I Adore the First Warm Days of the Year....

It is one of my absolute favorite things in the whole wide universe when the first truly warm days hit. The kids come home from school, they ask to play in the water, and since it's been 3 or 4 months since we've busted out the swimsuits, turtle pool, slide, and hose it's like a whole new adventure has opened up to them. They enjoy one another and play wacky and creative games all afternoon. I love these guys!

Why Winter is Texas Rules

February = Camping!!!! Not winter camping mind you. Camping with swimming included :) 

We took at 45 minute jaunt up the road to awesome Guadalupe River State Park and stayed the night. 

Here we are at the river - it's OK to be jealous if you are living in UT or MN and 

viewing this whilst there's a blizzard outside. Feelings like that are only natural. 

Randomly one of L's classmates and BFF's Sophia was also at the river. I love it when friends come along!

We totally forgot to bring water socks and the river bottom was covered in rocks. The kids used their only shoes and of course they ended up soaked in mud. Note to self: next time do not let G be in charge of rinsing out his own shoes. He WILL leave the water on so long that it will flow directly into your campsite thus creating a river of mud you will unsuccessfully attempt to avoid the rest of the trip. 

SMORES!!!!!

Photo Bombing daddies are the best!

 

Snuggling in for the night ready to watch Prince Caspian

Posterity's Sake

I'm sure somewhere there is a rule written down that every sister must dress her brother up like a girl. I just had to capture this so that one day it can be remembered to be included in Grant's graduation or wedding video slide show. He is also sporting a glittery headband and belt in case you didn't notice :)

For Sale - 7714 Alverstone Way

March 4th 2013 - Our house of 6 years is officially up for sale!

March 14th 2013 - 10 days and 7 showings later our house has a buyer!

April 5th 2013 - We closed on the house passing it on to new buyer Sabrina Colon! 

Well, I spent 2 months of my life cleaning, packing, preparing, and staging our house to put it on the market. I mean 6 days a week for two months our life was consumed with cleaning, researching, repairing, etc... We originally listed it For Sale By Owner, but then our friend and Realtor Christi Easton said that if we used her to buy a house she would sell this one for only 1% commission. We took the deal. I am so glad that we did because it really got a lot more people looking at it with the tools that she had available to her for advertising. All I can say is: I am glad that it sold quickly! I put my hear and soul into decorating and keeping it clean. My poor children, they will tell you that I was a complete Nazi mom during this process and it's absolutely true. They weren't even allowed to sleep in their beds while we showed the house! That way everything would always look neat. Basically the way you see it pictured below is how I always had it looking just in case someone came to look at it and it felt like 3 full time jobs. Since we have 3 children we spent a lot of non-school hours out of the house. Here are the pics for posterity's sake, cleaner than it ever was when we actually "lived" in it:

We have had so many great memories in this house. We moved in the first weekend in April 2007. Lillie was not quite 3 and Samuel was 9 months old. Little Grant was not even a thought in anyone's head yet. He was however born in the living room so that's quite a memory in itself! Our family has done quite a bit of growing in this house and it will be hard to leave. We have such a wonderful ward family in the San Antonio 3rd Ward, San Antonio West Stake. We have so many friends in the surrounding areas and L and S have had such wonderful teachers and friends at Burke elementary. We will miss you Alverstone Way but we are also excited for new adventures!

New Wreath

I made this wreath right before we put the house up for sale. I even had to borrow a glue gun from my friend Celeste Knight because I had already packed ours into storage! I love how it turned out!

Good Bye To the Family "Tramp"

Well in preparation for our upcoming house sale (hopefully) we are selling the trampoline. The kids are super ticked at us but what can we do?!? Our yard is super tiny and the trampoline, while super awesome for playing, is just not visually pleasing. They had a last jump and wanted one last picture on it before I list it on Craigslist. They have also been promised that a new trampoline will be purchased immediately upon moving into our new house. The hard thing is that we have no idea how long we will be without one. Fingers crossed that the house sells soon!

Happy 4th Birthday Grant!

Grant is FOUR!!!!

Grant has been waiting for his 4th birthday for a very...long...time. Because on this day, February 18th, 2013, Grant was allowed to graduate to a booster seat and join the ranks of the big kids in the swagger wagon. 

He only looks a little but happy about it, right?!?

I truly believe he was more excited about getting a booster seat then anything else.

