National Grantham

Christmas Aftermath, originally uploaded by NationalGrantham.

The tree is out of the house, so Christmas is now officially over. It’s very sad.

It all started the weekend after Thanksgiving, as is usually the case. We went to the GA Aquarium with Mimi and Grandpa and saw Santa…but you already know about all of that. If not, just scroll down a bit and get caught up…it’s ok…I’ll wait here for you.

Caught up? Ok then let’s proceed! I was talking about our Christmas card, and about Zack. Well our Christmas card turned out to be absolutely stunning if I do say so myself. Here it is…

Zack showed up at our house every morning from The day after Thanksgiving right up until Christmas Eve. After hanging out with us all day Christmas Even he had to go back to the North Pole to help Santa with the big delivery. Zack brought all kinds of good things for the boys including a little Christmas Tree for PIerce’s room, a star for said Christmas Tree, Pez, candy canes, assorted chocolates, and a pair of Santa hats for the boys that have Mickey Mouse Ears on them. Very cute. Pierce would wake up every morning and immediately search the house for Zack with James in tow. They would find him and squeal with delight while they ate their candy canes and “Horsha Kisses” as Pierce calls them. I would sometimes hear Pierce whispering to Zack certain messages he wanted relayed to Santa, and certain requests for the next morning. One morning I overheard him telling Zack that he needed some Pez for his Santa Pez Dispenser and low and behold, Zack delivered the following morning. It was Christmas Magic at it’s finest.

Most of the month was just like any other month, only more beautifully decorated. The boys had Christmas parties at school (photos are in a set on Flickr…click here) and we watched Elf, Prep and Landing, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Charlie Brown, and Shrek the Halls at least 10 times each. We also watched It’s a Wonderful Life, and Pierce thought it was really good, which pleased Heather, since it’s one of her favorite movies. Mimi and Grandpa came up on the 22nd and we went out to dinner at Tara Humada, a nice Mexican place near our house. They had a little band playing by the bar…it was just a guy on Saxaphone and a lady singing and Mimi took James over to listen. It was like magic to him. He stared holes through the woman and she ended up singing 2 or 3 songs to him. He was completely mesmerized.

The next day (the 23rd) Heather and I took Pierce to see The Nutcracker at the Fox. Pierce thought it was fantastic, except for the rats. He really didn’t like the rats. He thought they were a little scary. After it was over he told us he wanted to go see it every year. I told him he had a deal. That night we ate at home and got ready for Christmas Eve which came bright and early the next morning. I went out for some last minute shopping, and that afternoon we went to the Children’s Mass at church in the pouring rain. The boys were good and wore their Santa Hats. Excitement filled the air. Even James was pumped about Santa coming. He would shout “SANTA!!” everytime we passed a Santa or a picture of Santa in the car or in the house. After Mass we ate at PF Changs (it’s a Grantham family tradition) and went home to get ready for bed. The boys got to open one present each and they both got their special Christmas PJs. Jeremy came by while we were reading ‘Twas The Night Before Christmas and the boys got to open his presents for them. James went to bed and Pierce stayed up for a little while playing with Jeremy. Once everyone was gone, Heather and I watched It’s a Wonderful Life again while we wrapped presents.

The boys woke up EARLY on Christmas morning and we had to keep them in the TV room until Mimi and Grandpa got to our house. Luckily it was dark outside so they couldn’t see into the living room, and we didn’t have to wait long. We released the boys into the living room and it was a torrent of excitement. Pierce went straight to his bike and screamed, “Santa brought me a bike!”. James went straight for his Elmo Live Encore and screamed, “Elmo!”.

The presents were unwrapped quickly and after about an hour all was cleaned up and it was like nothing had ever happened. Pierce ended up getting a sweet blue Schwinn bike with training wheels. He also got a ton of Star Wars action figures and a bunch of Star Wars books and Leapster games among other things. James got his Elmo and an assortment of musical instruments for toddlers. A recorder, a harmonica, drumsticks, a little CD player that plays nursery rhymes. They were both completely satisfied. Pierce got to go out that afternoon and ride his bike with Grandpa and me and he did a great job.

