Grant is a walkin' man

Okay, pics are out of order and I can't seem to figure out how to move them around anymore, so... the real blog post is at the end. However, I took these super cute pics of Tim and Grant tonight and wanted to share them. The kids have always wanted to get ice-cream from the ice-cream man who drives around in his ghetto beat up van but I've never let them. A few weeks ago I decided to stop being so uptight about it (I mean the ice-creams probably aren't laced with drugs.... right?) and I told them that next time he came by and we had $ we'd get some, even if we hadn't had dinner yet. So we heard him drive by tonight, and of course we hadn't had dinner yet (probably because it's the start of the long weekend and I was in lazy mode and hadn't made any). We ran out to stop him and the kids enjoyed ice-cream cones for dinner. That topped off their afternoon of filling up on Easter candy. Anyway, Grant was pretty mad that he didn't get his own cone but he was appeased by an orange lolli and his daddy. I just love how these pics portray how crazy he is for Tim and vice versa.
And here is my walkin' boy. He's been taking some steps for about a month now, but last Saturday night we all sat and watched everything click into place in his head. He just got up to walk and never stopped. It's so wierd and cute to see him walking everwhere now because he's so short. It's just been a long time since we've had such a little walker. Oh, and at the same time he started walking he also turned into a monkey and tries to climb everything now!

Happy 1st Birthday Grant!

Happy 1st Birthday Grant! I cannot believe that it has been an enitre year since this boy was born. It has been a most amazing journey so far. Grant is so loved by everyone that meets him and he is, of course!, a perfect fit in our little family. It has been such a joy getting to know and love him and we were all so excited to celebrate his special day. When Lillie woke up in the morning she insisted that she needed to stay home from school for it. Needless to say, she was disappointed! Samuel and I had a fun and busy day preparing for that night's party. We spent a relaxed day at home playing and preparing for the party. That night we celebrated with the Burwell side of the family and some of our next door neighbors enjoying, presents, pizza, cake, and ice-cream.
Here are the boys with Grant's decorations. Samuel helped me with everything that you see here and he did such a great job! He was super excited to get things ready for his brother. And the day before Lillie and I spent some time preparing the art you see on the wall. She also made similar "GRANT" letters that she hung on the mantle. She was also really excited to get things ready for him!

This is the one and only time Grant wore this party hat. He's usually so good with hats, but with these he would scream and cry hysterically if he even saw one so they had to be put away.

Grant's first cake made by mom. I had a lot of fun doing this one and L and S really liked it. I have a feeling that the "personal cake" might be a theme for the rest of the year!

My sister Allison with all the decorations

Grant was not super interested in the present opening but thankfully I had Samuel as a wonderful helper. I did warn him however that this is most likely the only year he will ever be able to do this for Grant!

Here is Grant with the walker/ride-on lion that Tim and I got for him. This was taken after he ate cake hence the onesie and matted down hair. He does love this thing though!

Cake time! It took about 30 seconds of prodding the frosting before he finally dug in but then he enjoyed himself. I think he ate/crumbled about a third of it before he was done.

Happy birthday buddy, I love you and I love being your mom!

Happy Family!

Year One recap:

Favorite things to do:

Play in the refrigerator

Use anything and everything for a walker

Sneak into the bathroom and unroll the t.p.

Be chased by Lillie and Samuel

Crawl under Lillie's bed

Be outside

Jump in his jumparoo

Write on the credit card machine at the checkout (absolute favorite! freaks out everytime I roll the cart past!)

Drive his Little Einsteins steering wheel

Baths in the big bathtub with Samuel

Tim. Tim is his favorite person in the universe!

Things He HATES!

Getting into his carseat

Baby Food

Favorite Foods:

ice-cream

avocados

bananas

scrambled eggs

yogurt

cheerios/kix

french fries

Talent:

So of course he is a genius baby as all of my children have been! But this kid is pretty awesome. All he has to do is see something one time and he's got it down. You show him where to push the button on a toy to make a sound or flip a switch on or make a sound with your mouth and he's got it for life! He was clapping at I think 6 months old, waving bye at 10 months, and a billion other imitations I can't think of! Lately he's also been trying to put his shoes on his feet, and hats on his head.

