New Photos

Here are some new pictures people have been hounding me for :)

 My photos of Emory's first trip to the beach are on the other camera, and I can't find the cord. So, here are some Aunt Stephanie took.

Welcome, Emory!

      Emory arrived at 8:27on Jan. 18th. She was 8 lbs. 4 oz. and 20 3/4 inches long! Below, she is modeling her hat and blanket knitted by Nana.

       We are blessed that she is healthy and that I had an "easy" delivery by C-section. Grady was very excited to meet his little sister. 

       He was even more excited about how my bed moved up and down and the cool doctors' gloves. Here, he is getting ready to "fix Mommy."

    We returned home on Friday, and had some little Creeches come over. Tyler especially enjoyed "holding it."

      I am glad Grady likes his sister, but I eventually had to hide Emory from him so he wouldn't poke and prod her anymore.("I want to see her eyes!" "I'm rocking her s-low-ly!" ) I am sure that will wear off pretty quickly!

Happy (?) New Year

    The jump castle...

   The pony ride...

        We took Grady to the New Year's Eve celebration at Marion Square thinking he might enjoy the pony ride or jump castle, but apparently not. Although he asked to do these things and we waited patiently in line, Grady recalled "falling off" the pony last time and backed out last minute. He also had a meltdown about 3 seconds in to the jump castle. But he had been up super late the night before, so maybe he was a little on edge. He did like getting a "whistle" and walking on the planters that are about 2 feet off the ground. So, at the end of the day, he did have some fun!

Christmas Part 2

      Nana and Pop came for a few days. Here is Grady helping Nana with the Happy Birthday Jesus cake.

                 Some more baking....

            Though Grady loved all of his Christmas gifts...

His favorite might have been his Thomas the Train Spin Brush.

        Worn out...

              Enjoying Pop's gift...a chocolate fountain!
     After Nana and Pop left, we went to the Festival of Lights. Grady enjoyed the carousel with Daddy.

Christmas Visit with Me-Mama and De-Daddy

       De-Daddy and Me-Mama came to visit this week for Christmas. Grady had lots of fun baking gingerbread men with Me-Mama. 

     He is very proud!

          Grady had his tools out and mentioned that he wanted to "build animals Noah ark." We gave him this box from a Christmas gift, and he pretended it was Noah's ark. He put toys in there, and also had a few other passengers along for the ride.

      Grady was very excited about the train set he got from Me-Mama and De-Daddy. Here they are testing it out.

      Earlier in the week we exchanged gifts with the Creeches. Grady and Tyler both got this tee ball set. Grady insisted on wearing his baseball cap while he played. 

Another Birthday Outing

         For Alex's birthday he wanted to canoe down the river.The people who rented us the gear acted like we were crazy. "You know, if you fall in you could get hypothermia." Maybe they knew more about taking a 2 yr old on a canoe than we did. Grady did a great job of sitting and "paddling" for the first 30 minutes, but then wanted to walk around and stick his hands (arms) in the water.

Thankfully, Alex had a grip on his shirt and he did not fall in.

Birthday (Christmas?) Lunch

       To celebrate my birthday, we went to The Cave Restaurant. Yes, it is a restaurant in a cave. The problem was that Grady was so tired after waking up at 5:30 this morning and then having a late lunch, he did not behave. Luckily, there was only one other family in the restaurant. (That is never a good sign for Sunday lunch.) Please note my new black boots, a gift from Grady and Ellen, and located and shipped by Emily.

          It was hard to get a good picture in the restaurant because, wait for it, it is dark in the cave. But the only word to describe the decor is "tacky yuletide". 

      Another example of the decor.

          The best thing about this cougar is that Grady kept calling it a "puma." I have no idea where he learned that! Diego? It was very entertaining for Grady because there were also 2 fish ponds and a waterfall inside the cave (behind Grady and Alex).

             The food was pretty good and we can now check off "Eat in a cave" off of our bucket list!