Soccer 2013

Soccer has wrapped up for this season and what a season it was!

Last year it was mostly 3 year olds and they ran around aimlessly on the field. Not after the ball, just around.

This year the kids run around after the ball and actually try to get it in the net.

They had loads of fun while taking in the sun.  It has been great weather for early morning soccer compared to last year and we dragged out the winter gear for the first few weeks.

Grady had an active cheering squad on the side lines.

Actually, Cooper actively ate and sometimes shared his toys while I actively visited with the other moms.  All in all, we were all happy.

 

 I am so proud of James for taking on coaching the kids again this year.  I think Grady loves having his Daddy as a coach!

Hard to beleive that next year we'll have 2 kids in soccer!

Grady's Actual Birthday and Preschool Graduation aka the last Birthday Post

The morning of Grady's birthday was supposed to be his preschool graduation.  When the city announced that all schools were closed on the 24th I started to wonder if the preschool would cancel the graduation as well.  In the end, the preschool (which isn't a part of the school system) decided that that show would go on!  I was actually very happy that they did.  After days of staying off the streets and keeping low key, it was great to get out and celebrate the kids accomplishments of the past 2 years.  And of course, Grady's Birthday.

I convinced G to wear a non angry bird T-shirt and got him into this collared shirt.  He looked so grown up.  And of course we needed a picture in our birthday hat, a tradition we started last year I believe.

On Friday, it was Grady's day to wear the birthday crown at school.  They get to bring treats, wear the crown, and I assume the kids sing happy birthday.  Since school was cancelled Friday, this did not happen.  Grady was upset.  I emailed the teacher and asked if he could wear the birthday crown for the first hour of school before the graduation.  She was so sweet and said it was already on the agenda.  They went ahead and let him wear it for the entire morning!

They did a great little presentation where the kids were presented with a photo album of pictures of them taken over the year and also a certificate.   They did a great job.

This past 2 years of preschool has really made me appreciate the importance of a great teacher.  Grady loved going to school and this was largely due to his fantastic teachers.  I also realized that the thank you that we tell them at the end of the year in no way shows the amount of gratitude that I have towards these 2 wonderful woman.

We went for lunch after school.  Remind me next time I say I am taking the kids to a restaurant that it isn't a good idea. It never is.

After lunch I let Grady open his gift from us - a new bouncy castle.  He was so excited to finally open the big present that had been wrapped in the office for a few days.

 

He told me that it was the best gift I had ever given him.  Even though he had told me the exact same thing the day before :)  I got the biggest unsolicited hug ever and that made it all worth while!

We had N+N over during the afternoon to play.  Their mom was busy working from home trying to meet the tax deadline and their dad was off to help some friends clean out their house that suffered severe flood damage. This was my way of feeling like I was helping someone. Over the past several days I have felt useless and at least this made me feel like I was helping out in some small way.

I have no pictures of this play date as I had my hands more than full with 4 boys!  Ha! 

After the boys left, we had the family over for a burger supper and more cake of course!

We snapped our annual family shot.

And headed out to the bouncy castle for a few jumps.

 

All in all it was great day celebrating our 5 year old boy. 5 years old. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't happy the celebrations were over. I'm exhausted. Catch 'ya next year!

Celebrating with Friends

Grady's birthday party with his friends was scheduled for this past Sunday, the day before his birthday.  It was very 'day specific' when we booked as we were expected to be in Canmore for a wedding the night before and the next weekend was the long weekend.  It had to be on Sunday.

As we started to understand the seriousness of the floods and how it was affecting our city, we started to question how we should be celebrating our little man's birthday.

For the record, James did make it home from Canmore safe and sound via helicopter late Friday night.  He opted to leave he car behind and get home when he could since he didn't know when the road to Calgary was going to open. In the end, it opened late on Saturday night.

We went back and forth, should we cancel the party and have it at our house, or go through with having at the Gymnastic place that was about a 20 minute drive from our house.  Cancelling or rescheduling was not an option.  We had been counting down the days to Grady's birthday since June 1st and there was no way that we were going to cancel the party.  Our back up was plan was to move the locale of the party to our house and use the bouncy castle that we bought G for his birthday as entertainment for the 16 kids that were invited to the party.

After many many discussions and a few calls to the Gymnastics place, we decided to follow through with the party since the roads were all open by Sunday morning.

The morning of the party, I let Grady open one present.

