Happy Birthday Monica!

Happy Birthday Monica!  On Monday Monica turned... well... it's not polite to say.  Don't count those candles either!  We had a fun day, and finished it off singing happy birthday with a peach pie and ice cream!  Monica made it, and it was great!

First thing in the morning we bombarded Monica with gifts!  The girls were coloring pictures all morning before Monica got up.  Winry also gave Monica a Yeti water bottle.

And Grayson gave Monica a new set of pans.

And Brooke gave Monica a new swimsuit!

In the morning we all headed over to the rec center to go swimming.  I had a late meeting, so I snuck away in the day.  We had a great time there.  There was a girl named Grace that came over and asked Brooke to play.  They left not too long after we arrived, and then we were the only ones there!  Guess the rec center during a school day is a great time to go swimming!  For dinner we went to Casa Mariachi and had an AMAZING time.  The food was superb as usual, the waiter was super nice and made Grayson laugh, and Grayson got to try his first lemon!  We all had a great day, and did our very best to behave and make Monica feel special!

Our garden is pretty productive lately.  At least our squash plant has been very busy.  I think we've gotten like 7 or 8 so far!

Brooke trapped Grayson in a corner with the play mat and "decorated" his head.  Grayson was not thrilled in the pictures.  I don't really know the full story, so Monica can add it if she wants, but I liked the picture.

I caught Jelly coaxing things off the table.  I think it's really funny to watch a cat act very nonchalant while pushing things on the floor.

Winry has had some very sore shoulders this past week and needed to borrow Monica's massager.  

We had a fun bath night on Wednesday and everyone got clean together.  They had a lot of fun playing together, and Grayson loves to splash in the water.

Winry brought her blanket down one morning because she was cold, and pulled her chair up next to the couch.  I found her like this.  Putting her pajamas back on might have been a good idea, but there's no suggesting that.

Yesterday I went to set up stairs at the stake center for stake conference, and on my way back home I found a Lamborghini parked in our neighborhood.  I've seen it drive by semi-often, and finally found the associated house.

I needed to run into work and move a USB cable to a different computer, and I asked the girls if they wanted to come with me.  Here they are sitting in the lobby!  While we were there I even found a pack of Swedish Fish for them to share!

I didn't get a before picture, but I weeded about 2/3rds of the garden yesterday.  Here's the end result.

Monica has started working on Halloween costumes.  Brooke is going to be Sully, and Monica's got most of the suit sewed together.  Here it is currently!

That's all the news that's fit to print.  Have a wonderful week!

Happy 8th Anniversary Monica!!

What a week!  We kicked things off early on (Tuesday) with mine and Monica's 8th anniversary!  Our marriage can finally get baptized.  We had a grand ol' time together celebrating our marriage.  The kids tried to be extra nice to us too!  I don't remember any big deals happening, so I'll assume they did a pretty great job!  I secretly stayed up the night before and hung up a bunch of pictures of me and Monica and wrote notes and thoughts on the back of all of them.  I also put out a Lego flower bouquet (last picture) on the table for her when she woke up!

On Monday night I was playing with Grayson up in his room, and found out he just loves his bulb syringe!  I don't know if we've used it on his nose, so that's probably why they're still friends.

Grayson also found the flower growing cart and pulled one of the pots out.  He was having fun playing in the dirt until I found him.  I wish I took a picture of him playing before I moved him...  He really hadn't made that big of a mess, and he still hasn't put anything in his mouth... missed opportunity.

Our anniversary was a BUSY day.  It was also Brooke's first day of school!  She was so excited to get started, and she's been loving it so far.  She get's some homework every day, but breezes right through it.

Winry was excited to get to take Brooke to school.  Possibly because she didn't really have to do anything so she was still in her pajamas!!!

And here's one of Brooke outside of her school.  Things have been great so far!

Meanwhile, for the first time in her life, Winry can't burn her free time on her own.  Whenever Brooke is gone she just wants to play with Brooke.  If Brooke's home, Winry will disappear somewhere for hours and you'll find her playing with some toy, but without Brooke?  No clue what to do.  On the first day of school Winry and Grayson did a little preschool at home.

As I was finishing the work day we had a knock at the door.  It was someone who had been looking for a car somewhere nearby that sold before they got there, and asked about Tuna.  Tuna has been sitting outside our house for about 15 months.  We've offered to give Tuna to a few people over that time, but haven't had a taker for some reason.  Well, I was offered cash, and still gave it away.  He was looking for a car for his sister, and it sounds like they're in a bit of hard time, so I was happy to help out.  I'm glad I was able to get Tuna to someone who needed it.  I was a little distraught at giving away my first car, but Monica says the way I handled it makes it look like I got hit... and she's right.  The battery was dead dead dead, so I had to jump it for them so they could drive it off.  Also, a miracle happened, and apparently baking in the sun for 15 months fixed the driver side door handle!  Honestly, I thought I'd be really sad when we let Tuna go, and I think if we'd done it 15 months ago right after I'd been driving it a bunch I probably would have.  But it's just been sitting there for over a year, so it wasn't so hard to say goodbye.  Maybe I'll write a memorial post in a couple weeks with stories and pictures.