We made the traditional Britenbach Christmas dinner of enchilada’s and they were delicious. Unfortunately James also got something for Christmas that nobody expected him to get…a fever of about 102. He started burning up and got really tired so we gave him some Tylenol and he slept most of the afternoon. When he woke up he seemed to be feeling better but by bedtime he was burning up again and he barely slept at all Christmas night. It was so bad that we decided to postpone our trip to Columbus and the Beach until he was feeling better. Luckily we only had to wait 1 day and we headed to Columbus Sunday afternoon.

We checked into our hotel and went over to Chris and Theresa’s house Sunday night. The boys got some cool presents from their Aunt and Uncle including 2 shaving kits (plastic of course) a giant T-Rex stuffed animal (which bears a striking resemblance to it’s owner, James) and a Crayola Color Dome for Pierce. The boys were in heaven again and we went and ate pizza for dinner. The next day we ate breakfast at Cracker Barrel with uncle Chris and then went to Monkey Joe’s with Ellie and Jud. The boys had a super time and later that night we went to Grandma’s house for Christmas Part 3. We swapped gifts and the boys were out of control. As I was putting James in his pack and play to go to sleep I could hear Pierce and Jud running laps in the house screaming, “I’m using the force on you! Pew! Pew!”. It was late so we went back to the hotel and got a good night’s sleep to prepare for our drive down to Florida.

We got up Tuesday morning and went to Grandma’s house again. We went and ate at Peluso’s and then hit the road for Florida. The boys were excellent on the ride down and watched movies or napped the whole way. It was so pleasant. On the way over the Bay bridge we saw a sun dog (google it) and that was pretty cool. When we got to Mimi and Grandpa’s it was just getting dark so we ate dinner and hung out for a while. The next morning we went to the beach and walked around for a while. Pierce found a “pirate sword” and kept drawing x’s in the sand, getting me to dig down to see if there was any buried treasure.

Unfortunately we found no treasure, so we headed back to the house for naps. That night we went to a Mexican place in Rosemary Beach called La Cocina. It was probably the most stressful dinner ever. James was feeling feisty and had to walk so Heather and I took turns walking him around the shops and parking lot. We had to wait forever for a table and when we finally got one, James was fit to be tied. He began screaming and wouldn’t sit in his chair. Even though he had his own cheese dip, something made him mad and he let loose. Heather picked him up to take him outside, and he gripped his booster chair. Heather didn’t know he was still grabbing his booster seat and as she picked him up the booster got wedged between the table and the chair. Of course once James was up in the air, the booster went flying across the floor and the thick metal chair went clanging to the ground. It was pretty noisy in the restaurant, so nobody really noticed luckily. I picked up the chair and booster and sat back down. I turned to my left to see how Pierce was doing (he was sitting so patiently next to Mimi coloring and being a little angel) and at some point the waitress came with our drinks while I was talking to Pierce. She set my drink behind my elbow, and as I turned back around I knocked my drink over, spilling it all over the table and James’ chair. James calmed down and Heather brought him back in. He reached for me and I picked him up and he immediately fell asleep on me just as our food came. I ate with my right hand (I’m a lefty so that was difficult) while I held James on my left shoulder. He had more than a little bit of beans and rice in his hair and on his jacket by the time we left.

When we got back home, we began preparation on a new New Years tradition…home made tamales. Mimi had already cooked the pork and Pierce watched Enchanted on TV while we began assembling the Tamales. Once Pierce went to bed we put on some Mexican music and got into the spirit of Tamale making. Mimi spread the masa on the cornhusks and passed them to me where I filled them with pork and rolled them. It took a while because we made about 4 dozen. Mimi steamed them and we got to taste them for the first time at about 1AM. They were good. Very good. I’ve had better, but only a couple of times.

