40 Things About Grant on His 40th Birthday

On Wednesday, Grant celebrated his 40th Birthday! We have been together since we were kids ourselves; not much older than our oldest child is now. Grant doesn't like to be a focus on my blog, but since it's such a big birthday, I thought it would be fun to share 40 things about him!

I keep teasing him about turning 40, but I know that someday it will be my turn. I had my fun, so now it's time to be nice! I wrote most of the list myself, then consulted with him on a few. We shared a lot of laughs as we read through the final list!

Here are 40 things about the man behind the blog:

But first...Here's how we celebrated Grant's 40th Birthday!  

Grant took three vacation days this week so we could celebrate his birthday, and have a Pittsburgh staycation. On the agenda was late nights, and lots of family time! On Grant's birthday eve, he somehow got our old VCR to work, so we watched a bunch of footage with our kids. We showed them a recording of the musical we were in, showed them our engagement video, and showed them our wedding video. We also watched videos of Dylan's first year of life. It was a great walk down memory lane, but it sure was bittersweet watching Dylan (and our puppy at the time) grow so much during the course of a year!

On Grant's birthday, we all had brunch together, then his mom stopped over for a visit. While she was here, we gave Grant his gifts. He was really happy about his baseball card storage boxes, many pounds of candy, shirts, and Beatles coaster. After his mom left, we rounded up our crew, and took them to my parent's house so we could go out to dinner together. For his birthday dinner, Grant opted for Red Lobster, so he could get the Ultimate Feast! After dinner, we picked up our kids, then headed home for (cheese)cake. We finished the celebration by watching more home videos, and an episode of his favorite show. He had a great day!

So, back to the list. Here are 40 things about Grant:

Grant's first name is actually Richard. His family often uses middle names instead. His dad's name was Richard, and his Great Grandfather was George Grant, who also went by Grant.

He grew up in Mars - Mars, Pennsylvania!

 He has one brother, Eric, who is younger than him.

He is Irish, Scottish, and German.

Grant's dad was the mayor of Mars for many years, and took so much pride in that job! (He passed away when Lily was 1.)

Our kids are the 4th generation in his family attending the same school district.

 His Grandma's family owns a car dealership, and all of our cars come from there - Team Chevrolet!

 His uncle worked for GM, and is very well-known. He earned the nickname "Fbodfather" when he was the product manager for the Camaro.

Grant is left handed.

Grant has gauged ears. (And I'm not a fan, but to each their own!)

Grant and I met as teenagers, when we were cast as Adam and Eve in a musical!

Grant and I started dating on 3/21. We now have a son who has 3 copies of the 21st chromosome. You might notice his three.21 hat in the pictures in this post! We were engaged less than 3 months after we started dating. We were young - SO young - but we made it!

Grant wanted 1 kid - maybe 2 - and I wanted 4 kids. We now have 5.

Grant works in the mortgage industry as a REO recording manager. He uses a lot of lingo I don't understand, so I just smile and nod.

Grant is a people person. He will talk to anyone and everyone, and everyone loves him!

Grant was always adamant that he was NOT a dog person, but our English Mastiff was a game changer for him. She's his baby!

Grant plays guitar as a hobby. He taught himself to play, and he's actually quite good!

Grant's favorite color is green.

Grant knows everything - and I mean EVERYTHING - about pop history, and he's a trivia pro. I prefer to be on his team during trivia games!

Grant loves music, and is full of information about bands, singers, and albums. People will actually call him to quiz him about songs and artists instead of using Google to search! His top five are Neutral Milk Hotel, Misfits, Sam Cooke, The Cure, and Depeche Mode.

His favorite song is In The Aeroplane Over The Sea.

Grant has a record player, and collects vinyl. He is so proud of his vinyl collection!

He also collects baseball cards, ancient coins, and Funko Pops.

Grant is a movie buff! His top five movies are Dr. Strangelove, A Clockwork Orange, Miller's Crossing, Brazil, and American Beauty.

We met in a musical, so obviously he loves to sing! His favorite musical is Les Miserable. (We actually saw the touring broadway show in Pittsburgh. Front row, center seats. It was AMAZING!)

Grant's favorite book is Slaughterhouse 5.

Grant loves Charlie Chaplin and Charles Bukowski.

Grant has 3 tattoos. A misfits logo, and the initials of our two oldest children. He has three more to go. HAHAHA!

His favorite TV shows of all time are Game of Thrones, Leftovers, Breaking Bad, Boardwalk Empire, and WestWorld.

Grant watches football and baseball. He loves the Pittsburgh Steelers, and the Detroit Tigers.

Grant's favorite restaurants are Red Lobster, Taco Bell, Moe's, and Cracker Barrel. He just had the Ultimate Feast at Red Lobster for his birthday dinner!

Grant's favorite foods are chicken wings, General Tso's Chicken, steak, lobster, tacos, and pizza.

Grant's favorite drink is Iced Tea. (I make a gallon of homemade iced tea for him every week!) He actually doesn't drink alcohol much at all - maybe a few drinks a year.

Grant hates pickles, ranch, and green beans with a passion.

Grant's favorite animal is bears. (Hands down. No question. Definitely always bears. -Grant)

Grant loves to play Fallout, The Elder Scrolls series, and Madden.

Grant loves fireworks, and sets them off in our yard as often as he can!

Grant traveled to many states, including Hawaii. He has also been to Canada and Mexico.

Grant loves to drive around. He usually takes Dylan, Lexie, or Lily on a drive each week. He's a fan of road trips!

Grant loves hat naps! You know - the ones where he pulls his baseball cap over his eyes and attemps to sleep sitting up. That is, until a kid starts screaming or running circles around him. (Okay, so we were really struggling to come up with #40. But naps are good when they happen! And obviously, he'll need them more now that he's an old man!)

Happy 40th Birthday, Grant! We love you so much!