Show Us Where You Live Friday - Kid's Rooms

Once again, I'm on Kelly's bandwagon and showing you rooms in our home. This week, it's all about the kiddos' rooms. I've posted most of their room on here before, but here I go again.

First, is Grant's room. Both of their bedrooms are pretty small, so we utilize just about every inch in them. I cannot wait to have a bigger house with a "bonus" room to stash toys in!

This is the view from the door into Grant's room.

another angle from the same side..just showing his name on the wall. i got these from a lady on ebay and i love them. they coordinate with his bedding perfectly. i love his bedding. i've gone the sports route with it, even though the actual bedding has no sports balls on it. i found some other pbk pillows that kind of coordinated, but i love that we could totally go nautical if i decided to without changing the quilt and it's not too little boyish. i need help here..should i hang something above his bed?? i feel like i tend to hang too much stuff on walls, and i don't want to do that. would it be too cluttered with something there?

and these, my friend, are my saving grace! his bed has 4 huge drawers underneath and two shelves in the back. the shelves are full of stuffed animals. i hate those things, but somehow they keep accumulating. the other 4 drawers are full of toys & games and the nightstand is chock full of puzzles.

view sitting on the bed. i got the signs off of ebay, and the baseball was mine growing up. it has lots of famous baseball players' autographs. you'd be impressed if i told you who all was on there..promise!

at the foot of the bed...plaques off of ebay, handprint Grant made at MDO, more toys, and of course, his flat screen. he only watches movies on it, and i bet we only use it once every 2 weeks or so. he also has his v-smile hooked up to it, but now that we have a Wii, i doubt it will get much use.

Now, Claire's room. Her room is the perfect shade of lavendar. I think it's called Petunia Tint, and I love it! It's so bright and happy! She is using Grant's old furniture, even though I REALLY wanted white for a girl. I couldn't justify it since we already had everything, but when she moves into a "big girl bed," we're definitely getting white!

view of bed from the door, with the sign that kim painted for her. i've actually moved the bed to a different wall since i last posted pics to accomodate, what else, toys!

next to the bed. our rocker is the perfect size i think & it's a nice color too. at one point, we actually had it in our living room & it went really well. hopefully, we will still be able to use it once our nursery days are over..still not sure if we're there or not :-)! claire's newborn foot prints are on that plate in the background. they were so tiny!!

this is the one thing i don't think i've posted pics of previously. i love this shelf. there had been one online at pbk for FOREVER that my mom ordered me for christmas. when i got it, it was too long and the door would open into it! i was so sick about it, until i went to trusty old Target (where I'd looked a hundred times or more for one) and found a Shabby Chic shelf that I actually liked a bit better, was cheaper, and fit perfectly. It holds a mini tea set, her piggy bank, and a little vase that i've had as long as i can remember. the pic above it is one that courtney did at her newborn session and it has all of her stats on it and the verse James 1:17..love it!

the pictures that took FOREVER to hang! the things they sent to hang these with were so not strong enough & resulted in a gigantic hole in the wall the 1st time around! i fixed it, went to the store & got my own anchors & started over. i love them, but i dread the day that we take them down! and all the girl's hairbows on the one crafty thing i did for her room that took all of 2 minutes! this is our 2nd lampshade for his lamp because claire, in one of her fits, kicked that little basket really hard & knocked the lamp off and destroyed the previous one!

That's it! Next week is offices, but we don't have one anymore. We have Claire's room instead! I may do a tour of my hallway instead :-)!!

Grant's 4th Birthday!

Grant’s birthday presents started trickling in last Thursday night. One of the presents we’d gotten him had been hiding at my work & since I took off on Friday, I had to bring it home with me Thursday night. We decided to use it as a bribe hoping that it would improve his motivation to do well at soccer practice (with no luck!), and told him he’d get his present after practice. I had unloaded it earlier in the day & Thursday night we all went outside the house & I handed Grant the garage door opener & told him to open it up & see what he had. Inside he found this:

opening up the garage

driving off - I didn't get a good pic from the front. he is not a good driver!

It’s a 1960 Mercedes 300SL for anyone that’s a car buff. We were lucky enough to have this come across at work (which is a post in itself) so this is why he didn’t get the Lightning McQueen car that he kept asking for. I haven’t heard another word about Lightning, so I think he was pleased regardless! He is a horrible driver though! He cannot keep his foot on the gas. He regularly goes in reverse instead of forward, and I’ve already been run over a few times. Claire LOVES to ride with him, but the poor girl had bruises on her back after her 1st ride with him from being thrown forward & backward so much by his erratic gas “pushing.” It will be interesting to see how long we can go without tearing this up!

can you say whiplash?!