New Years Eve was pretty low key. We went to the movies at Pier Point and saw Alvin and the Chipmunks The Squeaquel. We all went and it was pretty fun. James didn’t sit down for about the first hour. He walked back and forth between Heather and me, grazing on popcorn and getting dangerously close to the drop off into the handicapped seats on the row in front of us. After the movie the boys rode the carousel and we took the scenic route back to the house. James went to bed and Pierce attempted to stay up until midnight but fell asleep at around 10:30. Heather also fell asleep and I decided there was no point in shooting any fireworks (I didn’t buy any new ones on the way down because the car was too full already. I was pleased to find though that I had left quite a stash of fireworks at the house from last year, so I had plenty to shoot, just nobody to watch me). Everyone went to bed and I went outside to take some photos of the blue moon. I really got into it and ended up trying my hand at shooting the house with a super long exposure. This was the result.

The next day we hung out at the house all day and went to dinner with Jeff and Mary Lovett at Poppy’s in Baytowne Wharf. It was nice to see them. There was a band outside and James and I went to see what they were up to. James was again enthralled by the band and danced as they played just for him. They played the Chicken Dance song and Folsom Prison Blues complete with lots of “Whooooo, whoooos” for James since we the only people outside. Pierce came out and, with a little coaxing from me, requested Roly Poly and Whiskey River. The band was impressed with his requests and did the best they could. Pierce was pretty stoked that they could just play any song he wanted.

The next day we went to the outlet mall and did some shopping before going to dinner at a seafood place down the road. It was good but James was in high spirits again and I spent alot of time outside with him. That night we went to bed early, since we were headed home the next day.

On Sunday we packed up the car and headed back to the frozen north. As we drove we watched the thermometer plunge down into the 20s. We stopped in Dothan for some McDonalds (Pierce saw a commercial where they were advertising Alvin and the Chipmunks toys so had to make a special request) and then stopped in Columbus at Grandma’s house for a potty break. After a LENGTHY potty break we made the final leg of the drive back to Alpharetta. We got home at about 11:30 and all passed out without even unpacking the car.

On Monday we went grocery shopping and Heather started taking down the decorations. The boys went back to school yesterday and I took the tree down, and that brings us to today.

Josh

James and Grandpa, originally uploaded by NationalGrantham.

First of all…I just put up a new set of photos on Flickr from Thanksgiving. Sorry it took so long. You can view it here.

So where did we leave off? James was counting right? He’s still amazing us everyday with new little tricks and unlimited cuteness. James is talking up a storm now. He can ask questions, answer questions, the whole shebang. You can tell he understands every word you say to him too. Whether he does what you tell him depends on his mood though. James is getting his 2 year molars so he’s been a bit cranky lately and takes it out on us. He bit me the other night through a long sleeve shirt and managed to break the skin. It was just a little nip though so I don’t have the whole set of teeth to show for it thankfully. He’s not really a biter though so I attribute this to the teething. I forgive him.

Pierce is doing well in school. His writing is getting pretty good. It’s so good in fact that I let him fill in the blanks in a Mad Libs book last night (I had to spell the words out for him) and I was actually able to read it back to him when he was done. He is learning lots of sight words and can read some simple sentences. I think I was still drinking out of a bottle when I was 4, so he’s already got a leg up on me. As I’ve mentioned before, Pierce is a great artist, and he just gets better every day. He is now able to draw things from memory that would shock and astound you. During Thanksgiving break he was working on one of his projects (he likes to draw and build things with tape and staples on computer paper) and he walked up to Heather and me and proudly showed us a picture he drew of Mickey Mouse. It was awesome…all the right colors, buttons on the overalls, everything in place. And then he asked, “Where does his tail go?”. We told him his tail is on his bottom so he took his paper back to the table and came back a few minutes later. Upon first inspection the drawing was identical, then he told us to turn over the page. On the backside he had drawn Mickey Mouse’s from behind and put a tail on his bottom. We were blown away by how clever that was.

Thanksgiving was lots of fun. Heather’s mom and dad came up on Wednesday and we cooked everything for Thursday and got all ready. Chris, Theresa, and Charlie came on Thursday and we had our big meal in the afternoon after playing out in the backyard all morning. The weather was perfect. After eating we hung out and listened to music and played until way after the boys’ bedtimes.

