Second week of May

Busy week last week.........

Beau, Brenley and Brian went to McPherson last Saturday to celebrate Mother's Day with Brian's Mom as well as wish both his parents a Happy Birthday as each of them had a birthday this past week. It was the big 6-0! And we look forward to a party at the end of the month to celebrate them in style.

Kids went to a petting zoo that was being held in town and loved it.

We also celebrated my Dad's birthday on the 11th, and Beau had a game that same night.

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Wednesday night we headed to the Wichita River Festival, as Brian had volunteer duties at his company's booth. It was a beautiful evening, especially with Eli Young and Pat Green playing in concert!

This weekend the kids and I went to Oklahoma to celebrate Mother's Day with my Mom and my Dad's birthday. The Stillwater girls came down and we just had a great day and night.

Here is to another busy week with T-ball games and Beau's promotion ceremony into 1st grade! More to come soon..............

Brenley - 15 months

My girl, Bren. Love that big, beautiful 15 month old. She's been walking a little less than 3 weeks. And well, the walk has rapidly turned into a running sprint. She gets everywhere so quickly. She can go up and down stairs. She does it oh so carefuly. She can get off couches and chairs by herself. She is a woman on the move!

Here is a list of her other firsts this month:

1 - She can blow kisses. Her Me Ma taught her how to do that.

2 - She wrinkles her nose and puts her hand on her nose when we change her diaper and tell her she is "stinky!"

3 - She furrows her brow when she is mad. Now that is funny. Looks just like my niece Courtney did around that same age.

4 - When you tell her we need to change her butt and wave the diaper in the air, she immediately lays down on the floor so you can change her.

5 - She acts like she is landing planes when she is finished eating. She waves her arms wildly in the air and says......."Ah dun."

6 - I've stopped counting how many teeth she has. She has gotten maybe 3 teeth this month, at least. Big ones. They are toward the back and harder to see, but she has been working on them for several weeks. I think the worst part is over for her - for now.

And drop off at daycare has gotten so much better. It's taken her awhile, but she seems to finally be used to the new room and people.

She is such a joy. Big, infectious laugh when you find her tickle spots - and she has a lot of them!! She loves her brother and the feeling is mutual. She is just wonderful, sweet, ornery and so beautiful. We are all head over heels for this one.

T-Ball Season 2009

It's official. The season has begun! Rained out our first official night, we were able to t-off Wednesday night at 7:30. That's a little late for a one year old, but we made it, and even hit the ice cream shop on the way. We had to celebrate, you know?!

Beau Grant did excellent. Wow, what a difference a year makes. His whole team (essentially the same team as last year) did so great. They played a younger team, but instead of letting the other team score 5 runs on them to end the inning, they got their 3 outs first. It was awesome. Beau played right field for the first few innings, then shortstop, then third, and finally I think he whined a bit to coach to let him play catcher, and coach gave in. Beau got a little lesson on the ride home about not whining, but all in all, he did super and hit the ball so hard! Here is our little left handed ace (and his Dad, one of the coaches). I mean how cute are my boys?!?!!?

March for Babies 2009

Today was our special family day as we made our annual (this is the 6th year) trek for March of Dimes in their March for Babies. We love doing this and every year we stress to our son that we raise money and march for this cause because of him. Because of our premature son, Beau, my life will never be the same. Having experienced an early birth, NICU, caring and dressing a preemie.......our hearts and our minds will forever be affected.

And now 5 1/2 years later, we have a strong healthy boy. Not all families can say the same thing. March of Dimes is an organization that is helping end prematurity. It's so worth our time and effort. Thanks to our family, friends, and coworkers, the Grant family raised $595 this year.

Easter 2009

Big weekend. Let me first start by saying that we have a walker on our hands. Brenley has previously taken a step here and a step there, but Friday night it was a few more steps. And Saturday it was a few more! We are calling it now. April 11th. Little over 14 months. Brenley May walked. I cried. There are a lot of moments when you realize your "baby" is not so much a "baby" anymore, but I'm pretty sure when they can walk on their own, they are typically called toddlers and not babies anymore. Sniff sniff.

Okay, we made the rounds Easter weekend! We got to see Brian's family Friday afternoon and hunt eggs and enjoy supper together (and Brian golfed in the afternoon, so that was his egg hunt of sorts!). The kids had a good time hunting eggs at Grandma and Grandpa's house in McPherson.

Then Saturday morning we got up and headed to Oklahoma to celebrate Easter with my family. Lots of kids = lots of eggs. It took my 13 year old niece Makayla and I 30 minutes to hide eggs that were found in less than 5 minutes! What is up with that? We had two "heats." One for 2 years and younger and then everybody else. It was a lot of fun, although Beau never thinks he gets enough eggs, the competitor that he is. But we enjoyed being together as we always do. The weather was amazing and we spent most of the evening out doors playing.

Sunday morning brought drizzly rain. We headed to church in our best Easter clothes and celebrated Jesus Christ rising again. He has risen indeed. And in the famous words of my son, "Easter is about Jesus, and God, and eggs, and chocolate bunnies. Indeed, it is, Beau Charles.

What we don't do for beauty at 14 months!

Oh, my girl. My girl that I like to play dress up doll with.....and oh, how she hates it. Me Ma bought Brenley her first soft curlers. I used to sleep in them (mine were pink!) all the time when I was little! So Brenley took a turn at the rollers the other night. She loved them, as you can tell!

And here is a pic of my beauty at 14 months old! Wow. She is growing up so fast, and the faces she can make! Goodness, she has plenty of them. While she isn't using a lot of words, she really can communicate with her furrowed brows, screams, and shoving something in your face to open. And no, she isn't walking yet, but she will take a few steps here and there. She has mastered the stairs and can get herself up and down when she wants too. No more new teeth, but she LOVES her some sweet ice cream! I'm creating a monster already!

Let's see what else.......she continues to love music and dance. She definitely gets jiggy with it. That gets a laugh or too and she'll continue to ham it up when we clap at her. She is also so curious! Beau was NEVER like this. We babyproofed our house to the hilt, and he never once bothered a cabinet or drawer or toliet bowl. Not this one. She wants to know where everything is, and prefers pulling it out onto the floor. She's one funny little girl and makes anyone forget their worries and troubles.

Beau Grant is still enjoying school and getting excited to start T-ball. He is full of life and love. And we are just full of love for our kiddo's that give life a whole new meaning.

Nephew Luke

We got to watch Luke for just a little bit the past two evenings while his Dad was out of town and Mom was busy working late with the tax deadline looming. We enjoyed our time with him. He is such a good boy. Both Brenley and Beau liked playing with him. Uncle Brian really liked it too!