Busy, Busy, Busy

Merry Christmas, Happy New Years and I'm sure we have missed other important things too. The house is coming along great, we have new cabinets and doors thanks to our handy team from Jacksonville and all of their hard work. Daddy has the floors and ceilings looking good and we've been working hard to get everything ready to live in. For now, this is how we are spending New Year's Eve...putting together Grady's cool new Home Depot work station: Blowing our New Year's horns:

And dancing at daddy's feet while he sleeps:

Happy New Year's to all and a New Year's resolution from me, back to almost daily postings starting next week, promise!

Merry Christmas!

Here Comes Santa Claus...

And this year Mr. Whites explained that Santa wasn't a bad guy but he is the one who brings all the presents. After last years failed attempt #1 and #2, Santa is probably relieved that Grady was happy to sit on his lap. So Grady used him as his helper and handed all the wrapping paper over to Santa. Santa gave Grady the coolest fishing pole, it is orange and blue! Santa's helpers did a good job with that one.

I'm Going To Miss You B Avenue

We brought our little Grady home here, in the freezing January cold. He met Jeb in his bedroom,

Celebrated his first birthday, And took his first steps at this house.And now it looks like this:

We're Going On A Mr. Whites Hunt...

He's not on the shelves anymore, they are all packed up. He flew from the doorway a few nights ago, but we checked back there anyway.

Aha!

He decided to hang from the fan today!

Mr. Whites is in for a long day, I hope his arms aren't too sore to fly back to Santa tonight.

Check Out My Belly!

Mr. Whites

Our elf on the shelf has come out of his hiding place to keep tabs on Grady until Christmas. He finally got a name, Mr. Whites. Mr. Whites flies back to the North Pole every night to tell Santa whether Grady was a good boy that day or not. Then he returns to a different spot and Grady has to go on an elf hunt every morning. So far, threats that Mr. Whites is watching have not worked as planned. Santa may have to return some toys if Mr. Whites can't report that Grady has been a good boy who does what his parents tell him to do...

Patrick The Reading Buddy

This is Grady's favorite reading spot, especially after a bath when his hair is still wet and uncombed. Poor Patrick didn't know what he was in for when he was adopted into our home.

It's Ours!!!!

After months of stressful dealing with the foreclosure people and the bank, you can change our address in your address book. And when summer rolls around again, come watch the sunset from our back deck looking out over the water.

(And if you are handy with a hammer or paint brush, join us for the renovations. We have until December 28th until the new guy kicks us out of good old B Avenue)

Happy Thanksgiving!

While we gobbled up lots of tasty Thanksgiving food, Grady ate fruit loops.

We had a little outside play time with the chef.

And Grady took some shots for Ameritech's next ad campaign. We were missing one big important thing though and I really hope he is feeling better.

New Year, New Leaves

Same Sweet Boy!

Freeze!

I know we have touched on this before, but seriously, you are at the most fun age in the world. STOP GROWING! I love to play with you, read books with you and actually talk with you. You have become such an amazing little boy and I love you. P.S. If you get much bigger, Patrick won't let you sit on him to read your books anymore.

Hey Happy Boy

Ready For School

Taken on a camera phone so the quality isn't great, but he was looking too handsome this morning to not share.

22 Month Patrick Portraits

Our Budding Artist

It's A Holiday

But just thought I would share a few of the websites I stalk daily and have made some great purchases on in case anyone out there is interested.

http://www.babysteals.com/

http://www.kidsteals.com/

Grady recently got this awesome Dwell Studio backpack on kid steals for about 65% off. Let me know if you have any you want to share too!

Italian Festival 2009

We had so much fun at last years Italian Festival, we had to show up again. Grady 'nacked on lots of pizza and a meatball sub, no tiramisu this year though.After filling his belly, we had to make a stop at the toy tent, where everything was purchased wholesale for a dime then marketed to a crowd of kids at usurious prices. We escaped with a $3 horn that will blow your eardrums out.

We watched the Italian bands. This was Grady's low point of the evening. Not fun to sit and watch with mom.

Then came the real fun. We made one more stop by the kid magnet tent and came out with a light up sword. At first, Grady was somewhat intimidated by all the big kids and their swords. He had to give them a once over.

But a few nice little boys invited him to play,

And he quickly joined in on the action.

Mask boy's mom gave Grady permission to sword fight her son.

And the little girls couldn't resist such a cute kung fu master.

Now that we are home with the sword and there are no more kids around to play with, he has taken to sword fighting the dogs.

A Letter

Dear anyone who has ever been mean to my husband:

You are looking at one of the best men God ever created. He loves his family more than anything in the world. He takes such good care of Grady and I. He tends to the house, changes dirty diapers, makes me coffee every morning, cooks us dinner, mops the floors, feeds Grady breakfast and gets him ready for school every morning, washes the dogs, rakes the leaves and kills the bugs that creep in the house and scare the crap out of me. At times, he carries the weight of the world on his shoulders, but he never passes it on to me to worry about. So if anyone out there ever doubts the amazing man that I was lucky enough to marry, come chat with me about it and I guarantee I will change your mind.

Sincerely,
Amanda

Dare Devil

This is his crazy man about to jump stance:

And this is his "I did it" face:

How many trips to the emergency room do you foresee in our future?

Pumpkin Carving

OK, now tell me honestly, which pumpkin is your favorite?

That one? Really?

I have such a smart son. He can pick out the true artist in the family.

Practicing For His First Hunt

Halloween