Grant and His Foxes

Grant loves Big Fox and Baby Fox. He won't go to bed without them . . . and he won't get out of bed without them either.

First Yard Sale of the Season: One Great Find

The weekends of sleepy Saturdays are over. I dragged a groggy Nathaniel out of the house at 8 am yesterday so that we could do a little rummaging through stuff other people no longer want to have cluttering their house. So, was getting up and out early worth it? Definitely. We found this cute kids chair that was still in its IKEA box. And just in case you have forgotten, We Love IKEA! We got the chair for just $3.
Grant showed his Dad and Grandpa how to put the chair together. He spent the rest of the day practicing getting in and out of his stylish new Adirondack!

Strategically Located???

We often joke that State College is "strategically" located equidistant (plus or minus 2 hours) from several major cities. This past week we gained new insight into what it means to be in the "middle". We were eagerly anticipating a nice long Spring Break, something we had yet to experience in our extensive collegiate careers, and we planned to visit Tenille's amazing sister in Columbus and get in one more temple session before the arrival of number 2. Unfortunately, thanks to a closed temple (Columbus), lots of early contractions (Tenille), and food poisoning (Nathaniel and Tenille), we decided to forgo the planned excursion. We were not the only Spring Breakers planning a trip to the temple . . . many ward members planned to attend a temple session over the Break. After hearing about all the different temples visited, we now know that we are "strategically" located equidistant (give or take) from many temples.

Columbus Ohio Temple: 5 1/2 hours
Detroit Michigan Temple: 6 1/2 hours
Palmyra New York Temple: 4 hours
Boston Massachusetts Temple: 7 1/2 hours
Manhattan New York Temple: 4 1/4 hours
Philadelphia Pennsylvania Temple (coming soon): 3 1/2 hours
Washington D. C. Temple: 4 hours

Here's an interesting comparison: when we were living in Provo, we would pass seven temples on the one hour drive to my parents house.

3.14 Happy Pi Day

Even though I am a math FANATIC, I really just use pi day as an excuse to eat . . . PIE. I love being a mom with time to plan extravagant holiday menus. Here's today's menu:

Brunch: Quiche Lorraine
So it took me a year of failures to finally perfect my quiche making skills. This morning's quiche was fabulous. Grant even enjoyed the quiche.

Dinner: Pizza Pie
Sorry, no recipe. Pizza courtesy of Brother's Pizza, our favorite local pizza joint. We were suppose to have Chicken Pot Pie, but I was tired of cooking. Besides, pizza is one of Grant's favorite dinners.

Dessert: Grasshopper Pie (the cheater way with mint ice cream and oreos)

Sweet Successes

Sometimes I wonder how much Grant gets out of FHE, family prayers and family scripture study. What can a one-year-old understand about prayer, love, and the atonement? Whether or not Grant understands much is a non-issue; we just want to establish a habit of spirituality in our home. Grant only says a few words, but he seems to understand a lot. And I think he understands more than I ever imagined.

1. During our lesson on showing love to our family I asked Grant, "How can you show Mommy that you love her?" His response was to climb into my lap and give me a hug. Perfect answer!

2. Grant sometimes sits quietly during prayers, but most of the time he doesn't want to sit still. The other week we were saying morning prayers and Grant climbed into my lap and folded his arms all on his own. Now he folds his arms whenever he hears "fold arms" or "say prayers".

3. Grant can point to Jesus in pictures. We will look through the new nursery manual together for pictures of Jesus.

4. Grant has favorite songs and he resquests them by actions. For example, if he raises his arms above his head he wants to sing "Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam". If he craws his fingers up his leg he wants to sing "The Itsy-Bitsy Spider". Clapping hands means he wants to sing "If You're Happy and You Know It". But his all-time favorite song to sing is "The Wise Man and The Foolish Man". We really only sing the wise man verses. He can now do all the actions by himself. I recorded it for my mom to watch. I'm singing and I don't have the greatest singing voice, but I think I managed to stay in one key for this song . . . I think. Anyway, if you decide to watch it I would recommend muting the sound.