Our little pumpkin is one. From this point forward when asked how old my children are, Graham will be "just turned one", or "almost one and a half" or "almost two". I don't do the 14, 16, 20 months old thing. So, he's one.

I'm going to spare you my lamenting over the speed of time and just share some fun videos and pictures so that you can see with your own eyes how amazingly smart, cute and irresistable he is.

My mom came out to celebrate his birthday and we're so grateful she made the trip. We spent some time at the Harvest Festival at Remlinger Farms and made sure to let Graham dig into his birthday cake. We got some of the best facial expressions as he played with his new toys. The grandparents and aunts and uncles outdid themselves again.

One of the girls in my office volunteered to make the cake; she did a great job!

Caption this photo via the comments feature. Best caption wins a prize!

Tina B- this video's for you!

Greyson gives Graham a ride...

October isn't October without a requisite pumpkin patch visit and subsequent posting of the cutest pictures ever that show us basking in the splendor of all that is fall, caramel corn and hot cider not to mention masses of screaming children, jammed up parking lots, dirt, hay and (in the case of this pumpkin patch) African pygmy goats.

Have a safe and happy Halloween. The parents don't dress up in this house much to the chargrin of our friends and neighbors. Stay tuned next week for Commander Cody and his side kick, baby Yoda dressed as a pumpkin (baby Yoda wouldn't have to dress up as a pumpkin if he didn't cost $60). Mama doesn't do $60 costumes for 1 year olds.

Grimm Can Wait...

According to my blog comments, I have 2 loyal readers- my friend Mrs. Mouthy and my mom. If you're reading this blog post now, you must post a comment so I can gauge if I should be laughing as hard as I do every time I think about it, look at the pictures or tell the story.

I dropped Greyson off at school this week. On the wall in the hallway outside of his classroom is a "self potrait" made by each of his classmates.

Look closely...

Closer...

C'mon, a little closer...

Can't you see the resemblance?

If you don't post a comment I'll know (ok I won't but seriously, laugh with me)

Flying Time = Time is Flying

I’m disappointed in myself for letting my blog go dark for so long.  There’s a lot to share but I have a limit to how much I’ll write at once so here’s the quick and dirty ~

• Mike’s dad, Lee Guenther, is the Grocer of the Year in the state of Wisconsin and was also honored by Market Watch for his wine store, Cellar 70. Pride bursts in our house for the recognition he’s receiving for all of his hard work.
• While we attended Lee’s awards banquet in Milwaukee, the kids spent the night with friends of ours who have 3 children of their own.  Much to our surprise, Greyson slept in their youngest son’s room. Another sign that he’s growing up before our eyes.
• Graham is cruising around the house behind trucks, cars and garbage cans. Give him something to hold and he’s moving.
• Tooth #2 is here.
• Birthday #1 is in 11 days and counting
• Mrs. Sharon continues to be a focal point of our dinner conversations.  Grey recently asked if she would be wearing her hair down (you may recall he has a ‘thing’, meaning problem, about hair in ponytails)
• We had an awesome visit from our friends, Sejal and Anne and their 2 boys, Deven and Sai.  We kept Grey and Deven out of the tub this time. Graham and Sai took a bath but we left the camera off.  If you don’t know what I’m talking about, visit the blog in the February 2009 timeframe.  Priceless.
• I had an unexpected, but short, trip to Charleston, SC this week. Seattle wins ZERO points for being a million miles away from everything.  You can’t get anywhere without burning an entire day.
• I made the mistake of prepping a field trip to see Little Red Riding Hood by reading Grimm’s Fairy Tale to him the night before. He was so freaked out by the big bad wolf that he had to leave the theater for a bit.  Grimm can suck it. More on that later.

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We’re reading the 2nd How to Train Your Dragon and in it is a one-eyed Saber-Toothed Driver Dragon that Greyson seems to appreciate more than Hiccup, the hero of the story.  A few nights ago, in an effort to stall his bedtime, he starts making connections that go something like this:

The one-eyed dragon is like One-Eyed Willie. One-Eyed Willie has one eye because he’s called One-Eyed Willie. The dragon would like him because he’s a pirate and dragons and pirates are both really cool!

