Happy Easter!

Happy Easter!

My alarm went off promptly at 5:30am, and Damon kindly volunteered to venture out to the backyard to hide the plastic eggs I had filled for Alexa.  After 6am, I heard Alexa excitedly talking in the kitchen, having seen her Easter basket on the island.  She reviewed the contents of the basket, proclaiming the Easter Bunny gave her everything she wanted.  Success!  The Easter egg hunt in the backyard was an even bigger hit, as she found the eggs filled with Goldfish crackers, fruit snacks, silly band bracelets, Skittles, pretzel M&M's and jellybeans.  I thought this was a pretty good variety, but I think Alexa cracked open each egg and expected to find something different in each one.  This Easter Bunny buys in bulk.... :)  Nevertheless, she was thrilled with her haul, and the whirlwind morning was complete by 7am!

After a delicious brunch buffet at The Roaring Fork restaurant, Damon unfortunately had to go to work since he had taken off on Thursday.  Alexa and I were initially planning to have dinner at Wildfish, but the brunch left us absolutely stuffed...I don't think either of us thought about food all day.  And if you know Alexa and her love of snacking, you can only imagine how full we were after brunch!  Alexa and I spent the rest of our day making Easter arts & crafts and enjoying some time outside in the beautiful weather, staying busy with the hula hoop, trampoline and bubbles.

Despite the joy of the day, I know all of us felt a sense of sadness without our Granty.  Last Easter, I was over seven months pregnant - - it's almost a surreal feeling to know that I still had to assemble only one Easter basket a year later....we miss our boy and a day doesn't pass without thinking of him.  Papa Hovey paid a visit to him today for us.

XOXO

That crazy bunny didn't eat all of his carrots....

One heavy basket. :)

Checking out the haul - and sneaking a few jellybeans for breakfast.

Happy Easter!!

Excitement is Building....

The excitement and anticipation of Easter culminated today for Alexa....

Unlike most kids, Alexa's favorite holiday, hands-down, is Easter.  I welcomed her excitement for the holiday, as it was much easier for me to share her enthusiasm now versus this past December with Christmas.  As I took an inventory of the items I bought and stuffed 30+ plastic eggs (the egg hunt will take forever tomorrow morning!), I realized I probably went a bit overboard.  I still haven't gotten the hang of scaling back to one kiddo.  Oh well...the Easter basket items - a My Little Pony and matching beach towel, electric toothbrush, hair clips, etc. - are all items that will get plenty of use.

Tonight was the easiest night I have ever experienced when getting her ready for bed - - at 5 o'clock, she was already asking me if it was time to go to bed so the Easter Bunny could come.  She was even straightening up the house with me, wanting to make sure there were no trip hazards for the famed bunny.  It's too bad Easter cannot be every day.

I already had Damon turn off the sprinkler system in the yard, so the only thing left is to remember not to let Alstott outside in the morning after I hide the eggs.  Otherwise, we will have the shortest egg hunt ever, as our puggle is sure to find each of the eggs if there's food inside them!

As I set out her Easter basket on the island in the kitchen, Alexa asked me why Granty didn't have a basket with his name on it like she does.  She always seems to catch me off-guard with these questions!  Thankfully, my response that he had his "Grant" Easter basket in heaven seemed to satisfy her concern (good thing she didn't ask about shipping!).  It still makes me happier than anything to know that she's still watching out for her baby brother.

The "Alexa" basket of goodies....

Golf Anyone?

I am very proud to announce the Grant Hovannisian Memorial Golf Tournament will be held in Fresno on Saturday, May 4th.  Damon's brother Vincent derived the event, and he, along with Damon's sister Gia, are planning the entire event (I take no credit whatsoever).  All proceeds will benefit Phoenix Children's Hospital, and based upon the feedback and responses Vincent has already received, it looks to be a great fundraiser for a cause so close to our hearts.

I cannot tell you how honored Damon and I are to have this event in Granty's name; it is yet another positive way to preserve our little guy's legacy.  There's no doubt how proud Granty would be of his aunt and uncle.

The adorable invitations (front & back):

Jam-Packed

As much as I love spending quality time with Alexa, it is nice to get a break once in a while, and today Damon provided me with exactly that.

Because of the upcoming Easter holiday and the following week's trip to St. Louis, Alexa has two consecutive Thursdays of gymnastics from 4-5pm, following by her usual swimming lesson from 6-6:30pm.  Needless to say, it is a bit tough from me to get out of the office in time to pick her up from school at 3:30pm, so Damon was kind enough to change his schedule to take tonight off (he'll work Easter Sunday instead).  This morning I packed Alexa's gym bag with a leotard (and matching hair clip, of course), cover-up skirt, swimsuit, towel and pajamas for changing after swim.  Damon just shook his head and laughed as I explained the agenda for the night, and the wardrobe change required for each.

