What's Happening With Drew and Kristin...

Luke 2:11

2011-12-24T13:05:00.003-05:00

We're having trouble uploading videos on our blog, so we uploaded a video to Youtube, but listed it as private. We figured this would be the easiest way for family to see some cute videos of the kids.

This video is of Jenna reciting Luke 2:11. Just click the link to view it on Youtube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zoOfi5Fqf0

Merry Christmas (Eve)!!

2011-12-23T21:29:00.006-05:00

So I figured I'd update the blog with December pictures before I'm overloaded with Christmas pics! :)

December has been a really fun month for us. I made an advent calendar last year, but Jenna was still too young to understand it. She's enjoyed it this year, but still doesn't have any concept of time (or days) so even though we tell her, "Only 2 more days until Christmas", it doesn't quite register. There are tins on the calendar for each day leading up to Christmas and inside the tins I printed off activities for us to do that day. I've really enjoyed having a planned activity to do with her each day and Jenna loves coming downstairs in the morning and learning what the activity will be for the day. Some of the activities included baking or cooking something Christmas related (snowman-shaped pizzas, Christmas cookies, Santa pancakes, a birthday cake for Jesus, etc), doing a craft project, reading the Christmas story about Jesus's birth, and more.

Jenna ready to open the 1st tin on the advent calendar. (Look at her posing...such a change from a year ago!)

One of our activities was to go see Santa. We invited my parents and Grandma to join us, but first we stopped at McDonald's for dinner.

When we got to Santa's area, he apparently was on a break, so we waited a few minutes for him to return. While waiting we figured we'd get a family picture by the fence. Afterward the mall security guard came over and informed us that we're not supposed to take any pictures in the mall. Interesting...

Jenna and Grant looking at a Christmas book

One night I found Grant laying on the stairs hugging his Teddy. Jenna thought it looked like fun and joined him.

Love this little guy!!

She looks so grown up!

Jenna's helping Daddy make the Santa pancake. I love the way she's looking at him.

The final product! I thought it turned out pretty good. Jenna (of course) ate all the whipped cream, chocolate chips (on the eyes), and the strawberries, but didn't want to eat the actual pancake because it had "stuff on it". She's an interesting one...she eats her pancakes without any butter or syrup and spaghetti without any sauce.

Bailey's actually letting Jenna get closer to him now that she's older and more gentle. I grabbed the camera too late because just before this shot he was sitting on her lap, which is UNHEARD of.

On two separate days we baked cookies and took them to Jenna's great-grandparents. In this picture, we were delivering them to Grandpa and Grandma Shafer.

Here's the snowman pizza. I won't show you the finished product. It definitely did not turn out the way it looks below.

Couldn't resist taking a picture of Grant sleeping. He LOVES his teddy bear and snuggles with him all the time. Unfortunately for Teddy, Grant also likes to pull his fuzz, so he's starting to look a little worn. But he is loved!

This day's activity was to drive around looking at Christmas lights. We weren't sure if Jenna would enjoy it, but we were pleasantly surprised. She loved it and didn't want to go back home. Even now when we drive around town, she points out all the beautiful lights on the houses.

This day's activity was to have an indoor picnic by the Christmas tree. I promise we were sitting next to the Christmas tree...it just didn't make it in the shot. :)

This Christmas we've had the opportunity to start talking with Jenna about the birth of baby Jesus. It has been so neat to see her interest in it and her desire to see Jesus in Heaven. Obviously she doesn't understand what it all means, why He's in heaven, or how we get to heaven, but we LOVE seeing her interest in it and we pray that she continues to learn more. Each Sunday she brings home a card from her Sunday School class with a Bible story and memory verse on it. This week I started working with her on memorizing the verse. I was amazed at how quickly she learned it and that she was still able to say it from memory a few days later! The verse she learned is Luke 2:11 "Unto you is born this day...a Savior." Very special...

Deck the Halls

2011-12-21T14:56:00.006-05:00

The past few years we've gone to a local Christmas tree farm and cut down our own Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving. We both like that tradition of having a live tree and of going at the end of November. By the time Christmas if over, I'm typically ready to take down our tree, so I'd rather have it up at least a month to get some use out of it. Plus it really gets us in the Christmas spirit!

The kid's holding hands on our way to the Christmas tree farm

Jenna actually found our tree right away. We weren't there more than 3 minutes after she pointed it out. Of course she also pointed out the Charlie Brown trees, so I think this one was just luck.

Drew remembers from his childhood going Christmas tree hunting and then having hot chocolate and a snack. So we brought along the hot chocolate and some brownies. The kids definitely enjoyed that part of our trip!

This was the first year Jenna really enjoyed helping decorate the tree. She liked putting the star on the top...

...and putting ornaments on the tree. I though she'd put a few on and then get bored with it and move on to something else, but she actually stayed almost the entire time. She did a good job - we just had to do a little moving around once we were finished, otherwise one section of our tree would have been overloaded with ornaments while the rest sat empty. :)

At the end of November we had our first snowfall. Jenna was anxious to get out in it. She even tried to catch snowflakes on her tongue without my encouraging her. I'm guessing she must have remembered this from last year...which surprised me!

I tried to get a picture of our house all lit up.

Enjoying the snow together!

The next day I brought some snow up for their nightly bath time. Jenna mostly enjoyed eating it, although she did play with it some while Grant loved getting a handful and dropping it in the tub. Each time he did that he'd let out a little giggle. :)

November

2011-12-05T22:45:00.003-05:00

Boy, I'm on a roll! :) Random November pictures minus some holiday ones which I'll post next time.

Gram-Gram reading to Jenna - Jenna LOVES books and probably could sit all day long looking at them and being read to.

I couldn't resist snapping a picture of this cute pose.

Whenever Grant hears the printer, he gets all excited and RUNS over to it. Then he'll bend over and peer inside to watch the paper come out, which is followed by him quickly grabbing the paper when it's done. Too funny!

New jammies from "B"! Jenna and Grant are definitely becoming good friends (most of the time) and enjoy one anothers company. They'll play together some, although Grant's still a little young for actively playing with others. Their favorite thing to do right now is probably chase each other around the house - from the kitchen to the living and back again. It's so fun to watch them interact and enjoy one another!

Aunt Cathy started this last Thanksgiving - pulling the kids down the stairs in the laundry basket. Don't worry, Drew was in front of it, pulling them down the entire time. They both enjoyed it and did it several times until the "biggest kid" got tired (ahem...Drew). :)

I absolutely LOVE this picture! Bedtime stories with Daddy. And have you noticed that Jenna's actually started looking at the camera and giving "good" smiles for us?! Before she would always look the other way or smile with her eyes closed and teeth showing.

This melts Mommy's heart...holding hands.

Our first snowfall of the season. The kids couldn't resist going outside and enjoying it for a little bit. Jenna immediately started catching the snowflakes on her tongue, which is funny because I haven't said anything to her about that this year. So I'm wondering if she just remembers from last year...??

A special treat - playing with snow in the bathtub. Grant liked dropping handfuls of it in the tub and watching it melt - which was always followed by a giggle. Jenna mostly ate it, but did play with it some by scooping it in her cups. A few times she tried putting the snow on Grant's bare skin, but Mommy put a stop to that...poor Grant!

Next up: Our Christmas tree hunt and decorating

Highlights from October

2011-12-04T23:16:00.009-05:00

There's no way I can go back and completely catch up on the past few months-worth of pictures, so I'll just include some highlights from October.

Brumbaugh Fruit Farm

The kids playing in a "sandbox" of corn kernels.

A mini-zip line for kids. Jenna LOVED it! Grant even got in on the action (of course with Drew holding on to him the entire time).

Cedarville's Homecoming Weekend - It was Drew's 5-yr reunion so we went down for the day.

We went to the men's soccer game, but only stayed part of the game because it was so cold out!

One of Drew's good engineering friends from Cedarville came down to visit us for the weekend. We always enjoy having Phil around!

Jenna painting a pumpkin at our church's Fall Festival.

She even got to ride a horse all by herself!

My cute little scarecrows!

Pumpkin carving time

We all helped clean out the pumpkin

Drew had a work party at Young's Jersey Dairy. We were able to do all the activities for FREE! Jenna LOVED the slide and went down it over and over and over...

Chilling with the pumpkins

The rest are just random, everyday pictures from October.

Baking pumpkin cookies (I went easy this time and just bought the pre-made kind). I let Jenna place them on the cookie sheet - notice how they're all bunched together. :) I did end up spreading them out before baking them.

Jenna displaying the finished cookies in her dress-up outfit. She's really gotten into dress-up more lately and loves putting on her different dresses and jewelry.

Pumpkin craft

Making homemade pretzels.

The finished product

Grant's "play" drawer.

The kids in their Halloween shirts

I kept tickling Grant trying to get him to smile and they both thought it was hilarious. :)

The kids watching Daddy make a smoothie. It's our new favorite breakfast food (or dessert!)

Grant is fascinated with belly buttons right now. Whenever he sees one he pokes it, which is the reason for the smiles and giggles.

Happy Halloween

2011-11-09T09:49:00.004-05:00

I can't believe my last post was back in September!! I was hoping I'd never get to that point where I was "too busy" to do things like updating the blog, but I fear I am. Or maybe it's just the busyness of the season...?

Anyway, here are some pictures of the kids from Halloween...

Jenna as Cinderella and Grant as a cowboy

LOVE this picture!!

Howdy Pardner...

Drew was traveling that week for work, so Kelley and Brian offered to join us for trick-or-treat night. Brian was GREAT and pulled Grant (and sometimes Jenna) the entire time!

Afterward we stopped in to see Paw-Paw and Maw-Maw.

August Recap

2011-09-26T21:48:00.006-04:00

Wow, I'm WAY behind on updating the blog! I just realized I haven't posted the random everyday pictures from August and it's already almost October!!! Oh my!!

Jenna and Grant love the jungle gym from "B"!!

Boy has Grant slimmed down since this picture was taken. His legs look so much chunkier in this picture!

Jenna enjoyed pushing Grant around in his car.

