Chloe’s Many Faces

This sweet girl is full of personality, and I love it!

Heaven

Merriam-Webster Definition of HEAVEN

1: the expanse of space that seems to be over the earth like a dome : firmament —usually used in plural   2: a often capitalized : the dwelling place of the Deity and the blessed dead b : a spiritual state of everlasting communion with God

Callie has always had a great interest in Bible stories.  When she was baptized she received her very first picture story Bible and it’s been a favorite of hers ever since.  Now that she’s older she has started to ask questions like, “Why can’t I see God,” or “What’s Heaven?”  While these can prove very hard to answer at times, we somehow come up with the right words to say to her and it satisfies the curiosity for the moment.  Callie is also very open to speak about Jesus and all the stories in her Bible book and we have regular conversations about each story (it’s been a good little Bible study for me too!).  So it took me by no surprise as we were driving to a friends house yesterday that she brought up Heaven, but even I wasn’t ready for this conversation….

“Mommy, when I go to Heaven I’ll get to see Brown Bear*”    “Yes, that’s right, you will get to see him.”  “When I get older I can go to heaven.  When Chloe get’s older she can go to Heaven too.”  … No comment …. “When I go to Heaven Mommy, I’ll get to be with Jesus, Mary and Joseph.”  “Yes, yes you will….” 

It took all of me to not pull over and take it all in….. So much of that conversation gets me, as I'm sure it would for any parent to have with their child.  Not sure how I’ll handle these talks to come, but I pray the right words will come when they need to!

*Brown Bear is a chocolate lab that the Granger’s had and passed away while I was pregnant with Callie.  Even though she’s never met him, she talks about him a lot and about how she’ll see him in Heaven one day.

Beach

We planned to go to the Beach with G-Kat and Papa while Vaughn was in Chicago for work.  I told Callie about it a few days in advance so she could have something to look forward to.  That night, when I went to check on her, I found her sleeping in her bathing suit.  Excited much?!

We got down there Friday night and had a bite to eat then off to bed.  I was woken up EARLY that next morning by a very sick Callie.  Poor thing was so excited to play in the sand and now she was sick for the beach!  She only got sick a couple of times that morning and by mid afternoon she was feeling more like herself.  While Callie rested, Chloe and I got some time together on the front porch- silly girl loves seeing herself in the phone :)

We did finally make it down to the beach.  The weather was perfect, a little chilly with the breeze, but not a cloud in sight.

They got to work right away on building their sand castle.  Callie got down to her bathing suit and cover up- you weren’t about to convince her otherwise.

Not long after this they decided to put their toes in the water.  It was all fun and games until Chloe fell in the water.  So we bundled her up and headed back to the house to get ready for dinner.  YUM, Robertos!

Sunday the girls played and had some more fun while I was sick, yeap I caught a version of what Callie had and it was no fun.  We headed home late afternoon, sad I was sick, but so happy we got to see some beach!  Already wish we could go back, Callie is already talking about what she’s going to pack for next time and what she’s going to build in the sand, love it!

New York, New York!

Every once in a while I’m lucky enough to tag along with Vaughn on a trip to NYC for the MRKet Show.  I was very lucky to go in January and thankful that my parents agreed to watch the girls!  As we were finishing packing Friday afternoon, Callie wanted to make sure Vaughn and I both had our ‘just in case’ band-aids- just in case we got a boo-boo and needed it!  Love it!

Excited waiting in the airport- I don’t get out much! ha

We arrived in NYC, dropped our luggage off at the hotel, then headed out to Lombardi’s for some pie.  It was seriously the best pizza ever.  We ate all but one slice of the pizza!

We then headed down to the Empire State Building.  It was late at night, 10:30ish, and I’ve heard that this was the time to go, and it was!  There was not a single line, I think we were two out of 30 people there? 

It was SO high up!  I’m terrified of heights and would only get about five feet from the edge, my hands are sweating thinking about it, ha!