I bought him an Angry Bird Space shirt to wear to his party. He has wanted one for ages and I couldn't find one in the city.  I found this one on Ebay and he told me it was the best present he had ever gotten!  I patted myself on the back.  

As usual, Nana made the 'cake'.  This year Grady requested cupcakes.  She made 40 and stored them in our freezer.  We pulled them out Sunday morning and they ended up being taller than him!

Just before we left I snapped this picture of the boys and Grandma.  Most of the pictures I have of the boys with my Mom she is in her PJs.  I thought they all looked great in the picture.  It is so special that my Mom made the trip to celebrate Grady's birthday.  I love that she gets to see the excitement and joy that they experience as they celebrate and that she gets to see him with his friends.  Thanks Mom!

I had to snap a photo of me and my big guy before we left for the party.  Notice that I was sporting an angry bird shirt as well.  The kids loved it!  They loved that it was angry birds and I loved that it was pink!

When I looked at the pictures of Grady and I, I couldn't believe how big he looks.  This big boy is my son?  How can it be.  I still feel like I am 22 and new to Calgary.  Where do the years go?  Every day I look at him and can't beleive I have a 5 year old son.  He is going to be a teenager and hate me before I know it :)

We arrived at the Gym center and the kids ran wild.  They put on a great class and the kids did great and I think had a great time!  Grady takes gymnastics weekly so I had no worries about him, but Cooper surprised me.  He was VERY into it.  He listened, he followed directions, and loved every second of it.

As per usual, the foam pit was a fan favorite.  For kids AND adults.  Especially James.  I had every intention of going in but there were so many photo ops that I didn't have time!

After the Gym time, we headed upstairs to the party room for pizza and cake.  As always, the cake, or in this case cupcakes, were made by Nana with love.

I am so grateful that Marla takes on this task each year for the boys.  She does such a great job and is so accommodating in attempting whatever cake the boys want.  Grady was very particular this year and even showed her on YouTube what kind of cupcakes he wanted.  What a kid!  Thank you so much Marla for making Grady's cake so special.

This is what 16 kids pumped on on pizza and sugar looks like.

The party was a hit!  I think most people were happy to have a reason to get out of the house and to do something fun after being tied to the TV watching the news for several days on end.  After all the stress, I am happy that we followed through with the Gymnastics party!

We snapped a family Angry Bird shirt picture just as we rushed out of the Gym place.

When we arrived home, Grady wanted to open the presents 'straight away'.  He got so many great things that have been amusing the kids since the weekend (and causing fights!).  We are so fortunate to be surrounded by great friends.

I love the friend party.  It has become a highlight of the birthday celebrations.  Grady was so so excited to celebrate with all his friends and have his gymnastics party.  He was shy when handing out his loot bags but was excited about it just the same.  I absolutely love this age when it comes to birthdays.  There really is something about a young kid on their birthdays that represents pure joy and I love it!  Already looking forward to celebrating with Cooper!

Happy 5th Birthday Grady

9 days old

Grady,

How can it be that today you turn 5 years old.  5 years old.  Wasn't it only yesterday that found out we were pregnant, or just last week that you were an itty bitty baby that would only sleep in my arms?  Although you may not look like a baby, you will always be my baby.  I watch in amazement at the little boy you have grown up to be.   One that can frustrate me beyond comprehension.  One that can make my morning better by giving me a little kiss on the hand.  You are you and that is exactly the way you should be.

It has been my pleasure to watch you grow and to learn from you each day.  You've taught me patience and compromise.  You've taught me unconditional love and flexibility.  I look forward to all you've yet to teach me.

Now let me tell you a little bit about yourself as a newly appointed 5 year old.

 

You love to draw.  It started as painting, then coloring, and finally drawing.  And quite frankly, you are very good at it.  I'm not sure I can even draw an angry bird as good as you!  All that practice is paying off!

Your current obsession is Angry Birds.  You live and breathe angry birds. You play it on the ipad, you watch shows, you play games, you read books.... you are really into it.  Although oddly enough, in the past few weeks Thomas has made a reappearance.  Very strange since you were so into him in the winter and dropped him like a hot potato.  You are all or nothing.  Once you decide you are 'in' to something that is all you want for clothes, toys, shows etc.

A close second to Angry birds is Donald Duck.  Don't ask me where this came from or how it started but you love all things Disney.

