Happy Halloween

Who dresses their 6 month old little GIRL up as a skeleton for Halloween? THIS family! I think Addison enjoyed her first Halloween, check it out!

She began the day in this shirt. Seems pointless to spend money on a shirt that will only make sense for ONE day, but I got it for 3 bucks---so why not?
"I eat alligators for breakfast"
Passing out candy...and digging in

Such the analyzer...always trying to figure things out.

Trick or treat...and a bit greedy :)

*Note: She obviously did not eat any Halloween treats---she just passed out candy

With the pumpkins!

Fun with Mommy!

Giving me sugar

Trick or Treaters, she loves it!

Time for bed!!! And WHO DOES SHE LOOK LIKE?!?!

I love this girl!!!!

Pumpkin Challenge

After a year off from pumpkin carving last year (due to Matthew and I being between homes in AL and D.C.) WE ARE BACK!!!

The Grant Gang would like to challenge you to pumpkin carving challenge, here are our entries for this year. Step right up and out do this quartet!

(please excuse the photography, we had to use my cell phone for the pictures)

Little Tummy Yummies

Introducing a new blog: Little Tummy Yummies by Stori and I! Check out the blog summary on her blog and then go check out our new blog. I also wanted to post this blog to blog about a blog that was about another blog---sounds like an infinite loop :) Enjoy!

Little Tummy Yummies

VIDEOS--Scooter, Runner, Silly and Sneakiness

SCOOTER:....so I scheduled the previous blog ("So close but yet so far away...") post several days ago and since then, she has made a LOT of progress in the scooting crawling department. And even since I took the video below (just two days ago), she has gotten even better! Now, she pulls her legs all the way under her and "launches". She is growing and changing so much!



RUNNER: She loves to run, but where does she thinks she's running??



SILLY: We got this glider when we moved to our new place and I LOVE IT. I actually ENJOY nursing now, WOW! Well, Addison loves it too and she is becoming quite the COMEDIAN---check it out!



SNEAKINESS: How did she learn to do this? Good thing we have been teaching her good high chair manners (as per Babywise II), so she doesn't really need the bibs much. It is so sweet to see her being such a lady during mealtimes--hands folded or placed on the tray; no spitting food; no playing with food which = Cute!

So close but yet so far away...

Although I still maintain Addison will skip crawling, below is some of her progress :) She is so close but yet so far away!

She just does not like being on her tummy! She wants to sit and see the world OR walk around with you holding her fingers! I have heard that bigger babies have trouble learning to crawl and walk---so we shall see! I sure do love watching her try walking and crawling.

Grant's and Garcia's Reunited

The first weekend in October we had the joy of a visit from our dear friends Justin and Sally Garcia! We love, love, love the Garcia's and have missed them terribly since we have been in the D.C. area. I met Sally and Justin while I was in college and as soon as Matthew and I started dating, I introduced him to the fun couple. Matthew hit it off with them immediately and the rest is history!

Their visit also reminded me of how blessed we are to have such wonderful Godly friends in our lives!!!

FRIDAY: The Garcia's arrived on a Friday morning and after their much delayed arrival, we hung out at the apartment until Addison had her dinner, then we made a trip into D.C. to see where Matthew worked. Justin loves computers too so the two of them were off having fun while Sally and I made goofy faces at Addison. We enjoyed dinner at Union Station and then took a long metro ride home. Addison has never stayed up that late (11 pm) but was such a SWEETIE. She was giggling the entire ride home.

SATURDAY: the Garcia's enjoyed some of the D.C. sites while Matthew and I prepared for church that evening. After site seeing, church and a pot of White Chicken Chipolte Chili---it was GAME ON for WII Sports resort. And when I say we played Wii sports resort, I mean we created truly ugly Mii's. Justin won the award for ugliest Mii!!

SUNDAY: On Sunday we all went to the International Spy Museum and Addison fell asleep while Sally was holding her. Since strollers were not allowed in the museum, Sally carried her! 18.5 pounds of sleeping baby gets heavy, but Sally is a trooper!!! I loved, loved, loved watching her with Addison. Melted my heart!!!

MONDAY: We stayed close by our house and hung out. We did make a trip to the mall so that Sally (who doubles as my fashion consultant) could pick out some items for Addison's FIRST professional photo shoot coming up in a few days. While at the mall, we had a short game of hide and seek :)

We were so sad to see our friends go, but we so enjoyed our time together. Laughs are always abundant when we are all together---which is my favorite part. Addison loved Sally and Justin and you could tell she missed them when they left. I felt encouraged and energized when they left--there is nothing like a little dose of Garcia Family fun :) I love you guys and cannot wait to see you again next month!