Opening Grant's birthday gift from Grandma Borton. She sent us some money and we thought this would be a good gift for him (and his sister, of course) to play with, especially in the wintertime when we're stuck indoors.

I loved the teeter totter when I was little. I think they'll have a lot of fun with it!

I was moving the baby bath to the basement, but Grant decided it would be fun to sit in first.

Drew and I went to Cincinnati for our anniversary weekend. We were celebrating 7 years and wanted some time kid-free. We had a great weekend of shopping (we finally got to update our wardrobe, which was so much easier to do without kids), went to a movie, had quiet meals together, and RELAXED!! Thanks to my parents and my sister and brother-in-law for watching the kids for us!

Jenna playing with her Cheerios book at breakfast. Such a cute book!

Bailey taking a snooze by the back window. It must have been when the kids were down for their naps because he usually sleeps with one eye open when they're around! ;)

I love his morning bedhead!

And Jenna's too...!

Countdown

2011-08-30T23:32:00.002-04:00

Let the countdown begin!!

Aunt Cathy had a GREAT idea to help Jenna countdown the days until we leave for our Borton family get together in Galveston. This is a great idea because the concept of time is still difficult for her to understand. She just knows we're leaving in a few weeks (although she still says "a few months" which is what we taught her to say....a few months ago). Anyway, Cathy sent Jenna strips of paper so she could make a paper chain - each link representing a day until we leave. Then we can remove a link each day until the day of our trip. Love it!!

Jenna and I had fun making the chain together. Jenna was in charge of the gluing, which she did a great job with, while I put them together. We have it hanging on our light fixture above the kitchen table and each morning Jenna's wanted to rip off another link. She enjoys it, plus it gives us practice counting, especially since we're counting above 10 right now. :)

Thanks Cathy for the fun project!!

By the way Cathy, this scrapbooking lady LOVESSSSSSS the paper you sent!!! Hmmm....wondering where you picked it up so maybe I can add it to my collection...?? :)

What a big girl!

2011-08-29T15:15:00.002-04:00

We've been talking up what being a "big girl" means...how big girls go on the potty and not in their diapers or underwear and they also sleep in "big girl beds". :) She's loved the idea of being a big girl and has done a great job with potty training. We've found that by keeping her naked, she'll ALWAYS go on the potty. So we did that this past week and she was accident free and even running in from the outdoors to go on the potty. So proud of her!! Today I put underwear on her and we've only had 1 accident - all the other times have been on the potty. We told her that once she's going on the potty all the time, she can get a big girl bed.

So we've taken Jenna to a few furniture stores to look at "big girl" beds so that she knows what exactly that means. Then we went to Walmart and picked up some princess bedding - she LOVES her princesses! After doing some price comparison, we just couldn't justify buying brand new beds - let me back up...we've been planning on buying bunk beds since we're planning on having a 3rd child at some point and realize Jenna and Grant will have to share a room. Since their rooms aren't that big (about 10x10), putting 2 twin beds in 1 room would make it tight and we'd lose a lot of floor space. So we decided a bunk bed would be better. We really wanted one that would come apart so we could have 2 separate twin beds if we wanted. So needless to say, we just couldn't justify buying a bunk bed from a furniture store. So we went to Craigslist. We found a bunk bed that we liked at a price that was great! We went Saturday to pick it up and put it in her room on Sunday afternoon.

We kept it a surprise - she knew Drew was assembling it, but we didn't let her see it until it was assembled and the bed was made. She was so excited!

I was a little fearful how our evening and night would go now that she has the freedom to get out of bed on her own, but she did WONDERFUL! I watched her on a video monitor and initially after we left the room she laid there and then sat up on the edge of her bed looking around. Then she slowly stood up and it looked as if she was tip-toeing over to her toys. Haha! So I went in and told her it was bedtime and that she was supposed to stay in bed unless she needed to go potty. I tucked her in, kissed her, and left the room. She got up once more, but then after we tucked her back in and explained it to her again, she didn't get up the rest of the night. So proud of her! She's becoming such a big girl!

Miami County Fair

2011-08-28T16:03:00.008-04:00

A few weeks ago we took the kids to our county fair. We thought it would be fun to walk around looking at the animals and for Jenna to ride some rides. Jenna's first ride was in the car and all it did was go around in circles. After a few rotations, she was ready to get off and kept yelling, "Daddy, I done!" Then after that she didn't want to ride any of the rides. I'm not sure if the first one "scarred" her, but she didn't want to get on alone. We thought she might be done, but then we ran into my cousin and his two boys. Right away Jenna wanted to ride the rides with them and loved it! We were so glad to see her enjoying herself!

There was also a big inflatable that Jenna enjoyed bouncing in. She did that one quite a few times.

There was a petting zoo there and Jenna really enjoyed all the animals. There was a llama, alpaca, cow, bull, pigs, camel, and goats. She loved petting them and even gave some hugs.

Then we walked around the animal barns to look at the sheep and cows.

Of course Drew had to get a classic fair delicacy...a funnel cake. Jenna had a few bites too.

One of Jenna's favorite "rides" was the big slide. Drew and I both got to ride it with her and each time after we were done, she'd jump up and say, "Do it again, do it again!" Haha!

Jenna with her (2nd) cousins - John and Silas

John 5 yrs (almost 6), Silas 3 yrs, and Jenna 2 yrs

Grant was such a trooper! It ended up being a late night for us and he just zoned out in his stroller while Jenna rode the rides. He eventually fell asleep just before we left around 10:30pm.

This was one of those "whirly" rides that spins around. Jenna and the boys wanted to ride it, so I rode it too. Drew and I had bought 6 tickets so we could each ride 1 ride with her. (Can you believe that the rides are 3 tickets each and tickets are $1/each?!) And my cousin, Phil also rode with his boys.

Jenna also enjoyed the carousel and fortunately it was free for parents to ride with their kids, so Drew and I each rode that ride with her too.

After Jenna rode some rides with the boys, she felt more confident to ride some rides on her own. This was a bumpy one, but she did great with it.

We had a great evening!!

Cincinnati Zoo

2011-08-22T14:18:00.004-04:00

I have no idea why it's taken me over a week to post these pictures. They've been sitting on our blog waiting for me to add text. So maybe I'll just make it easy on myself and only add a few comments to the pictures.

My parents, sister, her husband, and Drew and I decided we wanted to visit the Cincinnati Zoo together. So we randomly picked an August day and luckily had WONDERFUL weather. It was gorgeous!

They had a carousel so we got a ticket for Jenna. It cost $3 for about 25 seconds. I think Brian actually counted it and said there were 3 full rotations...wow!

Jenna loved these animal statues around the zoo. I was going to have Jenna sit on the mama gorilla, but it was way too HOT so we just stood next to it.

Jenna and Paw-Paw in the monkey house

The kids looking at the penguins.

There were specific feeding times for the giraffes where you could buy a cracker to feed to them. We stood in a line and then one by one fed the giraffes. It was so fun for Jenna to do, but, I have to say, the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo (near Denver, CO) was much cooler. You could buy these little food pellets and feed the giraffes as much as you want. They just walked up to the platform and whoever was there could feed them. There were no lines so you could stand there and look at them without having to move out of the way for the next person. Even so, it was still a neat experience for Jenna!

Love this picture of the kids. Can't believe I got one of both of them looking at the camera and smiling. You should see all the other pictures before this one...haha...it took a while to get a good one.

Jenna especially loved this elephant statue.

Love this picture of Grant peeking over his shoulder at the elephant.

Family picture...at the end of the day.

Group shot.

We had a great time doing something with the entire family. Hopefully we'll get to have another outing again soon. Maybe Newport Aquarium next...?

Wegerzyn Gardens with Oakley

2011-08-20T15:52:00.004-04:00

The kids and I have thoroughly been enjoying having my cousin's family in town. They have a 2 year old boy named Oakley and we've been able to have some play dates together. I've loved catching up with Ashley and having some heart-to-heart Mommy conversations. :) And I know Jenna's enjoyed a playmate.

A few weeks ago we planned to get together for another play date and decided to go to a local children's discovery garden called Wegerzyn Gardens at the Dayton Metroparks. I took Jenna once last year, but it was in September when the water play area was closed, so I wanted to take her back before it closed again. So we went there for our play date. The kids loved splashing around in the water, running through the waterfall, exploring the cave, watering the plants, playing in the sandbox and mudpit, and playing musical instruments in a garden maze. :)

We had a great time! Thanks Ashley and Oakley for a fun date. :)

Jenna's Mommy Date

2011-08-19T20:58:00.004-04:00

When Drew and I talked about him taking the kids on dates so they could have one-on-one time, I decided I'd also like to have dates with the kids. Even though I'm with them 24/7, I don't get individual time with each one and would like the opportunity to spend some time focusing on just one.

We decided we'd start the dates when the kids turn 2 - that seems to be a good age when they're becoming more independent and communicative. So we'd like to do 2 days/year with each kid - possibly more since we only have two right now. The dates don't have to be expensive or long, just some special time together doing something fun!

Since we hadn't been to an outdoor pool at all this summer (aside from the blowup pool in the backyard), I thought that would be a fun date with Jenna. She loves to swim and play in the water, although she's not a fan of water on her face - a fear she'll have to face before too long. :) So we ventured to the Troy pool on a Saturday morning right when they opened at 11:30. I thought we'd get a good 2-2 1/2 hrs in before we needed to head home for her nap. I was hoping it wouldn't be too packed and to my surprise there were maybe 10 other people there. We had a wonderful time traipsing around the pool, trying out the water slide, splashing through the baby pool, swimming to the deep end to watch the "big kids" jump off the diving board, and sitting on the small water fountains - yes, I did it too!

(I just love her squinty smile)

It's rare that I get to focus my complete attention on her and lately I've seen her desperately trying to get my attention...by acting like Grant - throwing food on the floor, screaming, acting like a baby...all natural things, I'm sure. So I loved getting to focus completely on her and do whatever she wanted to do. Nothing held me back. I didn't have to just watch her while taking care of a baby or tell her, "hold on Jenna, Mommy needs to....". It was just her and me...and I loved it!! :)

I'm realizing more and more how quickly kids grow up. I look at pictures of Jenna, like the one above and can't believe that my baby is THAT BIG! I want to treasure these moments with them before they're gone and on to the next stage in their childhood.

