It's Grant's turn...

Last week I put up a couple videos of Mason laughing. Well, Grant got the giggles last night, so now it's his turn! We're so blessed to have such happy boys!

Bathtime for Mason

I was getting the tub ready for Mason to take a bath and didn't trust him to sit with nothing on, so I put his robe on him. A dear friend from VA gave it to us, and it is receiving much use! Anyway, I thought he was looking so cute in it this particular day, that I just had to get a couple pictures!

07.13.08 Waterpark Waggery!

I have a dear friend from my time in Washington DC who is originally from Jacksonville. Her family is still here, so lucky for me, Jan comes down often to visit with them! She got in town late Thursday night, so Saturday morning, we met her and her sister Susan (she has a little boy, Lenox, wo is about 6 months younger than Grant) at the Spray Park downtown Jacksonville. We had a great time catching up with Jan, Susan and Lenox, and the boys had a blast playing in the water! You know Grant and water... Playing Leapfrog!

07.09.08 Ladies Luncheon

I called a couple of the other wives of the interns and invited them over for lunch yesterday. I made a spinach salad with raspberries, candied pecans, rice noodles and chicken, served with a raspberry dressing - right out of my "peuking chicken," mom! They commented on the little chicken pitcher, and of course I had to tell them the story since they asked. They found it humorous. :-) We also had blueberry bread (my favorite!), and lemon bars for dessert. Everything was yummy, and I thought it looked pretty, too. The girls stayed from 12:00 until 4:00, so I think everyone had a good time. They're already discussing the next thing we'll do together. I sure enjoyed the company and am enjoying making new friends.

I've Got the Giggles!

Daddy came home from work today and was playing with Mason. Mason was in a really good mood and was having so much fun with his daddy. As they were playing, Mason got the giggles when daddy would kiss him. Though we've heard an occasional laugh, this is the first time we could tell he was really tickled at something. It was so cute! Last Thursday, July 3, Mason was sitting in his swing and just started talking away. I thought it was so funny how chatty he was that day, so I took a video to share with you.

A couple of Momentous Occasions!

Memorable Moment # 1: Mason is getting so strong so I pulled out his exersaucer for him to explore his world a little more. While it has been sitting idle in the playroom receiving absolutely no attention for the last couple of months, now that Mason is playing with it, Grant wants to, as well. Every time I put Mason in it, Grant crawls up on top, sits on the side and plays, too. They are entertaining themselves by the hour with this thing. And Grant is so good at showing Mason how to do things! What's amazing is that Mason watches intently! I've been so impressed. On a sidenote, when Mason isn't playing with it, Grant still likes to crawl inside and sit in the seat. This is okay for a little while, but when he realizes he can't get out, we have a panic-induced meltdown. Silly kid. Memorable Moment #2: Mason rolled completely over today! He rolled to his side yesterday, so when I went in to get him from his nap, I stood and watched him for a few minutes. After several minutes of struggling, he rolled right over! I was so excited, and very proud of him! Way to go, Mason! Memorable Moment #3: I finally painted the oars that were given to us from some dear friends in VA. We painted them and attached the boys' names to them to put up in their room. Don't they look great!! Memorable Moment #4: I picked Grant up this afternoon and glanced out the back sliding door only to see a big black snake - probably about 24 inches long - long and skinny and slithering across my back concrete slab. Grant pointed at it and said, "Nake! Nake!" Yuck! Mom Worley, I thought of you! Yikes!

Fourth of July

We had a great Fourth of July. Chris was actually off, which we were surprised about, and so we got to sleep in (as much as two babies will allow), then we met another intern and his wife at a parade here in Orange Park. The parade left a lot to be desired. I've never been to a parade where all it was was a bunch of people campaigning for their political race. It was kind of a bummer. But Grant got lots of candy thrown at him and Elmo showed up towards the end, which made it all worth while. We even got to go see him close up! Yay! Grant was thrilled. It was very nice to be with Orlando and Julie Cabrera, as well. It's been fun getting to know some of the other interns and their families. After playing for a while at the park, we came home for a while and rested, gearing up for the evening. Grant was so excited when he saw Elmo (you can see him in the background). He was so cute! Little Mason just held onto his flag so tight and let it wave in the wind. He really has a good grip on things now. We found a park downtown, Metropolitan Park, that has a free splash park and 10 acres of play equipment for kids. It was great! Grant had a blast playing in the water, and we had so much fun watching him. We'll definitely be going back there! And then we went to the Landing downtown. It's turning out to be one of our favorite places here in Jacksonville so far. It reminds us of an Americanized "piazza," or central gathering place like they have in Europe. Every time we go down there, we reminisce about our time in Italy together. Anyway, we met the Cabreras down there, too, and watched fireworks. Grant loved the fireworks last year. This year was a different story. As soon as the first ones fired off, you heard a blood-curdling scream from our oldest son. He screamed the whole time, and when he wasn't screaming, his entire body was shaking in fear. At one point he looked at me and said, "Mommy, Home!" He was done! But it was a great display and we did manage to enjoy ourselves despite the fact that Grant was miserable! It was a great day together.

06.30.08 A Few Random Things...

Back in January, my parents gave me an Ebelskiver pan. I'd been wanting one for a while. It is basically a pancake pan with round indentations in it where you place batter, then filling, then top it with batter. Half way through cooking, you flip them over so they make pretty little balls. I'd been wanting to make them for a long time but life has been so busy lately, so I made them for the first time last night for dinner. Boy, were they fun!!! And yummy, too! Mason is getting so big, putting on a little baby fat and is always smiling. I thought I'd take a few pictures of him yesterday to show you a bit of his personality. Grant adores Buzz Lightyear. He thinks he's just the best thing ever. Chris found a Buzz toy at a yardsale a few weeks back and got him for Grant. He and Buzz are now constant companions. Yesterday Grant introduced Buzz to another one of his fascinations: Shoes!!! For about an hour, Grant would put one shoe on Buzz's foot and then take it off, put another one on, and so on. It's amazing what holds his attention!

Fun with Friends!!

We were so excited that Sarah Peck, a good friend from college, and her boyfriend Klinton, also from college, were able to come down and visit us for a few days this weekend. We had a lot of fun having them in our home playing games, watching movies, and doing all sorts of fun activities. One day we took them to the zoo and had lots of fun seeing elephants, watching the giraffes and playing in the water. Klinton got us all some snow cones which was definitely a highlight of the day, cooling us down immensely. It was soooo HOT!!!! We went to the beach with them on Saturday. Daddy and Klinton went and got a nice tent for the beach to keep Mason and Grant out of the sun so much and it helped make the day much more bearable since we weren't in the sun so much. Mommy likes the beach much better when she doesn't get so extremely hot! Grant loved the tide pools mostly as the ocean itself tended to scare him quite a bit. Although mommy did take him into the ocean for a little bit. The entire time he kept looking into the water and saying, "Nemo?" with his hands shrugged in question as to where Nemo was. It was cute. He is beginning to associate life with things he's seen. It amazed me that he'd make the connection between a movie and real life. He also loved playing in the sand. Mason slept under the tent pretty much the whole time. It was a fun day.