From there, he tells me that he wants to go to heaven to see Hayden (did I mention that our beloved cat of 12 years died this summer?) in 20 days, because that’s a long, long, long time. This after he asked if Hayden was in a container like Grandma. I wish I could say he went to bed after this, but the conversation went in yet another direction while I pondered how to be better prepared next time for my death, heaven and God responses since I’m consistently tongue-tied as I try to preserve my dead grandmother’s memory.

We do miss Hayden. Grey said the first thing he’ll do (in 20 days, remember) is give him a BIG hug!  I still find little reminders of him, like the towel in the corner of my closet covered in his black hair, the eye goop on the bottom of the bathroom door, a brown dot on the carpet where he sneezed. He used to drive us crazy with his snorting and sneezing and goopy eyes but he had the best personality and at the end even the veterinary staff commented on what a sweetheart he was.

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GREY*isms*

• G: (approximately 7:30pm Pacific time while I was on a plane in Atlanta getting ready for my flight home) “Mom, is your hair in a ponytail?”
• Me: (pausing, pausing)“Umm, no”*
• G:  “OK, good”

* Dear Lord, forgive me for lying to my child, but for your home’s sake, why can’t a girl put her hair up after a LONG day that still isn’t over for fear of the argument she’ll get in with said child who is at that moment more than 1500 miles away?

I’ll sign off tonight with a pretty photo that I took after a round of golf at the Golf Club @ Newcastle. A beautiful course on a beautiful day.

180 Degrees?

GREY*isms*

G: "Maybe Mrs. Sharon will wear a dress tomorrow...a pretty dress!"

His official first crush is here and I'm not ready for it. I'm especially not ready for the older woman. Call it an innocent crush if you want but please tell me how I can get the pictures out of my head of having a daughter-in-law my age. Twisted? Ok, a little. But I have a 4 1/2 year old child who can't stop talking about his teacher and what she might be wearing and what she's doing and what her fish is doing and "Mom, can I see a picture of Mrs. Sharon?"

The good news is, there are no more tears in the mornings. He talks about her constantly. He wants to see her picture. He loves school!

I don't know what he sees in her :-)

I'm astounded by the acceleration of his growth (including his height though he's still the smallest in his class). His independence has multiplied overnight, literally, and now I'm wondering why I don't get to console him while he cries getting his haircut. The answer is because he's getting into the chair all by himself and sitting there quietly not even asking where I am, which is sitting a short distance behind him equally proud that he's not crying and wishing he would.

To our neighbor, "Marilyn, do you like my haircut?"

Graham's cold has been hanging on so my champion napper has been struggling this week. He refuses to eat anything off of a spoon so we're getting as creative as possible with finger foods.

The boys are having a great time together. They laugh all the time. After dinner at our house is always a party. It's the best time of the day for both of them. I took a video of Greyson whispering secrets to Graham that are extraordinarily hilarious. We're looking forward to some upcoming fun in September and October. Fall and football are here and life is good!

I Promised Pictures!

It feels like ages ago that we got to enjoy 10 beautiful August days in Wisconsin.  Mike’s mom likes this pic so much it might end up on their Christmas card…I figure we can photoshop Jake into the picture. He’s not in it because he’s driving the boat.

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I think I mentioned that school started last week.  It’s a preschool program for 4 year olds at the same school we had him in last year (remember, the one we pulled him out of in December because he had such a hard time?)

• Actual days of school: 3
• Actual days attended: 2

I’ll keep you posted.  The missing day was not for illness although the screaming crying fit thrown in the school parking lot was pretty sick.  Today was a good day.  No tears.  His teacher is awesome.  She’s going to be the reason he makes it through.

GREY*isms*

(after putting a pile of hot peas onto his dinner plate)

• G: I’m allergic to pea steam

Both boys have colds right now but they’re powering through.

