Soccer Time

The sports schedule has begun.  Grant had his first soccer practice this past Thursday.  He enjoyed it and did really well.  He got a little frustrated when they stopped to blow bubbles in the middle of practice.  There is a HUGE focus on having F.U.N.  He asked "why are they blowing bubbles and not kicking the ball?".  Honestly, Luke and I were thinking the same thing, lol.  Oh well.  We plan on taking some video soon and will post it later.  He will have a game this Saturday and I am sure we will see a swarm of kids chasing one ball, ha ha.

Doing warm ups

 Sloan liked to eat the grass!

Family Vacation....Full of Firsts!

We went to the beach this week and had a great time!  We got a house right on the beach with a pool.  The last time we went, Grant was 15 months old.  So, he didn't remember it.  And we didn't go last year since I was super pregnant.  The week was filled with "firsts".  Grant's first trip to the beach in his mind.  He LOVED it and had no fear at all.  He ran straight out into the ocean.  We actually had to tell him numerous times to not go so far even after he was knocked down a few times by the waves.  The first time he has ever gotten out of bed in the morning and come to our room happened on the first night.  He woke up at 6:30am and came into our room and said "the sun's up mom, time to go to the beach".  I let him get into bed with us for a little while until we got up and prayed it wouldn't happen again.  The kids rooms were pretty bright in the morning so we ended up covering the windows with blankets.  This solved the problem and both kids actually slept until after 8am on most days.  Yay! The first time Grant ever uttered the words "I'm tired!" occurred on one of the first nights we were there.  He didn't take a nap and almost fell asleep at dinner...and we eat at 5:30pm!  Grant had his first warm, Krispy Kreme donut too!  I thought he would love it but he took a couple of bites and didn't want anymore.  I finished it for him, ha ha.  Grant also got to experience putt putt for the first time.  He didn't quite get the concept because he kept taking his ball right up next to the hole and then tapping it in.  He beat us on every hole to say the least! He did get upset when he realized the last hole swallows your ball.   

Sloan's first trip to the beach was funny too.  She does NOT like sand at all.  I was worried she would eat the sand and it was just the opposite.  She wouldn't leave the blanket to even crawl on the sand.  She would touch it and make a horrible face.  I also put her feet in the ocean and she hated that too.  It scared her and she tried to crawl up me to get away from the water.  She loves the bath tub though so I guess it was just the waves.  Sloan also crawled up the steps for the first time.  Almost as soon as we got there, she found the steps and made it up 2 of them but would have fallen if we weren't there to catch her.  She tried to turn around and sit on the second step....not a good idea.  Sloan got to try hush puppies this week and she loved them.  She is a carb girl....she loves anything with carbs!  She is also saying her n's now "na na na na".  If you say "no nooo" when she is crawling towards something she shouldn't be getting into, she will stop and look at you and then speed towards it faster than before.  Feisty little thing!

We did get some professional pictures taken while were there.  That was a painful process to say the least.  Getting 2 kids to cooperate is like pulling teeth.  When Sloan smiled, Grant was looking away and vice versa.  And it didn't take long for the whole process to become annoying to both the kids.  Very limited patience and attention span for this kind of thing.  I will post these soon.

Getting ready to hit the beach after dinner!

 How fast can you get to the water....

 Enjoying the water even without a bathing suit on

 First Krispy Kreme donut

Aunt Jill and Sloan hanging out

 Sloan playing on the mat

 Baby pirate at Drunken Jacks restaurant in Murrells Inlet

Getting ready for the beach

On Garden City pier

Grant and his cousin Drew playing after dinner.  Drew turned 3 this week!

Not sure the bucket is supposed to be used like this, haha

Ready to head out for dinner

Putt Putt.....this was Grant's starting point on most holes!

Sloan enjoyed eating puffs and goldfish while watching us play

Grant was sweating by the end....not sure what that smile is....

Hush Puppy time!

Hanging out at the beach.  Grant and Luke are in the background digging holes in the sand.

Headed up the steps to get to what she wants....



