Grant's pre-birthday fun

For Grant's 2nd birthday (tomorrow), we took the boys to Thomas' Day Out in Chattanooga. The boys had no idea where we were going until 2 minutes before we arrived. A note to novice parents: Never tell your kids you're going to do something/go somewhere until you're actually, physically onsite. Trust me on this one -- I've been burned too many times. They were excited and we were thankful that the impending 70% chance of rain held off. Turns out though, threat of rain wasn't our biggest problem. Two minutes after this picture was taken:

Grant fell, face down on the asphalt, looking like this:

Once Grant stopped crying, we meandered through the festivities, including a giant tent filled with train tables as far as the eye can see.

Shortly after this photo was taken, Evan stumbled out of the tent, turned pale as a ghost and nearly collapsed into my arms. We think he got dehydrated (he has a little cold) and overheated. We quickly remedied the situation with a sugary neon blue juice drink from the concessions. Nothing that a little high fructose corn syrup and blue #6 won't cure.

Next stop: Petting zoo! Which was really fun, since the petting zoo at Thomas' Day Out features attack donkeys! Some well-meaning donkey bit the hand that fed him and unfortunately that hand (thumb) belonged to our little Grant. Grant's interpretation of the event: "Horsey eat!"

Thomas' Day Out is FUN! No really, after those few fiascos, we took a real train ride, ate lunch, stopped at the gift shop and all was right in the world. The following pictures feature the more enjoyable moments of our day trip. Fair warning: there are lots of pictures included in this post, so go ahead and take a moment to grab a cold beer, pull up a chair and enjoy.

And this is what you get after a face plant, a near fainting, a donkey bite and an otherwise fun day with Thomas. It's what I call "Success."

Brothers and the games they play

Field trip to the farm

Evan's class took a field trip to the farm. Lots of bunnies, chickens, goats and other farm-like critters. Did the requisite hay and pony rides. Most exciting part? Snack time!

A conversation between brothers

Overheard (by me) while driving on our golf cart today:

Evan: Hey Grant, you know what?
Grant: Um, yeah?
Evan: Birds have white poop!
Grant: White poop, yuck!
Evan: Yeah, white poop!

New yard, take 2

Despite the fact that we laid sod in our back yard just a mere 3 years ago, we thought it would be fun to do it again. For a variety of reasons (we were backyard novices), our sod died. So this weekend, amid the rain and thunderstorms, we laid 5 new palettes of Bermuda grass. Up to this point, our back yard has been nothing but dirt and a scattering of weeds, Which means, every time we went outside, the boys would become so dirty that they required a deep clean scrub in the tub. So, the idea was that with new grass, like this:

the boys would play in the grass and not the dirt. Except, children will do what children want to do... which is play in the dirt-- even with 2,500 square feet of sod:

And so, we're back to taking baths immediately after playing in the back yard. This is going to be a long summer. (Until we get seed in the remaining dirt patch-- we were 1 palette short)

For those interested, a few more shots of the updates in the back yard:

Grant can count to 7!

Evan has been teaching Grant to count-- it's been such a cool thing to witness. Of course, the whole reason behind the counting is to count down before they race their cars around the house. The last couple of weeks, we've been hearing:

Evan: "One!"
Grant: "Two!"
Evan: "Three!"
Grant: "Four!"
Evan: "Five!"
Grant: "Six!"
Evan: "Go"

And just a few minutes ago, Grant started the countdown to race all by himself, counting from 1 to 7! So cool.

Big boy bed, take 2

Friday night, we transfered Grant into the toddler bed. We've put this off for longer than we did with Evan-- for one thing, we had no sense of urgency to free up the crib and b), we've really dreaded the process, knowing how awful it was with Evan. Nevertheless, we proceeded with the adventure. Friday night, we followed the normal 4 Bs nighttime routine (bath, brush teeth, book, bed), closed the door, crossed our fingers and hoped for the best.

What happened next? Nothing! Not one peep, cry, door rattle... nothing!

This is how we found Grant the next morning:

My boys and their beautiful lashes

My boys have the most beautiful eyelashes. Evan's are outstanding and Grant's come in at a close second.

PS: As one loyal reader pointed out, these are two pictures of Grant. I don't have any good eyelashes shot of Evan... I'll work on that.

