Grayson is 2!!

A very happy second birthday to my favorite little man, Grayson!  The last two years seem to have absolutely flown by but I also feel like G has been ours forever.  I am so very grateful to have this sweet kiddo in our family!  He is a pretty laid back, happy kid 98% of the time.  He keeps us laughing with all of his silly antics.  He is always talking and he loves to point out all of the letters and numbers that he sees everywhere we go.  Grayson has a very kind heart and he is always giving us hugs and kisses and playing with his sister.  His favorite things are sports (really any of them but especially baseball, football, basketball and soccer), Elmo, books, anything with water (pools, sprinklers, slip n slides etc.), and being outside.  He has a pretty good vocabulary that is growing every day and recently he started putting together simple sentences such as "I like it!"  It is so much fun to watch him grow!

We decided to do G's birthday party almost a month early because Julian was scheduled to start turnaround in June and since my mom was coming out anyway, I figured I would do it while she was here.  Grayson is absolutely obsessed with sports in general but he particularly loves baseball so that became the party theme.  I ordered printable files from Etsy for all of the signs, banners, cupcake toppers and labels so I just had to print them and cut everything out.  I also made G a scoreboard (I was planning on making it anyway for his bedroom decor so it will still be used) out of plywood and stencils.

Gray was incredibly excited when he woke up and saw all of the baseball decorations around the house!  He ran around pointing at everything and yelling "Baseball! Team! Baseball bat! Baseball!" I figured he would like it but it was still nice to have such an enthusiastic reaction from him.

Nachos, pretzels, peanuts, cracker jacks, popcorn and hotdogs made up the concessions

Drinks and Party Favors

I made cupcakes and a small cake that looked like baseballs.  I am not a very talented cupcake artist but the kids couldn't have cared less!  They were all trying to sneak cupcakes so we went ahead and just sang Happy Birthday (which G got very shy for) so that everyone could enjoy cake!

G got a little shy while everyone was singing

Blowing out his candle

All of the kiddos enjoying cupcakes,

So excited for a cupcake!

I had planned the party to be outside and I had a slip n slide that the kids were supposed to use for "sliding practice" and we were going to have water balloons to put on the t for batting practice but the day of the party there was a crazy rainstorm that meant that outside wasn't going to work.  Julian thought to ask our friends who were coming from Tulsa if they could bring their bounce house (which was purchased for their daughter's 2nd birthday party when they had unexpectedly cold weather) and it saved the party!  Fortunately, bounce houses only take a few minutes to set up and Jason and Julian had it up and running before the rest of our guests arrived.  The kids had SO much fun bouncing around and it was an absolutely perfect thing for 2-3 year olds who don't really have the focus for organized activities yet.  A big thank you to Jason and Lisa for saving G's party!

Grayson opened a few of his presents and then got distracted and came back for more an hour or so later.  He was very excited by everything that he got and he just wanted to stop after each toy to play instead of putting it aside and opening the next gift.  I think that the other kiddos wanted him to open his presents more than he did :)

Cars!

Pausing to play

He loves this football book so much!

As the party was winding down we realized that G had disappeared.  Julian went to go find him and I heard him knocking on the bathroom door saying "Grayson, can you please open the door." After a few minutes Grayson opened up the door and came out super happy with soaking wet hair.  From the toilet.  It was gross but also funny.  He couldn't have been more proud of himself.

Julian bringing G back to the party

Grayson had a really great time at his party and we really enjoyed having so many friends here!  We are so grateful to everyone who made it out to celebrate our little man!  I still can't believe I have a 2 year old now but I am so excited to see what this next year will bring for him!

Other pictures from the party:

So happy to have Grandma here!

Love our family!

Q called this a "hot tub"

These little cuties were ready for baseball!

Clare got lots of Grandma snuggles!

These two are always on theme!

We ended the party with a little Mickey.  How do kids watch tv like that?

7 Months!

Sweet Baby Clare is now seven months old!  She is growing like a weed and developing more and more personality every day!  The past month was filled with a lot of firsts for Clare.  She tried her first foods, started sitting steadily on her own for long periods of time, starting rocking back and forth on her hands and knees like she is about to crawl, and she started "playing" with her brother.

We enjoyed a visit from my best friend from Arizona this month.  Jessie is a lot of fun to have around and I was particularly grateful that she came out since Julian had a business trip.  She always takes super cute pictures of my kids and even though Grayson was particularly uncooperative this time we still got some good ones!

Julian and the kids spoiled me for Mother's Day this year!  Julian came home early the Friday before Mother's Day and told me that I was going to lunch and a pedicure with a good friend and he was taking the kids for me.  I haven't been away from both kids very many times over the last seven months and I have to say that it was really nice to be able to use both hands to eat a meal!  J also ordered me flowers that were beautiful and had Grayson make me an adorable card.  We went to church that day where the kids made me cute crafts with their hand and footprints.  Motherhood has definitely been the best blessing I could have hoped for and I feel privileged to be able to stay home with my two adorable kiddos!

At 7 months Clare is:
-wearing size 3-6 but we are starting to move her in to 6-9 month clothes.
-sitting very solidly on her own.  She can sit for up to 30 minutes straight if she has something entertaining her (usually a toy or her brother).  I don't have to worry about her falling over anymore which is nice!
-pushes herself from a sitting position to all fours where she rocks back and forth.  She hasn't figured out how to move forward quite yet but she pushes herself backward until she gets stuck on something.
-can get to a sitting position from her stomach.
-really likes being read and sang to.  She loves the wheels on the bus in particular and she is super cute when her brother does the actions too.
-is sleeping fairly well but some nights she is up twice.  It is still much better than it was two months ago so I am grateful.
-is a little wiggle worm who is always trying to get to something.  She isn't really a cuddly baby because she always wants to see what is going on.
-eats sweet potatoes, carrots, bananas, apples and has tried peas and peaches though she didn't care for those two.  She seems to like food but not as much as G did at the same age.
-likes playing with her brother.  She just lights up whenever Grayson gives her attention.  It is so darn cute!  He gives her lots of kisses and is very sweet to her most of the time.