Halloween

Peter Pan and Tinkerbell

Two Lunches for $.50

The other day I took the kids grocery shopping at 11:30am. In the produce section there were samples of nectarines. In the bakery there was french bread. Halfway through the store I was about to stop giving them samples when I realized that if instead I continued giving them samples I could count this as lunch! In the end there was not enough protein so I bought some salami and they ate it in the checkout line. All in all I spent $.53 and there was no mess at home to clean up. What a treat!

McD's Playland

Tonight we wanted to do something as a family to get out of the house. Because it was raining our options were limited. Being the germ freaks and health nuts that we are this probably seems like a crazy idea, but we ended up at McDonald's playland. It actually turned out to be quite fun. There were only two other kids in the whole place and Grant and Kate could both navigate their appropriate terrain pretty well. Afterwards the kids even got to eat fast food (in my defense I did bring cut up veggies). All in all it was a great night!

It seems that Kate has transitioned to one nap which is making my life way more enjoyable. She actually sleeps in until 7 (as opposed to 5) and takes a nap in the afternoon at the same time as Grant. It is so much fun to be able to do an activity in the morning with both kids instead of waiting around for Kate to wake up. Grant's napping is hit or miss these days, but I at least make him hang out in his crib for a while so I can have some down time. Yesterday he was talking away in his crib so I went up and told him to please quiet down and go to sleep. He responded, "But, mom, I'm just talking about my day."

California

Jim and I took a long weekend (without kids) to visit my brother, Bryan, and his new wife, Kristen, in Los Angeles. We had many laughs, which is always guaranteed when Bryan is around. The first night Bryan and Jim wore the same shirt out to dinner. But, because it was LA no one thought it was that weird. The next day we drove to Santa Barbara Wine Country and visited the beautiful vineyards. We rented a surrey and drove around the little dutch town where we stayed the night. In the morning we went for a hike and then Bryan and Kristen dropped us off in Santa Monica where we spent a night overlooking the ocean. It was a busy weekend, yet we came home feeling refreshed. Thank you mom and dad for looking after Grant and Kate so we could enjoy this special weekend!

Happy Birthday, Grandma Koss

Here are a few fun pictures of the kids eating Grandma's birthday cake. The best part of the evening though was when Grant pushed a chair into the burning fireplace. The flames grew huge very quickly before anyone noticed. (We were eating dinner and Grant had just excused himself.) Thankfully, Papa thought quickly and picked up the burning chair and threw it outside. Jim and Mom followed close behind with buckets of water. The alarms were going off so the kids were screaming and I was just trying to keep them calm. It looks like my parents are out a very nice chair and a gorgeous rug. But, both grandkids are burn free. Whooh.

A New Cousin

Sweet baby Oliver was welcomed into the world this morning. Mama and baby are healthy and happy. Congratulations Lindsay and Josh!

A day at the zoo

This is the first fall that Grant is officially allowed to be out of the house. We're taking full advantage of it going to the zoo, gym class, swimming and the mall. I even went to the park with him the other day without hand wipes. :) It is hard for me to believe that last winter I couldn't take him places. Someone asked me the other day what I have done inside the last two years. I don't remember. It is all a blur. God got me through it though and now I'm just thankful that Grant's health has improved so much.

Scratch and Sniff

Both of our kids did some scratching this weekend. Grant got ahold of a sharp rock and "colored" all over the back of my car. It looks like someone keyed the car. Jim took it really well and recalled a story of when he was little and found himself in a room with a can of paint and a brush. He said he remembers thinking this probably isn't okay, but he kept doing it anyway. When I told my brother, Bryan, he recounted two stories of coloring on walls growing up. One was with a can of spray paint. In one instance he used a marker to write his name on the walls and when he was asked if he did it he adamantly denied it. Boys.

This weekend Kate noticed a new tattoo on Derme's leg. At first it looked like she was blowing on the tattoo but then we realized she was sniffing it. She thought it was a scratch and sniff sticker!

Grant's mouth

So...last night I finally decided to take Grant's complaint seriously and I looked in his mouth. Much to my surprise I found a giant white sore in the middle of his tongue. Ouch! I took him to urgent care this morning and they think it is a yeast infection. Poor guy. He's not up for eating, so it is a good thing protein shakes flow like rivers over here.

This morning, I saw a very concrete of how different girls are from boys. Kate and Jim were quietly having a tea party when Grant found them. He came blazing through with a hanger, knocking every cup and saucer over yelling, "I'm Captain Hook and I'm going to wreck you."

Grant also has this new saying if you ask him to do anything. He says, "I'll try my best and that's all you can ask."

