Speaking of cousins, I thought this picture was just too adorable to not be shared. This is Grant's cousins-Max and Ted Twit-they thought some of Grandpa Mark's animals needed some Christmas decor. I would say they did a pretty good job!
After many days of being stuck inside due to the weather (which was actually very relaxing, so I'm not complaining). It was really nice to meet up with some of my family at the Holiday Inn water park and exert some energy. Grant is really starting to be a little fish. He had so much fun playing in the water, watching his cousins, uncle, and even his Grandma Mimi go down the waterslides, and of course drinking the water. I know that is so gross but he seems to love to duck his head under the water (which we praised him for) but then realized he was doing it more in part to get a nice big drink. :)
Hope you all had a wonderful and safe holiday and are looking forward to all that 2010 has in store...I know we are!
Our family celebrated Christmas a little bit early so we could make it back to Kearney before the big storms hit. We had our annual crab leg dinner, which was once again amazing (good job Nick). Then had a lot of fun watching Grant experience his first Christmas celebration. He was good for a few of tears on the paper of his presents and then became more interested in eating the paper. But with a little help from Mom and Dad he was able to get through the rest of the wrapping and discover some fun gifts. In this picture Grant was excited about his new garage and caught on quickly how to run the cars down the ramp...and since has decided he loves to run anything that he can down the ramp (puzzle pieces, his little people, whatever he can find :)
It was pretty obvious that Grant loved his gifts and had a wonderful first Christmas!
It's been awhile since we've posted and much has gone on! Back in the first part of November Nick had his annual deer hunt with his dad and brother, so Grant and I decided to have our own fun in Omaha. We started our weekend at CoCo Key's with the Howards. Grant was not sure what to think of the waterpark but quickly found out he liked it. Hayden and Grant were busy crawling everywhere and watching everything. This is also where Grant figured out he is a big fan of slides. We went down them multiple times to his delight. This picture is of Hayden giving Grant a hug...Hayden is such a good little hugger!
Grant also had fun seeing lots of family. It was a beautiful weekend and we all had a wonderful time getting outside for a bit and playing on Mausbach's swing set. Here is another slide that Grant had a blast on! I think we have some pretty good ideas of what he might like for Christmas or his birthday!
Now that Grant is mobile he is quite content to roam all through the house and play with everything. One of his favorite stops is at the back sliding door...this stop usually consists of knocking or banging on the window, talking some jibberish, and sometimes just staring out (there's usually a squirrel or two out and about, which he finds entertaining).
Our Thanksgiving was spent at Doug and Brandi's and we had such a relaxing long weekend. I believe Grant's favorite part of the weekend was Koda-Doug and Brandi's dog. They quickly became friends after Grant's first meal. (Nick and I loved not having to clean up the floor after every meal). Grant got a big kick out of feeding Koda, following Koda around the house, and getting Koda kisses. He also enjoyed spending some quality time with family. He really took an interest to his cousin Gus too, which was cute to see!
Here's Grant in his little monkey costume for Halloween. Nick said he was Curious Grant...quite fitting for him right now because he is into everything. :) We only went to a few houses before Grant was tuckered out and ready to be done with the costume. Notice the pic with his cute little tail (my personal favorite part of the costume :). Hope you all had a spooktacular Halloween!
Nick, Grant, and I decided to make the trek up to South Dakota and visit my Grandparents. This was a pretty big deal because Grant had yet to meet his Great Grandparents. The trip was 10 hours one way so after a few stops here and there, a surprise overnight visit with Doug and Brandi, and a lot of Elmo-we survived our journey. Grant was a little trooper and we were very thankful that he traveled so well. He took a quick liking to all his Great Grandparents and had a great time exploring and getting into everything in their homes.
Not only did Grant get to spend some quality time with our Grandparents but he also had a great time chasing after his cousins, Lily and Lucy. This picture is the three of them in a rocking chair that was my moms. My Grandma Iversen said they did not have a real rocking chair so she would actually sit in this and rock my mom. We have many pictures of all us kids and cousins in this rocker so it's fun to have one of Grant and his cousins in it as well. We all had a great time on our little vacation to South Dakota and hope it won't be too long before we are back again.
Just before we left for South Dakota Grant was able to spend a little time with Hayden Howard. The boys were pretty cute to see together. They went from toy to toy and always seemed to want to play with the same one. Grant took Hayden into his favorite play area-the kitchen-and the boys were quite the duo. This picture is of Hayden pulling out all the Tupperware and Grant having a blast with it. We are looking forward to an afternoon at CoCo Keys with him in a couple weeks!
For the past few weeks Nick has been extremely busy with work and doing a lot of work from home, so Grant and I really tried to take advantage of his breaks (and the time we got to spend with him) by doing some fun fall activities. Grant experienced his first parade at the Overland Park's Fall Fest. He loved seeing all the cars, trucks, and motorcycles go by but I think had more interest watching the kids all around him chase after candy. 
Then the next weekend we headed to the historic town of Weston for their Applefest. We spent most of our time at the Big Red Barn Farm and spent most of our afternoon picking pumpkins, getting a horse drawn hayrack ride, and just enjoying the fresh air and being out of the city.
Then as of last week, Grant has finally become a crawler! He has been so close for the past couple of months and Nick and I were starting to think he might just skip the crawling and go straight to walking. What started out as a slow trek across our 5x8 rug has turned into our little guy getting into every drawer, cupboard, and shelf he can get his hands on. Before I can pick up the last area he has terrorized, he is into the next. Actually it's been pretty fun to watch him go everywhere and now that he's mobile he is content to play for hours just moving from one thing to the next. He's also loving crawling all over his little car. He pulls himself up on it, loves opening and closing the hood, and putting his smaller toys in it.
Grant's also moved onto eating about every food we're eating. We've found he loves about anything but especially waffles, french toast, foods with noodles, kiwi, and of course cheerios! He's also learning to master his sippy cup and has definately mastered dropping everything he can on the floor. Nick and I have decided we need a dog. :)