  You love preschool.  You run into school each and every day and don't look back. Your teachers tell me you spend all your time at the craft table and that doesn't surprise me.  Today you will be graduating from preschool.  Post to follow.

You are shy.  When kids at school say hello to you, you look away and rarely say hello back.  Where I was once concerned about  your behavior at school, I am now more concerned about your socialization.  I want you to make many great friends next year as you embark on your schooling years. I met my BFF in kindergarten after all :)

You go to bed close to 9.  It is getting later and later. I now tell you that if you go to bed in the 9s that I won't come up and check on you.  That seems to be working for the time being.

 

You sleep with the night light on, the bathroom light on, the bedroom door open, and the closet door closed.

With the late nights come late mornings.  You have started sleeping into the 7s. Some days it is even 8!  I thought this day would never EVER come.  I put up with the later nights only to take advantage of the sleep ins!

You like your Gymnastics.   You have been in unparented Gym all year with Nana and really enjoy it.  Each session she asks you if you want to do it again and you keeping saying YES!

You've been keeping up with swimming and you finally went down a water slide!  You will stand in the shower and let the water run down your face but you will still NOT put your head under.  You have amazed me in the water this year and I am hoping that our trip to Kelowna will give you that extra confidence you need to put your head in the water. Fingers crossed.

 

You took a liking to skating and tobogganing this year as well. Finally some winter activities to keep us busy during the winter months.

You can write your name, Cooper's, Mom, Dad, and Nana. You don't have much interest in writing anything else.

You can count to 100 with a little help. You often need me to remind you what comes after 29,39,49 etc. And... you still have two13s and no 14 when you count to 20.

You are a very picky eater. Cereal is probably your favorite food and you still won't touch many fruits and vegetables. Brocoli seems to be the most liked and is made almost every day because of it! You also have a love of salmon. I'm learning to like it just a little becauseyou love it so much!

 

You and Cooper are finally starting to be friends.  There is still fighting, but we can see the starts of what I hope will be a great friendship. Thankfully Cooper is a sharer, otherwise I am not sure how long this friendship would last. I love to watch you ride cars together, bath together, chase each other, and the list goes on. I think you have finally accepted that he isn't going anywhere so you might as well get used to it.

I am so proud of the little person that you are becoming. While we are still working at sharing and manners, you have mastered love. And all you need is love after all.

Happy 5th Birthday Grady!

Interview with Grady - Age 5

With Grady's birthday fast approaching I thought I would ask him the same questions I asked him around his 3rd and 4th birthdays. The answers were quite similar.

Oddly enough. Cooper showed lots of interest in the interview process so we did an interview for him after. I put his answers in brackets so I can remember!


What is your name? Grady (Cooper pronounced 'Keeper')

How old are you turning? 5 (2, had to count my fingers to refresh his memory)

What is your favorite color? Blue  (pink, oddly enough Grady liked pink at Cooper's age)

Who is your best friend? Nicholas, Xavier and Maia (Xavier and Maia, the neighbor kids.  Grady immediately added them to his list after hearing Cooper's answer.)

What is your favorite animal? Hippopotamus (Giraffe)

What do you want to be when you grow-up? ummmmm a fireman or a police car (No answer from Cooper)

What is your favorite show? Caillou (Cars 2, elmo)

What is your favorite book? Angry birds (Cars 2)

What makes you happy? When you hug me.  Melt my heart.

What makes you sad? When cooper bites me.  That would make me sad to.

What is your favorite food to eat? burgers, fries and chicken (burgers and chicken)

Favorite treat?  ice cream (cookie)

What is your favorite song to sing? Three little ducks

What games do you like to play? Treasure game

Favorite Sport? Soccer

My favorite thing to learn at school? Losing teeth. Which he had just learned that day.

When I was little I used to? Cry

My favorite season of the year is?  Summer because we can get the swimming pool out

A food I don't like is? Fruits and vegetables

My best memory is? This one was to hard this year but hopefully he'll have an answer next year!

'Rained in'

This morning instead of heading into work, I am sitting on my couch watching the news. Calgary is currently in a state of emergency due to flooding.  If you haven't read an article yet, click here for a recent one.  Evacuations are happening left right and center, downtown is closed, schools are closed.....  Thankfully we live on a hill and our home is not at risk.

James is in Canmore where the devastation started yesterday morning.  The road back to the city is currently closed and is not known when it will reopen. Meaning that he is stuck in Canmore until that highway reopens.

