Poop! God's Humility for Moms?

If you have a toddler I am sure you are very familiar with this word- POOP!
What is it with poop? Did God design it to humble moms? If so, it's working!
We are keeping the Wycliffe Bible Translators Ginnie pig over the long weekend. They boys are thrilled. I am not so thrilled but I am glad that we get to have him for four days and then take him back to his home.
Logan just came up to me with something in his hand so I reached my hand out to him and guess what he blessed me with? Ginnie Pig Poop! I have no idea how he ended up with it. I am very humbled at this stage in mommy hood. Between this and potty training, I am very thankful for hand sanitizer!

Bowling with The Boys!

Landon likes to bowl, which is exciting because I actually LOVE bowling. One thing my dad always taught me growing up was to let the guy win (if on a date.) As hard as that was, I usually let my date win, with two exceptions, arcade basketball and bowling. Dave refuses to play with me anymore because I am such a competitive bowler. Sorry dad! It's so much like softball pitching. I know the minute it leaves my hand if it is a strike or not. It is so much fun teaching Landon how to bowl!

He did really awesome. In his fourth game ever, he scored a 74! I am so proud of him!

Isn't he adorable? Logan sat and watched and clapped for him, which melted me. Moms night out with the Early Childhood PTA is bowling and I can't wait! I can tell you this, I won't be going to chat! :)

What I Got Free At Walgreens Tonight!

It took a little while, but my dh (husband) is proud of me for all the finer free things I get him in life! (He loves ice cream!) Here is what I got tonight at Walgreens. It took a $5 investment for the initial purchase.
4 containers of Dryers Chocolate Ice Cream
A Congratulations Balloon for Dave's 100th win! Go Patriots!
10 Dora and Sponge Bob bubble toys and candy for party favors in the near future.
A few pinwheels and toys to keep Logan happy on the trip.
Diego domino's for Landon. (Honestly I can't wait to play these with him, they look COOL!)
A $10 Walgreen's gift card for the next visit.
And lastly 8 bottles of blond hair coloring which are the items that I had to buy to get all the other items for free.
A huge rule in bargain shopping is that sometimes you have to buy the an item you might not really need to get the items you want for free.
They just fixed this deal (Wednesday so it is no longer working!)

Landon Vacuumed by himself. He is a LITTLE MAN!

My three year old is already showing signs of being mature and I am now okay with the fact that he is turning four next month. Let me tell you what you have to look forward to in the future if you are a mom with a tiny one!

Landon is obsessed with Dave's shop vac. Last week he went into the garage, and without any prompting, got it out, took all the cushions off the couch, vacuumed it out completely, put the cushions back perfectly and put the shop vac back in the garage. He said "Mommy I vacuumed out the couch for you!" It really touched my heart! I praised him all day and told everyone we ran into about the great thing he had done. It was amazing!

So then I realized that he is old enough to help out around the house. WOW!

With Dave's busy schedule, I took advantage of this immediately! I flashed 4 quarters in front of him and asked him if he wanted to earn them. He said "Yes, for my piggy bank please!" So I sat on his bed and told him what he could do to clean his room. He cleaned the whole thing and wanted to vacuum with the shop vac agian, so he vacuumed it out as well!
I am seriously falling so much more in mommy love with him than I realized that I could. He says the cutest things and will randomly say "I love you Mommy!" It melts me to pieces.

I love you Landon David Granniss and I am so blessed that you are growing into a LITTLE MAN!

Pictures from the Splash Factory

Sign My Guestbook!

Amanda had a great idea on her blog so I thought I would try it out too! It is neat to see where everyone lives!

Have you always wanted to meet Barbie?

Does anyone have a little girl I can borrow? :)
You can meet her now- for free! http://barbie.digitaltix.net/
Hurry, Dallas will sell out fast!

Mommy of The Month

My newspaper has come up with this great idea for Cedar Hill and Duncanville area moms. They have created an award for Mommy of the Month! Whoever they pick gets a family picture in the paper and an article about them. And $1000. Okay well maybe not $1000, I was getting carried away.
Well guess what? God continues to bless us. The paper chose me as Mommy of the Month for the first article, which came out today! As I continue the hardest and best season of my life, God continues to give me the encouragement I need. I feel blessed beyond belief for the article!
I hope that He will encourage you this week as well. Whether it is through a sunset, the precious words of a child or a helpful friend, there are so many ways that God encourages us as moms and gives us our own special Mom Hug!

Landon just said something to me that will keep me laughing all day. He grunted and said "mom the toilet is out of power." Holding up a plunger "I think I'll need to use this!" He saw Dave use one a few weeks ago and has been planning how he was going to try it out.

