Christ is Risen; Easter bunny visits!

Easter is such a wonderful time...a time to not only get together with family, eat great candy, and watch kids relish in the discoveries of the Easter bunny, but more importantly, it is a time to celebrate the greatest happening in the Christian faith - Christ's resurrection. I have been reminded lately how we take that sacrifice and blessing for granted. This Easter, I am challenged to allow the resurrection of Christ to impact me on a daily basis. The Blanchard family had such a fun Easter. Ben's folks and grandmother was able to come and visit, along with their little dog Rascal. It was so great to see family and Grady really shined up to them easily...especially Grandpa since he is so silly. Grady also got a needed haircut and in his Easter outfit, he just looked like a little man.

Here we are at church; Grady as crazy as ever. It is amazing how difficult it can be to get one decent picture! Grady received his first Easter basket; since candy is somewhat difficult, the Easter bunny brought him some fun toys and shoes. He loved his Easter basket!
Here he discovered that the eggs open and have fun surprises in them!

Grandma Mary, with the assistance of Great-Grandma Jones, made Grady is first bunny rabbit! It was so cute and Grady thought it was way fun to squeeze, throw, pounce on, bleed on, drool on, and pretty much anything else to destroy it within the first day! He really likes to hug it

Chillin with the Grandparents and the bunny. Grandma's keeping a good eye on him and that bunny!

Here's all the women in the house with Grady and his bunny.

Ben's parents were gracious enough to take us out for Easter dinner. We waited for a little while and Grady did an amazing job at the table. Here he is playing with Grandpa Chris's mustache! He thought it was really crazy.

We weren't watching football, but Grady thought it was really fun to throw his arms in the air. He was really entertaining to the other customers around. He is such a social guy and enjoys every second that he is awake!

Such a fun and exciting day...he was all tuckered out after the Easter festivities. He fell asleep in the car and took a great 3 hour nap. Which allowed his tuckered out parents a 2 hour nap. Yeah for awesome Sunday afternoons!

Hippity Hopp down the Bunny trail

With Easter on its way, I figured it would be fun to visit the Easter Bunny again this year...Grady did not necessarily agree with that thought as can be seen by his scared little face in the picture. He loved giving the Easter bunny high 5's and pointing at him, but the meltdown came when mom put him on the big furry lap. I'm such a mean mom; but really, won't we laugh at this picture when he is older? He did however throughly enjoy chewing on the cardboard box of crayons that he got from the Easter Bunny.
Every 3rd Sunday of the month, our church has "Cookie Sunday"; it was my turn to put my baker's hat on so I thought Grady might like to help...I was totally right. He wanted to help alright, help himself to the yummy batter. I think he has a sweet tooth just like his mama!

Our new discovery for the month, is figuring out that he can actually ride his puppy! Grady crawls right on top of poor Chicago and thinks it is so great. Since Chicago is the size of a small pony, I do not have too much of a problem with this new discovery; however Grady is starting to think that riding Chicago means bouncing on him - that we do not allow. They do make a cute pair, however Chicago looks a little distraught!

March catch-up!

After many requests from a number of people, I decided that everyone would love to see updated pictures of Mr. Grady. Everyday he continues to surprise us with his intelligence, humor, and fun personality. Currently his new discoveries are jumping on the dog, climbing up on the rocking chair on his own, chasing the dog with his golf bag, and teasing mom with his food. With his sleeping patterns still crazy, the Blanchard household remains a chaotic blessing.

Here is Grady with his Daddy passed out after a hard afternoon of playing . My two boys are so cute and precious. Grady absolutely loves the bath tub! He has discovered that he can put most of the tub water outside of the tub and get his mommy all wet. He also fusses when we get out of the tub. Here is his precious smile; his cleft chin and high cheek bones are such handsome features.Me Grady...I beat my chest!!! I big boy!My little burrito all wrapped up and freezing after his bath timeGrady loves crackers; he demands a big cracker, no single servings for him!Who Me??? Look at my popbelly!We call Grady our little Mr. Destructo. He loves to scream and run around. He's starting to get to be a little pickle with changing clothes though. Mom has to chase him around and basically hog tie him at times in order to get clothes on himGrady loves to be in the middle of things. He enjoys cooking with mom. When mom and dad come home from work, he never wants to be put down. An extra 24 lbs gets to be pretty heavy after awhile!Grady loves to chase the dog and his Dad with his golf bag. It is the perfect toy to push, pull, and drag. Chicago especially hates this toy!After a long day of playing, Mommy and Daddy were not paying attention and Grady passed out on the floor admist the tornado of toys. He was so exhausted. Well hope ya'll enjoyed the new pics. Having a child continues to be a blessing we are ever so grateful for.

Winter Fun

So we are pretty sure that winter is never going to end here in Iowa, so Grady is getting accustomed to his puffy coat and stocking hat. Things in the Blanchard household are going well; nothing too new. Life just continues to change and grow as our little man gets bigger. He just turned 15 months; he's all over the place and getting into everything just no actual english words yet; however he talks all the time! His new favorite games include: getting the cans out of the pantry and stacking them tall, hiding his eyes and playing peek-a-boo, and crawling onto the couch or ottoman and running off. His dislikes include having to get out of the bath tub and putting on a shirt...it is a daily battle. Life with a toddler is never boring! Here are some new pictures of our handsome man...enjoy!

