High school reunion

We went to Bryan for my high school reunion this past weekend. I was unsure how I would enjoy it, and was afraid it would be extremely awkward. But it was actually a lot more fun than I expected! Of course I hadn't seen many of those people in the past ten years, but I was surprised how everyone looked pretty much how I remembered (or maybe it was just because we've all aged, so they still look the same age as me and we all look 10 years older!). But I found that I was genuinely happy to see all of those people again....it's a little bit weird, because these are people I saw almost every day for four years (some much longer!), so it wasn't just like seeing an acquaintance after all that time. I found that it was easier than I expected to talk with them as if no time had passed.

Here are some pictures: Dean and me before we left (by the way: we forgot our hanging bag at home, so we had to make a trip to the mall after getting into town to buy some clothes!)With Laurel, Whitney, and Sarah (I was in Kindergarten with Whitney and Laurel, and met Sarah in 3rd grade):
With Ashley (my neighbor and friend since Kindergarten):
Unfortunately, that's all I took while we were there! And I was sad that a few of my close friends weren't able to be there, but it was still good to see everybody.

Here are a couple more from the weekend (more to come in another post):

I am getting into everything!

We are officially in the baby-proofing stage! Although he's been able to crawl for 3 months now, Grant hasn't really figured out how to open cabinet doors and get into things until just the past couple of weeks. He'll usually just go up to a door that we've left open and start rummaging through stuff in there, although he's begun to pull them open on his own too. His favorite place to visit is the utility room, where the kitty litter is located. We have to leave the door open a little (so the cats can get in!), and he'll dash over there and swing the door open, then crawl over to the litter to try to put his hands inside. I guess it's like a sandbox to him...and there have been a couple of times that he's gotten a handful of litter before I get to him!

As I've read it recommended in books and websites, we keep a cabinet unlocked in our kitchen that just has tupperware in it, so hopefully he'll remember that and want to play in there! Here he is after he's pulled out almost everything from the bottom two shelves in our pantry!

Happy 11 Months, Grant!

This is one day late, but I wanted to mark Grant's 11-month birthday. I can't believe my little baby will be a year old in just four more weeks. In the past month or two, it seems like he's grown up a lot....I know that he understands a lot now, and is just so aware of things around him! It's amazing watching a helpless little baby transform into a real person! If I have time later (which is questionable....I seem to have very little free time these days!), I will make a list of things he's been doing. Happy 11 months, sweetie pie!!

Why do we buy toys???

Last week, Grant started pushing his little convertible pushing/riding toy that we bought for him a while back. He can't steer yet, but he loves to push that little thing all over the place. But.....yesterday we went shopping and bought a package of toilet paper, and I left it laying on the kitchen floor. Last night, while Grant was pushing his car, he pushed himself right over to the toilet paper and started pushing that instead! It was very cute....but since it has no wheels, it was a lot harder for him! He had to stop after a while and was breathing heavily! Things like that always make me wonder why we even need to buy toys for our kids....a lot of times they're much happier (or just as content) exploring and playing with everyday objects around the house!

Pumpkin Patch

Last Friday, our Bible study group had a "play date" at the pumpkin patch that one of the local churches puts on every year. We had a good time; Grant, of course, wanted to crawl all over the place, and he enjoyed standing up and beating on the pumpkins! They make for such a good photo backdrop, so I'd like to go again when Dean can come with us. Here are some pictures we took.

With Sierra and Jacob:
Grant is sharing a piece of straw with me:
A couple pictures of Grant standing with the pumpkins:

Grant and Jacob admiring each other. When Grant got a little closer, Jacob grabbed his head and tried to eat it! I guess that's what teething babies do! Grant didn't seem to mind (or even notice), but we all got a kick out of it!