My friend Gina's wedding reception was scheduled for tomorrow in Canmore.  That is now up in the air as well.

Thank you for all the concerned messages that I have received in the last day.  We are fine.  Let's take a moment and say a prayer for all those affected by the flooding.  Stay safe out there everyone.

Cooper's Speech Assessment

Last Friday was a day I wasn't looking forward to. Assesment Day. I knew 6 months ago when I put his name on the list that this day would eventually come, and it did. Although we had been seeing a private speech pathologist since February, Cooper had never been formally assessed. She just treated him with standard tips and tricks that improve overall speech. And it did! When I asked R this week what she thought we would hear she thought that there was a good chance that he wouldn't qualify for treatment. And she was right!

She thinks that Cooper is average and that was news to my ears! Who would have thought that you would celebrate that your child was average - but this Momma is celebrating. His speech may be average, but his comprehension is well above average.  Cue the cheering!  Now let me tell you a little about the appointment.

We met with P at the clinic and while Cooper played she asked me many questions from a questionaire that I had filled out in January when Cooper had about 15 words.  From what my concerns were, how the treatments were going, and what my expectations for the day were.    Literally, I had no expectations.

She brought us to the back into a little room and sat accross a kids size table from Cooper.  She didn't have the fun factor that R has, but she was to the point and very effective with out being 'friends' with Cooper.  I was actually kind of scared that R had given us a  more favorable report because she had gotten to know us personally and wasnt' really looking only at Cooper's speech.  That was a major reason why I still wanted the public assessment done.

She started by pulling out a book and asking Cooper to point to objects, like where is the cat, apple, dog etc.  Then she would flip to a different page with a differnent set of pictures. Like where does a dog sleep and he would point to the dog house.  There were pages on actions like which kid is eating, sleeping etc.  Then they did some tough ones like which one are 'her' socks vs. 'his' socks.  Cooper did terrible at these ones.   During this testing it was 100% dependent on pointing and non verbal.  It was interesting that at one point she said that he was testing so high on comprehension that she was Ok to stop if I was ok with it.  Way to go Cooper!

Then when he got a bit antsy, she switched to wathcing him play while she listened for his words, the sounds he made, and the number of words he used at once.  I felt like Cooper barely talked during this time.  And of course, when she left the room he started speaking up.  He was really quiet and using his 'shy' voice through the entire session.

At this point I had no idea what she was going to say.  I have obvioulsy heard him talk more than what he did in the 1.5 hour session, I really wondered how they had gathered enough info.

The way she scored him was with a number.  She said if there were 100 2 year olds in a room and you lined them up from the worst to the best, for speech, Cooper would be a 46.  Smack dab in the middle.  The range for 'average' was about 20 to 80 so she called him a high average.  This was way better than I expected.  She talked about how when you see other 2 year olds that about half are better and half are worse.  I still think that we only see 2 year olds that talk better but who am I to argue.

Then she used the same scale to mark his comprehension and he was a 77!  That is right on the uppper boundary of average.  I always knew he understood but I was thrilled with this result.

She talked about how having a gap between speech and comprehension is normal and that if there is a gap, this is the way you want it to be.  She told me that she has no doubt that he will catch up to the others and that he has an excellent ability to learn.

She talked about his attention span and how it was great for a 2 year old. She talked about his meaningful repeating of words and how the way he played all showed his ability to learn the speech that we know he is capable of.

All in all, we walked out of there so proud of the progress we have made.  Had he had an appointment in January when I filled in the form, I know the results would have been different.  I don't know what it is that clicked for cooper but the language we have heard from him in the past weeks is amazing. My mom even thought Cooper was Grady when she phoned the other day.

It won't be long before Cooper is all caught up and we couldn't be happier!

How We Spent Father's Day

For father's day, I gave James two choices.  We could either go downtown, stop at his favorite coffee shop and then continue down to the river to play at the park and walk on the path OR we could go to Calaway Park.  Calaway Park was hands down the winner for both the big and small boys!

This is our third year with a seasons pass and it is very well used.  How can you go wrong really when you break even with one visit?  You can't!  This was Cooper's first visit where he was really excited to be there, and to be honest, I was pretty excited to.

Cooper was so cute. Every time the ride went around he would wave and yell 'Hi Mom (or Dad)'!  He was having a blast.  Grady just started going on rides by himself last year, so Cooper is already ahead of the game!