First Day of Preschool

Today was Grant's first day of preschool at our church, Smyrna First Methodist.  It was an hour for the parents and kids to interact in the classroom in order to get the kids comfortable, etc.  Grant just makes himself at home where ever we go.  There were a couple of kids from his summer camp in his class.  Little Liam was the cryer this summer...poor thing cried the entire time everyday.  He didn't cry at all today but his dad was with him the whole time.  In the middle of circle time, Grant says (in a pretty loud voice), "mom, why is Liam not crying?"  Liam's dad got a laugh out of that one.  His teachers are Mrs. Susan and Mr. Mark and they are great!  Mrs. Susan actually has 4 grandchildren in the school and her kids went to school here too.  Mr. Mark's kids went to school here too.  His class is called "The Chimps", named because chimps have the mentality of an average 3 year old, lol.  You can see the monkeys all over the room.  And each child received a banana today after they were introduced to the class.  I met most of the moms and I think I might be the only one who works outside of the home.  Guess it goes with the territory since it's only a couple days a week for a few hours.  I am so excited that he got in this program, it is awesome! The facilities, the teachers, the parents, the organization of activities and education are all phenomenal. 

Riley and Grant playing with shells.  Riley is actually one of our neighbors.

Using the magnifying glass to look at shells

 Trying on a fireman outfit from their costume section

 Circle time....aka reading and singing

 Introduction to the class and receiving his banana

First Visit to the Dentist

I took Grant with me to the dentist this week.  I needed to get my teeth cleaned and my dentist said he is a good age to bring in for his first visit.  The idea was that he would watch me first and then get his teeth cleaned if possible.  My super, super social child walked right in and made himself at home.  He started asking what everything was and quickly made friends with the dental hygienists. He didn't want to watch me and said "I want to sit in the chair".  They have TV's in the ceiling and put cartoons on for him.  They asked me if I thought he would let them polish his teeth and I said "probably" but I honestly wasn't sure.  They counted his teeth (all 20 were there).  Then, they asked him if they could use their "electric tooth brush" to clean off his teeth.  He said "yes".  Then, they offered him flavors....in a very enthusiastic voice, she said "we have bubble gum flavor! and strawberry flavor!"....and then got much less enthusiastic and said "we also have mint flavor".  She didn't know how much he LOVES peppermints!  He was thrilled with the option of mint and said "Ohhhhh I want mint!"  She looked at me and said "Really? Kids usually don't like the mint".  I confirmed his love of mints.  They put the glasses on him and started.  After she did a couple of teeth, she stopped and asked if he was okay.  He said "Mmmmm, that tastes good!".  Geez!  He just sat there the whole time and did great.  He was very excited at the end to get a new toothbrush, toothpaste and a few toys.  The dentist looked and said it was great how much space he has in his mouth.  He has little teeth like me and I always had a lot of space in my mouth.  He then had to sit and watch me get my teeth cleaned and made sure that she gave me the mint flavor too.  Before we left he said "When can we come back?"  Guess I will be adding him to our dental insurance now, lol!  Overall, a great first visit and I am glad that I waited until now.

New Noises and a Big Red Ball

We have had a fun weekend!  Sloan is starting to babble all kinds of new sounds and she has little conversations with herself now.  Although her favorite sound is still a scream/yell and she has some strong vocal cords!  As all babies do....she loves anything that is NOT a baby toy, hence the water bottle in the picture below.  

We went and ate at a local sports bar/restaurant one night.  They have one of those big games that is full of stuffed animals and the claw comes down and grabs them, etc.  You NEVER win at these things unless they are messed up or so we thought.  Grant spotted it as soon as we walked in and asked if he could do it.  I told him if he ate his dinner then I would give him the quarters to play.  We walk over after dinner and put in 4 quarters (yes, it was a DOLLAR per play!).  This machine had balls and stuffed animals.  He did not understand the concept of moving the claw over the "easiest" item to grab.  He really wanted one of the rubber balls.  So, I helped him move the claw and then told him to push the button.  It is on a timer so you have to move fast.  The claw actually picked up the ball but then dropped it, of course right!  So, he begged to play "one more time" to which I offered up 4 more quarters and said that was all I had left.  He rushed to put the quarters in the slots.  I was putting my wallet up and before I could help, he had already moved the claw and then pushed the button right as I was saying "no, wait".  The claw goes down and comes up with a ball from the bottom of the machine......we were shocked!  He won a big red ball and was thrilled!  I still can't believe he won and without any help.  I would never have gone for that particular ball either, go figure!