The next day we went to the Georgia Aquarium with Heather’s parents. Pierce has been twice already but James hadn’t been since he was a baby so he was amazed. At one point we walked into a big room with a huge wall of glass. It wasn’t the big tank, but the tank at the end of the tropical fish exhibit. There was a diver cleaning the window, and I must admit…I found it a bit jarring to walk into the room and see him floating there up against the glass. James didn’t like it one bit though, and he screamed and hid between Grandpa’s legs. He finally came out of hiding when the diver waved at him, and by the time we had left the room James was waving and telling the diver, “Bye bye!”.

After the Aquarium we went to Atlantic Station and had lunch at a Mexican place by the huge Christmas Tree. After lunch we went to see Santa at Dillards. We were the only people there and the boys got to hang out and chat with Santa for about 15 minutes. Pierce had been talking all day about what he was going to ask Santa for, but froze up when he sat on Santa’s lap and blurted out, “I want some animal toys”. Animal toys? Where in the world did that come from? I reminded him of what he really wanted and he told Santa he wanted Star Wars action figures and a bike and helmet. James didn’t want to leave and probably ran back to give Santa one more hug at least 5 times. We came home and played in the yard for a while after that.

The next couple of days we just hung out with Heather’s parents and did a little prep work for Christmas. We got the house decorated and finally got our tree up later in the week. I’ll have to post some photos of the tree soon. It’s the most beautiful tree I think we’ve ever gotten (it’s also the biggest. I had to go buy a new tree stand for it it’s so tall).

Now we are preparing for the big run up to Christmas. I ordered our cards yesterday after a successful photoshoot on Sunday while the boys were still dressed up from seeing Santa at our neighborhood clubhouse. So far they’ve seen Santa 3 times since Thanksgiving! I’ll post more as it happens!

Josh

PS- We also got a Shelf Elf (google it) on Thanksgiving. Pierce named him Zack and he hides every morning with some kind of treat for the boys. They love trying to find him and laugh when they find him in a goofy spot like riding the horse statue in our living room, or hanging by his arms from the microwave oven door handle. After naming him, I asked Pierce what some of Zack’s friends were named at the North Pole and his response was, “Probably like Zack, and Cody, and Frenchfry Head”. What a weirdo.

Look at what James can do! Click here and allow my little genius to blow you away!

Josh

The Star Wars Family, originally uploaded by NationalGrantham.

I’m running way behind I know, but here is a little bit about Halloween.

We had a great Halloween this year! As you probably know, Pierce has become a huge Star Wars fan and he had the idea that we should all dress as characters from Star Wars since he was all set to be Obi Wan Kenobi. Heather found an awesome Ewok costume for James. Heather was obviously going to be Leia and luckily I got to be Darth Vader. We got Heather some Princess Leia ear muffs and Heather just happened to have a dress that was perfect. Being a man of large stature, I was concerned about the fit of a store bought costume, so I decided to make my own Darth Vader costume. I think it turned out pretty well. Mimi showed up a few days before Halloween with a Yoda mask and the Star Wars family was complete.

Pierce and James wore their costumes to the Fall Carnival at school the week before. It was a good thing we had a dry run with the costumes too, because we found some issues with the fit of James’ costume, and we had to make some pretty major alterations to it. On the 30th Pierce was allowed to wear his costume to school for the school party. Heather, Mimi, and I went to Pierce’s party at school and it was all smiles until Pierce had a major meltdown and we had to go. It was crazy but he was all recovered and in good spirits by the time Halloween night arrived. We all got dressed up and roamed the neighborhood. James rode most of the way in the wagon while Pierce jumped around with his lightsaber, grabbing as much candy as they could carry. It was cool and drizzling rain all night, so there weren’t as many trick-or-treaters out this year, but it was still fun.

To honor the occasion, I made a video…click here to view it. I hope you enjoy!

Josh

Pumpkin Carving With Daddy, originally uploaded by NationalGrantham.

Every October I hear the siren call of the pumpkins, they want to be carved. They want to be made into something more, and I give them that. I free them from the shackles of the Jack-o-lantern fate they have dreaded since they were just seedlings.