It was well worth it though.  I mean, look at this view!  One thing we noticed was how quiet it was all the way up there; ah can I go back now?!

We had heard it was going to snow the next day.   I had planned (me plan, crazy I know!) for us to go to the Today Show, but said if it was snowing in the A.M. we’d pass.  So we opened our windows in the morning to see snow!  I was bummed about not going, but I always love snow.

We walked across the street from the hotel to our favorite breakfast spot, the Astro.  A warm hot chocolate for me and a coffee for Vaughn and we were good to go to work- yes we did have to work some while we were there.

Saturday was set up day at MRKET and since we had a booth there, we needed to set up!

I felt like I was in a sea of mannequins with no end in sight.  It was very hard to dress these guys and set up when there was so much to do and see out in NYC!

So we hustled through and made the most of it and had a great time making everything look nice…

which made a late lunch drink even better!

We then hit the streets for some shopping.  Nike Town, FAO Schwartz, H&M to name a few

That night we had a great dinner at a Chinese restaurant, cannot remember the name now.  So yummy and I know we’ll go back.  I had wanted to go see Grand Central Station and Vaughn wanted some oysters at The Oyster Bar at Grand Central.

Sadly we got there after the kitchen had closed so no oysters, but good drinks and- great atmosphere!

We were exhausted at this point and headed back to rest.  Vaughn had to work the show the next day and Kelsey and I were flying home.  Sunday Kelsey and I had a few hours to spend in the city before we had to be at the airport and we made the most of those hours.  We headed to the 9/11 Memorial.  There wasn’t much to see, you needed to get tickets and go when they were open for visitors.  But it was still neat to walk around and take it all in.  Last time I was there it was December after 9/11, so yes, very different.

We then headed to Times Square to take a peak.  I’m always amazed how bright it is with all the billboards!  We couldn’t stay long cause we had a plane to catch.  So we said goodbye to NYC until next time, which I hope is sooner than later!

After a crazy trip home, delayed and unpressurized planes, I got to see these to sweet ones.  They loved their treats from FAO, I seriously could have bought the whole store for them!

Girls Weekend

Back in January Mom and I took a trip down to Atlanta, GA to check out AmericasMart.  We had no idea what to expect, but we were going for fun so it didn’t matter!  We drove down Saturday night and enjoyed a few drinks and dinner. 

We woke Sunday to a bright, windy, cold Atlanta day with a great view of Centennial Park.  We got a bite of breakfast then headed off to the market.  It was a GREAT thing we ate that breakfast too, once we got to market we didn’t stop from 10:00-4:30!  There was SO much to see and even more to buy.  I think we made it through maybe a 1/4 of what was there and I know we missed a ton of great booths.

I’ve already started thinking about our next trip and the fact we need two days to see it all, or at least more of it. 

It was nice to have a night off of “mommy duty,” but I always love coming home to these goobers!

Krispy Kreme

While renovations were going on we took many opportunities to get out of the house.  One such trip was a treat to Krispy Kreme.  Us Granger girls loves some donuts!

Renovations Update

Wow!  January was a bit crazy around the Granger House with all the renovations going on, but I’m happy to say, we couldn’t be happier with how it all turned out! 

The carpet in the den and linoleum in the kitchen was removed.  We were disgusted at how gross these both were, so thankful they are gone.

As crazy as it all was, I got to have some fun- picking out paint colors* and floors! 

At one point, we had the alarm guy, painter, and contractor here working on stuff during lunch

but, it was worth it because it meant progress!

The girls broke the new floors in with a dance party, felt like the best way to do that :)

And this is what it looks like, and still looks like now.  Our rug is in, however, still waiting on our furniture that’s being made (please hurry, were ready to enjoy our room!).

All in all it was a pretty painless renovation. I love the way it all turned out, but it makes all the things we couldn’t do this round stand out to me (kitchen appliances and cabinets).  Maybe next year we'll be doing another renovation?! :)