Penguin Picture Post

Warning: The following post may produce uncontrollable "awwww"ing!

(don't say I didn't warn you!)

he stole the show but had had enough by the nights end! (he closed the door after every trick-or-treater)

Best Costumes at our door: I-pod and Michael Phelps - Most Popular: Spider Man

all of the pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/laurabchilds/Halloween08#

HaPpY hAlLoWeEn!

I'll post pictures of tonight's shenanigans tomorrow but just had to show off a sneak peak at Grant and his oh-so-cute costume on the actually day. Our Pudgy Penguin is gonna steal the neighbors' hearts!

-Geoff, we hope you had a "sweet" day, with not a lot of tricks but plenty of treats!

Monster VS Monument

Grant takes on Washington!

Our ROADTRIP

Grant and I just got back from a fabulous, fun-filled week of traveling! Some Army girls had planned a DC get together and I extending the long weekend on the front and back end to play with Rory, Brian, Katie and Jim! Grant toured a pumpkin patch complete with hayride, let Rory and I endulge in some shopping, got to see the famous Mountainside finally, played on the Mall in the rain with Sarah and Nadia, braved the metro in the stroller, got to see fun animals at the Smithsonian-Natural History, chased uncle Brian towards the Jefferson monument, got kisses from Sirius, was almost on TV at a "hole-in-the-wall" cafe in Baltimore, followed Ruby around, got lots of lovin' and had a BLAST!

Here are Rorys Pictures:http://picasaweb.google.com/Richardson.Rory/ElGrantSVisit#
and here are mine: http://picasaweb.google.com/laurabchilds/Fall2008#

Peeing My Pants funny!

I saw this on my new e-friend Kim's blog and OH MY GOODNESS I'm really glad I'm not single!

Ham and a Box 2

We all remember the first Ham and a Box right? Well, heres the update:

(LOOK HOW BIG HE'S GOTTEN! 16 months! I can hardly believe it myself)

Free Stuff!

Okay, its only packaging materials but its all you could want if you're thinking about sending something to Geoff (or anyone else for that matter) The USPS will send you a FREE military kit if you call 1-800-610-8734, option 1 for English, then option 1 for express, priority and global express mail. Ask then for a military kit and they'll send you a whole load of boxes, tape, bubble wrap, customs forms and stickers for FREE! -you can order as many as you'd like too!

So besides creating fun random packages to send to Geoff this weekend was spend singing. Hal Hopson is a famous composer and arranger of church music and I grew up singing his stuff at DSA and Brightleaf. Westminster got him to come this weekend for a Spiritual Enrichment Weekend so Dad and and I spend all day Saturday in practice for the Festival of Hymns. It was so cool being conducted by the person who actually wrote the music. Mr Hopson would actually joke on himself and say "I don't know why the composer chose to write it that way, but he did so lets try singing it pianissimo like its written". It had been a long time since I sang in a choir (I counted 5 years since Camerata at Elon!) and it was a nice feeling. Hope you all had a good weekend as well!

Heading Down Hill

so I guess it all goes down hill from here...
Grant and I got home from running errands, he was sleepy and it was his nap time so I took him up to his room and put him down. I continued putting away groceries and realized that I didn't know where my cell phone was. I went to the house line to call it and there was no dial tone. I'm sorry, it was a little too much "I know what you did last summer" for me so I ran up to the computer (we'd been without cable internet and TV for the past 2 days so I'm really thinking the world is against me) I emailed Rory and said "call my phone until I pick up" thinking that I'd be hearing "Girls just wanna have fun"-her ringtone- before too long. Cell phone was in the fridge, between the milk and the leftovers from last night! Finally could call about the land lines and there are issues in the area so its not just some mad man out to get me... phew.


--updated at 2:08pm... on the phone with Verizon about the stupid land lines and miss Geoff calling from Iraq... GRRRRRRRRRR

Walking in Williamsburg

I realized that I hadn't posted a video of Grant's walking yet, and whats a more picturesque backdrop than colonial Williamsburg?!? He LOVED the music, he danced and clapped and wanted to get right on in with all of the old timey action!

Coloring Crazy

Our future Picasso has discovered the Wonder of Crayola!

Lunch Time Lessons

Here are some pictures from lunch, along with some of the lessons I learned:

~We have an ambidextrous eater! Depending on where the food is on his tray Grant will eat with either hand.

~There is more than one way to clear your plate! ...and when Grant is done, he doesn't even want to see food anymore

~Grant eats his food in order, never mixing. Check out the ambidextrous pictures. First he eats all the cheese, then all the banana, then on to the turkey (he did eat a few pieces before they were banished)

~Bananas divide into thirds naturally! seriously try it, peel a banana, break the tip off (perfect Grant monster bite size already) then break off a 1-2 inch piece. if you take that piece between your fingers and try to peel it open you won't get a smushy mushy mess but instead 3 perfectly portioned pieces. amazing!

and just for good measure, here's a lesson from Dinner

~if you're gonna eat Mac & Cheese, you might as well eat it naked (it saves a lot of trouble)

Captain Childs?

Cross your finger, say a prayer... Geoff's packet goes before the review board to make Captain today. We had a minor emergency last week when I needed to hunt down specific forms that were missing but we got it done. The branch manager called to assure me that the faxes had come through and said "Captain Childs' packet is complete" -eeek- It'll still be a while before its official but it was still pretty cool to hear.

Blast from the Past Playdate!

Meet Ava Grace!
Her mommy, Nicki and I were good friends back in High School
(she was my super fun care package sender when I was in Austria)

Grant was very excited to meet Ava

He thought she was sooooo sweet, as did I!

Phone Much?!?

Apparently I talk on the phone WAY too much! Grant has caught on... he talks to everything, including TV remotes, building blocks and shoes (Grant a la Maxwell Smart)