Grayson - Four Years

Happy 4th birthday to this crazy cool kid!

Grayson is our little labor day baby so he is going to experience the holiday weekend birthday for most of his life. It was no different this year since his birthday fell on the Saturday of Labor Day weekend - while we were at the Hyatt Regency Lost Pines with friends. I'd say that's #winning

Here's how we spent the BIG day:

The little man actually wanted to snuggle with me in the morning so I happily jumped in his bed - he can be so darn sweet sometimes :)

When he decided to get up Kevin had some breakfast tacos waiting for him in the living room. That's a big boy breakfast!

After he ate he came back into the room where I was and stood high on his tippy toes and asked "Mom, am I already bigger?" 

We opened up some gifts before heading out to the pool

Grayson is OBSESSED with Paw Patrol and was so very excited for his new Paw Patrol toys. 

During nap time Kevin took the boys off to explore. Ryan managed to sneak away into the gift shop to ask the clerk how much one of the candy bars cost. When he returned, he asked Kevin for $2 to buy Grayson a birthday treat. Kevin wasn't really sure what he was going to buy, but he let the two of them go into the little shop alone so Ryan could treat his brother. After five minutes Kevin poked his head in there and saw the lady giving them both scoops of ice cream - apparently when Ryan told them he was buying his brother a birthday treat they thought it was so sweet and decided to give them BOTH a free ice cream cone. So sweet :)

Enjoying their ice cream!

Later that afternoon we invited all of our friends to join us for some cake!

I love Mrs. Fields cookie cakes but as you can see their decor can be hit or miss. I'm not sure that Paw Patrol logo would pass QC.

I did actually decorate the room - all Paw Patrol. He loved it. 

Hayden was ready for cake. 

We ate cake then headed off to dinner. Yeah, kinda backwards with desert first. But it's his birthday. And vacation. 

After dinner we had a great time playing outside. We hit up the bikes, playground, fishing pond, game truck and then settled down in the lawn for outdoor movie night. This place has it all! 

Grayson had a great day and he loves being FOUR. Because he is SO big now. lol. 

Some little bits about Grayson:
- Kevin likes to refer to him as our "cool" kid. (Not that the others aren't cool, it's just that Grayson has a way about him.)  He's confident and everything he does is with such certainty. Even when he makes up words. He just makes it sound cool.
- Everything is banana. And banana is hilarious. Sometimes you add "hot" in front of it and it is even funnier. Yes, we realize this doesn't make ANY sense whatsoever....but after a while it starts to become funny. maybe? lol
- Is it as big as a hot banana? - G. Seriously, WTF. I know it sounds like we have a crazy kid but you know, kids say the weirdest things.
more bananas:
G: Hey mom - Are you thinking what I'm thinking?
Me: Hmmm I'm not sure, what are you thinking about?
G: BANANA!! What were you thinking about?
Me: ummmmm....(trying to come up with something weird).....A HOT POTATO
G: hahahahahha

Ok, enough with the bananas. Moving on. Grayson tends to be on fire or totally burnt out. There isn't much in between with him. When he has decided he is done with something he is "too tired"

I'm too tired:
- to buckle his car seat
- to pick up his trash
- to be nice
- to share (In Montana he said he was too tired to share his fishing pole. I'm not sure on his logic these days)
- to remember something
-He has even been known to tell me he is "too tired" when he is sitting on the couch watching a show. Seriously? Who is this guy?

