Memorial Day Weekend

OK, so I am new to this whole blogging thing, but am excited about the prospect of being able to stay better connected with family and friends. While posts on this blog will come nowhere near the gut busting hilariousness (is that even a word??) of my sister and brother-in-law's blog in Happy Valley (Penn State) I hope it is at least informative to those who care to stay updated with the happenings of the Petroeljes. So....we'll start with Memorial Day weekend.
Memorial Day weekend is always such a great time of year. I love the fact that it is somewhat of an "unofficial" kick-off to summer. It's great to spend time outside (although my flowers are still sitting in their flats and have not been planted in the ground yet!), BBQ with family, attend a parade, and most importantly - recognize those, both past and present, that have served in the military. Eric's dad has restored two antique farm tractors, so for the second year, Eric drove one of these in the parade. However, this year, instead of watching from the sidelines, Grant had the opportunity to ride along. We prepped him the night before (well...conned him to go to bed) by telling him that he'd be riding Grandpa's tractor in the morning. Needless to say, when he woke up, he had NOT forgotten the fact that it was the big day for a tractor ride. So, he donned his "My Grandpa Drives a Farmall - And I Hang On" t-shirt and charmed the crowd with his smile and Miss America wave.

This was also an exciting weekend for us, as it was the weekend we were making public our exciting news that we are expecting another baby in mid-December. Grant hasn't really grasped the concept of being a big brother yet - when Eric asked him if he wanted a brother or a sister, he said he wanted a sister (he changed his mind later in the week to brother). When Eric asked him why he wanted a sister he stated "I LIKE sister." Hmmmmm....hopefully Eric doesn't have to have a heart-to-heart with him at this age yet about the fact that he can't have those types of feelings towards relatives!
I am just so amazed at how "big" our little boy is getting! You just never know what's going to come out of his mouth next! Last week, the big new thing was saying his ABCs. He recited all of them from A-Z, and while I'd like to take full credit for it - I have to give a shout out to his buddies at daycare, where he spends his time 3 days a week. He also knows some of his shapes, the colors green and red (merely because green is the color of Grandpa G's tractor and red is the color of Grandpa P's tractor), and can count to twelve (and did you know that 20 comes after 12???). I had a laugh this morning, too. As I was putting on my sandals to go to the district softball and baseball games, he said "cute shoes mom." Where does he pick these things up???
OK, my apologies - I think I've written a book here. Hopefully I can do a better job of keeping this thing updated than I do of keeping my photo albums in order!