Grant Cracks Me Up!!

I know, I know...back to back nights of posts! Must be a record for me. I just had to share the goings on of my crazy son. Tonight when we got home, Grant of course lost his socks, then his shirt...you know the drill. Well, before the pants came off, and while I was making dinner, he and Audrey discovered some "attire" out of the junk drawer. He put on a foam Halloween mask and then proceeded to make "wrestling gloves" out of can-koozies! Never seen them used for gloves before, but it was quite comical :)

Then, he began wrestling the couch pillows WWE style!

Oooh, look at mister tough guy showing off his big pipes! (M0- if you look close can you see the JOR koozie on his left hand? I bet you have never seen one used quite like this!)

What a little maniac!

Whew, that was some tough work! Those pillows put up a really good fight.

After the wrestling ceased, both kids began scavenging for other goodies. Grant found his yellow recorder and said, "Look Mom, I found my un-i-tune!" I about lost it!!!! He cracks me up with the stuff that he comes up with. It definitely makes me forget about everything else going on and reminds me to cherish even the littlest of things.

Audrey even decided to get in on the action with the next best thing, the "light saver" (as Grant would call it)

If my kids are anything like me, they will have ZERO musical talent, but they sure do seem to have the knack to get a few good laughs!

My little cutie can toot his own horn any day of the week!

And just a couple of Little Miss Siss so she doesn't feel left out...

This is her new "smile" I think she is catching on the the concept of smiling for pictures because she is getting a lot of practice. Since Dec 6th, when I got the new camera, I have already taken 1075 pictures. That basically tells you that my kids have the camera lens shoved in their face every waking hour! Duke gets mad at me because I am "annoying" but some day when he can see what his kids were doing almost every day when they were little, he will THANK ME!

Hoping we don't get any more snow over the night. I swear we got between 8-10 inches today and that is good plenty! Don't get me wrong, I love the snow...just hate driving in it.

Better go watch the news so I know what is coming for tomorrow.

Blessings to all!

Christmas Photo Shoot

Busy, busy days! I have just not had time to sit down at the computer long enough to download my Christmas pics yet, let alone to spit out a post. So, I am going to have to go back a few weeks to the "Christmas Photo Shoot" or at least that was what it was supposed to be. I was so excited to have my new camera this year that I was convinced that I was going to get some awesome pictures of the kids for the Christmas card. Those of you who did receive our card, have already seen some of these pictures, but may not have heard how the story went. Well... I got the kids all dressed up in their adorable Christmas outfits and plunked them down in front of the Christmas tree.

I only got a couple of okay pictures and then Grant got up and decided to play peek-a-boo behind the tree...

and Audrey was hangin' out over by the singing, dancing Santa Clause we got from Aunt Joan.

And she was quite protective of that Santa as you can see by the picture below. If Grant within a foot of her she would attack him!

This is the aftermath of one of the attacks!

But how could this little angel be so vicious??? She looks so innocent, doesn't she?!?

Next I tried getting Tootie to sit on Granty, but that just turned into a game.

And before you know it the "game" went sour and they both broke into tears. I guess that is what I get for trying to do pictures in the afternoon when Grant hasn't napped and Toots is due for her second nap. I'll have to rethink my strategy next time!

Since they were both squalling uncontrollably, I decided to just roll with the punches and keep snapping pictures. These were my 3 favorites...

Which did you like the best?
When I got them all calmed down and all of the tears wiped away we started shooting again. This one is a little out of focus, but is super cute all the same.

Grant likes projects and decided to rearrange my ornaments while Tootie was toddling around and playing with the Santa again.

Next, big Brother decided to show his little Sissy how to rearrange the ornaments. THANKS Grant. She WAS doing a good job at leaving the tree alone until now!

Okay, new prop. This is the rocking horse that Duke's Grandpa made for him for his 1st Birthday. My oh my that is oooooooold!

So old that the front of one of the rockers is broken off so in true Kleman fashion, Grant decided to do a little repair job.

Ta-da! Just like new.