The girls love to help out in the garden, and Winry picked a strawberry that she was very proud of!

With the new school year also comes new dance classes.  Brooke had her first day on Wednesday.

Grayson is at pet stage in development, meaning that all of Jelly's toys are great!  We got out Jelly's fish for him to play with this past week, and he loved it!

Winry had her first day of dance on Thursday!

You never know where you'll find Jelly.  I found her hiding under the girls dresser.  I was actually in there to help the girls get ready for bed, and she walked in a squished herself under there!

On Saturday the girls got ready with Monica.  They all did their makeup, and they all looked fabulous!

I cleaned out the grill on Saturday.  It was the first time I've really cleaned it out.  I figured I needed to since the grill (or really these charred remains) caught fire last time I was grilling...  I should definitely clean this thing out more than once a year...

Grayson came with me to Elders Quorum on Sunday.  He was actually still asleep (he naps in my arms every week at church), so I just brought him along and we had a great time!  He had the cutest church outfit as well!  Just look at that little man!

After church we went for a bike ride as we just picked up a new bike for Winry from someone in the ward.  She was a little hesitant at first, but once she got going she loved it!  She did a really great job, and is catching on quickly, though she still does occasionally pedal backwards and hit the breaks.  After that we headed to Tyson and Tina's house and had a great time hanging out there the rest of the day!  Grayson was slow to warm up (meaning it wasn't immediate), but loved playing with everyone, especially Megan.  Tina also called me and we worked on some surprises for Monica's birthday, which is (was at the time of this writing, but I try to write from the Sunday perspective) Monday.

Tina and family got Monica flowers for her birthday!  Here they are at home next to the ones I built for her for out anniversary.
 

That's everything from this past week.  As alluded to, there's obviously big things happening next week, and then we'll tribute Tuna the week after!  Busy times on the blog.

Grayson Getting Around

Well hello!  It's been another fine week!  Grayson seems like he's both learning super fast and taking it slow.  If we put him standing at furniture he loves it!  He loves to be standing and try to move around.  He also tummy-scooted over to the stairs and started pulling himself up them this past week!  Fortunately he didn't get a leg up, so no baby gate just quite yet, but I'm sure it'll be soon.  In the mean time, he has just started to sometimes lean forward onto his hands and knees, but still doesn't really crawl like that.  Some of that could be that we have wood floors on the main floor, but it kind of surprises me he isn't crawling around on his hands and knees yet.

Brooke and I went to check the mail toward the start of the week, and we saw a bunny.  It ran under the car so we turned back and watched it from afar!  Brooke came with me to see if we got a letter from her kindergarten teacher.  Speaking of school, I don't have pictures of any of this but both Brooke and Winry had a back to school thing.  Brooke loved hers and is really excited to start school next week.  Winry got a little freaked out by some of the kids and wants to do a different pre-school, so we're trying to figure that out in a scramble as her school starts tomorrow....

We wore our masks out to the mailbox.  Why? because the air quality has been so bad.  In fact, I believe it was last weekend Denver had the worst air quality in the world!  It's been pretty not great.  I've even been running on the treadmill all week since the air is considered unhealthy.

One night I had Grayson up in the girls room standing on the chair, and he walked over to me!  That was the very first time he's ever done that, so I moved him back and had him do it again.  He does that sometimes now on the couch downstairs.  I think he mostly stays in one spot, but he'll move back and forth from time to time.

Winry has been sleeping in our room the last while, and had coughing fits a couple nights the last week.  One night Monica came downstairs and slept on the couch because she couldn't sleep while Winry was coughing so much, so the next night Winry and I slept on the air mattress downstairs.  I put my head to the opposite side of hers so I didn't wake up getting coughed in the face.  I think she ended up sleeping straight through the night, and I don't remember her ever waking me up.

Grayson is starting to catch on to a little bit of baby sign.  We really only shoot for "more" and "all done" during feeding.  It seems like he's started to get "all done," or at least he's got the crazy arm shake down.  I don't think he's always done eating when he does it, but sometimes I think he does it if he wants a different food.

Sometimes I wonder how kids sleep so well... This is how I found Winry one night when I was heading to bed.  Looks so comfortable you almost wish you were her.

We found out that our watermelon plant is growing!  There's just one tiny watermelon right now, but that's super exciting!!  With how much we water it it should be huge in no time!

Grayson has had a runny nose for a decent part of this week, and has started to get a cough the last couple days.  He wasn't sounding great today, so I stayed home from church with him.  Hopefully today is the worst of it and he'll start sounding/feeling better tomorrow.  Anyway, he did not make it out of pajamas in time for church, and we watched one of the worship services on BYUtv.  They're from the 80's I believe, and the clothing shows!  They're also digitized from VHS and I could tell from the little wiggle that ran down the title screen.  Anyway, we had a great time, and just made it through before nap time.