I want to be that parent who's involved with their child and in their child's activities - not sitting on the sidelines staring at their phone. I want to communicate, love, and foster a healthy relationship.

So, needless to say, I love these special moments alone with one child - when I'm away from the housework and daily chores, away from Facebook and email, when I can focus on my child and give her the attention she needs and deserves. I already have a winter date in mind for us...and I already can't wait! :)

Our life

2011-08-16T21:33:00.003-04:00

Here's a sneak peek into our lives right now...

Drew saw this in the paper and we just had to cut it out and share. I think I might frame it! :) Haha...but I know I'll look back on these days with all the (LOUD) noise and miss it, so I'll try to "enjoy" it while I can.

July Update

2011-08-10T13:06:00.006-04:00

Here are some random pictures from July...

Jenna got this dress-up outfit from B when she was visiting. She was in love with it and wore the outfit pretty much the entire weekend.

Jenna enjoying our dome climber

B brought the kids a new book, Good Night Gorilla. It's so cute, and Jenna loved it! Here they are reading it together.

Early in July Grant began climbing the stairs. He's very good at it now and will even "slide" down the stairs on his tummy when going down.

Grant enjoying the outdoors in his swimsuit

We picked up this push car at a garage sale and it has quickly become a favorite around here! Mommy and Daddy love it because of the handle and seat belt for Grant. They both love riding in it - Grant loves honking the horn, and Jenna likes pushing her brother. Probably our best garage sale buy!

A classic picture - curious little toddler

Absolutely LOVE this picture. Grant enjoys sitting on the "couch" (another garage sale find) in his room while looking at books.

Fast asleep with his behind up in the air

Jenna has become really affectionate with Grant recently. She likes giving him kisses and gently rubbing his face - it's so sweet!

Playtime with Daddy

Aunt Kelley took Jenna on a play date with her friend and her friend's daughter, who is 1 month older than Jenna and about half her size. Apparently the girls really took to each other and enjoyed playing together.

Last week Jenna and Grant both had well-visit appointments with their doctor - Grant's 1 year and Jenna's 2 1/2 year. Grant is 25 lbs, 8 oz and 31 inches, which puts him in the 95th percentile for height and 90th percentile for weight. Jenna is 43 lbs and 40 inches. The doctor didn't give me her percentile because she's off the chart. In fact, he said she's bigger than the average 4-year old. Hmmm....wonder where she gets it?! Grant doesn't seem to be growing as quickly as she did at his age, however, when looking in their baby books, he's still bigger than she was at 1 year. Wonder what's in store for Grant...? :)

Quick update on the kids:

Grant has been walking for about 3 weeks now. He rarely will crawl anymore and wants to walk everywhere. He also seems to be understanding and responding to a lot of what we say to him. Biggest phase right now - yelling and screaming at the top of his lungs, even when happy. He' s a LOUD boy, but such a joy! :)

We've really seen changes in Jenna this summer. She's a very happy little girl who loves being a big sister to "Granty-boo" (as she likes to call him). Her vocabulary just amazes us and continues to expand on a daily basis. She routinely speaks in 6-7 word sentences and has started questioning us when she doesn't understand what we say. She enjoys dress-up and her new favorite activity this summer is playing with the 7-year old neighbor girl (who comes over multiple times a day to play with Jenna). Jenna loves the Disney princesses and can name them all. We rented the movie "Tangled" (the new Disney movie about Rapunzel) to watch with her and that has now become her new favorite princess. We've made comments about how long her hair is getting and Jenna responds by saying that it's long like Rapunzel - so funny! I guess long is a relative term. :)

This Mommy is very happy - I love my little blessings!!

The Very Hungry Caterpillar - Part 2

2011-08-08T23:27:00.008-04:00

And now for the birthday boy! (Sorry these pictures aren't in order...)

I found his birthday shirt online, and just had to get it for him! I love the food on the back with the holes in them. :)

Daddy and his birthday boy

Eating dinner

"Happy Birthday to Grant..."

We thought for sure he would dig right in to his "smash" cake, but he surprised us and very delicately picked up bits of frosting to eat. Actually, I don't know that he ever really ate any cake, even though I tried to get him to!

The aftermath

He's had enough of the picture taking and is ready to get down!

The "kid" table - Jenna with all her (2nd) cousins

"B's" gift was a hit - a Radio Flyer ride-on rocket

Happy Birthday to my sweet baby boy!

The Very Hungry Caterpillar

2011-08-07T15:31:00.010-04:00

A while ago I came across an adorable birthday party theme – The Very Hungry Caterpillar, based off the children’s book by Eric Carle. Since I absolutely LOVE children’s books and since Grant looked like the very hungry caterpillar for the majority of his first year of life, I knew I had to do that for Grant’s 1st birthday.

I do realize the party is for a 1-year old little boy who will remember NOTHING of his big day, but his mother, on the other hand, will. I have discovered that party planning is an outlet for my creative side. I really enjoy finding great ideas online (yes, sad to say, I really can’t take credit for any of the ideas), and I especially love all the little details that make it even more fun and thematic. I also enjoy doing it all on a tight budget. The main expenses for this party were the food, water bottle labels (which, in the future, I will be designing on my own), and his birthday shirt. So you might look at this party and think, “Wow…that’s a lot for a 1 year-old party”, but in my mind, it’s one way for me to do something different, creative, and fun for this stay-at-home mommy.

So this first post will just be pictures of the decorations and food. Then next I'll actually post pics of the birthday boy! :)

The caterpillar invitations

I've made it my goal to make my childrens' birthday cakes each year. I'm not sure how long I'll be able to do that, especially since I'm discovering my kids aren't much of cake-eaters - they seem to prefer ice-cream. Hmm...I might have to start getting creative.

Here's Grant's individual "smash" cake.

I found these labels on Etsy and thought they were adorable! If I had discovered them earlier, I would have just made them myself. I thought they were a cute addition to the party and the theme. I basically just bought the PDF file and then printed them myself on regular paper. I research online and found some places that sell water-resistant labels, but I couldn't justify the cost. So instead I improvised. I used clear packing tape, which happened to be the same width (thank goodness!) and just put tape on both sides of each label. Then I adhered them to the water bottle using some of my strong scrap booking adhesive dots.

My makeshift balloon caterpillar. I ran out of time to add his purple antennae...oh well! Still turned out cute.

I also scanned in all the food from the book, cropped them, printed them on cardstock, cut them out, and taped them to the walls for added decoration around the house.

In the entryway I had a basket holding the favors - bags of gummy worms.

I printed "Thanks for crawling over" on cardstock from my computer and actually made the paper behind it. If you're familiar with "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" book, you'll recognize the dotted paper from the book. In the book it's just a small strip across the bottom of the front of the book. So I scanned it in and copied it multiple times in a word document to make my own paper.
Out front Drew helped me staple some more of the food on some extra paint stirrer sticks we had laying around and we stuck them in the bushes.

I've seen online how people have made these birthday balloon wreaths that they put out for the birthday's in their family. I LOVED the idea and have wanted to make one for our family for a while. So I finally did it! The plan is to put it out for the week of the person's birthday. So for Grant, I decided to add a few "caterpillar" touches to it. I printed off some smaller pictures of the caterpillar and food from the book and used floral wire to hang them on the wreath.

And now some pictures of the food...

The food table - I had all the food from the book...

...and made signs with the wording from the book.
Below it says, "On Saturday, he ate through one slice of salami, but he was still hungry."

For the ice-cream cone, I saw online where you freeze buttercream icing and then scoop it out like ice-cream to put in the cone. Then you can set it out for the party without worrying about it melting.

I had some extra batter from the cakes, so I made some cupcakes and then iced most of them with white icing. I used a few cupcakes to make a caterpillar with the red head and green body.

"On Sunday, he ate through one nice green leaf and after that he felt much better."

Next I'll post pictures of the birthday boy and the actual party!

Jenna's Date with Daddy

2011-08-06T16:40:00.006-04:00

Drew had a fun tradition growing up where he would go on "special trips" with his dad. He has so many special memories from it that he wanted to do that with our kids as well. So he took Jenna on his first special date a few weeks ago in mid-July. It was sweet - we had told Jenna that she was going on a date with daddy a few days before and that was all she talked about. She was obviously excited about it!

Drew decided to take her to Brukner Nature Center - a local nature preserve just a few miles from our house. They have walking trails and some outdoor and indoor caged animals.

Pictures before they left

She looks like such a BIG girl!

She is definitely an outdoor-kind-of-girl!

They had a great time and came home with LOTS of pictures and videos to share with Grant and me. :) I wish we could figure out why we can't upload videos anymore because there are some cute ones. I'll see if I (or Drew) can play around with it later today.

2011-07-30T07:09:00.005-04:00

Last Saturday we decided we wanted to do something fun as a family. It was still VERY hot outside, so we opted for an indoor activity. I had heard of Boonshoft Museum before, but had never been there. We had a coupon for a free adult admission and Grant was already free, so we just had to pay for 1 adult and 1 child - score! The place is a mini-children's museum with lots of different themed areas for the kid's to play and explore and even a little zoo. Needless to say, we had a GREAT time and will definitely be back!

Jenna and Grant holding hands on the way there

One of her favorites - the water table

Another one of her favorites (and Mommy's favorite!) - a climbing spiral rope ladder that took you to the 2nd floor. There was then a slide that you could slide back down to the 1st floor. Lots of fun!

Grant enjoying the water table

Drew and the kids were inside this tent type thing that would inflate when you pushed a button to start the air flow. Then after a bit, the air would stop and it would slowly deflate. You could crawl in and out of it and there were little windows to peek inside. Jenna loved sitting in front of the air flow so that it would blow her hair.

There was a section where you could touch some sea life - like different starfish and crustaceans.