On a "warmer" day, we bundled Grady up and tried sledding. He seemed to enjoy it somewhat however he struggled with sitting up due to no back on the sled. The whole adventure lasted about 7 minutes!

It was a little chilly but Grady didn't seem to mind too much; he was up for a smile with his MommySuch a cute winter lawn ornament!Now all that we need is to draw some facial hair on Grady and we would have twins! "I want to be just like Daddy!"Chicago's new best friend has become Grady due to the fact that Grady thinks it so much fun to feed the dog. Chicago is a constant companion and is always willing to take a cracker off Grady's hands. Here he waits patiently for Grady to realize that there is a hungry puppy by his side.Grady decided that 8pm was not a late enought bed time so he decided to stay up and eat popcorn with the adults. He sat in my lap and shoveled in the popcorn like a pro. I thought he would choke, but he proved to be such a big boy by chewing each piece. He loved it!Grady understands so much, including where to find the milk...his favorite. He was able to open the fridge, take out the milk jug and drag/carry it to the cupboard. It was pretty heavy but he was able to manage. He really wanted his milk!It really is the simple things in life that make me smile. Here I was able to snuggle not only with my favorite toddler but also with my fluffy cat. What a night!!!

Embarking on Toddlerdom

Here are just a few snapshots of Grady. He is just growing like crazy; looking more like a little man every day. Some of his new skills include: climbing on our ottoman and into the tub, playing fetch, throwing the ball for Chicago, and talking jibberish instead of words. We just love watching him grow everyday.

This picture just screams mischievious toddler!

He just loves climbing on and off of his tractorGrandpa Chris and Grandma Mary gave him a big boy tent for Christmas; we set it up and Grady just loved crawling in and out of it and wrestling with Daddy inside the tent.Grady discovered that he can crawl under tables, dressers, and other tight places. Here he is trying to retrieve Chicago's ball, unfortunately he got stuck and it was Mommy to the rescue!
Today we are sitting at home together as Des Moines continues to get hit by crazy weather. It is such a blessing to be able to spend the day with my son, watching him discover, play and enjoy growing. I hate the weather outside but it gives me a good excuse to take time and enjoy the better things in life...children. Stay warm out there to all those fellow midwesterners!

Christmas Holiday Festivities

Merry Christmas! Grady celebrated his 2nd Christmas filled with family, presents and Santa. With the crazy weather conditions, it was difficult to fit all the holiday festivities in, but somehow we managed. Ben and I decided to celebrate our personal Christmas early before the other family gatherings. It was so fun to see Grady open his presents and to enjoy the company of Mommy and Daddy. Here is Grady in front of the Christmas tree with his gifts...he looks so excited. I remember playing with this fisher price barn when I was young and it was so much fun. So I hunted an original barn down via the internet and Grady seems to have fun with all the animals.One of Grady's most fun experiences at our Christmas was closing the cat (Aynsley) into the empty boxes...he thought that was just hilarious!

We were able to visit Santa with my coworker Courtney and her husband Michael and their son, Finnean. Finnean tends to have many guest appearances on our blog! The Blanchard's are truly blessed by the friendship of the Waglers. Grady did not mind the big hairy man, but Mr. Finnean did not think that he was too exciting. Here Grady is with Santa reading a book.
Here are the two handsome boys stealing Santa's big chair. Grady was having fun stealing Finnean's cheeriosI so enjoy our playdates together and Grady really enjoys having another little boy to play withThe first of our family gatherings was with the Blanchard side of the family. Because of all the "holiday" snow, we had somewhat of an extended celebration. It was a really good time being laid back and having fun with Grandpa and Grandma's new puppy, Rascal.

Such good family memories...unfortunately Chicago did not make the family picture this year

Chicago had a little playmate the whole week. Rascal, a cavachon, was so cute, cuddly, and fiesty; Chicago's size did not deter him from wrestling with him however sometimes Rascal's energy level was a little excessive for Chicago.Here is Grady with his cousin Abigail. They are practically the same size; Grady has the motor skills and Abigail has the verbal skills...if only they could be put together!Grady had much fun with his new toys. He enjoyed the clothes but the toys were the real hit!For christmas, Grandma Mary and Grandpa Chris picked out a tunnel and a tent activity center. The tunnel was a sure hit at the Herman household with all those cousins. They ran circles in the tunnel and even the cat and Papa Chuck joined in.We thankfully made it safe to South Dakota and had fun celebrating the holiday with the family. Here are Papa Chuck and Grandma Janelle with all the grandkidsHere are all the cousins sitting in front of the stockings!Fur vests were the hit of the holidays, so here are the Herman sisters sporting the festive look. What pretty sisters if I do say so myself!Ending with a family picture. It is so amazing to continue to watch Grady grow into a little young man. Sure the occasional meltdown is difficult but I am consistently reminded of the gift this child is to our family. Happy Holidays everyone!