Reason #1 why I'm a Control Freak

Me to Brent: "There is a reason why I'm a control freak and it's a perfectly logical one"
Brent : "...and that is?....."
Me continuing on...."Everything's works out better when I'm in charge of it."
Brent: "Spoken like a true control freak"

No comment.


Now what happened to spark this "conversation" you are asking?

Scenario:
Grant and Gwen have picture day today (which as I'm typing this, I'm hoping the kids are smiling and pretending they love each other at least for the 2 second flash during the brother/sister photo)
...... and after much discussion with my cousin, regarding Grant's "borderline needs a haircut" state..we conclude it's best to "trim it up"

A "shape up" kind of cut.
A "touch up" kind of cut.
NOT a "I'm-heading-to-the-military-for-basic training-" kind of cut.

I gear myself and Gwen up for taking Grant after school....In San Diego, we have Bambinos salon for kids as well as  Pigtails and Crewcuts just to name a few....

We are in the car driving to Bambinos and I receive a phone call from hubby. "Let me take him to Sport Clips with me, I need a hair cut too"...

Inner monologue: "HELL NO! It's always 50/50 at that place and I cannot take a chance on a picture day haircut"

After I don't respond Brent says: "Come on, IT WILL BE FINE, and it will give you a break. I'll be home at 6:30 and we'll run up there"

Inner monologue: "Brent DOES need a haircut...."

Me to Brent: "Ok, fine. I did really like his last haircut from there...try to get Melina again and make sure they don't cut it too short"

Brent: "See you at 6:30"

Let me just fast-forward to 8:30 WHEN THEY FINALLY COME HOME from Sport Clips.

GASP.SIGH.INNER-CRY.

Me:" Grant turn around"  My big -eyed boy drinking his pumpkin shake from Jack-in-the-box turns around and I notice not only how FREAKIN short it is---but I hold up a long piece of hair on the top of his head...and shed a tear at the unevenness around the neckline "
GASP

Inner monologue: "Please Dear God let this be a bad dream"

Brent to me: "What?"

Inner monologue: "WHAT?! Can you really be that surprised with my reaction?!?!?!?"

Me to the nobody in particular: "it's SOOO SHORT and I could have cut a straighter line!!!"
Brent: "It's not that bad."

Me to cousin: "Jackie, what do you think?"
Jackie (not wanting to completely get in the middle of it but knowing she must answer) "Ummm..I've seen better"

Me to Brent :"Take him to the bath and then put him in bed...WHERE is my phone?"
Brent with semi-shock in his voice, "You're not going to CALL them, are you? It wasn't HER fault"

Inner monologue, "Really, not HER fault? She CUT his hair this way! She should not even HAVE a license"

I glare at Brent and then dial Sport Shits. I mean, Sport Clips.

Me trying in my nicest pissed-off-voice to sweet sounding girl on the phone: "Um, my husband and son were just in there for a haircut...I'm not sure who cut my son's hair..'
Sweet girl: "That was me"
Me: "Oh, I'm sorry, I don't mean to offend you or anything...BUT THIS IS THE WORST HAIRCUT I'VE EVER SEEN.."
I continue on for approximately 2-3 minutes explaining the details of her failures...

Sweet girl now sounding feeble: "Oh, do you have time to bring him back in so I can fix it up?
Me: "No, sweetie, it's 8:30 and it's past his bedtime and I know you are closed. I would like a full refund"
Sweet girl: "Can I have your number and the manager will call you tomorrow and take care of it"
Me: "Yes, yes you can".

After a semi-calming hot shower, I go into Grant's room to tuck him into bed and explain to him that I'm not mad at him, I'm just not happy with how the girl cut his hair but that hair will grow back and that he is a handsome boy no matter what.
"Ok mom" he says a nods off to sleep.

This morning, I get the kids ready for their school picture and try desperately to give some "lift" to Grant's hair with some gel.
Sigh. It didn't grow in overnight as I was praying for.

Here's a quick pic of them this morning...Let's hope Gwen opens her eyes and takes her hood off for the actual picture:

Lessons and reflections:
1) When kids are "borderline" for haircuts the night before picture day, do not, under ANY circumstance, get their hair cut at any place that starts with the name "Best" or "Sports"

2) When you recognize that you are a control-freak, make sure you are in charge of a situation if you care that much about the outcome

Have I always been a control freak you ask?"
My mom often tells a story about how, at 2 years old, I would tell my grandmother that "I could do it" when it came to washing dishes after dinner and I would proceed to climb up on a stool and wash the dishes.  
Though we have always have attributed this to my "independence" ..... I now have a feeling that this was the beginnings of a control freak and  I probably thought that I could just wash the dishes better than she could.