- Specifically requests for cold milk/cold water. He likes his water ice cold.
- Loves to run around
- Still bounces up and down and shrugs his shoulders when he gets really excited

**going to have to come back and update this**

Four Year Interview:
1. What is your favorite color? Light Blue
2. What is your favorite toy? G: banana pants is. M: no really, your favorite toy. G: PAW PATROL!!!!
3. What is your favorite fruit? bananas!
4. What is your favorite tv show? Paw Patrol & Octonauts
5. What is you favorite thing to eat for lunch?
6. What is your favorite outfit? My beautiful shirt. Remember my shirt that has dark blue, and pink and light blue? 
7. What is your favorite game? hide and go seek
8. What is your favorite snack? string cheese
9. What is your favorite animal? cheetah and giraffe
10. What is your favorite song? Paw Patrol theme song - he just started singing it when I asked the ?
11. What is your favorite book? Don't wake the Bear
12. Who is your best friend? Perry & Hayes
13. What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast? Pancakes
14. What is your favorite thing to do outside?
15. What is your favorite drink? cold milk
16. What is your favorite holiday?
17. What do you like to take to bed with you at night? Hop & Everest
18. What is your favorite thing to eat for dinner? Salmon
19. What do you want for dinner on your birthday?
20. What do you want to be when you grow up? A Zookeeper

Love you little dude! Four is going to be GREAT!

Grayson in the Middle - Age 3.5

This little nugget is three and a half today!

Grayson is happy, silly, tough & stubborn!

He loves Paw Patrol, Legos, Super Hero's (especially Spiderman)...and most recently Lil' Woodzeez. I bought these sweet little animal families and house for Hayden, but Grayson is the one who is obsessed with them. 

  

He loves his Bear family!

When he is excited he bounces a lot. I think this is incredibly adorable...but sometimes it just looks like he needs to pee. lol. 

Sweet boy loves playing outside

He loves legos and isn't afraid to build something different than the instructions show. 

When is is done with something he is DONE. There is no convincing/bribing him...I guess that's a good thing that he makes a decision and sticks with it, but goodness! Sometimes it makes me want to bang my head against a wall. I mean, that's normal, right? Oh and not only is he DONE but he is "soooo tired". Sometimes he will even say this while he is sitting on the couch or riding in the car. And I'm like, "well...just close your eyes?" Oye. Three year olds. Good thing he is adorable with a pouty face.

He can be the sweetest little man when he wants to. He loves to help mommy & daddy. When I am cooking dinner he often will get the stool out so that he can help. And when Kevin is working outside he wants to assist with the broom or if necessary he will even grab his toolbox. So sweet. 

He has been getting good reports from his teacher - we have only had two minor issues:

- potty words instigator: We fixed this with the ol' "washing your mouth our with soap". It really works! 

- Rough housing: He isn't really a rough kid so this wasn't really a huge issue. We just talked with him and he knows better.  This was more of an isolated issue ...eh, a few times :) 

He loves Ms. Laurie and is always so proud of everything he creates at school. I love that he sticks his tongue out when he is concentrating on something. 

Love my sweet little boy!

And since I never posted his Three Year Interview (I can't find that notebook I wrote it all down in) I have his NEW 3.5 year interview.  (I also never posted his birthday party...so I went back and posted it here. )

1. What's your favorite color? Light Blue

2. What is your favorite toy? My fighting robot that head pops off

3. What is your favorite fruit? A banana

4. What is your favorite TV show? Mickey Mouse

5. What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? Mac and Cheese

6. What is your favorite thing to wear? "My dinosaur shirt - t-rex shirt!"

7. What is you favorite game to play? "Hide and Seek"

8. What is your favorite snack? "Goldfish"

9. What is your favorite animal? "A cheetah"

10. What is your favorite song? "Whip Nae Nae"

11. What is your favorite book? "Curious George"

12.  Who is your best friend? "Perry"

13. What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast? "Pancakes"

14. What is your favorite thing to do outside? "Go in the tree house"

15. What is your favorite drink? "milk"

16. What is your favorite holiday? "Christmas"

17. What do you like to take to bed with you at night? "Hop (his bunny) and my paci's"

18. What is your favorite thing to eat for dinner? "Salmon"

19. What do you want for dinner on your birthday? "Hot dog"

20. What do you want to be when you grow up? "A construction worker"

Dentist (Round TWO)

This morning Grayson and Hayden headed to the dentist for their biannual cleaning. Yay!

