Welcome to Grayson's Party!

Grayson's second birthday party was all about having fun at the circus! And first on my long to-do-list was making the cake. Erica and I started baking and decorating Friday afternoon. We were able to to get the two layers baked and covered with white fondant. Next, I was going to make long red stripes all the way across the cake to make it look like a "big top." I spent over 45 minutes trying to make that white fondant turn red. After kneading like a mad woman and after an entire bottle of red food coloring, I realized I needed a plan B (or else have a pink and white striped cake for my second son). So I used the pink/red fondant to make a banner around the bottom layer and then made some blue fondant for the top layer. Gary carefully placed all those pieces on as well as the gum balls, then we called it a night.

The cake! This was supposed to be the back, but I still think it looks pretty good (remember I am not even close to being a cake decorator). The mustache straws!

An attempt at a picture with the birthday boy.

Oh, look, it's a clown! I had a small circus tent in the backyard with a box of dress up clothes. A clown wig, clown nose, etc. We also had a bean bag game and we were supposed to have Pin the Tail on the Donkey, but somehow it flew away! But mostly the kids just loved playing outside. It was a beautiful day!

Grayson had fun opening all his gifts! Grayson and Sadie played with this little Noah's Ark for the longest time. It's still one of his favorites! Thank you to all who came to help celebrate!

Oh, and of course, I had to make him a circus shirt. Isn't he stinkin cute?

Grayson Turns Two

December brings many reasons to celebrate. I love decorating the house for this time of year. It's always so bright and cheery. I thought it would be difficult though to throw a birthday party the same weekend we had company, were celebrating Christmas and keeping our nephew. Turned out to be a perfect weekend full of great memories.

A few weeks ago we hired a photographer to take photos of our growing boy. His party was circus-themed, so I wanted the pictures to be taken in Kemah. I thought the backdrop would be perfect. And it was!

This was my favorite picture. It captured his beautiful smile and everything I love about those big brown eyes! He is one of the sweetest kids I have ever met. He loves to snuggle, give kisses and hugs and is the most GIVING two year old you will ever meet. And then there is his serious side. This is the Grayson most outside the immediate family know. He is a little timid until he knows you well. And he is VERY cautious of everything. But once he becomes comfortable, he is an open book. He is always soaking up everything. Grayson is speaking in full sentences and seems to be able to talk about any topic. He copies anything his brother does and enjoys just sitting with Mommy and Daddy while talking about animals, colors or trains.

I love this boy so very much! His gentle soul could win over anyone. I'll give you all the details of his party soon, but for now I will leave with his two year stats:

Height: 36.5 inches, 95%ile

Weight: 27 pounds, 35%ile

Head: 11%ile

Xtreme Sledding

I'm going to warn you: What you're about to see is Xtreme! You'll wonder how I ever let my children do this. But they mastered those steep hills and sharp turns perfectly! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJDj0oa8wHk

Texas Sledding and A Christmas Tree Farm

We drove a few miles to our favorite Christmas tree farm this morning. Our MOMS Club group goes every year and it is one of our favorite events!

Grayson knew he was promised a hay ride and wanted to jump on immediately! Not yet, son. First we have to go... SLEDDING??? Yup. Sledding. Texas style. With lots of hay.

Grant patiently waits for a push.

Grayson goes for a ride!

After all that sledding, it was time to decorate the scarecrows...

First, you choose what you wanted your scarecrow to wear.

Then, you dressed them!

Our scarecrow. Very scary.

Grayson took a break on the swing. Love the face he's making!

Time for the hayride! Ian, Trever, Grant and Charlie had a blast on the hay ride. Such young men. No longer little babies. :(

Grayson and I enjoying the ride.

Mr. Farmer (I don't know his real name) stopped every now and then and explained things that were on the farm. Grant was very attentive and wanted to answer all his questions.

My sweet boy!

The Husebys (did I get that right?) and the Fergusons.

Mr. Farmer teaching the kids about how to tell how old a tree is. Grant was so into it! Right about this time, my camera died. We finished our hay ride, the kids got to sled and play some more then we roasted hot dogs and marshmallows for a yummy lunch!

Bath Tub Bums

Seriously... what's not to love? These boys love bathtime. And I love those little bums.

A Death and a Video

My computer has been giving me problems for months now. It's been impossible to do anything remotely productive (like update my status on facebook... that's important, right?). Well, it finally hit rock bottom this weekend. The hard drive died. And we can't recover any of the files. Boo. Mostly, this meant all of our pictures and videos were gone. Luckily, I backed up all our pictures about 6 months ago. But for some reason, the videos wouldn't transfer to the USB, so we lost ALL those PRECIOUS videos of our kids.

I hate loading videos to blogger. It takes forever and never seems to work the first time (or the second or the third). But I'm going to try to make more of an effort. I'm going to start by uploading videos to YouTube (unlisted... you'll have to have the link) and then posting a link here. I'm hoping that will solve some of the problems I'm having. Also, I plan on password protecting this blog soon, so be on the lookout for that.

http://youtu.be/h7YYc4KoKNs

Grayson goes to school for three hours on Tuesday and Thursday mornings. It's a great little school and he needed to learn to be away from mom. And I get to do all kinds of other things while the boys are learning something.

His teacher told me on Tuesday that he said all of his colors and shapes that morning. What?! I haven't even started talking about colors OR shapes. So I thought I would quiz him. The first time I asked him to say a color, he would shake his head, get this great big grin and say, "Nooooooooo!" It's the cutest thing ever (he'll also say it if you ask him for a kiss), so I thought I'd grab the video camera. I turned the camera on and started asking him to say his colors and he actually said them! It never works that way! It's usually the other way around... they'll perform for you, but not the camera. Side note: My favorite was yellow. It's so sweet how he says it!

Soccer Tots

We enrolled Grant in Small Stuff Soccer this year at the local Y. Summer is the perfect time of year to do this kind of thing. Gary is home more in the summer and MOMS Club activities slow down a bit. I wanted Grant to have a chance to get some exercise, burn some energy and possibly learn what it's like to be part of a team (very important lesson for all toddlers). Gary volunteered to coach and I volunteered to be team mom (not that I did anything!). There were only enough kids for two teams, so we played the same kiddos over and over.

Grant was super excited for his first game...

... however, when the game started he REFUSED to get on the field. This became a theme for the season. At this game, I finally handed him my camera and told him to go take a picture of the ball. I had 67 pictures of the ball when we got home, but he was out there running after it!

All the kiddos waiting instructions from Coach Gary and Coach Daniel.

I love how patiently Grant would wait in line for his turn, so cute! The funniest part of practice was Grayson though. I wish I had pictures... Grayson would wait in line with all the big kids, too. He thought he was part of the team! He even fought me at games to get on the field. I think we might have a future soccer star in that little boy! He was dribbling and shooting with the best of them!

This picture just makes me laugh. What a stud!

His awful fake smile!

Grant made great progress through the season. The first game was definitely the toughest. Each game I would have to find something new to bribe him with to stay on the field. But (to our great delight) the last game of the season was phenomenal! Grant stayed on the field, he was part of the team and the kid tried so hard on every play. He made a goal and even had some great defensive plays. It made the whole season worth it to see him excel at the end.