Last year when the kids went on these trucks, Grady freaked out because Cooper undid the seat belt.  I made sure Cooper was NOT closest to the release button this time around.  There was some fighting that occurred on this ride, but there wasn't much James or I could do from the sideline except hope one didn't push the other out of the truck!

Grady was hesitant to go on the swings without Cooper, who wasn't tall enough to ride.  I think he did it half to spite Cooper who stood outside the fence and cried.

We alternated between the boys letting them choose the ride that they wanted to go on.  Cooper's choice included the mini train and the BIG train.   The big train is one that the entire family can ride.  It is always a fan favorite.

Here is Cooper doing his wave I was telling you about.  Notice the gap between the boat and the ledge?  Well the first time Cooper went on the boats without Grady (who was riding the bumper cars and cooper was too little and started crying), he didn't wait for me to come and help him get off, he literally nose dived out of the boat as I was running towards him trying to avert the crisis that was about to take place.  Thankfully an older girl grabbed him and helped him out.

Straight from Calaway Park we headed to a birthday party for a 3 year old girl.  It was a princess party where an actual princess attended. When she left, Grady asked if she was going back to Disneyland.  HA!

When we left Grady said that the party was awesome!  I asked him what he liked best and he said getting the goodie bags :)

While the princess was there she did some face painting and guess which 2 little boys got  mustaches painted??

After the birthday party and cake (of course), we headed home so I could cook Father's Day/Birthday dinner.

A special Nana we know has a birthday tomorrow and she always agrees to share her birthday dinner with Father's Day so Grady can have a full week of birthday celebrations for himself!

All in all we had a really nice day.  It was a busy day, very busy, but we got to do lots of fun things.   I only wish the kids would have been more tired out and gone to bed earlier!

What I Wore Last Week

So after posting a few fashion posts, I've had some positive feedback.   I guess people like reading about what little 'ol me wears!  Thanks for all your sweet comments!  While I can't promise that it will be a regular occurrence, I will try and incorporate a few more now that I know people aren't rolling their eyes...  or most people anyway!

So with out further a due, here is what I wore last week.

Monday

Monday is my day off to spend with the kids.  There are days were I just throw on my lulus and make the best of it, but most days I try to put something presentable on.  I only get 3 days to make use of my casual wardrobe so I should be taking advantage of all 3 days.  With that being said, Monday is always a pony tail day.

While I like to put a nice outfit on, we are doing swimming on Mondays right now so it also has to be 'pool' appropriate.  Which todays was my leggings and my chambray shirt.

Shirt - H&M

Leggings - HUE brand from the bay (the best non see through leggings ever!)

Shoes (not shown) - Toms

What you can't see from this picture is Grady on the bed screaming about something or other and me losing my cool immediately after. Oh well, this usually end up happening at some point on my day off....

What I like:  I love how comfortable this outfit is. You can't go wrong with leggings. Now that I have finally gotten used to wearing leggings I love the simplicity of them and how you can still feel put together.  This outfit was easy but presentable.

What I didn't like:  I wish I would have worn a necklace.  Throwing a necklace on is so easy and makes you feel like you made an effort.  On Friday I wore this to shit to work with colored jeans and wore a big chunky gold one on.  I wish I would have gone for it with the outfit to and not been so self conscious about it.  Somehow feeling dressed up at work is OK but dressing up to bring your kids to school feels wrong.

Tuesday
Back to work day for me!  There is no rhyme or reason to what I wear to work.  My newest strategy is to pick one item and dress the rest of yourself to wear that item.  Often times it is something I like and haven't worn for some time.  Like this dress.

Dress - H&M
Cardigan - H&M
Shoes - Aldo
Belt - Smart Set

What I like:  I love me a dress that can be changed up with just the color of belt and shoes!  I bought this dress in the fall when I was looking for a plain black dress to wear with a belt (which I also found and wear often) and this was just a lucky find in the process.  I have about 5 colors where I own the shoes and belt in the same color to make outfits like this work.  Choosing the color is the hard part... I almost went mint today and switched last minute.  This fabric of the dress is so comfy it is like wearing PJs to work.

What I don't like:  Sometimes I feel like the dress screams 'look at me!' with its loud print.  That is totally not what I want. Everyone look in a different direction!  However, I do feel trendy when I wear this dress.  It often is a dress that you can't wear every week because people would notice.  Boo that .