Looking so cool

Hayden was very interested in what was going on

Grayson did such an awesome job! He went with marshmallow polish (ummm yuck) and got a perfect report on his teeth. Yay!

And then there was Hayden....

She did as expected. Considering she hates laying on her back to get her diaper changed...she definitely didn't change her feelings when she had to lay down and have someone dig around in her mouth. She cried until she could sit up and then she was like "oh heeeeyyy whats up". Then she marched around the office like she owned it.

Now, back to those teeth. She has her four top and bottom teeth (in the front) and all four of her one year molars are almost all the way in. And they all look fab. Up next are her bicuspids. Luckily once those come in we have a break from teething for a while. 

In other news, she has a crooked jaw. Her bottom jaw is more of a U shape while the top is more of a V - so it doesn't line up correctly. You can't really tell now BUT it would be an issue later. 

In addition to the jaw issue she is lip & tongue tied. Our dentist also gave me a bunch of information on this but basically there isn't really anything we can/should do now. He said to wait until she is about 4.5 years and then we can fix it all. Soooo now when he brings all this back up in a few years I can't say "what?". lol

Christmas Eve

We spent Christmas Eve morning delivering cinnamon rolls to family and friends. We headed to the 4pm church service at Munger Place with Kevin's parents and the Hales. 

The boys did pretty good sitting though the service - luckily they offered childcare for Hayden. 

After church we came back to our house to make pizza!

These little guys were HUNGRY so we let them eat first. 

Left: Jimmy's Italian sausage & caramelized onions  Right: mozzarella, mushrooms, tomato & arugula

The Hale kids all made their own mini pizzas!

Ryan loved tossing the pizza dough

Love this little lady!

A little hot cocoa in our new santa mugs from yiayia!

Silly kiddos! They loved playing around with all the funny props!

Of course we had to run outside and sprinkle reindeer food in the yard...

And then these three did some last minute drawings for Santa! So sweet :)

After the kiddos were nestled and snug in their beds - we got to wrapping :) 

Christmas Eve is exhausting...but it's all worth it!

Can't wait for those sweet kiddos to wake up in the morning! 

Grayson in the Middle

This little guy cracks us up - he is so sweet and lovable. I am obsessed with his pronunciation of "sharpener". Whenever I need a quick laugh I have been playing this video...or I just ask him how to fix a broken pencil.  It kills me. 

Don't you just want to gobble him up???

Pumpkin Village

On Friday Hayden and I took a quick trip up to the pumpkin village at the arboretum while the boys were at school.  She loved walking around and checking out all the pumpkins but wasn't a huge fan of getting her picture taken. I couldn't get her to look at me!

 

We were in and out in about 45 minutes - since our friends didn't end up making it we didn't hang around for long. It was hot...and she was in tights. I can only assume she wasn't thrilled about that...but she sure was cute!

Anyhow, when we woke up this morning we made an impromptu decision to take all of the kiddos to the pumpkin village. When we got to the arboretum the first two parking lots were already full, so we weren't so sure about our idea...

We stuck to the plan and eventually made it...

 

The boys sat down in the pumpkins and Hayden was so excited to crawl in there with them. She was ALL smiles. 

 

Now if I could only say the same for the boys. They were in good moods but getting a smile from them all is quite challenging. 

 

Or really just getting them ALL to look at the camera would be nice. 

 

At least Hayden was loving it!

 

This little ham kept requesting pictures...

 

finally smiling for the camera

 

Ryan kept coming up to me with different pumpkins and asking me to take his picture. 

 

Then his smiles got a little weird. 

So we stopped.

 

And one more time with all three. Of course Grayson isn't participating...

 

 

Texas

 

That's a big ol' squash. Strong boy!

 

The kids had fun and after the village we headed over to grab some German food at one of the little cafes.  It was a perfect little Sunday morning...if only it could have been 20 degrees cooler....