Birthday Boy, Kevie, Party, Hail

What a weekend! It's been full-on busy!

It started off great with Kevie coming to visit for Grady's birthday. It's pretty special when people are willing to get on a plane for a birthday party for a two-year-old. It's awesome that we can spend time with her but also that she wants to spend time to know her godson. This was also her first time meeting Ainsley. It's fun to see Matt hang out with one of his favorite people - the two of them may have enjoyed each other a bit too much on the first day and had to recover from a hangover the next day.

I decorated for Grady's birthday a bit in advance and nothing warms my heart more than him coming down and pointing at it because he's excited! He kept doing it for a couple days... pointing at the choo-choo, pointing at his name, and when the balloons came - even more excitement!

He had a nice birthday - he loved his cake, which made me happy. He had fun opening his presents. I was a bit worried that E would struggle but she helped nicely and he was okay with the help. We got him a fishing pole but some of this other presents included a tonka dozer (Uncle Eric and Amanda), a John Deere tractor and dump truck set (G & G Moser), a trampoline (G & G Remynse), a bike helmet and horn (Auntie and Adam).

We ended the night with a campfire and smores - it was so nice to relax and have everyone enjoy it. I had to laugh at watching the Grandparents enjoying marshmallows too.

On Sunday, Matt took him and Kevie out for the traditional birthday breakfast. They went to Little Cottage - which is where they went last year. I thought it was nice that Kevie was there to be part of the tradition. After they got back home, we gave him his birthday present from us - his very own strider/glider bike. He was so excited and tried it out right away. Worked pretty well with his helmet too - he was so proud of himself. E thought it was so cool too... "you have a bike and I have a bike!"

After Kevie took off, we attempted the take the weekend lowkey. Unfortunately, a storm moved in and we got a massive amount of hail - enough to hail out the roof, some of the gutters, and some of the door frames - not what we needed and yes, that's what insurance is for but what a bummer. Amazingly, Grady slept through the whole thing. Ainsley did wake up but not right away. E watched with us - she wasn't scared but did think it was interesting.

After the rain calmed down, we went to Burger King for Grady's supper. We thought they'd love to play in the indoor play area after their meal. PSA: Burger King does absolutely nothing for birthdays... they didn't even have a little hat to give him. I get that it's not about the freebies but I wanted to say, seriously. come on. He's two - it wouldn't be hard to go a little extra here.
I did chuckle after the two of them playing in the playground. G wasn't quite tall enough to get into the tubes and climb up well so E had to push his butt up and help him. The two of them would get to giggling!

After supper, we headed for pictures. We did some family pictures after a set of Grady's own shoot. He did pretty well and I'm excited to see what they come out with. I'll admit I'm exhausted after the whole thing - and it was HOT and muggy.

EER watches MJR grab a handful of hail to take a picture.
MJR: Eleanor, do you want to hold the hail?
EER opens her hand.
MJR puts hail in her hand.
MJR stands up to look at something.
EER shoves hail in her mouth.
EER: Daddy can I have more iceballs to eat?

a two-year old Grady

My dear son -

You are two years old today. You are a wonderful bright spot in my days and I love what a doting softie you are. You absolutely adore your sisters and it's obvious. You may be a bit of a brute sometimes and you may be figuring out how big you are but I think your soft heart will be one of the biggest parts of you. You are totally okay with E bossing you around and you love to bring things to A and say hello to her and hug and kiss her. You are my social butterfly at daycare too. You say good bye to all your friends at daycare... when we leave it takes extra time, "Bye Hadley, Bye Cedric, Bye Johnny, Bye Waylon, Bye Myah!" Another one of my favorite things is your laugh... you have the best belly laugh - that gets to go and will infectiously fill a room - I hope this never changes.

As you become two, I think of how far you've come... from that little baby with the cradle cap to the hefty boy with the smile. You look at the world much differently than your sister - You tend to tinker, to think about things, to work things through versus push and bulldoze. I hope you continue to be curious about life. Your words are starting to come along and Dad and I are catching more and more but my absolute favorite thing you say right now is "Thank you mommy." It comes out so sweet and genuine.

My fear for myself as you grow older....the amount of food that you will continue to consume as you grow. There have been meals where I know you polish off more than I do! You are in the 80th percentile for height and weight - bypassing your sister significantly. I don't know how tall you will be but I'm wagering over 6 foot at this time.

My only son, those are my big wishes for you... continue to have your big heart - but be leary to not be taken advantage of, continue to ponder about life - but don't get caught in the weeds, continue to be genuine as it's one of your finer qualities, let laughter take you and those that surround you to a place of happiness. And grow with tenacity - as I know you will take on the world with all that you have to offer.

I love you, my little boy.

Mama.

Whistling, Pictures, SuperSlide

E and I worked on whistling this week. Probably was one of the cutest conversations that we've ever had... especially while sitting on the potty.

I love the girl, no questions asked but potty training is going to be the death of me. We try and try and try and don't seem to be making progress. At the rate that we going, we may be out of diapers by the time I retire.