Worm on the lens or Grant's first attempt at photography?

Catching up, Easter, Hilton Head, etc.

Lots has gone on but I've had little time to share about it. We traveled to Hilton Head last weekend for Easter and to see grandparents. The weather was beautiful and we all had a great time playing at the beach, visiting a local petting zoo and parks, and overindulging in food.


At the beach, digging the mandatory hole. I think we have at least 5 versions of this shot from visits past to Hilton Head.

Read the fine print.

The water was C-O-L-D!

Just before brunch, dressed in our Easter finest.

Easter egg hunt after a 3 hour nap (the kids were exhausted on a daily basis).

Counting their loot under the watchful eye of Mom.

And a fun visit from my mom, brother & sister!

Garden 2010

Last summer, I ventured into the world of gardening. I called it my "trial year" since I am not known for having a green thumb. I figured if I could keep a scattering of tomato plants and herbs alive, then I would allow myself a larger garden the following year. Enter spring, 2010. I'm calling it the "Year of the Garden."

Jason put in two days of back-breaking work to create my tiered, raised bed garden. We used nearly every inch of our compost pile to fill it with the dark, nutrient rich soil (with lots of little worms). I've been growing little seedlings indoor for the past few weeks. I was able to plant zucchini right away, but the others will have to wait a while. In the trellis planter are some green beans. Also on the menu for this year's garden: tomatoes, cucumbers, cantaloupe, sweet corn, basil, rosemary, red and green peppers and lettuce. I can't wait to harvest!

At the park

After a dreadful winter, we've finally made a few trips to our favorite park. I don't normally take my camera (gets in the way when we play hide & seek), but today I wanted to catch a few shots of the boys in action. Evan's favorite thing to do (anywhere, anytime) is jump-- the higher, the better. Grant loves to swing. And almost always, Evan finds a new "friend" at the park to play with. He picks up and plays with just about anyone-- boy, girl, younger, older. He almost never asks their name but always remembers to tell them goodbye.

Race expo fun

Jason & I ran the Atlanta ING half marathon on Sunday. No pictures of that, but I'm sure you can imagine what it looked like: a bunch of people running down a big street. The day before, we took (dragged) the kids along to the race registration expo. Thankfully they provided something to entertain the youngsters:

Of course, Grant didn't meet the weight requirement... go figure. He sat quietly and watched.

That time of year again...

Sidewalk chalk!

Photo shoot

Since the last 3 posts have not included photos, I thought I'd share a few from an impromptu photo shoot.

Conversations on death

Evan recently broached the subject of death with me. The first was during a viewing of Sleeping Beauty (thanks Disney)-- have you seen that movie lately? It's pretty violent and scary for an audience of young kids. I'll hold off on showing that one again for a while. The questions came flooding in during the dragon slaying scene (Why did he kill him? Did he die? Why?). My answers: Because the dragon was bad. Yes. Because the prince killed him. Thankfully Evan doesn't yet have the cognitive ability for insightful follow up questions, like, "Does that mean we kill people when they are bad?" Good question Evan, let's discuss capital punishment...

The other conversation happened today during a quick ride in the car.

"Look Mom, a soccer field!"
"No, that's a cemetary."
"What's a cemerry?"
"Well, it's a place where people go when they die."
"Where do they go?"
(oh boy)
"Well, when they die, they get buried in the cemetary."
"What does buried mean?"
(oh boy)
"Buried is when you dig a hole and your body gets covered up by the dirt." (is he traumatized yet?)
"Does everybody die?"
(wow)
"Um, well, yes, eventually."
"Oh."
(phew!)

It's not that I think children should be shielded from such topics as death, but I do believe there is a delicate way in which to deliver the explanation. ie, one that does not lead to pre-k psychotherapy sessions. I get the sense that we are only at the tip top of an iceberg full of questions about death, life, and other so-called "grown-up" topics... Doesn't Disney make some kind of "Why People Die, and Other Unanswered Preschool Questions" movie?

Supportive brother vs. non-supportive brother

One minute, Evan's telling Grant things like, "Great job, buddy! You can do it." And, "Here, let me help you..."

The next minute, he's saying things like, "Ha, ha, my car is fast and yours is slow!" And, "You can't go to the potty because you go pee pee and poo poo in your diaper."