Peter Pan

Grant seems to be having a lot of ailments lately. I can't tell if he really is in pain or he's just saying it. Every time we are in the car he says his stomach hurts. I pretty much ignored this until he puked in his carseat the other day. Lately he is saying his mouth hurts when he eats. I wasn't really taking this seriously either but yesterday he was sobbing saying he couldn't eat. Please pray for Grant to be healthy and for wisdom for me.

On a different note, Grant and I watched Peter Pan last night. The kids are going to be Peter Pan and Tinkerbell for Halloween so I thought they should at least see the movie. When I was taking Grant up to bed he asked, "Mom, why is Captain Hook so mean? I want to throw the hooker in the trash can."

Hugs

Grant loves to give Kate hugs and say, "Kate, you are such a cute yittle (little) baby!" I love this picture where she is trying to escape his hug.

Samuel

It makes me smile to hear Grant talking about God and the Bible. Last week at Community Bible Study Grant learned all about Samuel and how God spoke to this young boy. I was able to tell Grant that his middle name is Samuel after this boy and just like Samuel answered, "Here I am Lord, your servant is listening," we want Grant to follow God's voice. He thought this was very interesting and asked what Samuel's first name was. I said, "Samuel," so he said, "oh, his name is Samuel Samuel?" I guess he only thinks Samuel is a middle name.

Last night I had a really bad headache and I said, "Let's ask God to heal my head." He said, "Just like Hannah asked God for baby Samuel?" Yes! So, he prayed for my head and then he said, "Aunt Lindsay prayed for Jesus to make your headache feel better." (He had just been at my parents with Lindsay.) Later when I was talking to Lindsay I thanked her for praying with Grant for my headache. She laughed and said that she never prayed with Grant for my head. What a cool imagination he has!

Overpacked

Thank God for dads. Me? I just play with whatever toys we have in the basement. Jim gets creative and last night it took the form of putting Kate in various compartments of the suitcase and zipping her around the house. She's having more fun than it appears.

Time Out

Grant thinks it is funny to put his feet on the table during dinner. We have repeatedly told him not to do this so tonight when he did it he got an immediate time out. I didn't want to unstrap him from his booster seat so I just pushed his whole chair facing into the wall. He was very composed during this whole process and when I went to get him he calmly told me that he was busy thinking about his day and would I please leave him alone. I didn't know what to do with that so I just left him alone. A few minutes later he called for me and said he was all done. Who is giving who a time out here?!

Doctor Visits

Last week Kate would not stop crying for like 24 hours. I took her to the doctor because I was convinced that something must be wrong with her. Nothing wrong- just cutting 6 new teeth at once! She had a rough few days but she seems fine now. While she was at the doctor's office they gave her a flu shot and told me that Grant is old enough for flu mist. We went yesterday, and what a treat! No tears. I wish we had that option with all vaccinations.

Our little chatterbox is back from Disney. (Thanks grandma and grandpa!) Here are a few things he's been saying:
Grant: the snake told Eve to take the apple
Mom: Why did he do that?
Grant: He was hungry.

Mom: Did you know that I have a mom, too, just like you? Who is my mommy?
Grant: Derme.

Mom: Grant, you'll do it right now because I said so and I'm the boss.
Grant: You're not the boss. Dad's the boss.

Where's Grant?

I was wondering how Kate would do without her sidekick around. She's surprisingly joyful. She now calls me "mom" instead of "mama," so our days have been filled with her yelling, "mom," and running over to me with a big wet kiss on the lips! I think she is really loving all this attention. I hate to admit it but Grant often takes center stage because of his larger-than-life personality. It is great to get to know Kate in a whole new way!

Hello Disney

Grant left for Disney World this morning with Grandma and Grandpa Koss. I'm not sure who is more excited. I'm pretty sure the grandparents since Grant has no clue what Disney World is. However, he had a huge grin this morning when we woke him up early and told him he was leaving for Disney World.

Jim is working a lot this week so that leaves Kate and I with a lot of alone time. To be honest, it started out kind of rocky. She woke up several times in the night screaming. She would quiet down as long as we were holding her but whenever we put her back in the crib she would scream. I thought something serious must be wrong with my sweet child so I took her to the doctor's this morning. The culprit: 6 new teeth, including 2 molars. Thankfully, after a dose of Tylenol things got better and Kate and I had a great day. We went shopping, watched Beth Moore on tv and went out to dinner. Daughters are great, even at one year old!

Dot

Kate has a name for Grant. It's Dot. Kinda funny, but it's what she came up with. In the above picture Jim is walking out of church with Kate and Grant. It is so much fun to be able to go to church now with the kids. Kate is not sure whether or not she likes it yet, but if they stuff her with graham crackers she usually stops crying. Grant loves his classroom and equally enjoys playing on the band's drums after church. Whenever he sees a cross he says, "Do you know what the cross means? It means Jesus loves you."