Now lets try A & G on the rocking horse. This is the best I got from that try. I think the TV was on and Grant was more interested in watching whatever was on. And look at Tootie face. She looks like she is trying to hold on for dear life!

My last ditch effort at a cute picture was to use a stool and I did happen to get this cutie-patootie picture of Audrey. I love my little dolly!

Couldn't be a complete photo shoot without the pants-less wonder! Check out Audrey's face again...she is like "Would you please put some pants on!"

Hope you enjoyed the pictures as much as I enjoyed sharing them with you all. I'll try to get some Christmas Day pictures out soon.

OH, I almost forgot to update on Gibber Gabbers. It turns out she has a urinary tract infection. Much better diagnosis than I was convinced it would be. Luckily a new antibiotic shot has come out that lasts for 3 weeks so I don't have to give her any shots or medicine. YEAH!!! She does have to be on a special diet for the rest of her life, but I can handle that. Now just cross your fingers that her appetite comes back because she is being a little finicky right now.

Nighty-Night!

Winter Nights & Lights Parade

It is snowing out today and looks just beautiful for this time of year so I decided to post something that had to do with the holiday season. Two weeks ago, the company I work for participated in St. Cloud's "Winter Nights & Lights Parade" for the first time. Since I work for a power company we had to make sure that our trucks were all lit up with lights. The theme this year was "Baby, It's Cold Outside" and let me tell you it was just that! That day, the high was 17 degrees and when the sun went down it got bitter cold, but we braved the elements and trudged on! This was our fearless leader, Lori. She did such a great job organizing this whole event.

This is Paul and his oldest son and Lori all waiting patiently. I was a wuss and sat in the warm truck until the parade started. I am surely not a huge fan of winter. I much prefer 80 degrees and sunny with a margarita in hand! Dream on, right!

This is my good friend, Suzi. She's a bad-a** chick that has her CDL so she was able to drive one of the big Gas Dept trucks.

And since Suzi was driving, we were able to bring along a few of Santa's helpers. This is Suzi with her son, Hunter.

Hunter brought along a couple of his friends for the ride. Bryce is on the left and Jake is in the middle. All I can say is what a bunch of nice and well behaved boys. A true pleasure to have each of them with.

And who it this? Why it is the Little Punk himself! Grant was so excited to be able to ride in a big truck and hang out with the big boys!

We had to wait in line for about an hour before the parade started so the big boys were entertained by Grant the entire time. He is such a ham and loves to be the center of attention. Shortly before the parade was set to start the boys spotted something in the parking lot to the right...

Why, it was Donner and Blitzen pulling Santa's sleigh!

Of course, the boys wanted to get out and get a closer look. Grant even got to go up and pet on of the reindeer.

AND THEN...they got to sit in the sleigh! What a great photo op! I had just got my new camera the day before so I was the designated "photographer"!

Here are all 4 boys piled in the sleigh. By this time they were getting cold because they were just wearing sweatshirts inside the cab of the truck and of course couldn't take the time to bundle back up in their jackets before they ran out to see the reindeer. Just look at Grant's face. You can almost hear his teeth chattering!

After only a couple of minutes of freezing, we piled the boys back into the truck and it was time for the parade to begin! This is the Gas truck that Suzi and all of the boys were in.
And this is the Electric truck that Paul and his youngest son Tanner rode in.

This is just another picture of the gas truck coming down the street during the parade. I just though it was a cool picture with the sunset in the background and all of the lights. What a bunch of crazy people standing outside for and hour to watch a parade in freezing conditions! Only in MN!

Grant got to sit on Suzi's lap the entire parade. He was going to "help" her drive but became engrossed with waving at everyone. After the parade, Suzi told me that he was so cute because he had a perma-grin on the entire time and kept saying, "Look at everyone waving at me!" He thought they were all there just to see him! TOO CUTE! I wish I could have seen and heard it for myself, but I can just imagine how adorable it all was :)

After the parade, we were treated to a pizza party. The kids had a great time together. Of course, Grant had to sit next to his "new best friend, Rice" aka Bryce. He just adored Bryce because he pretty much doted on Grant the entire time.

