Brady's bday and a visit to Granny's

Holden is doing SO much better today! Yeah! I even got him to eat a full bowl of mac n' cheese tonight. (After he got the french fries and cookie that he wanted for lunch. Gotta fatten this boy up!) =o) He went with Daddy down to Pepaw's for awhile tonight to watch the Colts game and root against them. (Pepaw is a die hard Colts fan....Jay bought Holden a Colts jersey and he has him wear it to "jinx" the team when they play!) So I finally have a little time to catch things up! I cleaned the entire house today top to bottom, ridding it of any germs from Holden's virus. We are going out to J. Bucks tonight for Kam's birthday, and Holden gets to stay here and play with Grammy and Papa. Today is the first day in four days that I left the house other than the ER, so I can't WAIT to go out and have some adult company!!! We've been so cooped up between him being sick and the cold weather. Can spring come NOW???? We have already started our countdown to Spring Break and our Florida trip! As you will see from the pictures below, I obviously haven't seen any sun lately...Casper, anyone??!!

Brady turned two on Dec. 27th. Mike and Kam had a nice little party for him at their house. The kids had a ball playing together, and it was nice to chat with other parents of toddlers. Brady looks like such a big boy to me in these pictures! We are so thankful for his friendship with Holden. They have the best time together. Thanks for having us, Polletts...even though we think that cake should have had a Cardinals emblem on it instead!!!

Last Sunday, we went to my Granny's (Mom's mom) apartment to celebrate the holidays with her. She lives in a retirement residence in Eureka, IL. Her apartment is always so decorated and cozy, and she makes the best treats! We had tea, ice cream and homemade chocolate cake; yummy! We walked the halls to see some of the different trees that were set up in various areas, and also came across a big Santa that sang and danced when you pushed a button by his feet! Holden liked him from a distance. He would push the button, then scramble as far away as possible before turning around and dancing to the music. =o) You can see in the picture of me holding him that he wasn't too sure about being so close to him! There is also a little bird atrium that he enjoyed looking at, and as usual he loved sorting Granny's buckeye collection.

Since she was a little girl, Granny has had a tree with real candles on it. They are attached with special clips; back when she was young this was very common. Of course, you are not really supposed to light fires in a retirement residence. Let alone a bunch of candles on a tree!!! When she, Mom, and Dad were lighting it, she mentioned that we needed to be watchful "in case a candle fell on the floor" so that we could stomp the fire out! "Oh my!" is what I was thinking. Of course Holden had a running commentary of, "HOT! DAT HOT! UH-OH, HOT!" At least the kid gets the picture. Once they were all lit, we sang, "Oh Christmas Tree" before Granny snuffed the candles out. Even with the snuffer, the smoke alarm went off. So picture my dad frantically waving a book at the ceiling to stop it before someone discovered us! Ahh, family traditions. (Griswolds, anyone??) It was great to see my Granny before the New Year.