Redemption

Received this nice Thank you card from Miss Teacher for the popcorn cake. 
Great, now I feel bad for my red carpet response. 

Lessons learned: 


1) sometimes people aren't outwardly appreciative 


2) Thank you cards are nice to receive..I've been horrible about sending them out in the last few years but I think I'm going to start again.

Red Carpet Response

I'm only blogging about this because I've had requests from all of you (ok, well, just my mom and my friend Tasha--but I'm sure they are just a sampling of the greater population that reads this blog and my masses of fans have been up all night wondering: 


What DID Miss Teacher think of the popcorn cake?


As I'm driving to the school, I have this my vision for the response I was going to receive  (come on folks jump on board with me, it's friday):


As I walk into the school, I notice...Could it be? For me? The red carpet and crowds standing  alongside, applauding, cheering, holding out paper for autographs, requests for more cakes for birthdays, bar mitzvahs, and baptisms.


"Thank you, Thank you", I say.  "It wasn't my best work, but I'm happy with the level of authenticity I achieved with the marshmallows as popcorn"


And at the end of the red carpet, I see Miss Teacher, tears of joy in her eyes: "I have NEVER, EVER, have received a more beautiful cake in my life. My birthday is now complete. Grant will have my undivided attention for the rest of the school year. He will be the line leader, the light switch helper and the lunch buddy for the remainder of the year" And I see Grant, with a big smile on his face. "Thank you mommy: Miss Teacher gave me a star today"


Fade into reality as I pull into the parking lot.


Here's how it REALLY went down:


I walk into school and the director and the secretaries comment how lovely the cake was.
Walk (somewhat quickly, there's excitement in my step) to room 3B and ....
.....to my HORROR I see the cake STILL FULLY intact.
Uneaten.


No time for inner monologue; I ask/shout:"YOU DIDN"T EAT THE CAKE?"


Miss Teacher: "I want to bring it home to show my roommate. Thank you"


Inner monologue: "That's it? Thank you? Do you EVEN KNOW HOW FREAKIN LONG it took to put those marshmallows on there? 
 
Inner monologue continues "And do you SEE my red hands? The are burnt from the melted chocolate-thin-plastic-bottle fiasco. Thank you? That's all I get?"


I quiet my mind and outwardly point out: "These are REAL movie tickets on the here... (I realize the moment the words exit my mouth that I'm making them out to be FRONT row seats to some sold out premier instead of two-for-one Costco Regal tickets)....but I quickly finish...." so don't throw them away" 


Miss Teacher: "I know"
Then, I look around for Grant. He's not by the computer station; Not by puzzles
Me to Miss Teacher: "Where's Grant"
Miss Teacher: "He's under the table hiding".

Of pumpkins, poop, and superheros...

Now, for those of you that know me, you know that I have, let's call it..a "strong personality"....weaved with a bit of a "Type A-don't-mess-with-me-or-my-family" and "do-not-test-mommy-because-she-WILL-follow-through-with-her-threats".


Chapter 1: The Pumpkin Patch


Grant's school went to one of the many pumpkin patches around town last Tuesday. Of course, you can imagine that I JUMPED on the opportunity to be the mommy helper...admittedly because I need to ensure that Grant arrives safely from the school bus at the patch and does not get lost, hurt, or otherwise damaged in the corn maze.  It's a control thing, yea, I know. 
Here are some photos:


Grant and his friends (Iris,Preston, Arthur).

Grant picked out THE BIGGEST pumpkin out of his entire class (mommy had to carry the entire morning)

Grant and his friend, PJ

The class of 3B, Carmel Mountain Preschool

Hayride around the pumpkin patch.

Things I learned at the pumpkin patch:


1) The white pumpkins are the cooking-type pumpkins....the canned "Libby's" pumpkin puree...exclusively from white pumpkins. Apparently the water to pumpkin ratio is lower than the orange varietals. So, all of you reading this who are planning on cooking with "not-from-the-can pumpkin" this fall season, go get yourself the right kind of cooking pumpkin.


