Our Marathon Weekend Part Deux

The typical marathon weekend leaves me almost no time for myself when we get home ;o)...So, uploading pictures (and e-mailing and phone calls and a host of other things) have had to be put on the back burner for a few days. I am going to try to zoom through a quick update before Mommy Duty calls. Okay, well, after the excitement of Tony's wedding and the big birthday party, walking downtown and getting everyone to bed late on Friday night, we were exhausted! We decided to lay low for the first part of the day and recuperate. My step brother showed us the work he'd been doing on his new house and then we watched Ella Scott while he and my step dad went to finish more stuff in the old house.
We don't get to see her very often and she and Landon have never gotten to spend much quality time together just playing, so it was really great for all of us! The house was perfect for little ones with open floor plan and big screened-in porches, a play room and a nice yard. There were verandas for them to run around on and an annoyed dog and cat for extra entertainment, should the two of them get bored. Needless to say, they never did. It cracked me up to see how well the kids got along together, even though one was almost three and the other was only one and a half. They climbed on the railing on the back porch together and then did some acrobatics on the Adirondack chairs. Ella Scott copied everything Landon did. Usually it's him copying the big kids he plays with, so this was making him feel like quite the boss--lol! They ran inside and then outside and then inside again, stopping only to have a snack when it was absolutely necessary. At five o'clock, Landon, Andy and I had to hit the road again. We drove out to Folly Beach to go to a barbecue in honor of Tony and Racquel. The night was, again, perfect.
The weather was nice and they had set up a huge buffet table of three different kinds of barbecue, macaroni and cheese, cole slaw, baked beans, desserts...too many choices to even pile on one plate, but we all tried. We all relaxed in front of the ocean until the sun set. Some people played croquet and others started a game of beach football. Watching Tony and Racquel that night reminded me a lot of my "wedding days"--the times when almost everyone Andy and I loved were all in one place at one time, getting to know each other and having fun together. It was sweet to see them smile at each other like they were so in love and so unbelievably happy. Landon loved being able to run free, climb on rocks, and splash in the ocean. By the time we left, his pockets were so filled with shells that he was jingling with every step and just as proud as could be! It was the perfect Southern beach party and we had so much fun! We left there relaxed (and full) and ready for bed! On Sunday, the guys went to Scott and Heather's old house to finish up some painting, leaving mom and me to watch the little ones again. When they were finished working and everything was packed, we ate at a delicious sandwich restaurant called Dog and Duck. They not only have great food, they also have games for children, Lightening McQueen and Disney Princess stepping stools in the bathrooms, and even a water station for dogs outside! If you're ever in that direction, you should definitely check them out! After we ate, we headed back toward home. We stopped at Andy's Grandma's house again for a HUGE dinner (as if we NEEDED a huge dinner!! LOL!) and then drove the last hour and a half back to our house, ending our long and wonderful marathon weekend. Tah Daaaaah!

**I left the part out about having to make an emergency pit stop at my dad's house at 10:30 at night to pee 15 minutes from home. You're welcome**

Happy Birthday, DADS!

Somehow, out of all of the people I could have married in the world, I wound up with someone whose dad has the same birthday as mine! (Our brothers are both named "Brian Joseph", too! Weird.) Anyways, yesterday, we got to celebrate two of the best men we know at the same time. Dads...this one's for you!Tom Pfaffl is one of my favorite people to be around. He is always telling funny stories and teasing everyone with a cheeky grin on his face. His laughter is absolutely infectious!!! Even tuesdays are a party with Grandpa Pfaffl! He cooks delicious food for us every time we go to visit them and always has the whole family involved in something fun--sports wagers, beach trips, board games, you name it. I am so blessed to be able to give my son a grandpa who teaches us without even trying, to grab life by the horns and ride it for all it's worth...one who teaches us that if we fall (or fail), we just need to dust ourselves off and give it another go... one who shows us everything in life is as it should be and to just send worry on it's way. Tom, you are a riot! Happy Birthday to our beer-making, joke-telling, advice-giving, always-there-in-a-pinch, Wisconsin man! We love you!