There was a tunnel under this display that you could crawl through and then there were a few of these bubble peep holes to stand up and look out through. It was cute to see Jenna's head poke up in the middle of the displays.

Another of Jenna's favorites was watching the otters. There were 3 of them in the tank and they just played and swam the whole time. They really were a lot of fun to watch!

Jenna and Grant checking out the meerkats.

Happy Birthday Grant!

2011-07-27T19:26:00.005-04:00

Happy Birthday Grant!!

We started out the morning with his birthday pancakes.

They were blueberry pancakes and I don't know that he was a huge fan of them. Ha! So he also got his favorite breakfast food...a banana.

I love Jenna's cheesy grin. :)

Look at my big birthday boy! He's wearing his birthday shirt from "B".

Poor guy looks like Rudolph with his red, scraped up nose. He somehow scraped it this morning when we weren't looking, so we're not exactly sure what happened. It was just red for most of the day.

Hugs from sister. As she was hugging him she said, "I love you Gant." So sweet!!

Then for dinner we had Grant's all-time favorite meal...hot dogs!

And for dessert...half an M&M cookie.
We're saving his official birthday cake for his party on Saturday.

Then present-time! This was his first time opening a present and really didn't know what to do. He was much more interested in eating the paper. :)

So big sister gladly jumped in to help.

Yay...his own musical instruments.

Saturday is Grant's birthday party with family. B's flying in Friday night so we're all looking forward to seeing her. Jenna keeps reminding us that B's coming and that they're going swimming - her favorite thing to do with B. I'll be sure to post pictures of the party next week - we're going with the Very Hungry Caterpillar theme (and by "we", I mean "I"). :) I'm looking forward to it - party planning is something I enjoy and is a creative outlet for me.

Oh, and...Grant's started walking! He took his first steps a week or so ago, but has really started walking a few days ago. He just loves it and gets so excited. :) Such a sweet boy! We're so blessed!

Happy 4th of July!

2011-07-05T14:20:00.007-04:00

We had a great 4th of July with our family and friends. We spent most of the day working out in the yard - planting new plants/flowers and mulching. It was hot and a lot of work, but so worth it! I love having a nice looking yard, and although there's more work that can be done, it's fine for now. :)

Then in the evening our Adult Bible Fellowship (ABF) group from church met up at a shelter in the city park where we had a cookout. Then we fellowshipped and the kids played for a few hours before fireworks started.

Getting ready for our ABF get together. Of course we all had to wear some sort of red, white, and blue. Jenna even had red fingernails and toenails thanks to Aunt Kelley. And I followed suit and painted mine red as well.

This is about how it goes with Grant...getting into things (like the plastic bags that were under the sink), knocking over the stool, and somehow getting Jenna's visor around his neck. And now he's probably headed for the toilet...unfortunately one of his favorite things right now. Thankfully he still hasn't figured out how to open it, but if it's already open when he gets there....watch out!

At the park...notice Jenna in the background.

Grant loved riding around in his little car (thankfully it has a seat belt with it!). And quite a few of the other kids enjoyed it too.

Our friend, Jerrod, blowing bubbles with the kids.

Jenna and her friend, Emma (who is 3 months older than her....and much smaller). She's a petite little thing!

Dinner time!

I attempted to make the flag cake (with pound cake, whipped cream, and berries) for dessert. Of course they make it sound so easy in the recipe, which it is...it's just the topping that is challenging. I had some pretty big strawberries that made the "stripes" a little uneven. But as long as it tasted good, I figured it didn't matter.

We tried to get a picture of the kids in their festive outfits. Once again, it's a challenge getting 1 good picture of them, but I always think the progression of pictures is pretty funny.

And....Jenna's done....

Jenna and Emma

The fireworks. This was Jenna's first time watching fireworks, and I kept hearing stories of how kids her age are scared of them, so I was hoping she'd enjoy them. And she did! When they were over, she kept asking for, "More fireworks". So glad she liked them!

Happy Father's Day

2011-06-22T17:28:00.010-04:00

Happy Father's Day, Drew!

So I thought it would be cute to take a picture of Grant in one of Drew's ties with only his diaper on. Since it's hard to get him to cooperate at this age, I took LOTS of pictures.

Then I took some of Jenna in Drew's shirt and tie. She did a pretty good job letting me take some pictures, but it didn't last long. So I only had a few to choose from.

Then I printed a picture of each of them and put them in a frame for Drew to take to work. I wasn't sure what he would think, but he loved it

Here are some other pictures from Father's Day...

Grant trying to escape!

I wanted to get a picture of Daddy with his kids. The first shot was a great one of Jenna - a great smile and all, but Grant wasn't looking at the camera.

Then I got him to look at the camera, but Jenna was frowning and looking away.

Then I got both of them looking, but neither are smiling and Grant's even starting to get frustrated and throw a fit. Haha...oh well!

We went on a little walk and even blew some bubbles. I promise Jenna was with us...just off doing her own thing. :)

Daredevil - standing up in his wagon. I just have to clarify...Mommy was NOT in favor of this, but somebody else really loved how "adventurous" his son was being. :) I love his facial expression in this pic - so much concentration!

Jenna and Grant are blessed with a WONDERFUL daddy who loves spending time with his kids. He's also such a hands-on dad and helps with diaper changes, bath time, bedtime, and general pick-up. I'm also blessed to have such an amazing husband to raise kids with. I love you Drew!!

June Happenings

2011-06-21T15:11:00.004-04:00

Here are just some random pictures from this past month...

I can't remember when this picture was taken, but it looks as if we just came in from being outside. He is enjoying his strawberries and string cheese though.

Love this picture!

Jenna wanted to feed Grant

Grant started "bear crawling" when on the pavement.

Jenna dressed up her shirt in stickers from Aunt Cathy!

Proof of Jenna's love of dress-up. And often times she wants to wear multiple outfits at once...maybe she'll start a new trend..? :)

Love this picture of the kiddos. We were trying to get a picture of the two of them for Paw-paw's Father's Day gift. Grant finger painted and Jenna painted with brushes some pictures for my dad. Then I got a frame with 3- 4x6 spots and put this picture of the kids in the middle with the paintings above and below it.

I'll try to post some pictures tomorrow from Father's Day. We're going on a family camping trip this weekend, so I'm not sure if I'll be able to squeeze in another post in the midst of laundry and packing. I'll try though!

New Pool

2011-06-20T14:23:00.006-04:00

Summer is HERE!!! And we're loving being outside...as long as it's not too hot. ;) So since we're outside so much and since Jenna really enjoys the water, we decided to get another pool for her and Grant. After seeing that my cousin has this "pool", we decided to get one too - it just looks like so much fun! You hook the hose up to it and there are little water spouts all over it as well as a dolphin you can "ride" (Jenna's riding it in the picture below), a whale slide, and some other fun things. I thought this would be a little more fun for Grant too instead of just sitting in a little pool of water. Jenna really seems to like it, even though she might be a little too big for it (that's what you get when you're 41 lbs at 2 1/2 years old), but the few times we've put Grant in it, he doesn't seem so sure about it. He gets kind of stiff and eventually cries. Sometimes he'll splash around a little bit, but I think he really doesn't like the cold water. I'm hoping maybe he'll warm up to it, otherwise we might just have to wait until next summer for him to enjoy it. Either way, it's something fun for the kids (or for Jenna).

He seems to kind of enjoy the pool in this picture...

Since we have no shade in our backyard, I absolutely LOVE having this canopy. It definitely makes the hot days more bearable when we can sit in the shade, but still be outside.

On another note, I got some Mr. (and Mrs.) Potato Heads at a garage sale and just recently pulled them out for Jenna to play with...and she LOVES them. FYI for other parents out there with young kids...it's a great gift for 2- or 3-year olds!

It's funny seeing how Jenna decorates the potato...with an arm coming out of the top of the head and an ear on his mouth.

Yes, we let Jenna wear the potato's glasses...but then realized afterward that it wasn't a good idea and bent them a little. Oops!

And lastly, I had to include a picture of my son's path of destruction. Here's the "before" picture...

...And after...yep, he's a dumper. Just likes to take everything off the shelves and dump things out...and then he moves on to the next thing. Funny boy!

Troy Strawberry Festival Parade

2011-06-04T14:57:00.006-04:00

Today was the Strawberry Festival Parade in our town. It's the first time Drew and the kids have gone and many, many years since I last went. The past few years our church has decorated a float to include in the parade to promote our upcoming Vacation Bible School. This year Drew was really involved in helping to create the float so we were anxious to see it.

Jenna and Daddy walking back from getting a balloon at the library.

Ready for the parade to begin

I brought Jenna's bubbles to help keep her occupied while we waited for the parade to start.

Grant played on the blanket for a little bit, but now that he's mobile, he's not as content to just sit in one spot. :)

My parents joined us at the parade.

The kiddos and me

Grant had the best seat and a great view! ;)

The sign for our church

My cousin drove the truck pulling the float and his wife and boys rode with him.

Our space themed float - the VBS theme this year is Operation Space.

Don't you love the fog effect?!

I don't know what it is, but Grant always falls quietly to sleep in Drew's arms! He doesn't make a peep - just lays his head down and is out. Now, when he's in my arms it's another story...haha! Just glad he'll take a good nap for one of us when we're out. :) He took a pretty good nap - even slept through a few loud bands.

Jenna gave the strawberry lady a "high five". :)

It was the perfect day for the parade - perfect weather and a great location. We were planning on going over to the festival after the parade, but the kids were tired and hungry and the temperature was in the 90s by then. It quickly became VERY hot. So we decided just to head home, let the kids eat and get a nap, and then play out back in their pool. :) It was a great day!

May Pics

2011-06-02T14:46:00.009-04:00

May came and went. I honestly can't believe we're in June and that my baby will be a year old next month!! Wow! I try to cherish every moment with my kids - some days are rough between fussy kids, illnesses, lots of disciplining (and instruction) and the snowball effect of one thing after the next going wrong, but I LOVE MY KIDS! The tough days are definitely worth the blessing of having them in my life and getting to experience all their new discoveries and joys with them. It's such a blessing!