Josh

Check out these stats since September…

James :: Strep 2 weeks ago. Croup this weekend.
Pierce :: Croup in September
Heather :: Hospitalization in September
Josh :: Strep 2 weeks ago (courtesy of James)

What is going on? This is getting out of hand. If I were the paranoid type I’d say it was something in the air in our house, but it’s everywhere. Swine flu, strep, various colds and other bugs. What a world.

So in addition to the run of the mill sickness, yesterday was injury day. James fell down a couple of weeks ago and hit his head at school…which produced a little knot on his forehead. A few days later, Pierce threw a little baby book into James’ crib, while James was in it, and nailed him right on the same spot. It swelled up again and almost split. Yikes. So fast forward to yesterday. The forehead is still kind of black and blue, and James was walking around in the kitchen, chasing Heather. He did some kind of crazy spin move and fell face first into the corner edge of the oven…guess what he hit? The knot on his forehead. Later on in the afternoon, Pierce and I were sitting on the floor playing Pac-Man in my bedroom and Pierce was in my lap. I had to get up to do something and he wrapped his arms around my waist, as I stood up his arms slid down my legs until he was laying on the floor, arms wrapped around my ankles. I took a step and my heel came up right into his mouth, mashing his lip against his teeth. He immediately screamed and asked, “Why did you kick me?”. I felt so bad. His lip was split on the inside and bleeding like crazy. I had to try to explain that it was an accident while apologizing profusely. All of this is bad enough, BUT WAIT THERE’S MORE! Pierce was taking a nap and James, Heather, and I were out in the yard putting out new flowers and getting our pumpkins situated. James and I came in to get something and Heather was still outside. As I was doing whatever, James made a break for the garage door. As he was running for the door, I could hear Heather in the garage, walking towards the door. I ran and grabbed for him, but couldn’t catch him before Heather opened the door right into James’ face. I did manage to catch him as he fell backwards. But he split his lip on the door. Unlike Pierce though, James settled down after a few minutes and was fine, until he fell down again in the kitchen about an hour later and fell face first into one of the cabinet doors…hitting his knot again.

Josh

Hello Over There, originally uploaded by NationalGrantham.

Fall is here! We went to the Pumpkin Patch on Friday afternoon. Burt’s Pumpkin Patch is without a doubt one of my favorite places in the world. We’ve gone 4 years in a row now and I think we all love it. The best part is the fact that the whole place smells like pumpkin pie. You open the car door and are just engulfed in the smell of pumpkin pies being baked. I don’t know where they are baking them but it is incredible. Then there is the sea of pumpkins…that’s pretty cool too. The boys had a ball running around in the pumpkins and picking out which ones to buy. We also went on the hayride again. This year James was old enough to know what was going on and he was cracking up laughing and dancing…basically being his same old goofy self. I’ve got lots of photos up on Flickr. Head on over there and check it out. I’m also going to be making a video of the trip sooner or later so be on the lookout!

Josh

Playhouse!, originally uploaded by NationalGrantham.

Sorry it’s taken a few days to put this up, but as most of you know, we’ve had to spend a few unexpected days at the hospital. Since everything is slowly returning to normal now though…I present to you…Pierce’s 4th birthday!