And now I'd like to send out birthday wishes to my own Dad, who I love more than life itself! My dad is one of those people ho seem to know everything and know how to do anything! We always joke that he will go into his garage one day and blast out on a homemade spaceship. He can build a house as easily as he can whip up a wok full of fried rice. He raised us to know everything he could about the world around us, never leaving a question unanswered, and I know my siblings and I owe a lot of who we are to him. I have been around my dad for twenty-eight years and I am still learning so many new things about him every day! He is one of those rare souls who would give anything to anyone without ever expecting anything in return, and I love him with all of my heart. Happy birthday to my spiritual advisor, role model, and confidante....You're the best "Pop-Pop" Landon could ever have ;o)

Our Easter

Despite my desire for a change in pace, this Easter turned out to be a typical Granger holiday, celebrated in the typical Granger pandemonium. Andy and I decided (after trying to fit a million things into one short weekend) to just stay put for Easter and spend it quietly and simply at home. How did we plan to accomplish this simple, quiet holiday, you ask? Well, we decided not to drive to Andy's parents house since the hour and a half long drive back and forth gets a little difficult on holidays. We decided not to go over to my dad's house. We decided, instead, to make a quick trip to my Grandma's house and then to spend the rest of the day at our house. What else did we do to "simplify" the holiday? We decided to cook a huge Easter dinner and tell everyone in our family they could drop by if they were up for it. So, yeah, what followed our brilliant decision making process was less than simple, if you can imagine.

Easter, for us, began at 8:00 a.m--

8:00 a.m: Andy gets up and gets ready to go to church.
8:30 a.m: Andy tries for the first time to wake me up.
9:00 a.m: Andy tries again to wake me up.
9:15 a.m: I finally get up to take a shower (& blame Andy for not
making me get up earlier--ha ha!).
9:40 a.m: I am almost ready and begin to get a very cranky Landon
dressed. (Cranky in the morning? Wonder where he gets it?)
9:55 a.m: We are officially late for 10:00 Mass at Prince of Peace
& plan on making it to the 11:00 a.m. Mass at St. Mary's
downtown instead.
9:55-10:45 a.m: Running around the house, peeking through Landon's
Easter basket, making breakfast, packing bags of
toys and extra clothes and snacks and doing who
knows what else--blah!
11:05 a.m: We are officially late for the 11:00 a.m. Mass
(!!!) downtown and find out there is another
Mass starting at 11:15 in the church gym. (By this time,
we are running like crazy, clothes wrinkled, hair flying
all over the place, shoes covered in mud...I was a
little irrate, but on a mission!)
11:35 a.m: Landon has put in an impressive good, solid ten
minutes sitting quietly in church and is pretty
much done. All snacks are gone and sneaky tries at
diverting his attention from his shenanigans are
exhausted. My "mom hisses" and threats and even my
frantic bribes were being completely disregarded.
11:40 a.m: After watching Landon try out soccer moves all over the
bleachers and chairs of the church/gym (imagining loudly
that his white dress shoes are soccer cleats and his
white knee high socks are shin guards), Andy escorts
Landon outside so I can get at least something
out of the Mass I worked so hard to get to--PHEW!

I still don't understand how in the world we can manage to be late for something we had so much time to prepare for! *sigh*

Anyways, after church,Landon met his second cousin, Cam, for the first time. They are the same age age and hit it off right away (sassy little things!). The two of them immediately ran off together and proceeded to ruin their Easter outfits, climbing trees and chasing each other in the dirt--Ha ha ha! They were so cute together!