We have seen such a change in Jenna over the past few months. She's definitely growing up and becoming a little girl (where did my baby go?!?). She talks all the time and says the funniest things. She's also a very good mimic and we'll catch her repeating things we never even realized we said, like, "You're the best", and "Oh Mommy (with a sigh)". When I heard her say things like that, I would think, "Where in the world did she hear that?" And then later I'd catch myself saying the very same things (with the same vocal expressions too). I realized that whenever Jenna did something nice I would tell her that she's the best and when she made a mess or did something she shouldn't, I would say, "Oh Jenna..." (with a sigh of course). Haha! So it's funny hearing her repeat us and say things exactly like we say them.

We've also seen a change in Jenna's attitude. She's more obedient (thank you Lord!), loving, and gentle. She treats her brother so well (most of the time) and I can tell she truly loves him. For instance, tonight I was feeding Grant his bottle and she came in and gently kissed his legs, arm, and forehead, and gently stroked his cheek. As she was doing that, she had a sweet smile on her face. It melted my heart! I think they'll be good buddies here soon. :) But of course, she is still a typical 2-year old and has her moments of pushing, pulling, and hitting. Plus she believes wholeheartedly that EVERYTHING is hers, so if Grant takes "her" toys she gets very frustrated. I've found making her take turns with Grant is very helpful. It's better than me just saying, "You need to share" because she doesn't really understand what that means. But if we sit down and act it out, then it seems to hit home. I'll say, "Okay, it's Grant's turn to (fill in the blank)...and now it's Jenna's turn." She seems to really like that. She'll even say when she's done, "Gant's turn" and then "I turn". Haha!

Jenna has also started playing by herself more. Whew! That's been the biggest relief for me. She's actually playing now and not just getting into things she shouldn't. Literally the past 6-8 months she would never play and was always in search of what she could get into that was "off limits". So to see her playing by herself, is HUGE! She really enjoys playing with the "Little People" toys. I've collected some and my mom's given me some that we've found at garage sales. She'll sit and talk for the people and move them around the different buildings that we have. It's so sweet to watch her play.

Jenna also loves the outdoors. I hear, "Mommy, I go outside" about a million times a day. Even if it's raining, she'll try to convince me to let her out by saying, "Mommy, it's nice out." I'm glad the warm weather is finally here and that the rain has stopped so we can enjoy the outdoors. Jenna's also a climber. I'm always catching her climbing on our fence, her playset out back, chairs, couches, and toys. And she likes to "swing" on things. She'll hold on, lift her feet off the ground, and swing her body. Drew and I have talked about getting a dome climber for her to climb and swing on. I think she'd really enjoy it.

Grant, Grant, Grant...oh my what a busy boy he is! Grant is 10 months old and after a long break of no milestones or changes, he seems to be getting through a lot of milestones all at once! He's now crawling ALL OVER THE PLACE and getting faster each day. He'll sit up, spin around in the same spot using his heels, and then start crawling somewhere else. He's also pulling himself up to a standing position and has let go a few times so he stands by himself. AND, he's "walking" with a walking toy. Drew and I were convinced he would be a late walker just because it took him so long to crawl, but now I'm not so sure. It seems like once he started crawling, he just took off with everything else. Haha!

He also has 5 teeth now - 3 on top, 2 on the bottom with 2 more about to pop through. He looks so much older now with all these teeth in his mouth. And of course he's drooling like crazy with all his teething. I can't seem to keep his chin dry so he's starting to get a little rash from all the drool and his shirt is always soaked in front.

He hasn't spoken any words yet, although I hear him say, "Mamama" and "Dadadada" at times, especially when he wants our attention. And he's become a big screamer. He has the LOUDEST, SHRILLEST scream I've ever heard. It is literally ear piercing. And he seems to always be the loudest at the dinner table, so Drew and I have realized that our conversation will just have to wait until afterward. :) But he's such a sweetheart. He has such an easy smile and his whole face lights up. He has a sweet giggle that comes out when we kiss his neck or back, when he spots Bailey (his favorite toy...poor Bailey) or when his sister is near him (he LOVES her!).

I think Grant is going to be that child that goes into a room and dumps everything out. He just loves making a mess and there's always a path of destruction where he was. He likes to play with puzzles - he's not actually putting the pieces back, but he likes pulling them out and holding them - they have the big knobs to hold onto. He also seems to always gravitate to whatever Jenna's playing with, which results in a very upset toddler. :) So at this point I try to keep him distracted with other toys so Jenna can play with hers, especially since he just destroys whatever she's built or put together.

Grant also seems to enjoy the outdoors and especially likes his swing in the backyard. I guess we'll soon find out just how much the kids enjoy the outdoors because our family's going tent camping at the end of June. Drew and I are looking forward to it. We really enjoy camping and know those are memories the kids will treasure.

We've had a great month and I look forward to our adventures in June! We have the Troy Strawberry Festival this weekend. We're planning on taking the kids to the parade Saturday morning. Then our church's VBS in a week. Drew is doing video and I'm helping in the 2-3 year old class, which means I'll be with Jenna. And then we have our camping trip the following weekend. Lots of fun ahead!

April Pics

2011-05-23T08:05:00.007-04:00

Here are some random pictures from April...

Grant sleeping so soundly in his crib

Grant playing "peek-a-boo" with Jenna's blanket. It was so sweet! Thankfully we got it on video too. "Where's Grant...??"

"PEEK-A-BOO!!"

Jenna's gotten much better about not getting into things she shouldn't. However, we accidentally left one of her nail polishes on top of the desk and she thought her whole body needed some pretty purple sparkle color. If you click on the picture, it'll enlarge and you can really see the "damage". It's on her legs, arms, stomach, toes, and cheek. Thankfully she didn't get any on the chair and only a little bit on the desk and floor.

Hilarious! We caught her climbing into Bailey's crate. A definite tight squeeze!

Enjoying a beautiful day outside

We got this child carrier that hooks on to the back of an adult bike from our neighbor, so we wanted to try it out for the first time.

I wish this picture of Grant wasn't blurry - it's a good one.

Jenna's all ready to go

Since there was a cover over the front, we decided to put Bailey in there too. Jenna did well with him, but Grant kept pulling his tail, so I don't think Bailey was a big fan of the ride.

Playtime while Jenna was napping

I absolutely love this picture. We got the Hello Kitty rain boots from a friend at church. They're a size too big on her, which makes them even cuter.

I had to bribe her with a gummy bear to get a good picture of her standing there smiling.

I thought this picture was so funny. Jenna and Daddy were walking down to the end of our street and, yes, Jenna does have clothes on under her raincoat even though it doesn't look like it. Haha!

This has turned into one of Jenna's bedtime routines. Either Drew or I read her some stories in the rocking chair in her room and the other ends up laying on the floor. Then Jenna will lay down with one of us and ask for the blanket. It might sound silly, but we both enjoy as much cuddle time as we can get with her - she's not one to slow down and do that much.

It seems like there's been a lot of new developments with Grant lately. He now is crawling around all over the place and he's pulling himself up to a standing position. Plus two more teeth just poked through for a total of 5 teeth. Whew...he must be exhausted! ;)

Ducks!

2011-05-14T11:35:00.006-04:00

Over a month ago, Bailey discovered that a Mama duck had scooted under our shed in the backyard, made a nest, and layed some eggs. During that time we had to keep Bailey away from the shed. He could get underneath it but couldn't quite reach the duck, but we still didn't want him under there barking and bothering her.

So one day the kids and I were in the back yard - they were swinging while I was mowing. As I came around the corner of the shed, I saw the Mama duck had emerged with 2 other ducklings. I immediately stopped the mower, ran and got the camera, and had Jenna come over to see them. As we watched, more baby ducklings came out...and then some more...and some more. Thirteen in all! We had a great time watching them follow closely behind their Mama and helping them get out of our backyard and toward the direction of the neighborhood pond. It was so much fun and a neat "hands-on" learning experience for Jenna.

Grant's Dedication/Mother's Day

2011-05-12T13:58:00.000-04:00

On Mother's Day, our church gives families the option of dedicating their children to the Lord. We love the idea since our children are not ours - the Lord has just entrusted us to raise them, but ultimately they are His. We are also dedicating to raise our children in a way that is pleasing to God and consistent with the Bible. I just love how they do this on Mother's Day - so special!

The Pastor reads some scripture

They gave us a little Bible for Grant, a book for boys about the fruits of the Spirit, and a book for us with advice on raising kids. The book is called, "Don't Make Me Count to Three" by Ginger Plowman. Great book! We got that book at Jenna's dedication and we both really like it.

Then our Pastor holds the babies while he prays for them.

All of us with our Pastor.

And Mommy with her kiddos. I am so blessed!! I love you Jenna and Grant!

And here are a few pictures of the kids from last week...

A friend of ours gave us some girl clothes and this shirt was in the stack. Love it!

And some pictures of my happy boy Grant...all smiles!

Enjoying the Outdoors

2011-05-11T07:45:00.006-04:00

The weather has been WONDERFUL the past few days, so we've been spending a lot of time outside. Jenna's even been able to get in her swimming suit and Grant's enjoyed playing in the water.

Grant standing by himself (of course holding on for balance).

Sitting in the chair worked well so he could easily put his hands in the water. Of course when I wasn't taking a few pictures, I was sitting right next to him because a few times he would push his feet against the water table just enough to start rocking himself backwards.

Relaxed!

Yesterday while we were outside, I thought the kids would enjoy a popsicle. This was Grant's first popsicle and he really enjoyed it. It made me feel better that each popsicle only had 2 grams of sugar and there was no added sugar.

Then a little later Jenna was saying that she was hungry, so I thought a healthy snack would be good. I brought out the watermelon and thought Grant might enjoy sucking on it. He LOVED it! I just had to keep my eye on him to make sure he wasn't biting off big chunks.