Nicknames:

Dad's: Grant-a-million

Mom's: Mr. Grant

Lillie and Samuel's: Grant Boy

Not too creative but it's just what fits him!

We love this boy and we are so glad that he came to our family! Happy Birthday Grant! And thank you to everyone who remembered him for afar!

Thanksgiving 2009

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! We had a great day but missed all the family that we didn't get to see. My (Audrey's) parents and sister Allison came over and we enjoyed a magnificent dinner prepared by yours truly, Pat a.k.a. the master of the kitchen, aaaaand (cough, cough) Rudy's BBQ. Seriously, they make the best smoked turkey. This was Grant's first T-Giving and while he slept for most of the day he was kind enough to make an appearance at dinner where he enjoyed his feast of green beens, sweet potatoes, and Gerber cereal puffs. Yum! We had a really fantastic day and I know that we have so much to be thankful for. I am above all grateful for the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. I know without it I would not have the joy and fulfillment that I do. I love myhusband and children and I am so grateful for our good health, and strong relationships. Also, it's totally awesome that Tim has a job, and I can stay home with the rascals. In times like these I know that is an especially fantastic blessing. And I can't forget this great big huge awesome family that I am a part of! I love all you guys so much and I just feel so blessed that we can share our lives together! I hope that you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and we can't wait to see you all at Christmas!
Below are pics, and again, I can't move them around (blogger, or possibly my computer is/are dumb) so while I am probably the only anal person who cares that they are not in order, I just have to make a note to let you all know that it bugs me. Enjoy!

Thank you for the gorgeous flowers Harry and Dianne. They made a beautiful centerpiece!

The master slicing the succulent, smoked, breast of Turkey. And yes, we had the gigando bottle of sauce to go with it.

This is sadly how Lillie and Samuel spent a lot of the morning. Just can't get enough of the ipod touch! (For historical purposes I would like to note that these do not belong to them.)

Grandad and Lil'Star

Mom Burwell and Audrey preparing the feast. I would also like to take this moment to give a shout out to Tim and Dad Burwell who cleaned up the entire messy kitchen without any prompting from the ladies!

I love food!

And lastly, this was a pre-thanksgiving bake project with Aunt Allison and the kiddos. We had a lot of fun making them and even more fun eating them!

Look at me!

I'm cute!

...and relaxed!

...and busy! ...and chunky!

Rice Cereal Anyone?

Grant tried his 1st solid food today! Yeah! He has been seriously eyeing our food for awhile now with a greedy look in his eyes so we decided to try him out and... he loved it! Of course it took him a couple of spoonfuls to get the hang of it but he caught on pretty quickly. What a genius child! As you can see from the pics below, he's having a pretty good time!Here Lillie and Samuel take a turn with the feeding.

I'm so proud of my boy, what a grown up step!

A Present from Grant

So I moved Grant into his new crib. He had a new mattress pad, and freshly laundered sheets and bumper pad. He took one nap in it and this is what he did. I guess he liked it so much he decided to leave me a little present. Thankyou Grant, I love you too.

I can roll over!

Grant can roll over now! He's got it down from back to tummy and he is working on tummy to back. Backwards, I know, but for some reason this is how all my kids did it. It's kind of sad because if I put him to bed awake he'll roll around (that sounds funny to say) and then get mad b/c he's on his tummy and can't get off. Silly boy. I of course am always worried that he will suffocate so I check on him, then disturb him, it's a viscious cycle really. But, yes, I'm proud of my rollin' over boy. Big milestone!

Grant's blessing day

Grant was blessed this past Sunday and it was beautiful. Thankyou so much to all of the friends and family that came to visit and to celebrate him with us. You all are the most important people in our lives and we are so grateful that you were able to share this time with us. We had a fantastic weekend and will miss all the Doolittles who don't live here. We had a great visit!