We zipped over to my Grandma's for lunch right after church and then raced back home to finish cleaning and begin cooking....One green bean casserole (totally homemade--no canned stuff--Woo hoo!), one pan of Macaroni and cheese, one corn souffle, one sweet potato casserole, and one tray of cheese-stuffed-bacon-wrapped chicken breasts later, dinner was ready. (Hey, be quiet, comfort food is never pretty! Ha ha!)
My mom and step-dad, sister and her fiance, Michael, Michael's mom & my three brothers (and two of their girlfriends) all kicked back with us in our living room, eating big plates of food and hanging out. As I said before, when there's a room full of Grangers (and everybody's a comedian!), things can get pretty rowdy. There were channels being flipped on t.v., YouTube videos being played on the computer, forty loud conversations being held over under and across each other and, later, we proved once again, that no family get-together is ever complete without playing ROCK BAND!!!! By the end of the marathon night (about midnight), my eardrums were five seconds from shattering, my house was a huge mess and I had decided I didn't want to see food again (to eat it or to cook it) for about a month! It was a the opposite in every way from what we planned, but it was FANTASTIC...So, am I complaining? No way! It was as loud and as hectic as ever, but I wouldn't change anything about it for the world...,>!! and I would do it all over again the exact same way next year if everyone else was game. I can never get enough of my crazy family! :o) So, that's about it for today! I hope all of you had a great Easter and that those of you who have blogs will post tons of pics for me to see!

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

This is the set of Sweet Heart beads that's hanging on our fireplace

Landon worked so hard on Valentines for his little buddies!

Here is the finished product!

And here are Landon and Daddy delivering them to the kids in the neighborhood

Landon reading his Valentine's mail

(And stashing his Valentine's money from Aidan, Grandma & Grandpa and Aunt Laura in his cash register)

THIS is the dessert Landon told me he was going to bake for me for Valentine's Day ;o)

And then he did! Mmm Mmm! Deee-LISH!

Yup--Just like the picture in the recipe book!!

This is the giant cookie we bought for Daddy

Here's Landon surprising Daddy at his office with his giant cookie and a card (oh and some trashy coupons--Shh!)

This is the flower pot Landon and I put together for my mom

Landon and my mom exchanging Valentine's gifts

Landon loving his new teddy bear

Later, Andy surprised me by bringing home food from my favorite restaurant. (Then he flipped through the coupon book I gave to him, showing me about ten reasons why I should have read the entire thing before buying it...maybe I'll put an expiration date on them...like TOMORROW!!!)

Basking in the Glow

We finally started decorating our house for Christmas this past weekend and, even though the guy we bought our tree from cut off the entire bottom of our poor tree, I'm love, love, loving every bit of it. Every night, we dim the lamps and light our Advent candles. We watch whatever classic Christmas movie is on, drink hot chocolate and just relax. I love this time of year!
The best thing about this Christmas season is that Landon is really getting into it. He has been reminding us for the past couple of weeks that HE was going to be the one to put the angel on the tree. He's already talking about what kind of cookies we're going to leave out for Santa and he's memorized every word of "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer". It's great that Christmas becomes magical all over again when you have kids!

Isabel Marie Eighmey

At 6:40 this morning, my step brother's wife gave birth to a beautiful baby girl...at only 21 weeks gestation. With no hope that she could survive outside of her mother so early, the hospital didn't attempt to incubate her. The new mom and dad had their sweet girl baptized and held her for a few precious moments before her little heart stopped beating. (Sigh...) What a sad day! :o( I hate to even think about myself right now, but this brings back so many scary memories from my own experience with pre-term labor when Landon was almost born at twenty-four weeks. My poor step-brother and his wife are absolutely devastated and could use all the prayer they can get...so, if you have time today, say a prayer for my neice and our family and for all of the babies who come into this world too soon....

Family

Although it has been a long road to get to where we are in our family, I feel so blessed for all the love that surrounds my son. It was difficult, in the beginning, for my siblings and me to adapt to the idea of our parents being divorced, so you can only imagine what an adjustment it was to add step-parents and step-siblings into the mix! Watching Landon with all of these people around, though, makes me so thankful I have each one of them. Landon doesn't know about step-grandparents and half-siblings and in-laws. He just knows who loves him...and his life would not be the same without each of the people in our loud, crazy, complicated family.

We really are getting closer to being just that: one big, happy family. These pictures are some that I took this week of Landon playing with his "Grandaddy". They were opening up acorns to find "dinosaur babies", singing nursery rhymes, and exploring in the backyard. It truly touches my heart to see how much Landon and my step-dad love each other.