Upside down peek-a-boo

2011-05-10T14:48:00.004-04:00

So although Grant is not crawling yet, he's so very close. He'll take some "steps" forward with his hands, but then plop before moving his legs forward. He's also very good at scooting backwards and sitting up. So even though he isn't crawling, he is still able to get around by rolling, sitting up, and scooting backwards. Just the past few days he's started getting up on his hands and feet like he's in the bear crawl position and then he'll peek his head between his arms. It's sooo cute!

Getting into the position

Almost there...

PEEK!

LOVE this picture

Here he was losing his balance and about to plop back on his bottom.

He's also starting to pull himself up. At least he's trying to pull himself up. He wants to so badly but can't quite get all the way up. It won't be long!

Easter

2011-05-09T07:50:00.011-04:00

These pictures are sort of out of order, but that's alright. Here are some pictures from Easter day and when we dyed eggs.

All dressed up from church. Jenna's wearing her "wenning" (wedding) dress because that's the dress she wore to Brian and Natalie's wedding. So it's now been dubbed the wedding dress.

Jenna digging in to her easter basket from Mommy and Daddy. Yep, I made the mistake of getting a princess liquid chapstick, which is what she's trying out in the picture. About 5 seconds after the picture was taken, she dropped the stick on her new shorts and there is now a "grease" stain that I'm having a hard time getting out. So the chapstick is up high in a safe place for a later time. (I had visions of the pink chapstick stain all over the carpet and couches. Not that she'd do it on purpose - she's just a typical 2-year old and not always thinking about what might happen if she...(fill in the blank). :)

Jenna helping Grant dig into his basket.

I couldn't resist getting the bunny ears in the dollar bins at Target.

Aunt Kelley and Uncle Brian hid Jenna's basket for her to find. Found it - and she also found a few treats inside, hence the FULL cheeks. :)

Jenna digging into her Easter basket from Aunt Kelley and Uncle Brian over at my parent's house. We had taken her wedding dress off because we were eating lunch and I didn't want it getting dirty. She got some pretty bracelets and bubbles from them!

Mommy and Grant hanging out

We had an indoor Easter egg hunt for Jenna because it was still very wet outside from all the rain we've been getting. Grant was curious...

But we did have to try out the bubbles. She loved chasing after them!

Then she and Daddy went to the pond behind my parent's house to feed the ducks and fish.

Aunt Kelley and Uncle Brian also got Grant a duckie stuffed animal, which he liked playing with.

Easter egg hunt time!

And digging into another Easter basket from Paw-Paw and Maw-Maw. She got some more bubbles from them, a Sing-a-ma-jig (which Grant really loves) and the best part (for her)...FRUIT SNACKS! ;) Haha - she loves her fruit snacks!

The day before Easter we decided to dye eggs. This was her first time dying eggs and she had just woken up from a nap, so she was still a big groggy, but she did a good job and seemed to enjoy it. We started out with 6 eggs and ended up with 4 - not too bad, only 2 got broken.

I had bought a cheap egg dying kit and there were some "shrinky dink" covers in it, so that's why we have a hair dryer out.

Jenna holding a basket with her dyed eggs

Here's what Grant was doing while we were dying eggs - playing near the stairs. He's not crawling yet, but he's starting to try to pull himself up.

San Diego Trip Part 3

2011-05-03T08:11:00.006-04:00

These first 5 pictures are ones Cathy took. I just had to share them because they're so cute!

I just LOVE this picture of Jenna in my high heels.

What a great aunt! Cathy was a HUGE help to me over the weekend, especially the day of the wedding since Drew was away most of the day.

I do believe Jenna got her love of sugar from her Mommy. :)

And of course some cute pics of Aunt Cathy and Uncle Chris with the kids.

**********************************************************************************
Now I'll continue from our time at the beach to the end of our trip...

It was a windy day, but even so it's almost a guarantee I'm going to have my eyes closed in pictures. I think it's a curse. :) Haha!

"B" came over to our hotel Sunday night to visit a little longer. Jenna LOVED having her there and enjoyed story time with her.

On Monday we went to Point Loma near the naval base. We were told there were some more tidepools there and it just so happened to be National Park week (or something like that) so there was no entrance fee that entire week. Yay - perfect timing!

Once again, sweet Grant was asleep in Daddy's arms for our tidepool adventures.

Although we didn't see much in the tidepools, the view was beautiful! We enjoyed just watching and listening to the waves.

Drew took Jenna down to a lower rock to watch the waves crash against the rocks. The water just barely crept over the rock where they were standing and Jenna LOVED it! She was giggling the entire time!

Of course we also enjoyed time at the hotel pool on Monday. Jenna just loves the hot tubs.

More time at the beach...

Daddy and Jenna built a sand castle

Tuesday morning on our flight home...little did we realize what was in store ahead of us. :) After sitting on the tarmac for about 45 minutes, they had everyone deboard the plane because of mechanical issues. After waiting 4 1/2 hours, we were finally able to reboard the plane for Chicago.

Luckily during our wait, Jenna fell asleep on Drew's shoulder and we were able to get her on the plane and in a seat without her waking up. Also, it was a blessing in disguise waiting that long because the completely booked flight was now practically empty, since most everyone else were able to catch an earlier flight on another plane. So Jenna was able to have all 3 seats to herself to sprawl out. It was great! She even slept another 2 1/2 hours on the flight (after already being asleep for 1 1/2 hours before we boarded!) She must have been exhausted from a fun and busy weekend!

So when we finally arrived in Chicago, our next flight wasn't supposed to leave for another 4 hours, however we found out that that flight was cancelled due to weather. While Drew was getting our flight rescheduled for the following morning and getting us hotel and food vouchers (which took about 2 hours because of the LONG lines), the kids and I were playing in their child's play area. I think it should be mandatory for ALL airports to have these! It was great for Jenna to run off some energy!

Here the kids are sitting on the bed in our hotel room in Chicago. The airlines would not let us get our luggage that we had checked, so Drew went out to get more diapers and formula because I didn't pack enough for 2 days (especially since we were supposed to be home by noon that day). Thankfully I had an extra pair of clothes for both the kids in my carry-on luggage, so they at least had a change of clothes. Drew and I, on the other hand, went without contact solution/case, toothbrush/paste, makeup (for me, not drew), and a change of clothes. And to add to it, Grant thought it would be fun to wake up and cry every 1-2 hours and since we were all in the same room, I jumped up to get him so Jenna wouldn't wake up. Let me just say, I couldn't wait to get home, but at the same time, it was a fun adventure! :)

The following day at the airport - evidence of our lack of hair brushes. Haha!

Our flight from Chicago to Dayton went very well - no delays and Jenna actually slept through the entire flight, which only lasted about 1/2 hour. However, we discovered upon arrival that our checked luggage did not arrive in Dayton. They did end up delivering it later that day around 6pm. It was such a relief when we got the luggage. I just didn't feel like things were "done" until I had the bags and could finally unpack, start the laundry, and get a shower!! :)

Even with the flying fiasco, the trip was WELL WORTH it! It was soooo nice seeing family, being there for Brian and Natalie's wedding, and having a fun family vacation. I'd do it all over again!

San Diego Trip Part 2

2011-05-02T21:34:00.005-04:00

Continued...

Family near the beach at La Jolla

We met up with the family at Brian and Natalie's luncheon on Friday.

All dressed up and ready for the wedding rehearsal

Hanging out in the pool. Grant actually took a nap in his floatie but woke up just before the picture was snapped.

Jenna and Mommy

We got to sit with Mormor and Aunt Cathy at the wedding reception. Thanks to Aunt Cathy for holding Grant while he slept so I could eat the delicious meal!

What an attractive couple! Love this picture of them.

Daddy and Jenna dancing

The newlyweds cutting their wedding cake

Natalie trying to get others out on the dance floor - she didn't have to do much convincing.

Family picture at the wedding

Jenna LOVED "dancing" - basically she loved being held while others danced.

This picture was taken just after a big family breakfast. We were all saying our goodbyes.

After saying goodbye, we headed back to San Diego and of course to the beach again.

More pictures of the beach coming up...

San Diego Trip Part 1

2011-04-30T16:24:00.008-04:00

Two and a half weeks ago we flew out to San Diego for Brian and Natalie's wedding. We came out early and stayed a few days later so that we could make a family vacation out of it. We have A TON of pictures from this trip, so I'll have to do 3 different posts to include a portion of them. If you want to see even more pics, I've posted them on my facebook account.

Jenna watching the airplanes while waiting to board (at the Dayton airport)

Grant contently playing at the airport

On the plane and ready to go. We're headed for D.C., so this is just a quick 45 minute flight.

At the D.C. airport waiting for our flight to San Diego. We had a long layover so we kept Jenna busy by walking through the airport. These payphones kept her busy too. She loved "talking" to Maw-Maw and Paw-Paw.

On the LONG flight from D.C. to San Diego - what was supposed to be a 5 hr and 15 min flight turned into a 6 1/2 hr. flight after we were stuck on the runway for over an hour! Ugh...not ideal with two young kids, but they did well.

They both fell asleep as our plane was on the runway before we learned of the delay. They slept about two hours, which was great.

One of my surprises for Jenna to hopefully keep her occupied on the plane - a new Cinderella doll. "B" had gotten her the Ariel doll about a month ago, so we thought she'd enjoy another one.

She did enjoy playing with Ariel and Cinderella. Here she's showing them the view from the plane.

Another "trick" to keep her occupied was a pack of stickers. She stayed busy sticking them to the wall in front of us (thankfully they came off really easily!).

Grant did great too and played for a while on the floor.

We finally made it to San Diego! Here we're aboard the bus taking us to our Hertz car rental.

One of the first things Jenna wanted to do the next day was go SWIMMING!! She's been looking forward to this for a while.

Both kids ready to go

Jenna became our "hot tub snob" on this time. She didn't really want to play in the regular pool once she discovered the joys of the hot tub - haha!

At the beach! This was another thing Jenna kept asking to do leading up to our trip. She LOVED it!

Then we went to La Jolla coast where there were tidepools. We all enjoyed seeing what we could discover in the tidepools. Jenna even became adventurous and was climbing the rocks on her own.