Graham is somehow going to be 11 months old next week.  I’m not sure how that happened.  We’re just going to pretend that his 1st birthday is next year. He still has only 1 tooth and isn’t walking or talking so I think he can pass as a toddler for a while.  If you hear him say ‘hi’, ‘dada’, ‘mama’ or ‘all done’, it’s a figment of your imagination.  He might look like he can stand for long periods of time but that’s because he has a low center of gravity. Any signs of dexterity is just luck or brilliance.  Not age.  Not maturity. So be quiet. He’s just a baby.

4 years old and counting

Greyson’s 1st day of 4B at First Presbyterian

A few days worth of blogs

I’m starting this blog with little idea of where it might go and I’ll warn you now that I’m A) crabby B) tired and C) missing my boys because Hurricane Earl couldn’t get his fat ass off the coast before my plane landed.  We did enough circles above JFK to get us back to Ireland.  I watched 3 full length movies, read a book, took a nap and still had time to spare.  I wish I could say it’s over, but I still have to get to Seattle from NYC.  A mere 8 hours more and I’ll be home.

I stayed at the Dylan hotel and loved it. Dublin is a wonderful city with friendly and accommodating people who are truly interested in getting to know you. I found myself complaining about the talkativeness of my cab driver and then stopped. A friendly cab driver who proactively describes the neighborhoods, traffic patterns, places to eat, drink, or “get a cup of coffee and sit on the canal”?  Refreshing, not annoying.  The only thing that would have made it better would have been my sweet Graham sitting next to me clapping his little hands and Greyson asking to take the LUAS up and down the island.

…the 2 paragraphs above were written on Friday, September 3rd.  Today is Labor Day and I’m sorry to say that I’m on a plane again. This time back to Canada for a round of golf and some meetings.  I get home on Thursday and I plan to stay there for the foreseeable future (aside from a quick trip to Wisconsin in 2 weeks).  Rather than start my blog over I decided to keep the original material to prove to all of you that I really do think about blogging often enough to keep you interested. The trouble is actually putting pen to paper and publishing it.

Here’s a few snippets from the past few weeks:

• Greyson visited the San Juan islands this past weekend and got to see Orca up close and personal. This morning he told me that he was going to catch a baby Orca whale, bring it home, cut off its tail and eat it.
• I told Greyson that a new toy would not enter our house until he started donating his existing ones.  Here’s his list so far:  broken ukelele, armless lego guy, a couple of trains, but he won’t name which ones and Mike’s Brewers hat
• While getting ready to take me to the airport, Greyson says to Mike “get your shoes, homey!”
• Graham is now waving, clapping and giving high fives. There’s not a cuter 10 month old on the planet.  Unfortunately he has a horrible sty in his eye so he looks like he just got out of a bar fight.

Happy Labor Day.

OK, 2 days later and I’m planning on actually publishing this post. Greyson starts school today. I called him last night and he’s so excited. I’m sorry that I won’t be there to see him off.  He’s not giving kisses anymore unless it’s just the two of us. If someone else is in the room and I ask for a kiss, he makes everyone else close their eyes.  He started wiping them off a long time ago.  He thinks it’s funny.  I try to laugh about it too but deep down, I’m wondering how this is happening so soon.

Pictures will be posted this weekend, I promise.

Fried Cheese Curds, Anyone?

Coming to you live from the shores of Lake Tomahawk…pictures will post later this week when I find the sync cord for my Nikon.

We’re on day 5 of our 11 day Wisconsin vacation.  Days 1-3 consisted of a highly anticipated annual golf outing for Mike with his college fraternity brothers. (He had ZERO fun)  The kids and I spent an awesome weekend with my family on Silver Lake where Greyson entertained by pouring a cup of milk over his head at dinner and Graham ate sweet corn off of his highchair tray with no hands.

GREY*isms*

• G:  “Mom, I lost my manners”
• Me:  “Where did they go?”
• G:  “They’re in my leg”

So, a few hours later, while putting his jammies on, he tooted.  I said,“What do you say?” to which he replied “Remember, I lost my manners? I told you that already!”