I knew Damon had it under control, so it was extremely relaxing to drive home from work without having to continually check the clock and worry about making it to Alexa's school on time.  Tonight I was able to swing by the pharmacy and squeeze in a 5-mile run (and ab workout) all before Alexa and Damon made it home from swimming.  I felt like a real "lady of leisure" running on the treadmill while it was still light outside....

As much as I enjoyed my two-hour break, I was very excited to see them both when they came home after swimming.  According to Alexa, she actually let go of Coach Anthony tonight (confirmed by Damon), and she did perfect cartwheels at gymnastics.  Sounds like a great night was had by all!

The crew..... :)

Jellybeaned-Out!

When my parents were visiting over Alexa's Spring Break, they took her to one of her favorite places - the Scottsdale Public Library.  She can spend hours at the library, playing with the puppets, listening to the books on tape and messing around with the various exhibits they have for the kids.  All of the checkouts are self-check, so Little Miss Independent loves to check out the items by herself.  She usually has amassed quite a collection of books and videos, so this checkout process sometimes feels like it takes just as long as the visit itself.

Despite checking out a plethora of books, Alexa will usually hone in on one or two that we will read repeatedly.  Our nightly reading routine is quite entertaining - - I will read her a book at least two times (the current one is "The Jellybeans and the Big Dance"), and then she will 'read' the book back to me once or twice.  It's pretty impressive to hear how well she remembers the story and mimics my inflection.  Even more impressive is her ability to hear the same story over and over and over again without growing tired of it.  I'm eagerly looking forward to the due date for this "Jellybeans" book.

It used to be our weekly routine - - every Friday, Granty and I would pick up Alexa from Aftercare and head over to the library until it closed at 6pm.  In addition to her own books and videos, Alexa would always pick out a couple of board books for me to read to Granty.  I need to restart the routine, but it will be very different without having our little boy in tow....

One of my favorite photos - Alexa reading "Pinkalicious" to Granty.

Giraffe Namesake?

I had seen a news headline about a rare species of giraffe, the Rothschild Giraffe, born at a Conservation Center in Connecticut, and I immediately thought of Granty.  My friend Molly had the same thought, as she e-mailed me a link to one of the news stories about the birth (http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2013/03/rare-giraffe-born-in-connecticut/)... great minds really do think alike :)

Tonight Alexa and I looked at pictures of the newborn giraffe on the Internet, and she ooh'ed and aah'ed over how cute the baby is (in her words - "Cute like Granty!).  She was definitely more interested in the pictures of the giraffes than the fun facts about the Rothschild species that I was plucking from various sites - they can have up to five horns and are 20-feet tall!  She did seem to think it was pretty cool that this species is considered to be the tallest land animal; if there's a superlative involved (since everything seems to be a competition these days), she's interested.  lol

The LEO Zoological Conservation Center is hosting a contest to name the giraffe, so naturally, I think Granty (or even Grantie)  would be the perfect name for this female giraffe.  I know it's a long-shot, but I am planning to write a letter about our Granty's story and submit it for the naming contest.  Since Granty already has a herd of giraffes at zoos throughout the US, I figured having one named after him is the next-best thing!

What a cute "little" baby....she already stands 6-feet tall!
LEO Zoological Conservation Center/AP photo 

Four Months....

Four long months...

It's tough to adjust to the pervasiveness of this level of grief; it can quickly become all-consuming.  I'll be the first to admit that I have intentionally kept myself extremely busy over the past few months simply to avoid falling into the "black hole" of sadness.  Whevenever I have a moment of downtime, my thoughts always go to Granty.  I relive so many of the moments of his life - - from the most joyous, to the most mundane (the things that became Granty-esque), to the saddest moments I will likely ever experience.

In the past four months, we have had plenty of moments of joy and happiness, but, even in these light-hearted moments, there's always an underlying feeling of emptiness.  I know Damon and I both feel it, but we also see it in Alexa, just as she mentioned Granty while decorating Easter eggs.  We all miss our boy, and there's not a day that goes by without him being mentioned in some context.  It's not easy to go from a family of four back to a family of three.....

Grant on his four-month birthday in PICU at Phoenix Children's -
Nurse Mandy put together one of her famous wagons for our little
guy to be paraded around the 6th floor.  Mr. Popular :)