2) Second thing I learned was not about pumpkins, but about gourdes. The ORIGINAL maracas (used by indigenous tribes) are dried gourdes which take 3-6 months to dry before you can use them as instruments....and besides instruments.... Have you seen these things when they are dry and painted?? BEAUTIFUL--and they sell for $200-$300 each...check out one artist's painted gourds here....not a bad return for a $5.00 gourde...


......hmmmm... (lightbulb moment: painting gourdes has NOT been explored in my numerous crafting endeavors which range from scrapbooking, crocheting, cake decorating and yes, even basket weaving....)


....so of course I bought one and am currently rotating the gourde to promote re-adsorption of the water and therefore speedier drying. Blog post to follow in 6-8 months.




Chapter 2 Poop on Halloween


We've been gearing up for Halloween and the house is filled with my fall decorations..the kids rooms each have "light up" pumpkins and there are fall leaves (the Michaels kind) all around the house on the mantal and the kitchen bar.  Grant is going to be a Transformer. Gwen is kindly recycling Grant's $50 Elmo costume for me. (Note: she wanted to be a princess, but I informed her that she is a princess every day and that she should be Elmo--this seems to have satisfied her..for now...I digress..this post isn't about Gwen, so I'll stop now).


Anyway, we've been having some "issues" with Grant. He's been FULLY potty trained since he was 2.5, but in the last month, he's been having "accidents"...the "Number 2" kind of accidents.  At school, outside playing,at restaurants, AT THE PADRES GAME....we have been trying to wrap our heads around it..and reasons we've come up to "justify" these incidents are :


1)Maybe he's just waiting to long and it's a "I-can't-wait-until-I-find-a-bathroom" situation. 


Attempted solution = talking kindly and nicely to him about not waiting until the last minute.  Strength of our solution= weak. He's still pooping an I'm throwing out 2-3 pairs of undies a week..


....and sorry folks, although I try to be thrifty, environmentally conscious, etc etc, I DO NOT WASH POOPY UNDERWEAR.  TOTALLY.FREAKIN'.GROSS.
Straight in the trash it goes.




2) Maybe he's upset about Gwen getting attention for her successes inpotty training? 


Attempted Solution= we have started "rewarding" Grant with whatever Gwen is currently receiving as her "treat" if he tells her "Good Job Gwen". (Currently chocolate covered pretzel MnM's


Strength of the solution= Moderate. There are no more tears when I tell him: "It's Gwen's treats for peeing", but his pooping his pants "issue" persists.




New solution to the problem = Have him accumulate "stars" on his chart for good efforts...not just of the bathroom kind...but for being nice to his sister, for cleaning up his toys...for doing his homework..and losing stars for pooping his pants. 


But what to do if he loses all of his stars?
We've tried:


1) Taking away his favorite TV shows...but he is content just watching whatever his sister is watching (Dora-all-the-freakin'-time...I have nightmares about this chica and if she will ever make it to find King Unicornio)


2) Taking away his "Mobigo" game for a few nights....but this doesn't bother him as he just reads books instead.



What would REALLY sink in and solve this problem once and for all? Threatening to lose Halloween. He will NEVER POOP HIS PANTS if he knows Halloween will be gone for him.


Fast forward to yesterday afternnoon. Senario: Grant in his room playing his mobi-go and not napping. Fine. Whatever. He's probably dropping naps now anyways. Enter me into room to put clothes away.  Inner monologue: "Geez, it smells kind of shitty in here. Maybe his room is just stuffy".  
Open window.
Walk out of room and almost STEP on a dime size TURD that is on his carpet.


Inside I'm FREAKING OUT and can feel my face red with fury. 


What I do: Calmly pick up the poop turd and bring it to husband who is working on his computer. "Brent, there is poop on Grant's floor".


Brent deals with the situation with Grant (it's nice to know I'm not the only one who has HIT THE ROOF with anger about him pooping his pants).


I proceed to get my steam cleaner (I was looking for a good excuse anyway to clean the carpets) and as I move his hamper away I notice TWO pairs of underwear that have poop in them thrown inside 


Inner monologue: Really Grant? Is this the best you can do to try and cover it up? You throw poop filled underwear inside your hamper?


I approach Brent about the underwear sitaution and we come to the conclusion that, No, it's not that he was have accidents... Grant was just immersed in other more exciting activities (this time being his video games) and being TOO lazy to walk the 2 feet from his bedroom into the bathroom to go potty.


NOT.ACCEPTABLE.PERIOD.