I turned 36 a few weeks ago. 4 more years before Mike throws me a decade party.  He doesn’t know it yet, but he’s going to outdo himself from my 30th (insert the winking smiley face here).  We were reminded of how great that party was when looking at old pictures; especially Patrick Blessing’s homage, written and performed by him, accompanied by his big brother on guitar.  It was the highlight of the party (parts of it made our families blush).

Graham’s 1st tooth came in a few days after my birthday and since then, he’s climbed the stairs on his own and is pulling himself up on everything and starting to cruise around.  We give him 1 month before walking begins.  His best new move right now though is waving hello with his left hand.  Say hi to him and you’ll get a wave, guaranteed.  It’s awesome.

GREY*isms*

• G: (Watching a kissing scene in Aladdin) “Ewww, he’s kissing her dirty lips!”

We had our first order of fried cheese curds today. It’s not possible to come to Wisconsin and NOT order the fried cheese curds. At some point this week I’ll go for a run, but not tomorrow.

To those of you we’ve seen this week, thank you for contributing to an already memorable summer vacation.  To those of you we have yet to see, we’re looking forward to additional fun in the sun.

GREY*isms*

• G:  “Hi, my name is Dick”

Happy August!

Until We Meet Again

On Thursday, July 22nd, Greyson said:

• G:  “Are you going to be sad, Mom?”
• Me:  “Yes, I’ll be sad for a little while”
• G:  “Don’t be sad”

We lost our friend Patrick Blessing.  The world lost a son, a husband, a brother, an uncle, a philanthropist, a comedian, a soon-to-be-dad.  Last week we mourned his death and celebrated his life.  We miss him.

My comfort comes in knowing that God enveloped Patrick in His arms. Heaven’s laughter is louder since he arrived. Patrick sang, he danced, he loved.  He didn’t watch life, he lived it.  He was Superman. Peter Pan.  He was loved.

Patrick beat leukemia over 15 years ago and this condition prevented him from qualifying for life insurance.  Mike and I are joining forces with Patrick’s friends and family to make sure that his beautiful wife and unborn daughter are taken care of.  Click Here to view the Memorial Facebook page or Email us directly for more information.

  “To die will be an awfully big adventure”  James M Barrie, Peter Pan

GREY*isms*

(putting on his “magic” Wobble-Goggles)

• G:  “I can see everything with these glasses!”
• Me:  “You can??”
• G: “Yeah…I can see Patrick!!”

I believe he could.

Summertime Sum Sum Summertime

Northwest Trek animal park is a very cool adventure for kids and adults that’s about an hour South of us.  It’s an opportunity to see native animals in their own habitats.  It’s like a zoo without the cages and glass and faux rocks and depressing looks on the faces of animals in captivity.  Don’t get me wrong, we take our kids to the zoo too, but it was a refreshing change; the least of which was the landscape.

So you can walk through the forest at your own pace and view cougars, lynx, bobcats, owls, eagles, brown and grizzly bears and wolves.  Take an hour long tram ride and you’ll see bison, buffalo, moose, caribou, black-tailed deer and other herbivores.  Greyson was like himself in a candy store. A key-lime lollipop unnecessarily added to his natural high.

The climax of the day was a view of Mt. Rainier.  We’ve been out here for 2 years and this never gets old.  It still takes my breath away every time I see it.

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I can’t believe we’re over halfway through the summer already!  We’ve got an action packed rest of July and August and before we know it, Labor Day will be here and in Greyson’s mind, everything starts after that. “First Halloween, then Thanksgiving and THEN Christmas, and then my birthday.”

GREY*isms*

• G: I need a new piece of gum
• Me: Why?
• G: Because mine is crooked

Ireland was a fantastic whirlwind.  I met a guy from Delafield on the Guinness tour.  It was a great trip, but even better to be home again. 

A view of Ireland from the Guinness Factory

What’s Ireland without a leprechaun? 

What’s Ireland without a Guinness (or two)?

Johnsons, Goehlers and Sibleys…can’t wait to see all of you in Colorado.  10 days and counting.  Cheers!