While the big boys were busy having a spit-ball fight in the booths behind us, Grant was busy blowing bubbles in his milk. Little stinker! But I had to take a picture before I explained that it was not polite to blow bubbles in your milk. Oh well...kids gotta be kids sometimes, right? As long as no one is getting hurt, you just have to let them go.

I am a little worried and sad today, though. This is my beloved kitty, Gabby aka Gibber Gabbers.

I have noticed that she has been drinking A LOT of water lately and peeing like crazy, among a couple of other subtle symptoms. She had been sick with a kidney infection earlier this year so I decided to do a little of my Internet research. I am now convinced that she either has kidney disease or diabetes so I called the vet and made an appt for her to be checked out Mon morning. I have almost lost her twice now and I am NOT ready to lose her now. She is only 6 and has a lot more life left in her. Plus Grant just adores her and would be very sad to lose her. Cross your fingers that everything turns out okay and at the most all she needs is another round of antibiotics to clear up an infection. This cat is soon to be deemed "The Million Dollar Cat" for sure!

Blessings to all!!

Rock'm Sock'm Fun

Last night, our dear friends, Keith and Kris Dierkes came over for a late dinner and a few toddies. Audrey was in bed by 7:30 and our night owl, Grant, was in our room watching PBS Kids instead of sleeping so we figured we would play a friendly game of Wii bowling. Of course, Ms. Pro Bowler, Kris, creamed all of us! But fun was had by all. Well, after we had bowled two or three games and polished off 2 or 3 drinks, Grant decided to come out to see what all the commotion was about. Of course, he wanted to get in on the action so he challenged his dad to a game of "punchin"! Well here is a picture montage of how the match went down...
Alright, Dad...I'm ready to ROCK!

ding, ding, ding...FIGHT!

Grant gave Duke the one-two kablooie. Look at the fear in Duke's eyes as he tries to block the beating!

Ooohh, and now he's gonna fight dirty!

Oh, yeah. Take that you filthy animal!

KaPOW! 1-2-3-4-5...

...6-7...you're gonna looooose, you're gonna looooose!...-8-9-10!

KNOCK OUT! Just look at that smug look on Duke's face! He was so proud he just beat a 3 1/2 year old! Hasn't he ever heard of letting the little kid win so he feels good about himself? Guess not!

Grant had a blast, but ended up staying up WAYYYYY too late and getting up MUCH too early this morning. He was quite crabby today and we had a funeral in Brainerd so it did not make for a fun day today. Lesson learned.

Can't post without sharing a few of my little Toots! I got my new Canon camera so I have been playing around with it all week thus not having much time to sit on the computer. Anyhoo...these are just a couple of Audrey playing before bed time last night. Just climbing around, enjoying her nukie.

Uh oh! Mom just snagged my nukie!

You better hand it over of someone's gonna lose a finger!

Ahhh, I was just foolin'!

Speaking of losing a finger. Today we were wrestling around and I was tickling her and thought I saw a glimpse of something in her mouth. Lately I have been thinking it is weird that she had her 4 front teeth for so long, then she got her 5th one on the top next to her two front teeth about 3 weeks ago and nothing else. Well, I stuck my finger in her mouth to feel around and to my surprise, she has 3 molars and is working on a 4th! Holy cow! Not sure how I missed that. In the process of feeling around, she chomped down on my finger with her front teeth and almost brought tears to my eyes. Little stinker! Maybe her teething is part of the reason she has had such a runny nose lately! It has been 3 weeks of non-stop boogers! All I can say is ISH!

Just want to remind everyone to hug their kids tight and give them an extra smooch tonight. The funeral we attended today was for Duke's cousin's wife who suddenly passed away on Monday. She was only 31 and left behind a very loving husband and 4 beautiful children, one only 12 days old. Such a terribly sad story, but also one that makes a person realize that although times are sometimes tough, things can always be much worse. My heart goes out to the entire Long family. My thoughts and prayers are with you tonight and always. God bless.