Update - finally!

My life has been a whirlwind to say the least over the past several months. I decided to go back to school and major in Human Biology, and plan to become a Physician Assistant. School has kept me quite busy, and I unfortunately quit taking as many pictures and keeping up with the blog.

In June we went to Utah for a triple wedding. My brother Scott got married, Michael's brother Jake got married, and Michael's brother Wilson and his wife were sealed. A busy and fun trip!

I now present to you our "world in a minute". Here is the last 6 months summed up with a few pictures.

Gabe enjoying a cold treat on a hot summer day

July - our family trip to Lake George. The boys LOVED the beach!

August - Uncle Danny moved out here for a month, but missed Utah and moved back.

September - Grandma and Grandpa Harris came for a visit

October - we found a great farm and the boys fed the animals

Halloween - a cow and a dragon

Mother's Day, Carnival fun, Put me in the Zoo

We've had a busy few months! We had a great visit from Grandma Harris and Aunt Lisa. We took the boys to a local Carnival, which was fun for about the first 10 minutes. Gabe loved the giant slide and the truck roller-coaster. Nana took Grant for a ride on the Carousel. We also went to the Bronx Zoo with some friends from church. It was a great trip! The boys loved seeing all of the animals, especially the Elephants. Nana bought elephant stuffed animals for each of them, and "elephant" has become Gabe's new favorite toy. Then we celebrated Mothers Day. Michael took some fun pictures of us playing together. I also cut my hair short for the first time in almost 10 years. Wahoo! I love it short!

Mommy's sweet boys

Blowing bubbles with Grant

Playing together

Giant slide at the carnival

Riding in the truck roller-coaster

Grants first time on a carousel, together with Nana

Fun at the Bronx Zoo

Looking at the fish pond

Taking after Daddy and Papa...

Big fish!

Mimi and Papa visit

We had a great visit from Mimi and Papa. Mimi ran the Boston Marathon (go Mimi!) so we got to spend a few days playing together before her race. Papa also took pictures of the race, and got an amazing shot of the winner crossing the finish line!

Gabe has also discovered his love for taking pictures. I figure it must be genetic at this point. :) Talented Papa and Daddy have passed on the photography gene. Michael taught Gabe how to use his old digital camera, and Gabe hasn't stopped taking unflattering pictures of us yet.

Snuggling with Papa

Reading bedtime stories with Mimi

Getting a photography lesson from the Pro

Enjoying the cheap thrills in life

grant hearts food

Our sweet little Grant loves to eat. He eats just about anything in sight! We're constantly hurrying to pick stuff up off the floor before he gets to it. Here he is enjoying some of his favorite foods.

His first dum dum sucker (and Gabe's, which he stole!)

That'll teach mommy to leave her chocolates within reach!

Raman by the fist full

Check out those cheeks!

My new nephew!

Proudly presenting....

Zack Colton Thomas

I already have one adorable niece Nelle, and last month I welcomed my first nephew. Katie and Colton are the proud parents of Zack, a cute and chubby little baby boy. Zack was born via emergency C-section in the same hospital as Katie. Much to the surprise of absolutely everyone, he weighed in at a whopping 11 lbs 2 oz, and was 22 inches long. He is the 2nd largest baby ever born at the hospital. I recently flew out to Utah to see Zack and visit family. While I was there, my talented Father-in-law took pictures of Zack and Katie. Check out more of Lloyds work HERE. I'm so excited to have Zack in our family, and I can't wait for Gabe and Grant to meet him (and show him all the wonderful and wild things they know!).

Christmas in Florida

This year we had the amazing opportunity to spend Christmas in Florida. Nana Curtis wanted to bring her entire family somewhere warm, and to watch her grandchildren experience the beach for the first time. She got her wish, and this year we celebrated Christmas at Daytona Beach. We had a blast playing on the beach and swimming together. Gabe and Nelle were best buddies all week long, and we loved seeing them play so well together. The water was a little cool, but the kids had fun in the sand building castles and digging holes. Nana took Gabe to jump waves and splash in the bubbles, which he loved.

We spent Christmas day at SeaWorld, which was awesome! We saw the Shamu and Dolphin shows, which were Gabe's (and everyone's!) favorite part. It was fun spending time with the family and we miss being across the country from everyone else. I really loved Christmas this year, and not just because I got to wear shorts and a t-shirt outside on Christmas day. :D

Happy Birthday Grant!

Today we celebrated Grant's 1st Birthday. We had a wonderful day with our sweet little man. We opened a few presents together as a family, including a new favorite wooden push toy from Nana that both boys played with most of the day. We had a really fun party with some of our dearest friends, and a certain 3 year old brother who'd eaten 4 too many cupcakes provided the entertainment for the evening. Grant had his first taste of a cupcake, and he seemed to really enjoy it. He actually ate about half of it before getting bored of squishing it to pieces.

Now that he's tucked away sleeping, I'm reflecting back on this whirlwind of a year. It seems as if tonight I'll go peek in on a tiny 1 month old baby, and not a walking little 1 year old. This year has flown by far too quickly. It seems like just yesterday I was in the hospital snuggling my brand new (and surprisingly chubby!) baby boy. Grant has been quite possibly the best baby in the world. He's always been a wonderful sleeper, and I'm constantly amazed at how well he tolerates Gabe's pestering, smothering and toy taking. He's generally very happy and easily entertained. I'm grateful to be the mom of such a sweet, cute and loving little boy. My favorite "Grant" things are:

His love of snuggling pillows

His growl

His big sweet grin that makes his eyes shrink like tiny moons because he smiles so big

His slobbery kisses

His puckered lips - check out the cupcake picture below!

Here are some pictures of his birthday today (sorry, they're out of order and I don't know how to fix that!) and a few pictures looking back on the past year of his life. We love you Grant!

The infamous wooden toy from Nana

Laughing with mommy

A few days old

2 weeks old

3 months old

4 months old

5 months

9 months

10 months

Eating Birthday cupcake!

"You got to puck up your lips, like 'dis!"