A Match Made in Heaven

Toy Heaven that is. Meet Melissa and Doug. Sorry for those of my blog followers that aren't yet parents and not familiar with these particular brand of toys...

I was lucky enough to attend an engagement party oyster roast in their honor Saturday night in Charlotte. I was thrilled I actually was able to go to this party since I miss out on so many of them regularly living so far far away. Melissa and I are sorority sisters and now she and her husband-to-be are hot shot attorneys in the big city!

I had a wonderful night out sans baby Grant thanks to my sister and brother-in-law and enjoyed reuniting with these beautiful ladies!

College gal pals, Becky and I

ADPi ladies!

Monica and Sarah. Sarah is the Mom of cute little Ben you met in my last post!

This is usually how it goes when we get together, sheer craziness. We were in hysterics all night. We had the best time catching up with each other and reliving college memories.

On a more serious note, I'm excited to attend Melissa and Doug's nuptials in Oriental, NC June 2011! Thanks for a fabulous evening!

We Made It!

Grant and I survived our first trip to North Carolina by car solo! We began our trip last Thursday and drove 3.5 hours to Auburn, (now the home of the National Football Champions, War Eagle I might add) and spent the night with some good friends of ours there. The next morning we began the five hour trek to Charlotte where I was lucky enough to meet this pretty little lady, Betty

Grant loved seeing Betty again as well
Love that little face, I am one proud Aunt!

We stayed in Charlotte two nights and accompanied Grant's cousin George to two birthday parties which were both at bouncy house places, they had a blast and Lesley and I were worn out! Grant loved walking around in this bouncy house he could explore

There's cousin George behind Grant on the alligator

Sweet little Betty has enjoyed watching the boys play the past couple of days.

Grant loves to play with the mobiles on her swing. He has also now included a new word to his vocabulary, baby!

George and Grant now play beautifully together, Grant loves to emuliate George's every move and I guess his sense of style as well

Sunday morning we packed up and headed to Mt. Airy. Before I left town, I swung by my friend Sarah's for I had another little baby to meet, Benjamin Nicholas

Such a handsome little fellow

We've settled into a relaxing routine here in Mt. Airy but of course there's a lot of cutting up going on around here

I guess boys will be boys!

Birthdays and a Change of Plans

Last weekend we celebrated the first birthday of Grant's best bud, Luke! Luke had a monkey themed bash and we had a blast "hanging out" with the Lowery's.

My family of three with Drew, Laurie and Luke
It didn't take long for Grant to gather all of the balloons that were strategically placed for the party for his own enjoyment. He went around the house screaming, "BALLOON, BALLOON!"

Grant had a blast "monkeying" around at Luke's first birthday!

We also celebrated Henry's 3rd birthday and everything was BLUE!

Henry had a jumpy house and Grant loved running around and climbing in and out of it (of course, when the bigger kids would allow it!)

Yipee!

Henry's younger brother, Benton and Grant are just a few months apart and always enjoy playing together. Benton loves to give Grant big bear hugs!

On another note, sadly the store I have been managing since last May closed for business on Saturday leaving me and my staff unemployed. Blame it on the economy or the oil spill, tragically, my store isn't the only one in this shopping centre closing. I'm a firm believer that everything happens for a reason and I'm embracing this opportunity to stay at home with Grant for a little while until the next great opportunity comes along. I've spent the past two days packing up all of the merchandise, bags, boxes and fixtures to be shipped out to other locations and had my official last day today.

I'm excited for all that 2011 has in store for the Yaeger clan! First things first, I'm dying to get back to NC for a visit and now I have the time. I have a niece I'm just dying to meet... stay tuned!

Party in the USA

Yes, I am referencing Miley Cyrus' summer hit and also the phrase that you can hear out of the mouth's of Ron and Nathan and the majority of their friends when their excited about something. Weird. I know. We recently celebrated Ron and Nathan's 29th birthday. Nathan's birthday is on Christmas day and Ron's turned 29 on the 30th. We gathered with a small group of friends last Sunday night to celebrate these two turning another year older.

I found an old Halloween picture I took of Ron and Nathan in 2006 and had it put on their birthday cake! They both love those God awful American flag pants...

The guys in the kitchen. Jim grilled a huge pork tenderloin for dinner.
Kimmy, Emily and I

Once again, the kiddos stole the show! Brooks was less than excited about having an "organized" photo taken!

Grant was excited about the opportunity to be alone with Savannah.

Savannah tells Olivia that Grant is "Mine!"

This is what Savannah does when you tell her to give Grant a kiss, so sweet!

Happy Birthday to you! One more year to the big 3-0!

Christmas Morning

For the first time, the Yaeger family stayed in Alabama for Christmas. It was nice starting our own tradition and being at home on Christmas morning! Grant awoke at 6am forcing us to start our day super early, he must have had a hint that something big was going on downstairs!

Dada bringing Grant downstairs to see what Santa brought!

Grant's stash, the radio flyer wagon was from his Mimi and Poppy
Grant went straight for "Melmo" he was so excited about all of his new goodies!
"Look Mom, Melmo!"

Grant loved his tricycle, unfortunately his feet are still about two feet too far away from the pedals. He loves being pushed around in it though.

After playing with all of Grant's new toys it was time to sit down and dive into all of our presents from our families in NC. I love my UGG slippers from Ron's Mom!

Ron received a lot of new clothes!

Ron's Dad Jim opening presents

Ron gave me a new purse!

A leaf blower!

I surprised Ron with this 140 pound baby that was hiding in the back of my car, the big green egg! To say he was pumped would be an understatement!

Grant later in the day reading his Elmo books

Our little climber can climb right into and out of his radio flyer wagon. He loved being pushed around the house in his wagon. Christmas day was very cold and we didn't play outside for too long!

Overall, Christmas day in our household was extremely relaxing. We didn't go anywhere or do much but play, eat and enjoy eachother's company. After a long day of overstimulation, Grant tired out in Poppy's arms...

Jim's dog, Ginger, even was pooped and mistook Grant's chair for her dogbed!

We are extremely blessed to have had such a wonderful Christmas holiday filled with celebration, surprises and family fun. Merry Christmas Everyone!