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Giving Thanks...

with a great and full heart!
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November is a wonderful month in the Grant household. Not only do we celebrate Thanksgiving, a favorite holiday full of wonderful traditions all its own, but Jayden’s and Abbie’s birthdays are both in November. So, we celebrate and give thanks for the little blessings in our lives all month long!
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We celebrated Jayden’s 3rd and Abbie’s 1st birthdays together this year, and what fun we had! Unlike Jayden at his 1st birthday (who wanted nothing to do with messying his hands with cake!), Abbie wasted no time diving in to her custom-made cake from Auntie Bell (Michele and I have been friends since we were about Jayden’s age). As did Jayden, who more than made up for lost time, not only chowing down on his own cake but “helping” feed Abbie too (I think more got ON her mouth than IN it).

The cakes before...

...and after



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Jayden and Abbie both thoroughly enjoyed opening all those presents (check out the look on Abbie's face):


We’ve had some fun moments in the Mambo-Combo, a birthday present from Grandma Margie & Grandpa Art, which is now a favorite play place and story-reading spot:


And the Lincoln Logs, a birthday present from Meemaw and Papa for Corey and Justin, I mean Jayden (*wink*wink*), which he’s had fun putting together with his dad and uncle (does it seem strange that Jayden is nowhere to be seen in this photo?):

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For the second year in a row, Corey’s parents came down from Coeur d’Alene, Idaho to help us celebrate the kids’ birthdays (and they drove straight through on the way down! WOW!). They spent a week with us and we had a wonderful visit. I am so thankful for the families we have. We are both blessed with wonderful parents who have enjoyed long and loving marriages. What a treasure as we start our own family to have such wonderful examples to emulate.


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In the spirit of our month-long celebration of thanks, here are just a few of the many, many things we have to be thankful for this year:

*Jayden, who, despite a rocky start, is a totally healthy, vivacious 3 year old boy who is the absolute life of the party:



*Abbie, who is a happy and healthy 1 year old with the brightest smile and most infectious giggle:
...and the fact that Jayden still loves to shower his baby sister with kisses:


*Grandma Margie, who gave Abbie a bath after the party to wash off a-l-l that frosting:


*Grandpa Art, who lugged the mini-junker all the way from Idaho and cherished cuddle time with his youngest grandson:


*Papa Rick, who is young enough at heart to laugh at Abbie’s giggling baby doll:


*Meemaw Sharon, who loves snuggling with her baby girl (and boy):


*Great-grandma Souza, a 10-year cancer survivor who is happy, healthy and l-o-v-e-s my kids:


*Great friends, both old and new:


*And Corey, who is a wonderful father, a loving husband and a really great friend:


I could go on and on about all I have to be thankful for. God has been good to us, so good to us. Even when life isn’t as cushy as we’d like it to be, the bottom line is that our needs are met, we are a family, we are healthy, and we have each other.



What more do we need?

Those Breathless Moments

It’s been said that “life is measured not by the number of breaths we take, but by the number of moments that take our breath away.”
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More and more I’m finding that those moments, the ones that make you stop and just want to soak it all in, are not the choreographed, Hallmark moments we try to manufacture, but those little moments that no one will ever see or hear about, but that will “ping” at your heart every time you think of them from now until eternity.
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I had one of those moments yesterday.
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Corey’s been working on his car, what we affectionately refer to as “Daddy’s Junker” (actually, I started calling it that this summer when I had to drive the UN-air conditioned beast. I was just learning that a 2-and-a-half-year-old will repeat just about anything we say and I must’ve called it that one too many times, because next thing I know Corey’s outside washing it and Jayden refers to it as “the Junker.” Corey asked him who he heard that from - and there I stood, BUSTED!). Anyway, Corey’s been working on it for the past few days and Jayden has been SO eager to be right there, as close to the action as he can get, “helping” fix it.
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So yesterday while the kids were napping Corey went into Stockton to pick up some things and Jayden was just getting up from his nap when Corey got home. We’d been telling Jayden he could “help” Daddy with the new alternator when he got one so Jayden was over the moon when he came home with the replacement one! I mean, this was the HIGHLIGHT of his day, his week, his month! He scurried into his room, fast as his little legs would carry him, and came out with his tool set, ready to work!


