I’ll always remember how excited Grant was to take his photo with the Easter Bunny this year! We had a wonderful time celebrating at Indian Hills both at the family party and at Easter lunch after church. With baby due in just a few short weeks it was nice to take a break from hosting and enjoy the festivities. It is hard to believe that next year we will have two little bunnies to celebrate with!
March Memories
March was such a special month! On the very first day of the month we found out that Winnie is getting a little SISTER, Grant continued his love for “skiing” around the house on cardboard skis, we went to Dozer again for a classmate’s birthday, we had to say goodbye to our Chevy (but Dale was very excited about his new Subaru Solterra!), I led an archival lettering workshop at work, EB and GPA pained Grant’s big boy room his favorite color blue, we had Spring Break adventures at Crown Center, Grant got to golf with GPa, we celebrated Grant’s 3rd (!) birthday and ended the month celebrating baby boy #2 at a sweet sprinkle hosted by Megan and Mary. So much joy this March!
Grant’s 3rd Birthday!
On March 24th our Grant turned three! This year we celebrated with family and friends in our back yard on an unseasonably warm Saturday. It was a train-themed party complete with train table, bubbles and homemade cupcakes. On the morning of his actual birthday we continued the streamers tradition and then had cake and presents at EB & GPa’s house. I think he loved tearing them down more than the surprise of having them on his door. His big gift this year from us was a sandbox for the patio. He also got a balance bike, tool kit, and truck basket to hold his lovies. Happy Birthday, Grant!
February Memories
February began with Aubrey’s birthday party at the Hanlin household – kicking off a month of festivities! I always look forward to my birthday and Valentine’s Day (which fall in the same week) and this year our team at work did a market research day for Valentine’s Day, Dale and I celebrated my birthday with dinner at Lidia’s, we had a wonderful family dinner at my parents and we capped it off with a weekend at The Elms. This was a combo birthday/Valentine’s Day/mini-babymoon (just like we did before Grant was born). Grant enjoyed Val this year as well and picked out monster truck Valentines for his class at daycare. This month we also visited the zoo aquarium with Grammy and Pop (their Christmas present), I traveled to Charlottesville to celebrate Holly’s Bachelorette party, and Dale, Grant and I had lots of fun everyday moments playing at home and enjoying family dinners. Sadly, we also had to say goodbye to Granny this month and had a wonderful celebration of her life at our house with the Smith family. I’m going to miss her (and the sweet voicemails she often left after I mailed her a card) so much. For the shortest month of the year, we sure experienced a lot!
January Memories
This month. I was just about halfway through my pregnancy and it was a month full of busy and relaxed moments and lots of family time! Grant loves his new bounce house he got for Christmas that we have setup in the upstairs playroom, we took advantage of some warm weather to walk to school, we enjoyed a KU game at Austin and Ali’s house, Neil and Bruce were in town which led to lots of cousin time and a trip to the Nelson-Atkins, Grant and I made muffins when Dada was on call, and we ended the month with a trip to The Rabbit Hole. He’s at the perfect age to recognize all the books and loved reading them at the museum. We came home with the Frog & Toad series! Grant also loves mixing and his duplo legos right now. To top it all off we had some major family milestones in January as well – we had a wonderful 90th Birthday celebration for Pop at Jack Stack Barbecue and Sophie and Alex shared the news that Baby Wilson #2 is on the way!
December Memories
December was a month full of holiday cheer! We kicked off the month with a beautiful snow and Grant experienced sledding for the first time at Grammy & Pop’s house. He loved going down the hill with Dada! The next week Grant headed to work with me for the Hallmark family holiday party and got to pick out a snoopy lovie at the Hallmark store and eventually decided to briefly visit with Santa. He loved the Christmas cookies best of all. We also celebrated at the Indian Hills family holiday party and Winnie and Grant especially loved the moonbounce. December also included year two of the Hallmark Christmas Experience (and leading several lettering workshops), making pipe cleaner ornaments with the studio at work, celebrating EB’s 60th birthday and of course Christmas Eve and Christmas festivities. Amongst all the festivities I dealt with a few colds and wasn’t able to attend Kriskindlmarkt at Church, decorate gingerbread houses or visit Union station but I am so grateful for all the memories made in a crazy holiday month! Merry Christmas!
