

Here we are at the water area. They had so much fun!!!

Grant spied the spider web from the water area and pointed indicating he wanted to go over there. So I said, "Ok." He knew right what to do and started crawling away. When he got to the top he said, "Keese" for "Cheese!" and I took this picture:

On a Roll...

After I made bows for Baby Emerson, I was kind of on a roll and made a few bows for Kate. :-) A few weeks ago I was at Walmart passing by the baby department when I spotted a $1.oo rack of clothes. I found several cute shirts and matching shorts for Kate and bought a few for next year, too. They're super cute and she was really needing some play clothes to get her through the rest of the summer. She has been growing so fast lately and is already in 2T.

Anyway, when I saw this one with the cupcake I thought it would be super cute for her to wear for her birthday. I already had cupcake ribbon and we always do cupcakes for birthdays at our house...so it will all be too cute!

At CG last night I brought it to show my girlfriends. I just had to show someone! I think they think I'm a little crazy. 8-) Oh well...

My First Bow-quet!

Last night we had a baby shower for some friends from our CG (community group). I was thinking I needed to go to Target and buy a baby gift since that's where they are registered and then it dawned on me: Why do I need to buy something when I can make bows? :-) A few months ago I saw a picture of a bow-quet and couldn't wait until I had a good excuse to make one! Here is how is turned out:

There are 5 infant/toddler bows in basic colors, 2 ruffle bows, 2 flower clippies, 3 polka dot clippies, a pink camo bow, and later I added a big pink flower clip.
I got the pail at Hobby Lobby and painted her name and a few flowers. That was fun.

Cori, I can't wait to meet baby Emerson! We're praying for a safe and healthy delivery. Hang in there these last few weeks!

Where's Grant?

The other night I went to check on Grant before I went to bed for the night. I heard him snoring a little when I walked in his room but as I got closer and closer to his bed, I couldn't see him! It was pretty funny actually since I could hear him snoring, I immediately knew the sound was coming from under his bed. So I looked down and this is how I found him:

So then I had to go get Joel, who was already in bed, so he could come and see. We both had a good chuckle and then lovingly put him back in bed. He was so sleepy. He said, "Bye" (he says this for "good night") in his half asleep voice to us as we tucked him in. He is a sweet boy!

Two Firsts for G-Man

This morning after changing diapers, Grant picked up one of the diapers and held it in front of Kate's face as he said, "mell." (for "smell") I've never heard that word come out of his mouth before! And he has never held up anything to our nose asking us to smell something! So while it was totally random, not to mention gross, it was in the right context and a new word! I was exstatic. While this moment might be considered totally disgusting in the average normal-kid household, I am saying, "Thank you, Lord, for a new word and for Grant using it in the right context!!!"

Next time we'll work on something more pleasant smelling. :-) I'm sure Kate will appreciate that!

My Husband is Amazing!!!

Our AC went out sometime Saturday evening. It was the fan motor (or something like that). We waited until Monday so Joel could get a new one, as the store was not open on Sunday. And yesterday, Monday, he fixed it! Our AC works like a champ and it feels so good in our house! Thank you, Lord, for cool air!!!

Joel, you are amazing how you figured all of it out, not ever having done that before! I'm so impressed!!!

Last Day of School!

A few days ago I emailed Ms. Patsy, Grant's teacher, asking if Kate and I could come to school on the last day and bring donuts for snack. She welcomed the idea and so it was a plan. Thanks, Melissa, for the great idea! :-)

We came around snack time and then got to hang out a little while afterwards until it was time to go home. This is Ms. Patsy, Grant's Special Ed teacher at Liberty Grove Elementary:

This is Ms. Mary, Ms. Patsy's helper

And here is Ms. Paula, Ms. Patsy's other helper

This is Jacky (ja ja), Grant's little buddy at school. Grant and Jacky are two peas in a pod!

The donuts were a big hit! Kate was being such a big girl sitting at the table with the other kids.

God has blessed us so much through wonderful teachers who work hard with him day in and day out. I know their job isn't easy, and I am so grateful for their endless patience and loving kindness to Grant. He has made a lot of progress this year to which I give them a lot of credit! I wasn't able to get a picture of Ms. Delia, Grant's speech teacher, but we are thankful for her, too! It's hard to believe the school year is now officially over. Thank you, Lord, for a great year!

What is on my fingers?

Sunday we had my family over for my brother, David and my mom's birthday. We made 6 Layer Dip and had ice cream for dessert. It was a last minute get together and was a lot of fun just hangin' out. Kate saw me get the can of olives out and indicated that she wanted some. She loves olives! So we put them on her finger and she would eat them. At one point we put olives on all five fingers. She wasn't quite sure what to think, as you can tell by the expression on her face. It wasn't long though before she ate them all up, as you can see in the later picture. She is such a cutie and is growing into her own little self, full of personality.

Buddy Day!

Here are some pics from Field Day at Grant's school. Kate and I came to participate. She loves it anytime we go to Grant's school. She always gets so excited. Here she is playing on the playground with Grant's class:

Grant didn't want to go in the bounce house at first but then when it was time to go onto the next activity he didn't want to leave. He was being obstinate that morning!

At the end we came inside for a snowcone treat. Yummy!

Here's What We've Been Up To Lately

Working in our backyard! Joel built an arbor above our patio and then enlarged the patio by 4 times. It was a lot of work mixing and pouring the concrete but it was well worth it. He has done a really good job so far. He's almost done and then we will stain the arbor and the concrete. I put in a flower bed around the crepe murdle tree and a few other flower beds that I plan on gardening in. We got all of the rock of off Craig's List for free! What a blessing! Here are some pictures that we have taken along the way:

Joel and I dug all the dirt out and used it to level the back of the yard.

It doesn't look very big in the picture but it really is so much bigger and now we actually will have a place to put the grill and a few chairs.

Grant is happily entertaining himself playing with the hose. He could play with water for hours! Several times when we have been working in the yard, Grant will end up soaking wet from playing with the hose. He is something else...

Taking a break for some good ole' PBJ!

We still have more work to do. I'll post more pics along the way.