Memorial Day Weekend 2011

Ron and I became very close friends with Jenna and Michael that short year we lived in Auburn.  Michael and Ron met through work relations and both happened to have significant others named Jenna.  We have remained close with these two and after two years, finally convinced them to pay us a visit.  We've seen them several times over the last few years.  As you recall, when I drive to North Carolina, I always make a stop at their casa in Auburn on the way and Ron recently went to the Talladega Nascarr Race with Michael.  Grant was thrilled to have them stay with us! 

We had a very relaxed weekend but managed to fit a lot of monkeying around in...

 We had dinner at The Fly Creek Cafe in Fairhope Friday night and enjoyed a great reggae band...

 Shopped all day in Fairhope on Saturday and Grant even got in a little bit of time at the park...

Saturday night we enjoyed fantastic food.  Michael is an excellent chef and took over our kitchen!

Jenna and Grant looking at his Tractor book.  Grant's wearing an Aubun T-shirt that they brought him.  War Eagle!

Shrimp, Corn, Sausage, Cheese... we had filet for dinner

Sunday we dared the crowds and went to Gulf Shores.

The weather was great, the water was warm and Grant loved the sand!

 Our friends, Angel and Joel met us all down there and Grant was so excited to play with his friend, "Memma!"

 Grant thinks Emma's a Star!

 "Watch Out for that Wave!"

 Grant with Emma's younger sis, Chloe

 After making fun of a couple of women that had their pictures made with the lifeguard, Jenna, Angel and I got the nerve to do it ourselves.  Well actually, I asked if we could take our picture in the lifeguard stand with them and was shot down... we settled for this.

 Grant wanted in on the lifeguard action as well and got to go for a test drive in the "beach tractor."

 We all had such a fun weekend.  Sometimes my camera was around, sometimes it wasn't, sometimes (the majority of the time) it wasn't charged.  Oh, and Friday morning I awoke with pink eye, (which has been a nightmare!)  Excuse me, for not wanting to take any pictures!!  Sorry there are so many loopholes in my storytelling but all in all, we had a great Memorial Day Weekend.  Today was spent at home with laundry and lots of fun outside with "Mall," Grant's friend Camille whom her family calls, "Mil," and Grant pronounces, "Mall."

And if you really want to see how much Grant has grown in a year, click here to see what we were up to last year on Memorial Day!

For the Grandma's

Thought I would share some artwork with all of Grant's Grandmother's since you can't just "pop in" and see what's on the fridge.  Grant brought home this tile with his foot print for my Mother's Day present from his preschool class at the Methodist Church.  I love it and it is currently beside my kitchen sink. 

 Grant graduated from his preschool class last week!

 Spanish Fort Preschool Academy hosted an Art Show a couple of weeks ago and Grant made the following two pieces for that show.  They sent them home with me this week.  Grant is so artistic, he points at this one and says "buffer-fwhy."

Now, School's out for Summer!

Grant starts a new program next Tuesday at our church, Christ the King.  Stay tuned!

Anatomy of a Meltdown

Grant will be 21 months this week.  At 21 months, Grant hates clothes.  Most days I change his outfit several times depending on what he'll tolerate wearing.  He does not like overalls.  He does not like collars.  He does not like jon jon's.  He does not like diapers... We hear a lot of, "Off, off, off!"  Grant has a couple of pajamas and t-shirts with characters such as Thomas the Train and Elmo on them.  I cannot do laundry in front of him, he'll find these particular items and insist on wearing them and the ones he doesn't wear he drags around with him everywhere.  Oh, and he now calls Elmo, Big Bird. "Melmo" went out the window.  Grant also hates to be wet.  If for whatever reason his clothes become wet from condensation from his drink or something spills on him, he'll pull at his shirt and try to get it off all the while saying, "wet, wet, wet!"  Grant knows exactly what he wants and does not want, he just can't exactly communicate his feelings very well.  We hear a lot of, "No, No, No" and "More, More, More."  Sometimes we just don't know what he's saying "no" to or what he wants "more" of.  My poor little guy has been battling pink eye for over a week now and most recently suffered from a stomach bug this past weekend.  Add all that to some serious teething of those stubborn eye teeth and you have ladies and gentlemen, one disgruntled toddler.  Hence, the anatomy of one of Grant's meltdowns...

Finally, he gets what he wants, a cracker.  Who knew?!

I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world.  Afterall, what does one want after a meltdown and cracker?  Their Momma.

Favor

Hey Blogger Buddies.  Hope you all had a fantastic weekend.  Ours was very laid back.  We had an unexpected but very welcome visit from our pal Lee.  Lee is Ron's fraternity brother and childhood friend who is in law school in Birmingham, AL.  Ron made sure to show Lee a good time and Grant loved having a guest in our house.  He does love to show off for anyone who gives him an audience!

Blogger buddies, Blogger pals, do this gal a favor... visit this link and "like" my real estate page on facebook.  http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Jena-Yaeger-Bellator-Real-Estate-and-Development/166042290117755  As you all know, I'm in the beginning stages of my real estate career and could use all the help I can get with getting my name "out there," where ever that may be...

Afterall, I don't exactly know who follows my blog and if you're keeping up with my family you must like me... so make it official and "like" me on facebook!  I think it will be very interesting to see how many more fans I gain after this post. 

For now, I'm learning all I can and having a ball!  I've been sitting in model homes a few days a week and showing properties here and there.  I'm also fortunate enough to have the above house listed. 

Again, blogger buddies, blogger pals, thank you for your support and for "likeing" me!

Don’t Turn Off My Cartoons Mom!!!

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Aunt Beverly Visits!

My sister, Beverly chose to take her week of vacation and come down south from Philadelphia to visit me!  Oh, who am I kidding?  She came to see Grant!

Beverly arrived on Monday afternoon and it was so nice having her here.  We had not seen her since Thanksgiving!  On Wednesday she traveled to her old stomping grounds, New Orleans for Jazz Fest and returned back to our house on Saturday only to fly back to PA this morning.  It was a quick visit but oh, so fun!

Beverly and Grant got along famously and engaged in several tickle wars...

Welcome to my world...

We did a lot of sisterly things, stayed up late and enjoyed girl talk, drank wine and went shopping in the rain with this little guy.

I love my sister dearly and wish we got to see each other more often.  After taking this photo and examining it we decided we look nothing alike.  It's amazing were from the same parents, right?

Thank you Aunt Be-Be for coming to visit us, we love you!

On a side note, I suffered from a Mother's Day Meltdown this weekend.  Ron took Grant out for some early morning errands on Saturday and he came back looking much older.  Much more little boy looking.  On closer examination I discovered all of his curls were gone!  He has a big boy haircut and I shed quite a few tears over the loss of my baby or baby curls, (I'm not exactly sure which one?)

Happy Mother's Day to all of you fabulous Mom's out there!

Backyardigans

These pictures are long overdue.  They were taken one afternoon about three weeks ago of some backyard fun between Grant, Cameron and Camille.  The girls live next door to us and have become Grant's adopted big sisters.  We wait for Cameron to get off of the bus most afternoons around four and play until dinnertime with she and Camille.  They have the most fun and Grant looks for them everytime we go outside!

Check out Grant's golf swing!

This is literally how Grant greets Camille, with a big hug!  He holds onto her for dear life and is always so happy when she comes over to play!

The three amigos!

Sweet Camille, she's so good about telling me what Grant wants and needs.  Some of things I hear most are, "Grant told me he wants to play in the sandbox."  Grant wants me to change his diaper."  Grants wants to go upstairs and play!"

 Luke and Grant love to play ball!

Camille loves to lead Grant around and hold hands!