Brooke got to judge Nailed It today and we got to see everyone try to make cookies like we made last week.  That was a lot of fun, but unfortunately we didn't get samples for tasting.  Monica cheered us up by baking cookies though.  Also, Brooke really loves to part Grayson's hair in the front.  It's not a great look, but Brooke loves it...

Well, school starts tomorrow... maybe.  Guess we'll see!  We really just want her to go to get good social interactions with kids her age, so if she's terrified of it that most likely defeats the purpose.  Alternatively, Brooke starts on Tuesday, and she is super excited, so school will for sure start then.  That means tomorrow is Brooke's last day not being in the school system for at least 13 years!  What a journey we've got ahead of us.

Summer Dance Recital

Why hello!  We've had a good week this past week... well, until yesterday when we all got sick...  but I'd say we're not feeling THAT bad, and currently everyone is over having a great time decorating cookies!  We missed church today since everyone but Brooke (and maybe Grayson) is sick.  However, we were doing just fine earlier this week!  In fact, earlier in the week the girls had their summer dance recital!  Here they are after celebrating together!

On Monday we got new carpet upstairs.  Monica took the kids to the pool in the morning to escape the noise, but they were not gone for the 5 or so hours it took to install the carpet, which meant basement party once everyone was back.  Grayson even needed a nap in the basement!

Monica taught Brooke how to tie her shoes, and she's already a master!  The laces are a little long on those shoes, but she still does a good job, and I showed her how to double knot to bring the size in a little.

This past week we got a squash from our garden that turned out to be Siamese twins!  I've never seen something like this before!  Don't know if this is common but thrown away so you don't see them in stores, but it seems really cool and special to us.

In order to get new carpet, we took most of our stuff out of all the rooms upstairs, which meant the rest of the house was quite a mess.  Jelly didn't mind though, as there was a new box of blankets to lay in all day long!  One day I was moving some stuff around and heard meowing.  I thought I had closed Jelly in a box, but it was actually coming from the baby monitor and she was closed in Grayson's room.

Speaking of Grayson, look how much he's loving the dance recital!  You can see Brooke's dance here, and Winry's dance here!  I'll also include Winry's practice from her dance lesson this past week as there was a girl standing right in front of her from my angle at the recital.  Anyway, Grayson loves to watch the girls dance!

At the end, all the dancers came out to take a bow.  You can see both Brooke and Winry in this picture.  Winry was so cute and SO tired!  They tried to get everyone to hold hands and do a big bow together, and she ended up letting go of the chain, putting her hands up and bowing down over and over.  I got a video of it after a bit once it caught on with the other girls, but it was so cute and funny.  She was very tired.  The recital was from 7 to 8 pm, and bedtime is typically at 7. She even fell asleep in the car on the way to the recital!

Grayson has been crawling all over toward anything that catches his eye.  I frequently find him under the table, or at the back door, or in the bathroom.  He was up playing in the girls room and decided that the great toys were on the other side of their stair bookshelf and started to crawl straight through!

On Friday I had to go in to work, but I forgot until the last minute so I headed in in a big rush.  It was only supposed to take a couple hours, but I ended up being in all day.  Not really a big deal, except I didn't bring any food with me.  I had a granola bar.  At least I had that granola bar though!  Monica knew I rushed out the door without food, and she and the kids went to the Bagel Stop for lunch, so they got a sandwich for me too!  It was amazing!  What I really wanted though was a picture of them in the car at my work bringing me lunch, I just didn't think to take a picture until I was eating my sandwich...  Oops.

While crawling is nice, Grayson's new passion for life is standing up.  He hasn't pulled himself up yet that I know of, but if we put him standing up next to something he has a heyday!  He seems pretty motivated to walk, so maybe he'll be our earliest walker.  He also seems like he'll be our first climber... are you allowed to put ankle weights on babies?

Today while we were all sick we made cookies!  For my family call, Brooke was in charge of presenting the Nailed It idea for this month.  Brooke spent a bit of time thinking about it this past week and asked Monica to see flower cookie pictures, and that's what we ended up doing.  We baked and decorated some cookies today, and it was a lot of fun.  Monica made royal icing, and it was my first time using it.  It's definitely the best way to decorate a cookie in my opinion.  Monica snagged a picture of me decorating one of my cookies.  I did get pictures of the girls too, but I'm going to be selfish and put in a picture of me.  I don't get many pictures of me doing things in the blog.  I probably should have put in a picture of Winry with her frosting mustache and dots of frosting all over her face when she finished... but nah, just me this time.

Grayson has started to say "No!" a bunch lately.  He was saying it a bunch so I tried to get a video.  At least he'd say it after me.  It's pretty funny, and it really seems like he knows it's a word, though not necessarily what it means.  I'm pretty sure I remember the girls learning to say no early on, because what I really remember was worrying that since they knew no, they'd just start saying no to everything for lack of knowing something else.  It's never happened before, and our girls were both great, so hopefully Grayson follows suit and just uses it as a stepping stone for learning to speak.

Those are all my cool stories for this past week.  Have a wonderful week ahead!