Notice Jayden's tool set. With these guys, and Daddy by his side, he can fix anything!


Notice the look of total concentration on Jayden's face. This is pretty serious stuff!
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I am telling you, this was just about the sweetest scene I have ever witnessed. Jayden approached the task at hand with total excitement, total seriousness. He had his tools out, he was banging away, and oh, the look of pure, childlike joy on his face. It was one of those moments where, and you’ll have to forgive me for being all sappy, but I just felt like everything went into slow motion and I just took in his P-U-R-E joy.
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That little picture, with father and son working side by side, made me stop and reflect on the many, many things in my life that I have to be thankful for. Things like:

*A husband who l-o-v-e-s his kids and who is a really great dad.
*A father-in-law who provided a great example of a loving father for my husband.
*A father and mother who are generous with everything they have, and not just in a material sense.
*A friend who is willing to meet for coffee at 9 pm, after I’ve put the kids down for the night, because she knows it’s the only time I have to get away.
*An unexpected card in the mail, making your day a little brighter just knowing that someone was thinking of you enough to actually write it down, address an envelope, apply a stamp and put it in the “snail mail.”

And the list goes on.
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These are hard times we’re living in. I don’t know how many people I know who are unemployed or facing unemployment, are fighting like crazy to keep their homes or their kids in Christian schools, are facing medical bills because their insurance ran out when they or their husbands lost their jobs, all that stuff you hear about on the evening news. But watching Corey with Jayden yesterday, I began to think about those little moments of joy that we experience in our lives, oftentimes without giving them much more than a passing thought.
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So in this season of Thanksgiving, I urge you to find those moments that take your breath away and slow down enough to take it in and breathe a prayer of thanks.
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After all, those are the moments that life (should be) measured by.

Happy Halloween!

Halloween, like any holiday, is so much fun with kids. We had so much fun this year having TWO little ones to enjoy all the weekend festivities with.
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Friday night: Pumpkin Carving Party!
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To kick off the weekend, Jayden really got into our annual family pumpkin carving night. This is one of my favorite nights of the year. We don't just carve pumpkins in our family, we make a party out of it - complete with homemade chili, potato soup, cornbread, a brownie and ice cream bar, and all those generally delicious fall foods! After all, everything's better when you make a party out of it!
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This was Jayden's first year to pick out a design, help "scoop the goop" out of the pumpkin and really get into the whole thing. He had a blast (while being carefully supervised by Daddy, of course).
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Jayden wanted to carve a kitty on his pumpkin.
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Abbie just wanted a taste of the pumpkin, carved or not...
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Of course, Justin, Deanne and Katelyn wouldn't miss out.
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And Kate brought her friend Madison to help carve too.
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Dad, Mom and Grandma Souza (Great Grandma to my kids) came and watched everyone carve their pumpkins and make sure that Abbie didn't get burried in pumpkin seeds.
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Justin's sister, Heather, and her family joined us again this year. Only this time they brought their new little "pumpkin" Ethan with them. Awh!
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Then comes the fun part! After all the carving (and eating), we lit our pumpkins and "ooh'd and aah'd" at the end result.
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Saturday night: Trick-or-Treat!
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"Argh! Trick or Treat, please." That was how Jayden, errr, Captain Jayden, greeted folks Saturday night as the cutest pirate...EVER!
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He had fun trick-or-treating, although he got a bit "scardy" at some of the house decorations. But he was a pretty brave little fella overall and was, of course, drawn in by the promise of more candy! And sister Abbie, who was a fluffy little giraffe (thanks, Auntie Nett for the costume!), just cruised along and had fun watching big brother and taking in the scenery. She was a total champ.
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After pillaging some of the local neighborhoods, we headed over to Vinewood Church for a harvest party that had games, toys and candy galore. Jayden had a great time riding cars, jumping in the bounce house and racing around to any and all of the different activities he could.
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As you can imagine, we had one amped-up almost-3-year-old and one pooped-out almost-1-year-old by the time we made it home. But we made back, eventually, and we're making our way through the sea of candy quite nicely, thank you very much!
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Hope your Halloween was as fun and festive as ours! Happy fall, everyone!
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