Wednesday

Today I dressed for 2 purposes, 1) to wear my leopard print shoes, and 2) to walk with my friend at lunch, i.e. didn't want to wear a skirt.  And here you have it.

Pants - Club Monaco
Shirt - Smart Set
Belt - Smart Set
Necklace - Banana Republic
Shoes - Town Shoes

What I like - I like the bright orange necklace.  Love me a pop of color! I also love that I had the courage to tuck in a shirt and put a belt on. Now that is something I still don't do often and feel slightly uncomfortable in it. Every once in a while I say to heck with it and run with it!

What I dislike - After yesterdays bright and fun outfit, this outfit made me feel on the boring side.  It is very unlike me to wear all black, BUT that is the only way I can throw in some statement items.  I contemplated throwing n an orange or yellow cardi but in the end decided against it.  I didn't want to take away from the shoes :)  Not sure I'll wear this outfit again - I would need to 'Christy-fy' a little!


Thursday

Today we are back to colorful outfits.  I wore this outfit a few weeks back with a green sweater (which I already wore this week) and pink belt and pink shoes. I loved it!  However since I had already worn the green sweater AND the pink shoes are giving my feet bad blisters I had to mix it up.

Cardigan - Forever 21
Shirt - A random store in Maui
Belt - H&M
Skirt - Mexx from 5+ years ago (think I've got my money's worth!)
Shoes - Shoe Company

What I like - I love the polka dot shirt. I wish I could wear it every day!  love love LOVE.

What I dislike - I actually don't dislike much about this outfit. Although I do miss wearing a big necklace when I wear lots of color and print.  Maybe I'll have to pull some bling out tomorrow!

Friday

Today was another day off for since I had Cooper's speech assessment this morning.  There was no way I was going into the office on a Friday afternoon, that would be just silly.  So casual it was.  One thing I'd like to do is more pattern mixing.  Throwing the printed scarf on my printed shirt was about as mixed as I get. By the colors in my outfit you would think it was as sunny almost summer day.  But, no, it was a west and rainy day.  Kind of like the last 3 weeks really.

Pants - Forever 21 (bought those with you Blaire!)

Shirt - Honalua in Maui.

Scarf - Joy Drop, local store conveniently located next door to Safeway!

What I like - the mixture of color.  It was a little brave of me to throw on the coral scarf with the mint jeans.  They actually are more mint in real life.  

What I don't like - I don't like how the jeans fit around the middle, you know... the top of the leg area.  I find that is where getting expensive jeans really make a difference. I wish the shirt was just a little longer to cover that area.

So - there is another week of what I wore.  My favorite is the polka dot shirt outfit on Thursday.  I still like it better with the pink and green but the yellow and red did the trick to.  I hope I inspired you to add some color to your wardrobe this week.  Just because the weather is lame doesn't mean our clothes has to be :)

Happy Father's Day

A big Happy Father's Day to this guy.

A man that is a great Daddy to our kids and one that I am proud to call my husband.

Last week, Grady and I had done a clay class (post to come) at 4Cats art studio, the same one where he did this painting.  While we were there, Grady spotted a snow globe on the counter and loved it. Turned out that was what they were making the following week at a special father's day class.

I asked Grady if he wanted to go and he excitedly said YES!  Then I told him that I wouldn't be staying at the class and he would have to go by himself.  He immediately changed his mind and didn't want to go.  I asked one of my friends if her son wanted to join Grady and he did.  Grady then reluctantly agreed to go since he had a friend.  Both boys loved the class, and apparently didn't even talk to each other.

In the matter of one hour, the kids got to make their dad and themselves out of clay.  The teacher then put them together overnight and the final product turned out great!

I picked it up on my way home from work and Grady was thrilled to see it, as was Cooper.  We quickly hid it away so James wouldn't see it.

James got home form work and Grady ran to get it and gave it to him immediately.  He was so so proud of it.

 

James of course loved it and said he couldn't wait to put it on his desk at work.

Grady told him he was thinking they should keep it in his room.

Sorry James, looks like it won't be making it to the office after all!

Happy Father's Day!

A trip to the Disney Store

Last weekend James was out of town so my little men took me on a date to the mall.  Well, technically I took them since they can't yet see over the steering wheel :)

The purpose of our trip was to go to the Disney store to buy gifts for 3 little girls having their birthday parties in the next few weeks.

