Green Beans

Grant trying green beans. I don't think he really likes them, you?

Biter Biscuits

Grant's been learning to feed himself and he loves chewing on the Biter Biscuits, it's too bad they make a terrible mess!

April SNOW Showers

Easter

Jackson got a bug catcher or "insect world" as he called it for Easter. We kept trying to get him to hold up his Easter toys so we could take some pictures but he kept putting them right in front of his face at least we can see him through this one.

Easter and Snow

We had a very nice Easter weekend. We colored eggs on Saturday. I spoke in church on Sunday and the Easter Bunny brought toys for the boys. A friend of mine, Sharon, which I met at story time at the library, invited us over for dinner. The food was fabulous and we enjoyed chatting while the kids played. I’m going to be watching her kids during the day Monday through Thursday this week so it was good to spend some time with them too.

Wednesday morning Brian got an email from NMU informing him that school was cancelled due to the lovely blizzard we were having. They ended up canceling Thursday classes also. The winter storm warning didn’t end until 8 a.m. this morning. Brian’s used the snow blower more this week than the whole winter.

A miraculous event occurred in our house this week, Grant slept through the night! He’s done it a few times in a row, so we hope it lasts.

One night while Jackson was in bed, he randomly asked for a little stuffed bear that Grant had in his crib. He cuddled up with it and went to sleep. The next day he carried it around, I asked him what its name was and he said, “Captain Robert McMillan” (Robert is Jackson’s middle name).

Jackson has coined a new word this week: “I amn’t” (meaning I am not). He’s used it a few times when he’s upset and it’s really difficult to keep a straight face.

Brian made the front page of The Mining Journal (our local newspaper) this week. The paper covered the new Marquette High School newspaper and since Brian’s the advisor he got his picture on the front page! Here’s the link to the article but unfortunately the pictures of Brian are not on the webpage. http://www.miningjournal.net/stories/articles.asp?articleID=13346

Grant and the pinwheel

Boa Constrictor

Monday, the boys and I attended story time at the library like we always do. After the stories are read, Jackson plays with the trains and other kids for a while. Well, the story time lady came over to warn us that a very large snake would be arriving very shortly in case any of us were leery of snakes. I wasn’t sure what Jackson would do, but once he saw the snake he walked right over and sat down ready to learn all about it. Turns out it was a very large boa constrictor. During the presentation, Jackson walked right up to the snake and petted it. Then later he waited in line to pet it. Brave kid—I wouldn’t touch it.

We finally started the daunting task of potty-training Jackson. I’ve heard that the longer you wait, the easier it is. So I’ve been patiently waiting for Jackson to seem interested and it’s never happened. So we bought pull-ups, made a reward chart and got going. He’s done really well. He’s almost to the “big star!” (the end of his chart) where he earns a big prize. But he has been very motivated to get to the few scattered little stars for treats along the way.

We’ve been trying to add more solid foods to Grant’s diet. He tried peas and they seemed okay, although they were a little too mushy for him to get a hold of. We’ve been trying stage 3 foods too (they’re chunkier) but he doesn’t like them. He makes a really funny face and won’t eat very much.

Grant loves to be swaddled, but he’s learned to get out of all the blankets we have. So I looked online at special blankets made just for swaddling. They were quite expensive so I found one that I liked and recreated it. I only had to make a couple phone calls to my mom and the blanket turned out great!! Plus I got the fabric from the dollar rack at Wal-Mart.

Between listening to General Conference for our church and the Final Four, we’ve become couch potatoes this weekend. The boys were pretty good during conference. Jackson gets excited when we tell him it will be on, and after we turned off the last session he said, “Conference was really fun!” Hopefully this attitude stays throughout his teenage years.