I look at his star chart which is down to 1 remaining star and rip it off and proceed (calmly, zen-like) to take down his Halloween decorations in his room.
Halloween is over for Grant. He cries in his bed. I feel bad for him, but unsure of what else to do at the moment.




Chapter 3 Superhero among us


For the privacy of our friends, I'm not going to mention specific names and Brent would prefer I didn't even blog about it. But I think there is an ever so important message and lesson and I urge all of you to take this seriously.


We were at dinner last night at our friends house. They have a pool. She is a life long swimmer and an ISR instructor. They have two children, one Grant's age and a 15 month old (I think he's 15months, may be +/- a month). We were all eating outside and Grant and the older boy were riding hotwheels around the pool (which does have a gate, but the boys were inside the gate next to the pool riding the cars along the concrete path . All of our eyes were on the boys THE WHOLE time. Gwen and the baby were keepiig close to the adults so I wasn't too worried about them..and
. 
BOTH OF MY KIDS AND THEIR KIDS ARE WATER SAFE. Thanks to ISR lessons as well as normal swimming lessons.


Still, it makes you (ok, ME) nervous.  They eased my mind by saying, "dont worry, the worst that will happen is they will fall in and get wet and cold."
Still, I'm a worrier by nature.  I come by it honestly. We have friends who have lost children to drowning accidents. It's the #1 killer of children under the age of two...get your kids water safe my friends.....


We finish dinner and it gets dark and the boys grab flashlights to use as they cruise around the pool. Again, we are watching them the entire time.
Then...
...I hear a scream from Grant, "YOUR BABY'S IN THE POOL!!!!"...as he's shining his flashlight into the water.


We all jump 15 feet out of our chairs and look immediately next to me and see Gwen. My heart races.
It's the baby. He's fallen into the pool.
His dad runs over there and pulls him straight out of the water.  The mom and dad undress him and rushes him upstairs to take a warm bath.
He is alright, just wet and cold... and scared.


After the adrenaline rush had subsided we talk about the incident and I share with you THESE LESSONS LEARNED:


1) It only takes a second, a split second, a half-a-blink and kids can fall into the water.  There was no big splash when he fell in, no cry for help from him.
WE WERE WATCHING THEM...and none of us adults saw him fall into the water. 


2) There is a reason they tell you not to use those 'noodles' as toys in the pool. Here's the reason: Although he is ISR trained and apparently was trying to be on his back when he fell in, there was a hose in the water and he was grabbing for the hose to hold onto..which he most probably thought was one of those noodles which would keep him a float. That moment of thinking of a hose as a noodle and not focusing on his training could have been disastrous. 


3) Superhero's among us take on all shapes and sizes and can be as innocent as a 4 year old who recognizes an emergency situation.






Now, Do I reward Grant for his quick thinking and allow him to "Have Halloween" again?


...and icing on the cake? He pooped in the toilet this morning.

The Not So Funny Silly Putty Morning

It's been one of those mornings. It all started last night when Brent didn't get home until 11pm from work....then Gwen got up at midnight until 1:00 a.m.(I rocked her back asleep mostly because I fell half-asleep doing it), and then she woke up  for the day at 4:00 a.m. wanting, "a snack, not breakfast".  I hit the coffee grinder and proceed with the morning while Gwen watched "Dora the Explorer" and ate her "breakfast snack" (I didn't even fight her when she insisted on fishy crackers..some mornings you just have to pick your battles).


Then...a scream..or perhaps more of a shriek...it almost sounded fake. I thought, "Was that Grant from the bedroom? or was it Dora's damn monkey, Boots from the TV?"  Pour coffee.
Scream/screech again.  Sip coffee.


From the hallway walks an eyes-half -open Brent and Grant with what looked to be his pillowcase attached to his head.  I now understand that I mistakenly accused Boots of the scream and it all became clear...or more appropriately, sticky. 


Pound cup of coffee and pour another. Inner monologue: " Damn! Why didn't I make a full pot??"


Me: (even though I without-a doubt knew what happened, I felt the need to still ask.. "What is going on?!!!" Brent: "He has silly putty stuck to his head"


And then I look more closely and see that his pillowcase is being held onto his head by a softball size mound of nasty, brown, gumlike, silly putty. 


I look at the clock knowing I have to leave for work int 15 minutes
Me: "What?!?!? Grrrrrrraaaannnnnnnnt! I TOLD you not to sleep with your silly putty!!!!" Brent: "Michelle, yelling at him is not going to solve the problem".