Grant was wiped out and stayed asleep the entire time.

Jenna and Daddy exploring a "mini-cave"

March

2011-04-21T09:49:00.008-04:00

So I can't believe it's almost been a month since I last updated this blog! Time has flown by so quickly around here! I'll try to get caught up over the next few days.

Here are some pictures from March...

My happy boy playing.

Jenna went upstairs and brought down her wipes and a diaper so she could change her baby doll.

I can't remember what she was eating in this picture, but I'm guessing it was probably pudding.

Jenna enjoyed her paints that she got for her birthday from Aunt Lois and Uncle Jim.

Jenna playing with Grant's body paints he got at Christmas from cousin Silas

They both LOVE to swing

Jenna doing "Row, row, row your boat" with Grant

Grant loves playing with his hammer from B

Jenna playing with some Easter window clings - it kept her busy for about 10 minutes, which was wonderful!

For some reason, this is the first time Jenna ever fed Grant. Probably because the only time in the past that he's gotten a bottle is when someone else is watching him. It was so cute to watch Jenna feed him though. She did a great job until she was done and started pushing him off of her. Of course one of us was there to make sure he didn't fall.

These last two pictures look so sad. This was about 3 weeks ago when Grant had bad chest congestion and was wheezing. The doctor prescribed that he get these breathing treatments every 4 hours. It was so sad giving them to him because, for the most part, he hated it and would cry and try to wriggle free. It broke my heart, but I knew he needed them. Thankfully there were moments when he did okay with it, like in these pictures. For some reason that bug held on for over 3 weeks. I'm so glad he's better now!

Ohio Caverns

2011-03-25T13:59:00.009-04:00

Every year our ABF (Adult Bible Fellowship) class at church plans out activities to do together each month. They include things such as playing games, going to the zoo, doing a service project, and holiday parties. So last weekend we went to the Ohio Caverns northwest of Columbus. I had been many (many) years ago on a school field trip, but didn't remember too much about it, except that we walk through a cave with a bunch of stalactites and stalagmites. Speaking of which....POP QUIZ...what's a stalactite and what's a stalagmite...??? Our tour guide gave us a neat way to remember it - a stalagmite might reach the ceiling and a stalactite hangs tight. Haha!

Anyway, the tour was fun, although it's definitely a different experience when you have a baby and toddler with you. We weren't supposed to touch ANYTHING around us, not even the walls next to us. So needless to say, we kept quite busy keeping Jenna's curious little fingers away from it all. Jenna did really well though. A few times she had had enough and told us, "No..cave...no" - she was ready to leave. I guess it's just not that exciting for a 2-year old and it probably all looked very redundant. Grant did GREAT. We put him in a hiking backpack and I carried him the majority of the way because the ceilings were low and it would have been really difficult for Drew to bend over that much. But Grant's so heavy that Drew did end up carrying him the last 10 minutes of the 45-minute tour.

Mommy and Grant - ready to go

A view of how narrow the walkway was. These are some of our ABF friends as well.

One of our closest couple friends - Jeremy and Krista Estes (and baby Jeffrey). We first met them at Cedarville and were so excited when Jeremy got a job nearby and they moved to Troy! Now we all go to the same church and Drew and Jeremy carpool to work.

Daddy and Jenna

Yes, I look like the hunchback of Notre Dame...I'm tellin' ya - HE'S HEAVY! ;)

Love this family picture (even though neither of the kids are smiling - haha)

Another family picture - this time Grant is holding a pacifier. He started getting a little restless near the end of the trip and the pacifier calmed him down (and probably gave him something to play with).

The long walk back UP. Jenna walked up 1/4 of it and then I ended up carrying her the rest of the way. That was a workout!! (I know, pathetic!)

Our group talking afterward while the kids ran off some energy.

Jenna loves "playing" with older kids. She'll follow them around and do whatever they do. It's so funny to watch her.

And then our typical Jenna...doing something she shouldn't be doing (and something I'm pretty sure Mommy just told her not to do). Of course, Daddy was so proud of his little adventurous girl!

We all went to McDonald's afterward and we couldn't resist getting Jenna an ice-cream to go. She does surprisingly well with them - her face is the messiest.

Happy St.. Patty's Day!

2011-03-17T21:11:00.003-04:00

Happy Saint Patrick's Day

Since it's St. Patrick's Day, we just had to all wear GREEN today. We don't really have any true green shirts for Jenna, so she's wearing a yellowish-green one from B. I tried getting a pic of the 3 of us in front of our St. Pat's sign on the blinds. Unfortunately, with the light shining through the blinds, the flash on the camera wouldn't work so the picture's a little dark.

Here we tried taking the picture again in the other room.

And one of just the kids...no smiles - I had to take the picture quickly to get one of both of them facing the right direction. haha!

Some more decorations on our back door

I had to snap this picture of Jenna watching the neighbor kids playing. She loves watching and playing with the neighbor kids.

We decided to make a St. Patty's Day treat - rainbow cupcakes. Isn't it always so interesting how PERFECT they look in the pictures, but I don't think it's possible to make them look that good in real life. Our cupcakes weren't as pretty, but they still tasted good!

Jenna's looking at a four leaf clover decoration that I hung from our kitchen light fixture.

And of course a picture of Jenna enjoying all my...I mean, her...hard work. :)

February and some updates

2011-03-09T08:14:00.007-05:00

Thankfully Jenna's stomach bug was only a 48 hour thing. She woke up sick on Friday and was feeling back to her normal self by Sunday morning. Although she then got a nasty cold, but that seems to be going away now too. Grant also had a cold before her that has since gone away, except for a big, raspy cough. Hopefully that will go away soon. So it looks like we're all on the mend now.

Our basement is coming along too. Yesterday the carpet repair guy came and installed new carpet padding and reinstalled our carpet. Then today the cleaning crew comes to clean the carpets. I'm itching for them to get here so that we can start moving things back into the basement. It will feel sooo good to get things organized again. One good thing that came from all this, is that it forced me to clean up my crafting area in the basement and for us to clean up our storage area. It always feels good to get some cleaning and organizing done.

Below are some pictures from February...

Jenna loves helping me in the kitchen. Here we're making some cookies.

You might not be able to tell in the picture, but Jenna LOADED all Grant's toys in the seat with him. I was glad to see her sharing (not a strong suit for her right now). :)

Drew and I call this picture "Grant's Cleavage". Haha...gotta love the chub!

All clean!

We have a dress-up box and Jenna decided Grant should wear the cowboy hat that day.

Jenna pushing Grant in the swing. We've since added a "big girl" swing next to the baby one, so Jenna has a swing as well.

Another example of my busy girl. She got in my pots and pans cupboard and pulled out bags of cookie cutters. Then she strewed them all across the floor. :)

And here are the pots and pans on the floor, counter, and stovetop. She said she was making dinner for Daddy.

And one last picture of my kiddos together. Jenna tends to shy away from pictures. We usually have to catch her by surprise in order to get her looking at the camera. So apparently I was too slow in taking the picture and she was able to turn away in time. :) At least Grant's smiling!

EDIT: The above was written last Wednesday. I just didn't have a chance to edit and post it until today.

We just had a refreshing weekend with "B" (Mom Borton). She arrived Saturday and left late this afternoon. It was SO WONDERFUL having her here. The kids loved it, especially Jenna. She's quite attached to her "B". I loved having the company (since Drew left Monday for a business trip this week), catching up, and spending time with Mom. She was a HUGE help with the kids and gave me some nice breaks. I have to say, I'm very blessed with a wonderful mother-in-law! Most of the pictures we took this weekend were on Mom's camera, so once I get them from her, I'll post pictures of the fun we had! :)

Poor Jenna

2011-03-04T20:28:00.003-05:00

It's been another eventful day in the Borton household. Drew left early this morning (around 5:30am) to catch a flight down to Austin, TX for Brian's bachelor party. I'm happy that Drew is able to go because I know it's special for Brian, but it will also be good for Drew to have some "boy time".

However, when Jenna woke up this morning she told me her tummy hurt. I thought she must just be hungry, but when I picked her up to take her downstairs for breakfast, I heard it coming...we ran to the bathroom just in time. That started off our morning. She continued throwing up all over the place (couch, carpet, computer keyboard, cloth chair....) off and on over the next 5 hours. Poor thing. I just felt so sorry for her. She kept telling me, "tummy hurts" as she'd hold her stomach. It's so difficult for a parent of a sick youngster because 1.) you feel so helpless, and 2.) they don't understand what is happening, why we can't fix it, and what to do about it. She took a nice 2 hour nap and seemed to be feeling much better when she woke up. However, I had put her down to bed in just her diaper because she had already dirtied 4 other outfits just that morning. So when I went in to get her up from her nap, I found that she had taken her diaper off (which she is very good at doing!) and had wet the pillow and crib sheet in her bed.

Then the rest of the afternoon she literally just laid around the house. As you've probably learned from this blog, Jenna NEVER lays down unless she's taking a nap or going to bed. So this was very unusual for her. I set a pillow on our bedroom floor and put Aladdin on our portable DVD player for her to watch. Whenever I'd have to leave the room, she'd follow me into the other room and lay down in there. She started telling me mid-afternoon "body hurts". I think she probably had a fever, although it's a struggle to take her temperature - she HATES it. And since I didn't feel like wrestling her to the ground just to take her temp, I went ahead and gave her some Tylenol since I'm pretty sure she had a decent fever. Around 5:45 she wanted to eat, and although the doctor's office said not to feed her anything today, I gave her a saltine cracker. She ate it with her head slumped against the back of the highchair. I knew she was tired, so I asked if she wanted to go to bed and she said yes (which is something else she rarely does). So the poor thing went to bed at 6pm. I'm not sure if she'll end up sleeping all night or if she'll wake up at 3 am ready to get up. I'm hoping she'll sleep all night because the rest would be good for her.

