23 Months {December 11, 2014}

I absolutely want to cry…where has the time gone? This sweet child constantly melts my heart…my precious boy!

Favorite Foods: This darlin’ continues to indulge in chicken nuggets (“kickin”) and meatballs (“ball-balls”), Goldfish (“pish”), Pop-tarts (“pop-pops”), cereal (Honey Nut Cheerios), pizza, and yogurt. He has recently tried peanut butter and honey again and seems to enjoy that from time-to-time…not an everyday necessity yet. I am still struggling with the fact that he does not enjoy fruits or vegetables. In fact, there is almost an aversion to these since he usually gags or spits when we force a small taste on his lips. We keep trying but the struggle continues and is very real!

Favorite Toy: He is currently a car, truck, and train fanatic. He loves to push anything with wheels on the floor, table, bed, or train table. SO. MUCH. FUN! Jason and I love to sit in the floor and play with him as he scoots these about making there corresponding motor noise. Building train tracks on the train table only to be snatched apart is a fun game too.

Favorite TV Show or Movie: In the recent past, we have jumped into “Melmo” (Sesame Street) and Chuggington with both feet. It all started with reading books that were based on the popular TV series and characters and has grown into a love of anything with these characters. It absolutely melts my heart to see his precious face light up when he sees them and to hear his sweet voice scream their names.

Favorite Books: My precious boy continues to ADORE stories from his Bible. Jason and I read one to him every night before bed and he enjoys “reading” them to us as well. My favorite part is when he opens the Bible and says “God…us.” This translates to “God loves us.” Be. Still. My. Heart.

We are definitely in the Christmas Spirit around our house. Levi is loving all of the Christmas lights in the yards of those around us, Christmas trees, and the sight of the Jolly Old Elf himself, Santa (“H, H, HO!”). {We have not tried an official sitting with Santa but will be conquering this soon.} Our elf is JiNgLe and he always keeps us on our toes and keeps our eyes open for his new landing spot. It will be a very sad day in the Grizzard home when JiNgLe goes back to the North Pole…but we are enjoying him while he is here. My little man understands a little bit more this year about the traditions of Christmas. The joy that feels my heart as I just watch his face light up with every glowing light, shiny decoration, and Christmas story is absolutely priceless.

My little love is just a complete joy to watch grow up and is SO much fun. He truly has stolen my heart. I literally cry thinking about how special he is and how much I love him. Though he is growing every day, talking up a storm, and discovering so many new things, he will ALWAYS be my baby!

Choosing the perfect Christmas tree (tee)!

Opening his book of the day. Kaye-Kaye gave a basket of 25 books...one to open each day through Christmas.

JiNgLe All the Way!

This post has been in the drafting stage for quite some time…just a bit of a delay.

It is SO hard to believe that the Christmas season is already here. Everywhere you go Christmas music and evergreen scents fill the air. I literally feel as if we just rang in 2014 and hosted my precious one’s first birthday and yet here we are again preparing our hearts and homes for one of my favorite times of the year. I am very excited to decorate our home for the holiday season as Levi is beginning to show interest in lights, trees, and of course Santa (aka h, h, ho). Unfortunately, I am quickly learning that all of my decorations from Christmas’ past will not be making an appearance this year.

With this fun season comes the return of our darlin’ little elf, JiNgLe! Yes, his name is spelled that way…every other letter is capitalized. Jingle brings lots of bright and cheery smiles, giggles, and sometimes gifts during the month of December. The gifts are very small but often include a fun little note from JiNgLe. Although Levi is still very young and does not understand the majority of the Elf on the Shelf concept, he is very aware that JiNgLe moves to different places. This has become an amazing game of peek-a-boo. So stinking adorable hearing him call JiNgLe’S name and say “BOO!”

I am looking forward to sharing more of our elf encounters throughout the month. Here are a couple of snapshots from the week.

JiNgLe brought a sweet letter with lots of love and reminders!

This is just a close up of the letter I grabbed and modified from Pinterest.

Levi loves coloring so JiNgLe colored a picture of Santa for him and brought some extra coloring pages for his little buddy!

Live Bunnies

We have had the privilege of working with the most precious photographer over the past few months. Julie Brooker at Julie Brooker Photography has done the most amazing job capturing sweet memories of Levi and our family. We heard great things about her from friends and decided to ask for her help with Christmas card pictures in December of 2013. She also took Levi's one year pictures in January of 2014 and once again her talent, creativity, and sweet spirit produced 140 something perfect pictures. So...when she texted me and asked if we wanted to attend a photo op at Providence Park with live bunnies for Easter, Jason and I dropped everything to make sure that we did not miss this opportunity. Totally free...just bring Levi to the park at 5:30.
I leave work running on this chilly April day like a scalded dog to go pick Levi up from day care (I knew he would need to be spruced up a bit). We change him into the sweetest little light blue and white gingham romper with his monogram in white on the left chest and head to the park which is a short distance from our home. I have envisioned the sweetest pictures of him holding these bunnies and can just imagine them in a light and airy sunroom. When we get there, very few families are waiting for their pictures. Levi was able to begin his session almost immediately following our arrival which was great considering that he was tired and it was very close to dinner time.
As we approach the area set up for pictures we attempt to ease Levi into the situation by showing him the bunnies. There were two bunnies, Frozen and Olaf, that were super cute. These little fur balls were bundles of energy and always on the go. This proved to be a bit overwhelming for my love as we made several attempts to take his picture sitting on a picnic table holding the bunnies. We finally reverted to taking his picture while he looked at the bunnies in the basket that Mommy or Daddy were holding. As you will see in the pictures, this did not go over very well either. Needless to say, her efforts were great and we made and captured more precious memories with our sweet love. Although my original vision did not come to fruition, I have priceless pictures of my baby boy that I will always treasure.

 

 

 

 

Frozen jumped out of the basket...scared. to. death!