Grant and I are going to the dentist tomorrow.  It will be his first visit so let's hope it goes well.  He is going to watch me get my teeth cleaned and then they will look at his.  My dentist said it is mostly just to count his teeth and look at them.  No xrays or "real" cleaning.  

We installed a gate on the deck to keep little Sloan safe.  We never really needed one on the deck with Grant.  She is our little risk taker already....kind of scary. 

Water bottles are way better than toys!

The Red Ball

 The gate is being tested already!

 Not sure what this face is.....

Strange Eye Color, Cat's Name and a Screaming Baby

Sloan continues to have the strangest eye color.  They are grey looking and sometimes look blue and sometimes look green.  She continues to be into everything!  She is a great imitator too.  If you stick your tongue out and move it back and forth making noise...she will copy you.  Very cute. She also still loves to scream at stuff.  She is pulling up on anything she can and loves to stand on her tip toes.  If you hold her hands, she continues to walk on her tip toes.  It looks so painful but she just trots right along like a little toe dancer.  I need to get some shoes on her soon to flatten them out.

Grant has named his cat "Hemi" which is my mom's cats name.  He kept saying "her name is emmi" and I would say "emmi" and he would say "NO, emmi"....and then I finally figured out he was saying "Hemi".  The H is just silent in his vocabulary, ha ha.  He was very relieved when I finally said it right.

Check out the eye color.....so odd looking

She loves to push the buttons on the DVD player and Grant gets really upset when it turns off his movies

Take a look at that swirl/cow lick on the back of her head, ha!  It has been there since she was born and doesn't appear to be going away anytime soon.

 Screamer!

 The tongue!

 Screaming again!

 She loves to steal Mason's toys from him and he is much slower in his old age

 Grant is getting Mason to stand and Sloan is trying to pull him down!

 She loves the dog bed and dog toys

 Grant's new shoes....we had to get away from Sloan to get the picture and you can see that she is not far behind us!

New Team, Clothing Wars and New Shoes

Quick correction on Grant's soccer team.  And no, I didn't get it changed because I didn't like the team name, lol.  That was just an added bonus.  There is a park that is much closer to our house that another team will be playing at so I requested a change.  He will now be a "Viper" which happens to be a better name so we got lucky on that.  I thought it was interesting at the parent meeting that we all got lectured on "parental sportsmanship".  The parents are way worse than the kids evidently.  We shall see...

And I forgot to write about our clothing wars.  Grant has a few items that he wants to wear everyday.  His pants, which I have written about before.  A gamecock tee-shirt (I should like that but he has so many other cute shirts) and an Under Armour shirt that is like Luke's.  We used to fight every morning about him wearing anything but these things.  He is forced to pick something else when I am washing them.  He will actually go to the dryer and pull them out when they are finished.  Our agreement for now is that he can pick what to wear at home but I get to pick when he goes to school or when we leave the house.  I set out his gamecock shirt and pants yesterday morning.  When he woke up and saw it, he came running into my bathroom and said "Good job mom!".  I laughed out loud.  He also can fully dress himself now from head to toe.  There are times when he asks for help, especially when he wants attention if I am tending to Sloan.

"I neeeeeed that!" is a common phrase for Grant now too.  He says it for everything he really wants.  We went to Stride Rite to get him some new tennis shoes and the selection was not so great for some reason.  I just wanted some simple white shoes.  I told the sales lady to just bring what she had in his size (8.5).  She brought out 4 boxes and opened each one.  The first two did not look good.  Then I really liked the 3rd pair which had navy on them.  But, she opened box number 4......grey shoes with bright, neon blue soles.....and out comes that phrase "I neeeeed these shoes!".  I knew it was all over then.  The sales lady said "at least he knows what he wants".  If she only knew.  Of course, we came home with those shoes.  I will have to get a picture for everyone to see.

I will take some pictures and post them later this week.