Another pre-party present was from Mammy for both Grant & Pook. Pook’s birthday is next month so she combined this for them. To be honest, I think daddy has played LOTS more than Grant has! I still haven’t had my turn, but hope to soon!

Grant had his party at a “bounce house” and had a blast. Though they are a little pricey, it was hands down the best party I’ve ever had to give! It’s so stress free! The people there are wonderful, and take care of everything. All we had to bring is the cake and the drinks, and they handled all the clean up and even wrote down his gifts. I didn’t see him the whole party because he and his cousin Ella just took off. This is the 1st time he hasn’t been dependent on me to do everything with him at one of these places. Four really is big, huh?!

the whole gang

Grant & Ella

claire & i had fun too!

Here is the cake that, once again, did not disappoint! Elisabeth always does such an awesome job! Grant was calling it his Special Spiderman Cake. By this time, G was totally worn out. It was afternoon and after a soccer game in the a.m. and all of that bouncing I could tell he was in a total daze. He kept on going through cake & presents and had a blast. He told me thank you for his party, which was the sweetest.

Since Grant’s birthday was on Sunday, we had his party on Saturday. The funny thing is that whenever anyone asks him what he got for his birthday, he says nothing because he didn’t get a present on his actual birthday. He says those other things were for his 3 year old party, not his 4 year old. I sense someone being a little greedy, :-)! I think he knew exactly what he was saying. He was just trying to wrangle a few more gifts out of it!

the birthday chair - he was sooo excited about getting to sit in this chair!

G, you are the sweetest little boy I know. I love you with all of my heart, even when I say you’re driving me crazy! You amaze me with all of the things that you say, do, see, hear, and remember. Your mind (& body) are constantly busy and I enjoy so much trying to figure out exactly which direction you are going next. You are changing so much each day, and we are so thankful that God blessed us with you 4 years ago.

turning 2 years old!

turning 3 years old!

I think from age to 3 to age 4 is such a dramatic change. I know from 2 to 3 was, but his comprehension of everything has increased so much this year. He’s telling me about his dreams (which apparently last night, he dreamed about beer!), what he wants to be when he grows up (a fireman), and all sorts of other stuff. He literally almost NEVER shuts his mouth. The tone of his voice & all of his inflections (along with his Southern drawl) are hilarious. They make it nearly impossible to understand on the phone, though person to person you get it all. His vocabulary is unbelievable! I dread the day that he starts sounding like a bigger boy! Though he’ll tell you he’s not a baby, he’s still a cuddler and still obsessed with my hair. He likes to touch other girls’ hair too, so if you happen to be in front of us at church, a movie, ballgame, etc. and feel a little tug, don’t be surprised! Sister is proving herself a force to be reckoned with and is extremely jealous of those increasingly rare moments when I pick Grant up or he sits in my lap. They play pretty well together, but neither has quite grasped the concept of sharing with one another (do they ever??!). I hope that they can be close as they grow up. I can’t believe that he could go to real 5 day a week Pre-K in the fall…not that he’ll be going, but he could and that’s what’s so mind blowing. Everyone tells you it goes so fast, but you never believe them until it’s your own babies growing up right before your eyes. Wow..marathon post!

A Quick Funny

i WILL do the birthday post, but it will take some time to upload, edit, choose, etc. so give me a few days! i just had to share this quick conversation grant & i had on Sunday night. one of his favorite questions to ask is, "Where are we going today (or tomorrow)?" so Sunday night i was getting him ready for bed and he asked me where we were going tomorrow. i told him we were all staying home because it was a holiday. He then said, "Mom are we celebrating Kwanzaa?" i about died laughing. he really didn't get it because he was totally serious. when i explained that no, Kwanzaa was around Christmas, he asked if we were celebrating that other holiday with the candles. i knew what he was talking about, but all i could say is no, that's a Jewish holiday. he kept asking me what it was called & although i know what it is, the word just would not come to me. it was LATE & it had been a LONG few days!! about an hour later when we were laying in his bed, he said, "Mom, I think it's called Hanukkah." Why, yes, yes it is, but no that's still not why we're home. he doesn't really get the whole war / military thing just yet, even though i tried to explain it. the way his little mind works (ALL OF THE TIME!!) totally cracks me up (except when i'd like to be sleeping)!