First we drove to target to go pick one out. We made a very big deal out of the fact that this would be the absolute last time he would ever ride in his "cow" seat. That was unfortunate. All of Target's boosters were super lame. We had to get back into the car and drive a few miles to see if the Baby's R Us had any better options. You had better believe that we had a time and a half getting him back into his "baby" seat. And what was worse, we were possibly buying his new booster from a place with "Baby" in the title. Luckily L and S pitched in and talked about what a cool store it was. Suffice it to say he was appeased and loves his new booster. He is super pleased that he can now buckle himself and so are mom and dad!

Grant's Friend B-day Party

Grant wanted and Angry Birds cake this year. I had a hard time figuring out what to do but I ended up very pleased with the final product and so did Grant!

Grant invited his four best buds to jump for a couple of hours at Pump It Up:

L to R: Grant, Gordon, Kelton, Austin, Kaleb

Showing off their muscles!

 After jumping we came back and did lunch, cake, and presents. It was easy and awesome! I love all these boys!

On Grant's actual birthday the kids had school off in recognition of Presidents Day. Tim took the day off as well and we told G he could pick all of the days activities.

We started off at Chuck E. Cheese 

 Then we went to the park to play and fly Grant's new Angry Birds kite from his Best Friend Gordon

That night we had a family party. Grammy, Grandad, and Auntie Katie came over too. We had dinner, cupcakes, and opened presents. It was lots of fun!

Thank you to everyone who called to wish Grant a Happy B-day! I'm sorry that he was being a poo poo head and wouldn't talk to anyone. You all have Tim to thank for that :) Thank you also for the b-day money Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle Jason, and Aunt Becca. He had a great time at Target buying a new double barrel Nerf gun, a new baseball and bat, and an Angry Birds watch. I wanted to post that pic of him with those presents here but the pic is on my phone and not, I do not know how to get them from my phone to here. Barnes family: the baseball outfit you sent is perfect! He loves it and wears it all the time. Every time he sees it he says how he is going to wear it to practice when T-ball season starts.

Grant at 4:
Favorite:
Foods - strawberries, grapes, HEB gumballs, chicken with ketchup, chinese food, batter dipped cod, yogurt, cheese, ice cream
Books - any book! He loves to memorize one line per page books and "read" them to me at night. His current favorite is the Beranstain Bears "Bears in the Night"
Things to do - Grocery shop with mom at HEB Plus and get a gumball at the end, go swimming, behave like a ninja on the trampoline, go mini golfing, sleepovers at Gordon's, hang out with Samuel and Lillie, color (he is getting super good at coloring in the lines and will spend a good hour concentrating on a picture)
Favorite Places - Gordon's house, Pump It Up, The Children's Musuem, The Majik Theatre, Just Add Children, Utah, Grammy's House, the park, the bank (b/c sometimes he gets lollipops), HEB Plus (or Pus as he calls it), Chuck E Cheese, Sunbeam class, Ms. Kim's orange class at Pre-school
TV Shows - Power Rangers, Bo on the Go, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Road Rally, The Lorax

Not So Favorites -
Food - vegetables, or any "live" food besides the above mentioned. When he asks for a snack he specifically asks for one "from the pantry" and gets very upset every time I tell him he's gotta eat fruit or veggies first
Sharing, not being allowed more snacks, talking to people or letting them know that he likes them ;)

Things that we love about Grant:
Besides how shy and ornery he may come across at first G really is such an agreeable, pleasant, and fun little boy! Every time I drop him off at pre-school, or childcare at the gym he acts all shy as though he doesn't want to be there. But the moment I'm gone he warms up and has a great time! He really loves his teachers at school, church, and at the gym.
Grant still sucks his thumb and plays with the tags on his shirt. He loves them so much I made him a blanket that is covered with tags so he can always find one! Possibly a bad idea but since we're not trying to wean him off of tags at the moment I figured it would make life easier on everyone. Plus, right now at least, it's super cute!
Every morning, about 30 minutes before it's time to get up Grant comes and cuddles with us in bed. He immediately falls asleep and he looks so peaceful and content. I love knowing that it's because he feels safe and happy with us. What a great start to every day!
He loves to help me bake and cook - he's my little sous chef
Helping Tim wash the car
Saying prayers over the food or family prayers at the end of the day

We love you Grant!