Nuby Sippy Cup

Addison has been experimenting with sippy cups lately and its SO FUN! We are not expecting her to be an expert or anything since we started on the early side (most recommendations are to begin at 6 months). We decided to experiment because 1) she has impeccable eye hand coordination 2) she tries to take our cups and opens her mouth to take a drink and 3) she has elimination issues, so our pediatrician recommended juice and water in a cup.

We started with Avent sippy cups and although she could hold them very well she had trouble with them because 1) you have to suck really hard and 2) the type of plastic is a soft plastic (which is recommended for the first sippy cups) but it was the same softeness as her teething rings, thus she thought it was a teething ring.

After determining she confused cup with teething ring, we made a trip to Target to check out other options. I saw the Nuby Sippy Cup and noticed that unlike many other cups, the spout was SILICONE, just like her bottles (which for the record...she RARELY gets since she is EBF)! We decided to give it a whirl and she took to it very quickly! I am convinced this is the cup for her! Sometimes it does drip slightly, but after re-tigthening the lid it works great.

Addison takes a few sips at a time, but loses interest after that and then a few minutes later wants more. She is so easily distracted, cute! She can hold it well and sometimes sips from it when she holds it, but honestly has not mastered multi-tasking enough to hold AND suck. Occasionally she will not drink unless SHE holds it---my independent little nipper scrapper :)

Although it is fun, it is somewhat sad how big she is getting!

Da Cups!
Da spout!

Pumpkin Patch

The Grant Gang

As a result of our move, I am SO behind on the blog! I will get caught up this week, however I will not be doing them in proper order :)

This weekend we went to a local farmer's market/nursery; they had a small pumpkin patch. Of course we bought carving pumpkins, but we also got a few things to EAT: sweet pumpkins, acorn squash, butternut squash and sweet potatoes (be looking for a blog about all these foods for ADDISON-YAY!). Addison had a BLAST as we searched for the perfect pumpkin! She loved watching the children play and run around. Every time there was a huge gust of wind she would pause and smile as it blew in her face. It was past nap time, but not a tear---we were so proud! It was difficult to snap a photo because she was so interested in all the commotion going on around her!

Her Grandmother Grant gave her the shirt and pants she is wearing but her Aunt Kimberly added the applique; they are so creative.

Daddy was making her smile--but she wouldn't look at the camera!

Sweetness!

No photo op would be complete without a Grant Family signature CHEESEBALL smile!

Exploring all the interesting foods!

"WOW"
I love her chubby little sausage fingers!
She is the most curious little 6 month old I have ever seen! She gently touches everything just trying to figure it all out!

DEBT FREE

We are VERY proud to be officially 100% DEBT free!! We are thankful for God's blessings, discipline and guidance to make this dream possible. Now that our car (the one I bought out of college) is paid off, we have no debt. God laid it on our hearts to remain debt free with the exception of another home one day. We are in NO hurry to buy another home after the significant loss we had to take on our home in Alabama. Not to mention, we would like to always be ready to go wherever Matthew's amazing job takes him!

We consider pure joy to carry no debt!

Please continue to pray for us as we continue this journey of living debt free! And can I get a....

YIPPIE SKIPPY!!!!

Once upon a walmart trip....

Once upon a walmart trip a little girl was extremely excited; her name: Addison Joy.
When mommy bundled her up she was thinking "where will we go, oh boy oh boy!?"
Into the stroller she went with a paci, blanket and doll.
They walked in the brisk fall air and were having a ball!

Just when little Addison thought it couldn't get any more fun,
She strolled into walmart and realized "ITS A WALMART RUN!!!"
As they shopped for shoes, people stopped her mommy to give Addison big smiles.
Very quickly she learned to flash her grin when people we still approaching by miles!

This trip filled her with such glee,
That she STOOD UP in her stroller for all the world to SEE.
As strangers walked by they laughed and smiled at this sweet little one!
But now it was time to return home but what a trip full of fun!

After so much excitement, Addison was slap worn out,
that she was quickly attacked with an uncontrollable SLEEPING BOUT!
She snuggled into her stroller with a warm coat and hat;
and was sound asleep, nothing could wake her not even a bat.

Once upon a walmart trip, a little girl had so much fun----she fell asleep before it was over :)

All snuggled up and ready for a walk to walmart!

Showing off for people entering the walmart while Mommy tries to fit the bags in the stroller.

Too much fun and all tuckered out. When I got home, I took her out of the stroller, took off the jacket and hat AND wrapped her in a blanket and she didnt wake up.

Don't you wish YOU could take a nap after a walmart trip??!!

Goofy Girl

She STILL loves this thing...and she loves watching me jump around like an idiot. I am out of the camera range (thankfully) giggling (I know you can hear that) and acting like a fool, but I do anything to hear that giggle!