On an off note, I felt like an idiot in the store trying to decipher between all the princesses.  I thought I would know more than I did, I am a girl after all and did grow up watching princesses.  There are just to many new ones and I proved myself to be a boy mom who knew nothing about princesses. Absolutely nothing.

We mosey on into the Disney Store (which should have a gate to keep kids in by the way) and they have a huge display for the movie Planes coming out in August.  Cooper almost lost his marbles, he was beyond excited.  It wasn't necessarily the movie that he was excited about, but he is actually very interested in everyday planes in books, in the sky, on tv......  I am in trouble when this movie comes out let me tell you!

 

They had a pack of 6 of the planes for a reasonable price and Cooper was so excited about it, how could I not let him buy them?

 

Grady, on the other hand, had his heart set on a stuffed Donald Duck. He headed to the back of the store and promptly came back with, not a small one, but quite a large one.  Lately he has been really into Donald Duck and I can't actually pinpoint where it came from.  We take Donald out from the library, print pictures of him to color, and now bring our new stuffie every where we go.....

While we were out and about I mentioned to Grady that I have a big Minnie Mouse stuffed animal that he could have when we got home.  He was tickled pink.  I got the stuffie when I went to Disney Land when I was in grade 5.  She never got played with since I was older, rather she sat on display in my room for many years, probably too many to admit!  We got home and I pulled her out of the closet and Grady was thrilled.   We had tea parties and read stories to Minnie and Donald, and the stuffed angry birds as well. 

By Monday night, Grady had accumulated 4 new buddies.  Let me introduce them to you.

Grady - The newest Disney lover

Mickey - courtesy of Uncle Dave.  When were were at Nana's for supper on Sunday Grady pulled out the Mickey that she has has at her place for ages and asked to take it home.  She said sure.  It was Uncle Dave's from when he was a little boy and bought it at Disney Land.

Minnie - Mine from when I was little

Pluto - This one was James' from Disney Land.  Since Uncle Dave got one when he was little he asked which one his Dad had chosen.  Nana told him Pluto since it was his favorite. Grady immediately wanted to know where it was and Nana didn't know.  We have a bucket of stuffed animals that James won't let me throw away and sure enough it was in there.

Donald Duck - Young Grady's.

Before we knew it, we almost had a complete set.  Now all we need is Goofy.

Uncle James, if you are reading this, Grady would like to know which one you got at Disney when you were little.  If my memory serves me correctly I don't think you got one at all but you can let us know :)

Gutsy Walk 2013

I have been doing this walk for 8 years.  I really enjoy it.  It is a great way to raise money for a cause that is dear to our heart while spending a great day with our family.  This year, James was out of town so I asked Marla and Bo is they wanted to join me and the boys and they were happy to join the festivities.

The weather was questionable right until the moment of the walk.  It has been raining for weeks this only a few days where the sun peaked through.  Although Saturday was a gorgeous day, we woke up Sunday to overcast and a threat of showers.  That has never stopped me.  I would have walked even if it was raining. I just would have left the kids at home!  In the end, the rain didn't come until after and we enjoyed a nice morning in the fresh air.

This year the walk was at new venue and it was very pretty running along the river, across a suspension bridge (which by the way sways pretty good when it is full of people!), and through a very nice rich area.

Bo got stuck with the stroller for most of the way home as I chased the boys and raised them from flag to flag.  The stroller always comes in handy even when we aren't using it for kids.  We quickly fill it up with jackets, camera, and umbrellas!

The walk is set up great for families.  This year, they had a man dressed as a bear.  Cooper hated him and cried for the entire time that he could see him.  They had a bouncy house set up for the kids.  And since we didn't do the whole walk, Grady had it all to himself.  Cooper refused to go in as he started down the bear across the field waiting for him to pounce!

Last but not least, they had a face painter.  They have one every year but this year was the first year that Grady showed any interest. I suggested he get a balloon on his cheek and he agreed.  When we sat on the chair the woman suggested a spider.  Grady being the shy guy that he is just agreed and I told her he didn't want any on his eyes.  In the end, he was thrilled!

 

He even said he wanted more.  I was so proud of him for stepping outside of his comfort zone.

We waited in the long line for lunch and headed home missing the rain by less than an hour.

Thank you Auntie Bo and Nana for joining us and making my day a whole bunch easier! Already looking forward to next year!