We went out for pizza during the week with Wade and Lynn. They had Grandma up for some doctor's appointments and invited us up to see the kids. We were able to get a picture of her and Ainsley. Kate and her girls were there too - so they all played together. Matt and I chuckled when Britta checked on Ainsley (and her toys) and Grady decided he wasn't having it. He got up to her "No, No, Ainsley's." He's taking that brothering serious already. We had to convince him that it was okay and Britta was just checking out Ainsley's stuff, not taking it.

The weather has been warm... perfect for ice cream and popsicles and walks. Eleanor's been working on her strider bike off and on all summer... but it seems that we've hit a breakthrough. She seems to understand the gliding aspect suddenly and was just taking off!

We took a trip to Dickinson this past weekend too - Ainsley had her 6 month pictures. It was a madhouse. I left exhausted. Here's hoping we got something. It's hard to believe the girl is 6 months old. She's a peanut. We've been doing solid food but she's struggling a bit with the whole concept and she doesn't really care about bottles. Probably why she's in a low percentile for her weight. The girl has been in the 13lbs range for a month!


We took the kids for a special trip on Sunday, we went to the Superslide park. Had a blast! We did the slide (a bunch of times), the merry-go-round, the bouncehouse, the teacups, the animal train, and the swing. Their laughter made me smile.

 

Eating dinner.
EER: Mom, you have bread?
ALR: Yes I do.
EER: If you give me some of your bread, I'll be your best friend.

Tent in the backyard, swimming, Done.

The weeks are blurs. I've been busy working to get my first issue of the magazine done. I'm a little nervous. I want everything to come out all right. It needs to go to print the first week of September to ensure it's ready for our event. Stay tuned!




We got through the week, pretty uneventful. Even snuck a trip in at the zoo with the family. The weekend was a pretty big deal though. On Friday night, we had a campfire AND Matt and the kids set up the tent and camped in the backyard. In all honesty, I figured it would last for an hour maybe 4 and everyone would be trooping in a huge scuttle. I couldn't have been more wrong. There was a late bedtime (after a couple smores each for everyone) and I could hear through the tent there was some convincing to sit down and not touch the walls and settle in... but it seemed that everyone settled in and last through the night. Ainsley was up before the rest of them.

 

We also took the oldest two to the Hillside Pool - which was the ultimate in my childhood. I was sitting there at one point looking around thinking it looked way bigger when I was younger but I'm assuming the footprint hasn't really changed! E loved it. From start to finish, jumping, splashing, running... even got to swim in the pool (with her arm floaties on) but swimming from wall to wall. By the time we went to leave she had the full body shivers but was ticked that we were leaving. G was another story. From start to finish he wasn't too about it. I don't know why. Water temp? Pool splashers? Who knows. I had to lure him in and play to keep him there and he kept attempting to convince me, "done." He did get a bit braver than his sister as she wouldn't jump into the pool to Matt or I but he did. But I heard a lot of "dones" in the course of 2 hours.




Two things happened on Sunday. We flipped Grady around. We did it sooner than we would have liked but he could easily reach Eleanor and vice versus and we were sick of that. The other was that Eleanor slept until almost 9. The day before must have really wiped her out. It would have been better if those other two hoodlums would have too but I guess it's a start knowing that it can happen.

The next morning after the campout...
MJR: It was rough until about 4. My hips were hurting so bad. I can't sleep on the ground anymore like I used to.
ALR: What happened at 4? Just went numb finally?
MJR: Well, I woke up and thought I'm going to haul them inside, I can't sleep out here anymore. But they looked so peaceful. So I went and took one of the cushions off the patio furniture and slept on that.
That night.
EER see "naked" chair.
EER gasps!
EER: Mom, Dad came and took this curtain off and it's in the tent. Naughty cheeky daddy - you don't take the curtain off.
MJR: Cushion, not curtain.
EER: Yeah, he took the cushion off the chair and now look at this chair!
GRR pointing: Broke!!!

Capitol, Golf, Smores - 2 each.

Last weekend it was a wonderfully slow weekend...

Kids yelled at the next door neighbor dogs.
We threw all the kids in the tub for a bath. Ainsley was a tub hog and she doesn't realize that she can't kick and be as excited with her siblings in the tub as when she does alone. She loves a good bath and does a full body kick... from her arms down all the way to her legs. E thought it was pretty fun - poor G wasn't wild as he's shorted on his space when he has to share with E.

We also took in Capitol Affair. G was super excited when we pulled up. "CHOO CHOO!!! CHOO CHOO!!!" E was excited too but not like G. The thing is G was excited when he got to ride on the train... E had to be "convinced" that it was fun. E had more fun hanging around the capitol building. She found a couple painted rocks and thought it was great. We told her the game was to take her picture and then hide them again.

E and Matt also went golfing this past weekend. We picked up a set of clubs for her - she likes going to "range balls" with her dad. We did find out after they got back, when we went through her bag that she took a range ball ... so we are still working on the rules and etiquette of the game.

We had a campfire to top the weekend.

Getting ready for bed.
After book reading.
Tucking EER into bed to sing songs.
ALR: Ohhh, you smell so good!
EER with big eyes: I have soap in me.