The celebration really started a week before the big guy’s birthday while we were down in Florida. Pierce got his first gift and we had cake and all that. So last week was a short week being Labor Day Week, and we had tons to do and not much time to do it in. Pierce was getting a sandbox and a playhouse for the backyard and they both had to be built. We have a hill in the back and had it leveled off at the top with a retaining wall put in a few weeks ago, so I got to work on the sandbox on Wednesday. I finished the sandbox Wednesday and worked on the playhouse Wednesday and Thursday. Mimi got to our house Thursday afternoon just in time for the installation of the playhouse in the backyard. The whole week we had to keep the blinds closed in the house and keep the boys out of the backyard so Pierce wouldn’t see what was out there. On Friday, Pierce had his party at school (we had to make cupcakes for that) and it was lots of fun even though I was a few minutes late because I had been out with Mimi buying 1,500 pounds of sand and hauling it around to the backyard that morning. After the party I took Pierce to get a haircut and then we went and ran some errands together. He’s a good little errand buddy. We ate some dinner and I had to go back to Home Depot again to buy mulch for the play area since it was just red mud for the moment. After hauling 75 cubic feet of pine bark mulch home, we settled in to make the cakes. Luckily they weren’t that hard to make and everyone got to bed at a (relatively) decent hour. The next morning Pierce woke up before the sun because he was so excited about his birthday, which was bad for me and Mimi since we still had a little bit of work to do in the back yard, and Heather had to get all of the party supplies ready. We got it done though and everyone got ready for the party after letting Pierce see his new sandbox and playhouse. He was so excited and proud of them. We got to the party place a little early in the hopes that they would let us come in and set up (tons of Spongebob decorations), but they were being really weird about letting us in. They finally let us at least bring in our supplies and a few minutes later let us come in to play. Pierce’s friends started showing up soon after that and after a little while we had about 18 little kids running riot all over the place. It was great. We went down the slides and ran around and jumped and had a ball. In the middle of the party the lights dimmed and a laser light show started with a disco ball and dramatic music. One of the workers there announced in the microphone that there was a special guest for Pierce’s party and who walked out but Spongebob himself! They had a dance party with Spongebob that was super cute. After that they played some more and eventually lined up to go to the party room for pizza, cake and ice cream. After eating we had some time left over, so Pierce opened his presents with all his buddies. After everyone was gone, we went and had a family lunch at Norman’s Landing. Pierce played ping pong with Jud most of the time we were there and we went home to hand out with family for the afternoon. Everyone stayed over for a few hours watching the kids play in the clubhouse and sandbox. We also had the traditional pinata smash which was fun. It was a great day and I think Pierce really enjoyed his special day. I’m so proud of him and I love him so much. He’s a good kid and I hope to spend many, many, many more birthdays with him.

Josh

James, originally uploaded by NationalGrantham.

James went for his 18 month check-up yesterday, even though he only turned 17 months. He got some shots but according to mommy did well. Here are his stats for your information!

Weight :: 28.6 Pounds (75-90% Although he wouldn’t stand still and the scale was fluctuating between 28 and 31 pounds)
Height :: 33″ (75-90% Again…he was wiggling so this may not be accurate)
Head Circumference :: 90-95%

Josh

Pierce Dress Uniform 2, originally uploaded by NationalGrantham.

Pierce’s class had their first field trip today! They went to the Publix right next to the school. It was seriously the cutest thing I’ve ever seen in my life. I’ve never seen a group of kids so excited to be at the grocery store. They got a tour of the whole store, starting with the pharmacy. They got cookies at the bakery, chicken strips at the deli, pineapple in the produce department, got to see a lobster close up, and got to watch the packing machine wrap the meat in the meat market. It was pretty cool. School policy is that on field trips and on days when there is a speaker, the kids all have to wear their standard (dress) uniforms so Pierce got to wear his tie for the first time. He was pretty excited about that and as you can see looked very sharp. Some people just look right in a tie, I think it’s got something to do with the shape of the head and shoulders and I think it’s obvious that Pierce is one of those guys. I’ve got photos from the whole field trip on Flickr. You can see the set by clicking here.

Josh

PS- I almost forgot…when they were at the pharmacy, the pharmacist asked if anyone had ever taken medicine and Pierce raised his hand. The pharmacist asked what kind and he said, “I’m not sure, it was the pink kind”. The pharmacist nodded and then Pierce added, “Oh I also had the cherry kind!” It was too cute.

PPS- Also, when they were viewing the meat department, they got stickers…the ones they put on the meat packages that say “Publix Premium Beef”. Everybody got 1 except Pierce who got 2. One of the little boys saw Pierce had 2 and said, “Hey why does Pierce get 2?” to which his teacher responded, “Because he’s Pierce!”. She went on to tell me how smart she thinks he is and how she’s always telling him he’ll be the head of a company someday or even President of the United States. She told me how impressed she is with his desire to learn about EVERYTHING. I was so proud I could have popped.