Brent rips the pillowcase from his head. SCREAM SCREAM SCREAM  Me to Brent: "Like that was a better option?"
Great, now this is turning into a domestic dispute.  


Gwen: (who has been oblivious to this entire situation because Dora is attempting to rescue Unicornio from the evil King Owl), chimes in:"what's going on guys?"  Me to Gwen as if I'm talking to a rational adult who will provide me with a answer as to what to do, "Grant has silly putty in his hair" Gwen: "Ohh....Why????" 

Meanwhile the adults in the house do what they would normally do in a situation such as this: Me--I call my mom in Ohio. Brent- he gets on his computer.


Turns out if you Google "How to Remove Silly Putty From Hair"---it comes up with multiple options. Oh goody, we are not the only idiots who don't check the kids' bed for sticky toys before hitting the pillow ourselves.


Brent reads, "WD-40, baby oil, or hand sanitizer".....Hand sanitizer??? Well, my dear husband, you married the right woman I say just under my breath as I open my kitchen drawer to 7 bottles of STERIS hand sanitizer (I'll save why my parents are well stocked up on STERIS hand sanitizer and routinely send me bottles this for another blog--)

Well, 15 minutes of massaging this miracle solution to remove the not-so-silly stuck-to-my-kid's-head putty and using a fine tooth comb....the first of the mornings' challenges was solved.....or more appropriately, dissolved.

Next up: find a Starbucks on the way to work without a monster line at the drive through.

  As I sip on my $5.00 triple venti non-fat pumpkin latte, I ponder lessons learned from this mornings "challenge":

1) Check your kids' bed for any objects that can result in pillowcases, sheets, or blankets becoming attached to the head.

2) Remain calm and call your mom while your husband looks for a solution to the problem if lesson 1 is not followed.

3) Go ahead and make that full pot of coffee and stop trying to be cheap, you never know how much you'll need to drink that morning.

Lucky's new home

As I was pulling into the parking lot at Carmel Mountain Preschool to pick up Grant last night, I notice standing there by the fence with a big, "Free to a Good Home" sign was this HUGE horse!   I, of course, thought to myself, "What else was my big SUV for than to carry this little fella home in?" Gwen was going to be so HAPPY!! And I'm sure my husband's excitement will be busting at the seems when he sees "Lucky" standing in the toy room and discovers that he requires 52 "D" batteries. Perfect! We're all happy! I raced to pick up the horse, scurrying past 2 sets of moms to claim my horse before they did.

The kids don't care that he's missing an ear OR his tail, they just love him to pieces!!

The "Sneaky Man" arrives

Ok, I know this title sounds a bit creepy, but this is what Grant decided on calling the Leprechaun that was to arrive at our house (and coincidently on the same day at school).
  It all started when I picked him up from school and he had a funny mustache on...I asked him, "Grant, why do you have a mustache painted on your face?" To this he replied, "For when the "Sneaky Man" comes to our school to steal the pot of gold coins". Hmm, I thought, apparently the "Sneaky Man" is how they are referring to "leprechauns" at school. Is this more PC than Leprechaun? Are there some tiny little men with red beards, hats and silly shoes living underneath the rainbow that will be offended if we call them Leprechauns?  Regardless, I figured out what he was talking about and we carried on from there:  Here is a photo of Grant, Gwen and Cam (our neighbor's grandaughter who Grant thinks "is GREAT") riding their scooters after school that day:

Other misconceptions/conversations regarding St. Patrick's day with Grant: 

1)Lesson 1: Clovers are not Clovers in Grant's eyes:   Me;"Grant, look! Your school has hung a clover flag!" Grant: "Mom, that's not a clover, that's broccoli".

2)Lesson 2:  Apparently, the latest and greatest project to do with your kids is to make a "trap and  attempt to catch "the Sneaky Man" when he comes to your house (in my 30 + years, I've NEVER heard of this tradition). 

 Now, realize that it was 2 pm when I realized this new tradition after reading about it on a friend's facebook page; I, of course, went into "oh my gosh my kids will be scarred for life if I don't make a Sneaky Man trap with them" mode and scoured the internet looking for something I could put together with them and not spend a ton of $ building. Here is what we came up with:

Green felt wrapped around an empty bread crumb container, with a construction paper "trap" lid. On top is some "gold bait (ie. Reeces Peanut Butter cups) The idea here folks is that the Leprechaun, er...Sneaky Man...will notice the gold bait on top and climb up the ladder to snatch it, but will be surprised when the top of the hat caves in! Brilliant! This MUST work!  