If there are any words of wisdom I could share with moms right now it would be this, if anyone ever offers to come over and clean your kitchen, push aside your pride an let them do it. Meaning say "Okay" immediately! I say this because in the past I have repeatedly turned down this act of kindness when a friend has offered. This time I didn't say no. God sent two of my servant friends with hearts of gold Tracy and Karri to clean my kitchen twice in the past month. With Dave's new schedule God new my breaking point and sent in the reinforcements. Thank you Lord for providing for my needs.

Logan is One and a Half today!

My baby is one and a half today, and it is pretty emotional for me since this is most likely our last child. I have to say I have tried my best to keep Logan my baby and not let him grow up. Logan waited a long time to walk and I am so thankful that I got to hold on for a few extra months. Now that he is up and running, he has a path of his own!
Here is a list of things I love about our baby Logan.

1. He is an excellent communicator. He tells me when he wants me to sing to him by humming. He tells me that he is hungry through sign language. He tells me when he want something by signing please. He goes and crawls into the guest bed when he is tired, to tell me that he is sleepy. He also brings us the remote when he wants to watch TV. (Man trait!)

2. He loves his family. He doesn't like to be left alone without me or Dave at first. He loves to cuddle with me in the guest bed and wrestle with Dave on our bed.

3. He loves to do anything his big brother does. He now loves to go swimming with us and just learned how to blow bubbles in the pool.

4. He loves learning. He knows where his nose is and giggles when we work on other facial parts but everything is a "nose" to him so far. He also loves his belly button.

5. He loves being outdoors. He has to be out doors right away after he eats breakfast in the morning. He could play outside all day, nap and then head back out again. He loves laying on our labs and cuddling with them outside.

6. He is so silly, funny and smiles a lot. Here is a pic of his cute silly smile pose!

Landon's First Lunch Box!

Watch out ladies!

We LOVE Bargains!

My Newest Bargains for the Boys!

Landon's new Nurf "Rocket Gun" $2.98 with a coupon. (Did I mention that he sleeps with it?)

I found matching outfits for the boys at Target for 74 cents a piece.
We went to Angela Sacco's wedding reception at DBU while daddy had a soccer game. I had a sitter for the boys upstairs in the game room but I had to bring them down when I saw that there was a chocolate fountain! Landon loved it and they both had chocolate on their shirts. Here is a pic in front of the DBU fountains.

Would you Bento?

Did you know that making Bento lunches is the newest craze with Dallas moms and their kids? It originates from the Japanese Bento box.
Moms make Bento lunches so that their kids will eat a healthier array of foods like fruits and vegetables. They make them so fun that kids can not resist and therefore might eat something healthy since it looks so cool.
Here is the article that my friend Shannon is the star of, it was in the Headlines of Wednesday's Dallas Morning News:
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/fea/taste/shopping/stories/DN-nf_bento_0815liv.State.Edition1.b1d12c.html

She even has her own bento blog. http://www.bentolunch.blogspot.com/ .
If you can't tell she really likes to Bento- hello Rachael Ray, this would make a great show!
I can actually see myself getting into this some day when the boys go to school, except they won't be getting cute flowers and butterflies. They will get the coolest pirate and bug themes I can think of. I can already envision what I would do with gummy worms as the dessert. Yummy!

Boy Adventures

Landon went to see my mom for a few days while Dave was out of town with the soccer team. He had a great time at Camp Grandma!

He was exhausted when he returned! :)
Here are a few pics of him playing baseball in our backyard.



HOMERUN!


Go Landon Go on the Diego Zip Line!
Our backyard continues to serve it's purpose as a haven for boys!
I can't believe Landon will turn four in September! He dressed himself in this picture. Can you tell? I was so proud of him that I couldn't make him change his long sleeves and camo shorts!

Starbucks Coupon!

(They changed the website and took the coupon off! So go to my web page and click on Target coupons!)
www.bargainshopperlady.com

Thanks Kelley for calling me right away. It is a great coupon!
I may use it almost daily.
You can use it at any Target with a Starbucks located inside the store.

Six Years of Love!

Today Dave and I have been married 6 years!
We scored a babysitter and went out on a date to the new Arlington Highlands shopping center. I was wanting to go to Hoffbrau ever since they opened last month. They are just as good as the one downtown.
I am so blessed to have such a wonderful husband who loves God and our family. I wanted to share something special that Dave does for me that my friend Meredith pointed out a few days ago that Dave should get "major points" for his sweet tradition. Whenever we attend a wedding, during the vows, Dave takes my rings off and puts them on my fingers again.
It's the little things that make marriage so special!
I love you Dave!

Love,
Lori

Then Now