In the midst of all that, I'm doing LOTS and LOTS of laundry from our flooding in the basement. We have a storage area down there and have a mixture of plastic tubs and boxes. Well, lesson learned - plastic tubs it is from now on. Everything that was in boxes that got wet, I am now having to either clean, launder, or throw out depending on what it is and how bad it is. And I had a huge box of all my maternity clothes down there as well as blankets, quilts, queen-sized bed sheets/skirts, and clothes from when I was a kid. So that's been a huge task of washing those items, folding them while also having to wash Jenna's dirty clothes from today and a few bath rugs that have gotten dirty today as well.

I've also been going down to the basement every few hours to make sure we're not flooding again and emptying the bucket from a dehumidifier we borrowed from a friend. This weekend we're projected to get another 1 1/2-2 inches of rain...ahh! So I'm praying that the sump pump works and that there aren't any problems, especially with Drew being out of town.

And you might be wondering what little ol' Grant was up to today while I was busy with Jenna. He is such a sweetie!! He's a very happy, content baby. I put him in the family room with some toys and he just plays by himself. Every so often he'd get frustrated and all I needed to do was move him around or give him some new toys and he was good to go. I don't normally ignore him all day long, but it was definitely nice that he could play by himself while I took care of Jenna. Although I did get some one-on-one time with him during her afternoon nap and for an hour and a half after she went to bed this evening.

He is such a joy!! I just love his sweet smile - his whole face lights up. :)

The Great Flood

2011-03-03T14:51:00.005-05:00

Well...so technically it wasn't a flood...and it wasn't so great. Let me start over, last night as we headed downstairs to the basement to enjoy a relaxing evening eating popcorn and watching American Idol, we discovered that our basement had "flooded". Worse yet...it had probably happened Monday when we had quite a bit of rain. So that means it had been sitting down there for 2 days...grrreeaattt. ;) After standing there in shock, we started taking things upstairs to the garage. Thankfully we only had about 1 1/2 inches of water, so nothing was damaged. My parents came over and helped us get everything moved upstairs. There were a few big items that we left in the basement, but we put pieces of 2x4's underneath them to at least get them off the wet carpet.

Our full garage

Then this morning we called our insurance company who gave us the name of a carpet cleaning company they recommended. Upon talking with them, we agreed to let them take care of the mess for a few reasons: 1.) Drew is leaving early Friday morning to head to Texas for Brian's bachelor party, which means I'd be left to do quite a bit of the work, 2.) the water's already been sitting down there for a few days so we want to get it cleaned up as soon as possible, 3.) it would take at least a small army to get the wet carpet out of there, and 4.) we don't have a clue what to do. Plus we were very pleased with the quote they gave us, and we just wanted to get this taken care of, especially with two young kids - one being a VERY curious toddler. They said they'd be here in an hour and that it would only take 2 hours to soak up as much of the water from the carpet as they could, rip up the carpet and pad, discard the pad outside, and put fans down there to help it dry. Then another guy will come early next week to install a new pad and reinstall our carpet (thankfully it was salvageable!), and the carpet cleaning company will come back next Friday to clean the carpet and stairs.

We also borrowed a dehumidifier from a friend of ours to help dry up the basement.

Here's our beautiful lawn ornament. I've thought about possibly making that a permanent fixture in our yard. Haha...thankfully the "special" trash pick-up is every 2nd Tuesday of the month, which is this coming Tuesday. Yay! So it won't be out there too long.

What an adventure! This has at least made us more aware of the possibility of flooding in the basement. Drew went out this afternoon and bought a water alarm to put next to the sump so we can at least be warned the next time this happens.

January Randomness

2011-02-26T08:53:00.009-05:00

Here are some sweet pics of the kids from January...

Bailey ALWAYS has to sit in my lap, even if he is sitting on Grant too. In fact, Bailey's sitting on my lap now, even as I type. He's a cuddler...and maybe a little spoiled too. ;)

Jenna's favorite jammies from "B"

Having fun in the snow

Jenna loves our neighbor-girl Brenna.

He finally got those yummy toes in his mouth!

First fruit - applesauce

First veggie - squash

Jenna loves to help cook now. Whenever Drew or I are in the kitchen cooking, so always says, "Big stool, Mommy" followed by "I do it!" Here she's making a homemade pizza with Daddy.

This next section is dedicated to my sweet, mischievous, always on-the-go 2 year-old. It's rare that a day goes by without her getting into something she's not supposed to. Although it's frustrating at the time, it's also humorous because I know she's just curious. She definitely keeps me busy, but I LOVE her!! (And, to be honest, I think she just takes after her Mommy who also has a mischievous side to her as well.)

This night Jenna got a hold of Grant's baby cereal and decided it would be a good idea to dump the entire (full) box on the floor. So besides the frustation at the mess and the "money down the drain", I laughed it off and began cleaning it up. First I swept it up and then I swiffered the floor to make sure I got it all up. Well....if you know anything about baby cereal, you'll soon realize that was a terrible mistake! Baby cereal is very fine and flaky and it becomes almost like a paste when you add liquid. Sooo....when I sprayed the floor and then tried to wipe it up, it became like a paste - impossible to see because it's the same color as the floor and very sticky! Needless to say it took quite a bit of cleaning to really get it all. :)

Jenna's also been watching Drew and me and likes to mimic what we do. For instance, she'll put her finger in our contact cases and then put it up by her eye and say "dakah" (contact). So on this morning I was busy with Grant and noticed that Jenna wasn't around and that it was quiet in the house...never a good combination. When I went upstairs, this is what I found...

Another day I came into our bathroom to find most of a bottle of lotion all over the bathroom floor. Needless to say, our bathroom door now has a childproof lock on it! ;)

Then another day Jenna grabbed a full bag of pretzels and dumped them onto the desk...salt and all.

Sneak peek....

2011-02-17T09:31:00.005-05:00

We got our family pictures taken last month. I was planning on uploading quite a few on here, but the pictures are too large. So here's a sneak peek of them. If you'd like to see all of the pictures, go to: http://www.photoreflect.com/store/thumbpage.aspx?e=7810836

Drew's Birthday and Alumni Basketball Weekend

2011-02-16T08:55:00.005-05:00

Since we were getting together with my family to celebrate my mom's (Jan. 21st) and Drew's birthdays (Jan. 19th) we didn't do too much at our house for his birthday. But he did get a special home-cooked meal and instead of a birthday cake, he got a plate of lemon squares - one of his favorites. I tried to put 27 candles in the cookies, but ran out of candles (and space!). :)

Earlier that day Jenna painted a picture for Daddy.

On January 22nd, our family, my parents, my sister and her husband all headed to Cedarville to watch Drew play in the Alumni Basketball game. I was soooo very thankful that my family came, not only to cheer on Drew, but also for their help with the kids! Jenna sat with my mom and sister for most of the game. And actually she sat and watched most of the game too. We even got her to say, "Go Daddy!". :) But near the end of the game she was ready to move around.

The only picture I got of Drew playing. He did really well...or at least that's what I hear. I didn't get to watch too much of the game because I was catching up with friends and taking care of the kids. :)

Mommy and her little stud

Some of Drew's closest basketball friends from Cedarville - (from left to right) Jason Weakley, Scott Tarvin, Anthony Delimpo (holding his youngest son, Colt), and Drew.

We stayed for the men's varsity game that night. It was fun being back for a game even though we were both pretty busy taking care of the kids. We'd trade off between the two and take turns walking around the gym with Jenna.

We had a great time being back on campus and seeing some of our Cedarville friends. We said this fall that we were hoping to make it to a few basketball games, but it just didn't happen. I guess that's how it is when you have two young kids. :) BUT...maybe we'll get to do it next season.

2011-02-14T17:06:00.007-05:00

We had a birthday party for Jenna a few weeks after her birthday. It was a ladybug theme and we invited family that lives nearby. We figure next year she'll be old enough to want her friends at her parties. I've done a lot of party planning over the past few years with wedding and baby showers at our church - it's something I really enjoy doing. So when I planned on having a ladybug themed party for Jenna, I did research and found some really cute ideas I wanted to incorporate. Here it goes...

Look at that mischievous face. She's probably about to sneak some candy...

Before guests arrived, Jenna dressed up in her play shoes and sunglasses (upside down, of course).

Some decor and the birthday cake I made. It was my first big cake and so much fun doing! I'd like to make all the birthday cakes for my kids...we'll see.

The guests...Uncle Leon and Aunt Diane

Uncle Jim, Aunt Lois, and "cousin" John

Phil, Amanda, and other "cousin" Silas

Aunt Kelley and Uncle Brian

And of course, Grant

Opening presents

I made her party hat from supplies I had at home - I used a paper party hat that I had extras of from her birthday last year and covered it in black felt. Then I cut a small strip from our red Christmas tree garland to put around the bottom. I cut out a "2" from red felt, hot glued it on, and outlined it in my crafting glitter glue. Then just added a glittery pom-pom on top. It would have been nice if Jenna actually wore it longer than 10 seconds, but that's okay. :)

Singing Happy Birthday to her

Blowing out the candles...Daddy had to help her a little

Eating the yummy cake and ice-cream. She preferred the ice-cream over the cake though. We're realizing she's not much of a cake person, but she does love her ice-cream.

Some of the food...fruit kabobs. Originally I was trying to make them look like ladybugs...with a strawberry bottom and grapes for the head, but it didn't look anything like a ladybug...haha. So they're just plain old fruit kabobs.

My ladybug appetizers - the top ones are Ritz crackers with a cream cheese topping, small tomatoes halved, and olives for the heads. Then I took some of the cream cheese mixture and tinted it black to put little dots on the tomatoes. The middle ladybugs are Ritz crackers with mozzarella cheese slices and pepperoni wings with olives, once again, for the heads. The bottom plate holds lots of Oreo ladybugs. Wish I could say I came up with these ideas all on my own...nope.

Maw-Maw and Paw-Paw with the grandkids

The kitchen decor. We also got some red and black helium balloons and Drew drew black spots on the red balloons.

Our family

Grant was such a trooper throughout the whole party, even though he was exhausted. He finally fell asleep in Daddy's arms. Such a sweetheart!

Later that day we gave Jenna her gift from us - an art easel. One side is a dry erase board and the other is a blackboard.