3) Lesson 3:  Apparently the "Sneaky Man" has gained rank with the Easter Bunny and Santa.

  Grant to me, "Mom, do you think the Sneaky Man will leave me presents?" Me: "Grant the Sneaky man is not the Easter Bunny, nor is he Santa Claus. In fact, he is SO SNEAKY that he's kind of mean and he steals all of the gold money from people."   Translation: Come on kid! Give your mom a break! I put together this Leprechaun trap project idea in the last 2 hours at work, I DID NOT have time to think of buying you presents to go along with this idea. Sheesh! 

Luckily, I had stashed away a couple of Hero masks that the Easter Bunny WAS going to leave in their baskets.....

As you can clearly see, the Sneaky Man, came, climbed the ladder, took the gold bait, and left the kids' hero masks...left a trail of rainbow Skittles....but he did not get caught..this year.

Grant jumped 3 feet out of bed when I told him to wake up and go see if he "caught the Sneaky Man". Here's the video from it:

Grant looks for the Sneaky Man

Don't mind Gwen SCREAMING in the background. She's quite a mommy's girl in the mornings and was NOT happy Dad went to get her from her crib.

Oh, and one other FABULOUS recipe I want to share from The Yummy Mummy blog:

Chocolate Stout Salted Ganache cupcakes

Here's a picture of the ones I made for our St. Patty's day celebration

A new Bento Box for Grant

Well now, I did mention in my first post that I had no idea where I was going to find the time to update this and it's so much easier to post immediate pictures onto my facebook account....but I have been saving these few pictures to share with all of you.

I've been WAITING and WAITING for this bento box to arrive from Japan....I purchased it from the online store  Jlist and although it took a while to get here ( blue was back ordered initially and then the 10 day delivery from Japan), it was worth the wait when I showed Grant and he said 

"A LEGO box for my lunch! Sonya (his teacher) is going to love it".

It's a two layer box: On the bottom layer today, I packed him Mac 'n Cheese muffin  from The Sneaky Chef which I had kept frozen in our deep freeze since the last time I made them, edamame, and  chicken apple sausage from Trader Joes (on "swords" that I also bought from Jlist)

Here's a pic of the chicken apple sausage from Trader Joes (did I mention that I went into the store ONLY to buy an $8.00 pack of EmergenC and came out $150.00 later?)  Grant and Gwen both love these--and convenient for moms because they are already pre-cooked--I just warm them up a bit in some EVOO in the morning before I pack lunches...nice change up from the turkey meatballs I often send.



On the top layer of the box: clementines, goldfish snacks, and watermelon

And of course, his favorite: Vanilla Almond Milk in his new personalized Star Wars kanteen from Pottery Barn Kids

But this new school lunch look would not be complete without his new personalized lunchbox (also from PB kids):

I also bought a few more items from Pottery Barn, but I better save them for another post!

"Pinchies" for Mama's birthday!

Brent was out of town for work and was due to arrive back to San Diego at 3:00pm. I asked him if could come home early for my birthday and he said yes, except for needing to swing by the office and pick up his computer (side story: Brent didn't realize he had forgotten his computer until he was going through the security check point at Lindburgh---HOW do you not notice the weight differential in your computer bag carrying it?) 

Anyway, fast forward to 5:00p with the Birthday girl getting irritated that he's not home yet ON MY BIRTHDAY after being gone.....pour wine.

6:00, considerably irritated now

6:17, in walks "The savior himself" according to the kids reaction, "Daddy, Daddy! Daddy" (Birthday girl/Mom refills her Saugvion Blanc)

I notice him carrying a large box into the sun room and proceeds to tell Grant to help open Mommy's birthday present. AHHHHHH LOBSTERS!!! That's where he was since he landed! Hunting Lobsters down in San Diego!!  Now I feel slightly bad for being so angry!!! Well, Brent took one out to show the kids and dropped it on the ground, which caused a slightly chaotic scene!! Here's the video...I missed Grant saying "They're everywhere!" like it was revenge of lobsters or something. Gwen (or "Gwenies" as she calls herself) did not think eating the pinchies was a good idea at all.

He ALSO picked up a Nothing Bundt Cake--carrot cake, that was DELISH. WOW that is a BIG BLAZE with all of those candles!!