Happy Birthday Grant

Baby Grant (as he was once known) turns 4 today! He amazes me with all he says and knows! He had his birthday party yesterday, and today he and his daddy have gone fishing! I will try to post other pictures later today of the party and his BIG presents!

Show Us Where You Live Friday - Dining Room...and everything else I missed!

if you don't know about Kelly's blog, then you must live under a rock. she has been showing us one of the rooms in their house every friday and added the linky for others to do the same. i've been wanting to do this all along, but never have time for posts like this...that and my house is rarely picture worthy enough to want to post large images of it online! last week in a 'clean' moment, i took some shots, so here we go. this week is actually dining rooms, but she's already done kitchens and living rooms so i'm including those too. basically, my dining, kitchen and living rooms are one big open area, so i figure that makes it ok :-)!

come along on my little tour...

front door foyer table with wedding pic above it...love this one! the 1st kitchen you come to belongs to Miss Prissliving area
another view where all the toys hide..between the couch & bookcase & on the bookcase!
kitchen - this is a view from right inside the front door

one of my favorite things in the kitchen/dining/living area is my drapes. a lady that works with my mom made them right after we moved in & i love them. i like VERY simple drapery, although i appreciate the fancy ones. they're just not my style.
and my least favorite kitchen item - the refrigerator covered with who knows what! i try to eliminate things every now & then, but it always just piles back up!
different angle


and another
another one of my fav-o-rite things is these little Norman Rockwell plates that my grandfather gave me shortly before he passed away. they all say things about a different European city, and i LOVE Europe!

FINALLY...the dining room - view from the island
dining area - view from living area. yes, there are different things on the table. i decided to move the bowl of pears onto the island after this picture and put something else on the table. i just need votives for it!
and this is what happened while i left claire eating her breakfast to take these pictures (all but the dining area ones).

thanks for stopping by! i've already taken pictures of the kids' rooms for next weeks little tour so hopefully i'll be on time then! have a wonderful holiday weekend!!!

MDO Program 2009 & Dr. Summar

Grant's Mother's Day Out program was last Thursday night and he was my little comedian...as usual. After the 1st song, you could see his little eyes scanning the crowd. He spotted me and in between songs yelled, "Hi, Mom!" He then found Nana and Claire and yelled at both of them too. He sang every song and said the Pledge of Allegiance loudly. The last song they sang required some hand motions and Grant was doing them emphatically. He also tried to tell the little boy next to him that he wasn't doing them quite right.

Grant walking in to the auditorium. All of the people he's looking at on the 1st row are Andy's (Ella's) family.

singing on stage

Grant, Izzie, and Mrs. Tracee

After they were done singing, Grant made his way to his seat with us. Soon after that, he spotted his teacher Mrs. Tracee and decided he'd rather sit with her than us, and off he went. Toward the very end of the program, he thought the 1 year olds weren't singing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star quite loud enough, and began singing from the back of the auditorium. He cracked me up! He's really come out of his shell and is quite the entertainer. I firmly believe he's always thinking of the next way to get a laugh out of whoever he might be with. Lord help us all :-)!

Grant and cousin Ella

In other news, did someone say they needed a doctor?!

Q-T-Pies!

I haven't been in much of a posting mood lately, but wanted to post a few random pictures from the past few weeks.

claire hanging out in our bedroom. she's already looking tan and we haven't had any sunshine until today for what seems like a month (though I think it's actually been about 2 weeks).

dressed in matching seersucker & ready to go to church. taking a picture of these two is a huge challenge these days, so i just settle for them both being in the frame!

miss independent feeding herself spaghetti of all things. dinner is a disaster most days around here. i'm trying to learn to live with the mess!

friday when i picked the kids up at nanny's, grant wanted to cut me some flowers for a bouquet for mother's day. nanny happens to have hot pink peonies in her yard, which are my all time favorite flower! he was so proud of it (and so was i)!

Mother's Day morning before church. this seems to be where we always take pictures before church. the sun comes up on the front of our house, so it's super bright on our front steps in the morning. we always sit on the back ones for morning pictures.

Grant turns 4 in less than 2 weeks. Four is feeling so big to me! His birthday list has gotten really expensive over the past year. All he says he wants is a big Lightning McQueen car that he can ride in (which he will not be getting) and a Wii. He also wanted to have his party at Pump It Up (a jumpy place) so that's not the cheapest either. I guess the days of having no clue when / where your party is are over for him :-(! It was fun while it lasted.